Jonah 3:1 - The Persistence & Pursuit of God

We're diving into Jonah 3:1 this week on Proclaiming His Word, zeroing in on that pivotal moment where the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. After the storm, the fish, and the rebellion, we see God's unwavering persistence—not just chasing down a reluctant prophet, but pursuing an entire enemy nation with grace they didn't deserve. From Nineveh's turnaround to the broader sweep of Scripture, we'll trace how God's heart beats for the nations, from Abraham's blessing to Christ's command to make disciples everywhere, culminating in that heavenly multitude from every tribe and tongue. It's a reminder that His pursuit didn't stop at the cross; it reached into your life before you even drew breath. Join me as we unpack this living Word and let it stir our souls. Let's dig in and look to Jesus, our true hope!

Transcript

5 - Jonah 3:1 - The Persistence & Pursuit of God

Intro

• Please take your Bibles this morning and turn with me to Jonah 3 and find verse 1.
  • My intent today was to tackle this third chapter, but the Lord had other plans.
  • Instead of taking on this whole chapter today we are going to be focusing on just one verse of this chapter.
    • The first verse to be specific…
    • However, we will go ahead and read the chapter in its entirety so that we see it in its context. 
• Before we read our text though let us consider what we have already witnessed in this story and set the stage for the verse and the chapter that is before us.  
  • Jonah has had quite a journey up to this point…
    • Back in Jonah 1 verse 2 we find the initial command of our Lord to this prophet and servant, the command was to go to Nineveh and “call out against it”. 
      • Jonah’s actions after this point is what causes this story to be so memorable for us all.
    • Instead of Jonah obeying the Lord as he was commanded he chose instead to rebel and to try and flee from the presence of God.
      • He quickly learned, however, that God is the Lord of earth and the sea and no man can hide from His sight.  
      • Though he slept at the bottom of a boat, he was found by the Lord and was cast into the sea.
    • He did not perish though the sea was angry, instead we find that the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow him and to preserve his life for three days and three nights.
      • After which we find Jonah again to be upon dry land as he is vomited out of the belly of the fish.
  • That is a quick synopsis of the last two chapters, and to be fair, this is the part of the story that we all know so well.
    • It is what captivates us, it is what captures our imaginations…
    • Yet that is just a small portion of this short story and as we will see again today there is much in these chapters that reminds us about who God is.
• I challenged at the start of this short series to consider that this is more than just a familiar story about a rebellious prophet.
  • It certainly is that but it is much more than only that…
    • This is the Word of God and it is “living and active”, it is more than just a story we know.
    • It is verses that are intended to bring Glory to the Father and sanctify His people.
  • I urge you, therefore, as we prepare to read through this chapter and as we prepare to look at this verse…
    • That you would look upon it with great expectation for God to work through His Word for His Glory.
• With that intro let’s read our text and open in prayer…

Jonah 3

• I hope you can agree with me that this chapter that we just read is a chapter that beautifully displays the heart of our God…
  • We see clearly what happened to Niveheh…
    • That great city is spared because of the Grace of God poured out upon them after they repented of their sins.  
    • Do not forget the only reason they knew to repent was because of the message from this prophet.  
  • Let us recognize from the start that the only reason Nineveh was spared was because God took the initiative in pursuing them.
• Keeping that on the forefront of our minds, and never moving past it we are going to step into our one and only point this morning and see that… 

