Dr. J. Vernon McGee :: PART 4: To the Heart of God

Jonah: Dead or Alive?: PART 4

To the Heart of God

Jonah had a most remarkable experience; he experienced what no other man ever has from the very beginning. From Noah’s preaching down to the preaching of Billy Graham, no one has ever seen one hundred percent saturation of the Word of God bring one hundred percent conversion; but this man saw it. Jonah had the experience of seeing an entire city turn to God!

Jonah is Displeased

Now if you and I had that experience, I think we would go down to Western Union and send a wire back to Jerusalem: “Rejoice with me. The revival is here! It’s broken out in the city of Nineveh!” You’d think that Jonah would have done something like this. But no! Chapter 4 opens with a startling statement. This, to me, is the strangest part of the Book of Jonah:

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. (Jonah 4:1)

Now God has more problems with this backsliding prophet than He had with the entire population of Nineveh! When this man declared the message, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” the people of Nineveh believed God. Do you know that all God has ever asked sinners to do is to believe what He has done for them? They need to know that He is a God of judgment but that He also is a God of mercy. Paul, when he reasoned with Felix, spoke with him about the mercy of God and the saving power of Jesus Christ, but he also reasoned with him about judgment. And, my friend, lost men and women today are moving to a frightful judgment without Jesus Christ!

And so this city of Nineveh believed God, and they turned to God; and this man Jonah was displeased by it! Now why was he displeased? If I had been in Jonah’s shoes, and if I had been in Jonah’s fish, I might have felt the same way he did. This Scripture will give us some insight into the heart of Jonah.

So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish ….”

There have been commentators who said the reason Jonah acted as he did is that he really didn’t know God. But Jonah makes it clear the problem is that he did know God. Listen to him:

… for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. (Jonah 4:2)

Oh, my friend, you and I haven’t any conception of how gracious and merciful our God is and how He longs to save. But, you see, He is a holy God, and He has made one way for a man to be saved. The apostle Peter in speaking of Jesus said,

… there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

This is the message that must be gotten out if folk are to experience the mercy of God and know something of the grace of God; because, my friend, apart from Jesus Christ a frightful, awful eternity is before every individual. And it would be before us today if Christ had not borne that judgment death for us upon the cross.

Notice that Jonah says, “You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.” In other words, when God called him to go to Nineveh and speak to that city and tell them that because of their wickedness God would destroy them, Jonah knew what would happen.

The Ninevites were evil people. You talk about violence and lawlessness! This city was given over to it. It was dreaded and feared in the ancient world. When the Assyrian army moved against a city, sometimes an entire population in a community would commit suicide rather than fall into the hands of those brutal Assyrians. Jonah knew God was merciful and that actually God would save even Ninevites. And Jonah says in effect, “Those rascals, I don’t trust them. They might say they’ve turned to God, and then not do it. Or they might sincerely turn to God, and if they did, God would save them.” He knew what God would do, and he did not want the Ninevites saved, so he headed in the opposite direction. But then God gave him a second chance to do His will, detouring him around and sending him to Nineveh despite his mind-set.

Now, having done his assignment, listen to this man. He concludes his prayer by saying,

Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live! (Jonah 4:3)

Jonah wants to die. May I say to you, I think he’s the most miserable person on topside of the earth at this time. Actually, the most miserable people in the world are Christians out of the will of God. Dwight L. Moody, in his quaint way, used to put it like this: “Some people have just enough religion to make them miserable.” And other people may actually be saved, but are certainly not enjoying the ride to heaven. Neither are they being used of God. I won’t question Jonah’s salvation, because he is God’s man. But, again, God had more trouble with this backsliding prophet than He did with the entire city of Nineveh. And God was going to work on Jonah. He was God’s prophet, and he did deliver His message to the Ninevites.

Now will you notice God’s method. I think it still may be His method “for He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). God knows us. And He knew Jonah. In other words, God is a very good psychiatrist without having read any of the modern books! God understands human nature, especially fallen human nature. He understands this old nature that you and I inherited from Adam when he rebelled against God.

Listen to the Lord’s response to Jonah:

Then the LORD said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4)

In my judgment Dr. G. Douglas Young has the best translation here: “Is doing good displeasing to thee?” Jonah says, “I want to die.” And the fact of the matter is, I suppose that most of us at one time or another have said, “I wish I were dead,” and we didn’t mean it at all. We said it because we were miserable or some difficulty had come into our life. But nobody, as far as I know, ever died by wishing. You’re safe when you say that; it’s not incurable by any means. So Jonah says, “It’s better for me to die than to live.” And God says to him, “Is it right for you to be angry?” In other words, “Look, Jonah, you have to admit that I have done good. Whether you like Ninevites or not, I’ve done good. You will have to admit that is true because I have saved these Ninevites.”

