Fourth Quarter 2003 Adult Sabbath School Lessons:
"Jonah"

Insights to Lesson 9
Conversing With God
November 22-28, 2003

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

The Book of Jonah, as we are learning, is much more than a simple fish story, and more than a homily on how God’s people should be more willing to reach out to others through evangelism. The nature and depth of the interplay between God and Jonah suggests issues that strike at the heart of the Laodicean condition. To understand these issues clearly we must stand back a bit and look at the bigger picture.

From the beginning, God’s people have been called to be a light to the surrounding pagan nations. They were to share God’s way of life as described in His holy law, to be a kingdom of priests and minister to the needs of souls drowning in sin. However, they consistently turned to that which was “right in their own eyes,” coveted the lifestyle of the surrounding nations, and established a kingdom based upon values contrary to God’s will. For a nation called by God to be His messengers to the world, they seem to possess a desperately wrong attitude. The worst part is that the Israelite nation, in their spiritual blindness, still claimed to be following and serving the God who created heaven and earth!

When the story of Jonah takes place, Israel was experiencing a time of prosperity. The borders of the land have been extended to where they were during David’s time. Israel’s enemies (principally, Assyria—Nineveh was its largest city) were preoccupied with internal issues and, consequently, life was good in Palestine (see 1 Kings 14:23-29). While Israel was experiencing a time of ease and prosperity, two other prophets contemporary with Jonah, were speaking about God’s concerns regarding Israel’s spiritual condition.

At this same time, Amos was pointing out Israel’s sins related to her callous attitude toward justice and judgment, and general mistreatment of individuals. In general, greed, perversity, pride, and love of ease characterize the prevailing attitude of the people. Using his own dysfunctional marriage as an illustration, Hosea addressed the people’s abuse of God’s everlasting love. Even with the clear admonition from these prophets, the nation seemed unfazed by God’s constant call to repentance.

With this foundation, there are several things we need to look at more closely:

1. We need to comprehend Jonah’s attitude.

2. We need to appreciate God’s frustration with His people.

3. We also need to evaluate God’s patience in His work of calling us out of our insubordinate attitude and up to higher ground.

4. We need to grasp how the experience of Jonah reveals our own reservations to cooperate with Jesus, our High Priest, as He is now in the process of cleansing the heavenly sanctuary.

Throughout the story Jonah says and does things that are most ironic, given Israel’s present spiritual condition and her history. While on the ship, Jonah demonstrated a certain callousness toward the sailor’s spiritual cravings. His attitude toward Nineveh was the same. In contrast, Jonah’s prayer in the whale’s belly (chapter 2) reveals the essence of his problem. Jonah is in need of conversion, but he seems unaware of his true heart condition—that he is poor, blind, naked and doesn’t know it. In His great mercy, God placed him in a situation where he could realize his destitute condition, realize his need to die to self, while knowing that God would be right there with him through it all.

As we analyze Jonah’s conversation with God from the whale’s belly, we find:

1. Jonah calls on the Lord as if he is the victim.

2. He treats God as if there had been no history of his rebellion before this present situation.

3. He claims that God is to blame for his present situation (who would have wanted to be thrown over board into a raging sea?).

4. He is self-righteous for remembering the Lord at this time of terrible extremity.

5. He repeatedly states, “the Lord my God” but how can he make this claim when he has repeatedly opposed God’s will?

6. He self-righteously contrasts himself with idol-worshipers, but, in the story, who do we find praying and sacrificing to the one true God of heaven?

7. He vows to make changes if the Lord will save him, but later we find that no change has taken place in his attitude.

Do we see a pattern here? Jonah is mirroring the condition of Israel. Jonah’s problem is that he doesn’t know his true condition. He speaks “correct” words, but his actions betray him. Is there any difference between Jonah and the Laodicean condition? How can God reach a sin-cursed world when His people refuse to see themselves as heaven sees them? (Please see As Many As I Love, p. 25, for several statements from Ellen White on the Laodicean condition.)

When God decided to send Jonah to Nineveh, we are forced to ask: Why?—to what purpose is he being sent to this foreign nation?

1. Will calling for Nineveh’s repentance convict Israel of her own sins?

2. Is God contemplating starting over with another “called out” people?

3. Can we say that Jonah is God’s “man,” but that he needs some refining, like Moses received during his 40 years tending sheep in the wilderness?

Our only source for understanding God’s intentions are the facts written in the story of Jonah. This story relates the interactions between Jonah and his God. It is imperative that we look closely at this relationship.

From the beginning, Jonah claims to have known that God was gracious, merciful, slow to anger, etc. How does Jonah know this? Did he learn it from what he observed of God’s treatment of Israel through the years?—was it just a “head knowledge” of God’s revealed character with no true heart response?

One is compelled to ask a few pertinent questions:

1. If Jonah knew God’s character before he was called, then why did he exhibit such a temper tantrum when Nineveh responded to the merciful God and themselves repented?

2. Why would God send a prophet whose attitude demonstrated such a weakness of character?

3. Did God send Jonah because He had a bigger plan that included converting Jonah and Israel even as He was redeeming Nineveh?

When we examine the story as a whole unit, we find a significant correlation between the story lines of chapters one and three. These chapters show to what extent God works to reach people in spite of their lack of cooperation. God wants Jonah to experience a change of attitude—to experience a true metanoia. However, Jonah seems to be fighting the same battle against the Holy Spirit’s conviction that Saul experienced on his way to Damascus.

Through the book of Jonah God is sending His end-time church a message about the true condition of their heart. Jonah reveals that we are in the same condition as Israel in his day. We are all just like Jonah, running from our responsibility to preach the truth of Christ and His righteousness to a dying world. The remedy for this condition was sent to the church in 1888 through Elders Jones and Waggoner. Many debate as to whether or not the 1888 message of Christ and His righteousness was received. However, we must examine the facts. Does our history indicate that the values God entrusted us with were received? Would Amos and Hosea concur with our assessment of ourselves?

The story of Jonah reveals that God is ever present to save, yet the question remains: “Are we willing to allow the Holy Spirit the freedom to work His miracle in our hearts?” When this takes place, what a joy it will be to serve the Lord together in the saving of the lost world.

Read the study notes for Lesson 10