God Persisted and Prusuited…

• This point is really just the first verse of this chapter, read it again with me…
  • Vs. 1 - Emphasis on “the second time”.
• Three words stand out, I would encourage you to underline or circle the phrase, “...the second time…”
  • To start, let's consider what persistence means…
    • Persistence means to “continue steadfastly or firmly in some state, purpose, course of action…”
    • So when I say that God persisted I am saying that God…
      • Continued steadfastly in a purpose…
      • That purpose was to call the people of Nineveh to repentance.
  • Consider how God’s persistence played out in the story of Jonah.
    • The Lord did not simply command His prophet but he had to pursue His own prophet.
      • He had to send a great storm…
      • He had to send a great fish…
      • Then He had to send His prophet once more.
  • Though it is a short book God showed great persistence in this story.
• This begs the question, why was God persistent toward these people?
  • Let me remind you as we consider that question together that the Ninevehites were not a part of the people of God.
    • They were actually better understood as a people that was opposed to the nation of Israel.
      • Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire which was a direct enemy of the nation of Israel.
    • This was so much the case that it was the Assyrian’s that carried Israel into exile.
      • That was of course after the Assyrian military came and wiped many of the Israelites out.  
    • Knowing this certainly plays into our understanding of this book and Jonah’s reluctance. 
  • Though we have been hard on Jonah the last few weeks it is important to note that he was not opposed to preaching to these people for no reason.
    • It is quite possible that he knew and had experienced pain and suffering that came directly from these people.
    • Along with that we could estimate that Jonah’s preaching occurred in this city just 30 years before the fall of Israel by the hand of the Assyrians.
  • This context just helps to add a complexity to this story that we often may miss if we are simply reading through.
• So, to ask our question again…
  • Knowing that these people were a part of a nation that wrecked and scattered the Israelites…
• Why did God persist in drawing them to repentance?
  • His pursuit of this nation points toward His heart in a way that if we are not careful we could easily read past.
    • The story of Jonah reveals to us that God has a heart for His Creation…
  • What Jonah is learning throughout this story is that God concerns Himself with more than just the Hebrew people…
    • Though we often think of Jonah and our minds go to him being swallowed by a big fish, the real tale is that God shows His heart for the nations.
    • Jonah reminds us that the Lord is concerned with the nations.  
  • This concern should not be a surprise to us, throughout the Word of God we see this concern manifest in many different ways…
• Think through some of these ways with me…
  • Early on in the book of Genesis we see God calling a man out of his homeland and into a place that he did not know.
    • Abram was pursued by God and the Lord blessed him and in the last part of that blessing the Lord said…
      • Genesis 12:3 - “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
      • Another way this could be rendered is that “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.”
    • From the very start of the people of Israel we find that God sat Abraham and his people apart in order to bless the nations.
  • How then did God choose to bless the nations?
    • He did so by establishing a nation for Himself, the people of Israel, through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
    • Through these people He brought forth His Law, He showed them His Glory and called them to Holiness.
    • When they did not uphold His Law, He sent prophets to call the people back to Himself.
      • This we are familiar with, but we also need to consider that God not only sent His prophets to His people…
        • Jonah was not the only prophet who spoke out against a foreign people.
        • We find Isaiah having entire chapters dedicated to prophesying against other nations.
          • Most of the time this is, like Jonah, in reference to their sin…
        • However, there were times where God referenced these nations and promised to make them His own…
      • We find this happening in Isaiah, in one place the Lord even called Egypt and Assyria His people.
        • Isaiah 19:24-25 - “In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”
      • It is important to note that Isaiah came chronologically after Jonah…
        • Can you imagine how appalled Jonah would have been at God calling Assyria the work of His hands?
      • Again, though, even the work of Jonah points us to God having compassion on the nations.
    • This theme continues to unfold in Isaiah 42 where we are challenged to look ahead toward Jesus.
      • That chapter is set apart to describe the servant of the Lord for which Christ was the fulfillment.
      • In that chapter we have this verse that again reveals that God is concerned with the nations.
        • Isaiah 42:6 - “I am the Lord; I have called you [my servant] in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,”
      • Even in looking ahead to the One who would be a Savior to the people of Israel it was never only about Israel.
    • Throughout the Law, the History, and the Prophets God began to reveal the need of a Savior and He began to promise to send forth One.
  • Again, Jesus was the fulfillment of that Promise and through Him all the nations will be blessed.
    • So that the song and prayer of the Psalmist may be fulfilled…