“So Jonah went out of the city ….” He’s in a huff now; he doesn’t like what God said to him. He’s out of fellowship with God; and you can be sure of one thing, he doesn’t have a friend in the city of Nineveh. His hometown is several hundred miles away, and he is homesick, and he is lonely. This is the time when God is going to move in on this man.

So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter…. (Jonah 4:5)

Today you’d liken it to a trailer court, I suppose, but actually he made only a camp out there, just a booth or shelter to live in. We know the topography of the land where Nineveh and Calah and Khorsabad were, the three great cities in that valley. It was very extensive and supported a great population, and the land was all irrigated. I think Jonah went up on the hill, which was the protection for the city, where he could get a seat on the fifty-yard line to see if the Ninevites were really sincere in their repentance. Jonah didn’t trust them. He did not believe they were genuine.

It is very interesting to compare the little prophecy of Nahum with the Book of Jonah. We read there that several generations later Nineveh had turned away from God and had lapsed back into idolatry. And when you read Nahum, you find God destroyed the city of Nineveh at that time. And, as we mentioned in Part 3, it was lost to mankind and to history until 1860 when Layard, the French archaeologist, saw that tell across from Mosul on the Tigris River and began to excavate. And he found out it was, as he suspected, the ruins of the ancient city of Nineveh. The first thing that had happened to cause its destruction was a flood that took out one corner of the wall. This let the enemy in, and the city fell to its enemies. But that did not happen until 100 or 150 years after Jonah’s day.

Now under Jonah’s preaching, the Ninevites have turned to God, and God has saved them. But this man Jonah wants to get a good seat up at an elevation where he can look out over the city, intending to stay there until the fire falls from heaven, because he doesn’t believe they are sincere. And Jonah knows God. He knows He is merciful and that He will save these Ninevites. However, if they are not genuine, he knows God will judge them. And Jonah is so sure they will go back to their old sins, he is out there waiting.

God is Gracious

There sits this lonely, backsliding prophet, so unhappy he’d like to die.

So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. And the LORD God prepared a plant [in some versions called a gourd] and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. (Jonah 4:5, 6)

This plant, this gourd vine, is as miraculous as the fish. The record tells us that the fish was prepared, and the gourd also was prepared. One is just as miraculous as the other. Now, friend, Jonah got attached to that little gourd plant. You see, it was God who made this gourd sprout up and grow. Jonah hasn’t had anything living that he can communicate with, and we are so made that even if we are not gregarious creatures, we want to communicate with somebody or something.

It’s amazing how we can get attached to a living thing. I was speaking some years ago at the Moody Founder’s Week Conference in Chicago, and some friends invited me out to dinner. As soon as I got inside their apartment the lady of the house wanted to show me her geranium. She said, “I know you come from the place where they grow geraniums, but I want you to see mine.” So I went with her, and all I saw was a little stalk sticking out of a flower pot. That’s all it was. There wasn’t even a bloom on the thing! She said to me, “Isn’t it nice?” And she petted the flowerpot and began to talk to the plant. She’s a sane woman, I can assure you of that, a very wonderful Christian! But she actually talked to that little green stub and said, “Dr. McGee grows geraniums in California.” And, friend, I want to tell you that if that geranium had spoken back, she and I both would have jumped out the window of that apartment. But she was attached to it, and I found out that you can get attached to living things like that.

For many years I was really rough on owners of dogs. But I’ve learned to appreciate dog owners. I’m attached to a dog now, and I’m not saying anything ugly about dog owners anymore. My daughter brought the dog home one night, a big husky, the biggest dog I’d ever seen. I asked her when she came in with him, “Did you bring a saddle?” And I thought, My, we can’t keep this dog. And then there came along a young fellow who married my daughter and took her all the way across the country. When she left she said to me, “Now I’ll leave the dog with you.” Well, the dog misses her, and I miss her. The fact of the matter is, the dog and I sit on the patio, and do you know what? I talk to the dog! My wife came to the door the other day and said, “Who are you talking to out here?” I said, “I’m talking to the smartest dog in the world.” He and I take walks up one of those trails in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains, and I talk to him. One time we met a fellow on the trail, and he looked around to see who was with me. He sure seemed glad to get on down the trail, I’ll tell you that! It’s amazing how you can get attached to a living plant or animal.

Jonah became attached to the gourd. I imagine Jonah got a bucket that very day and went down to the Tigris River, filled the bucket with water, came back, and poured the water around the roots of the gourd and started to train the vine to grow up over his booth that he’d made. And I think he talked to it. “Oh, you’re running the wrong way, little gourd.” And, of course, Jonah had been running the wrong way too; and he was still running the wrong way. But he says to the vine, “I’ll have to train you this way.” Believe me, he got attached very quickly to the only living thing he could talk to. And God had arranged all this purposely. Watch how He is going to move in on Jonah:

But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. (Jonah 4:7)

“But God prepared a worm….” This worm is just as miraculous as the fish. “… And it so damaged the plant that it withered.” This worm cut the vine down because worms just don’t fall in love with vines—they would rather eat them.

And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” (Jonah 4:8)

Here he goes again, wishing, but it won’t do him a bit of good.

We have had here in the Book of Jonah a prepared fish, a prepared gourd, a prepared worm, and a prepared vehement east wind. All of them are miraculous—each one of them—and they are equally miraculous. The vehement east wind was just as miraculous as the fish was. You see, God is dealing with this man. Jonah has lost his gourd vine, the little living thing to which he had become attached. It’s dead now, and he’s actually grieving over it because it’s the only living thing he had. You say such behavior is ridiculous! May I say to you, it’s ridiculous the gourds that you and I get attached to in this world today. How many people have a “gourd” to which they are giving their time, giving their energy, giving their money, giving everything—and what is it really?

Heart to Heart

Listen now to God as He speaks to Jonah:

Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

Then notice Jonah’s answer:

… And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!” (Jonah 4:9)

In other words, Jonah says, “This is it! I want to die. You didn’t destroy Nineveh, but you did destroy my gourd!” He’s a petulant little prophet, isn’t he? He’s an unhappy prophet. He’s a miserable prophet. And he’s like a lot of the critical saints today. They’ve got a gourd, and they don’t want anybody to take the gourd away from them. How did the Lord respond?

But the LORD said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.” (Jonah 4:10)

God is showing this man how ridiculous it is. He says to Jonah, “Jonah, a gourd is nothing.” My friend, I hate to say this, but a pussycat is nothing, a little dog is nothing; but a human being has a soul that is either going to heaven or hell. And God did not ask you to love the lost before you go to them. He said, “I love the lost, and I want you to go to them.” That is what He is saying to Jonah: “Jonah, I love the Ninevites.”

And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock? (Jonah 4:11)

Who does He mean by “one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left”? He means little children. God says, “You wouldn’t want Me to destroy that city, would you, Jonah? If you can fall in love with a gourd vine, can’t you at least fall in love with Ninevite children?”

Now, may I make this application? When I was teaching in a Bible institute, I used to say (like all the other teachers were saying) that if you are called to go as a missionary, you ought to love the people to whom you go. I disagree vehemently with that now, because how can you love people before you know them? I first applied that to myself. I have never accepted a call to a church because I loved the people; I didn’t know them to begin with. I went because I felt that God had called me to go there and preach. But I also have never been in a church in which I didn’t become involved with the people. I have stood at their bedsides in hospitals; I’ve been at their gravesides when death came; I’ve been with them in the marriages that have taken place in their families; and I can truthfully say that I have never yet left a church where there wasn’t a great company of people whom I loved—and I really mean that I loved them in the Lord. But I did not love them when I first went there, because I did not know them.

God is saying to a great many people today, “I want you to go and take the Word of God to those who are lost.” And they say, “But I don’t love them.” God says, “I never asked you to love them; I asked you to go.” I cannot find anywhere that God ever asked Jonah to go because he loved the Ninevites. He said, “Jonah, I want you to go because I love them—I love Ninevites. I want to save Ninevites. I want you to take the message to them.”

Again, may I say that I am afraid there are a great many people in the church who are caterpillars. Church members are either pillars or caterpillars: The pillars hold up the church, and the caterpillars just crawl in and out. There are a lot of people just crawling in and out of the church—waiting for some great wave of emotion, waiting for some feeling to take hold of them—and they have never done anything yet. God says that we are to get busy for Him.

I remember talking to a missionary who was home from Africa, and he was showing me a picture of some little black boys in the orphans’ home there. I could tell by the way he looked at the picture that he loved those little boys. I said to him, “When you first went to Africa, did you love the Africans?” He said, “No, I really wanted to go to my people in Greece, but at that time the door was closed and I could not go; so I had to go to Africa.” As he held that picture, I said to him, “But do you love those little fellows now?” Tears came to his eyes. He said, “Yes, I love them now.”

God says to you and me, “You go with the Word. I love the lost. You take the Word to them, and when they are saved and you get acquainted with them and know them, you will love them too.”

Since Jonah wrote the book, I think it is reasonable to say that after this experience he left the dead gourd vine and went down to where the living were walking the streets of Nineveh, and I think he rejoiced with them that they had come to a saving knowledge of God. My friend, what a message this is! Why don’t you get involved in getting the Word of God out to people? Don’t wait to be motivated by things that are emotional. Take the Word of God to them because God loves them; and if you’ll do that, I will guarantee that you will learn to love them also.