      • Psalm 67:3 - “Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!”
    • We need to be reminded today that it was this way from the start…
      • It was never only about Israel but it was about God’s pursuit of the nations…
      • Jonah had forgotten that important truth.
    • He had missed the fact that God has a heart for the nations and that the people of Nineveh were just as much the Creation of God as his own people.
  • Let us not think for a moment that God’s concern for the nations was simply an Old Testament theme.
    • This continued into the New Testament and became more clear as the pages were turned.
    • Consider the final words Jesus speaks to His apostles before He ascends on high.
      • Matthew 28:19a - “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”
    • This was the final command given to what would be the church, they were to “make disciples”, not only among their own people but of all nations.
  • Jews and Gentiles alike were called into the great salvation, something that all of us should be thankful for.
    • Are you not glad today that you do not have to be an ethnic Jew in order to inherit such a great salvation?
    • Are you not glad today that God took the initiative and had a heart for the nations?
    • This command to “make disciples of all nations” still stands today, we are to continue this work and this effort to make the Gospel known.
  • One day though that effort will be complete and one day we will stand before the throne and we will see the completed work of this Glorious Salvation.
    • John saw it and wrote about it in Revelation 7.
      • Revelation 7:9-10 - “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
    • What two glorious verses that reveal not only the heart of God but the completed work of God among us.
  • Do not forget this point we are on, that God persisted, God pursued, God took the initiative.
• We have been considering this in a very broad sense, considering how this was on the heart of God from the beginning.
  • Let’s make it a bit more personal now…
  • Let us consider the work of God in our own lives…
    • In our own salvation…
  • The fact is that it would be easy to consider this in a broad sense without making it personal…
• Let it not be lost on us that we can also individually reflect upon how God cares for us.
  • The reality is that the effort that the Lord endured to bring us salvation is so much more grand than how God persisted with the Ninevehites.
  • We have already laid much of the groundwork for making this personal, but let us set a few more stones…
    • When Adam sinned in the garden and God was completely justified in scrapping the whole of Creation, He instead promised to send the “seed of the woman”, a savior who would set things right.
      • It is a humbling thing to consider that the work of your salvation began before the foundations of the earth were laid.
      • It is a humbling thing to consider that God persisted in His work in your salvation before the stars were flung across the sky.
      • It is a humbling thing to dwell upon the fact that through the sin of our first father we see that the heart of God was already bent towards salvation.
    • Then over the course of thousands of years the Lord worked in the history of man to direct the nations to send forth His Son that He would live a perfect life.
      • This perfect life was the only worthy payment for man’s salvation and the entire work of the Old Testament pointed forward to this final sacrifice.
        • We learn in…
          • Hebrews 10:4b - “...it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
        • Yet it was this sacrificial system that pointed to the ultimate sacrifice found in Christ.
      • He came and offered Himself as the perfect Lamb of God, and He died upon the Cross for the sins of man.
    • I said we were making this point personal, right?
      • Think about this…
      • Before you took a breath…
      • Long before you were even a thought…
      • Christ died for you.
    • Have you ever really considered that, have you ever really thought about the pursuit of God upon your life…
      • It was such a pursuit that before you did anything good or bad Christ died for you…
        • Before you learned to walk…
        • Before you learned to talk…
        • Before you learned right from wrong…
      • Christ had made a way and paid for your sin in full.
        • Words fall short and do not suffice for the persistence and the pursuit that we are referring to.
    • The persistence of God in the work of your salvation though goes far beyond even the planned sacrifice of Jesus…
      • Consider what transpired after the cross and to our present day…
        • The apostles, whom Jesus called, had to begin preaching the Good news of the salvation found in Christ.
        • They had to pen the messages, the letters, and they had to travel thousands of miles in their effort to obey Christ.
        • The New Testament was copied, copied, and copied again and then it was canonized and it became clear that the work of God in His Word was complete.
        • Throughout the ages many have sought to distort, destroy, or distract the people from the Word…
      • Though efforts have been locally successful and even today we find people deceived, God has preserved His Word.
        • It has been translated and carried from people group to people group.
        • To the point of, today, there are more than 4,000 languages that have a portion of scripture translated.
        • If we were to consider the English language alone…
          • There are around 900 different translations of part of the scripture.
          • Personally, how much effort did you put into that work?
          • Personally, how much of your resources did you invest so that you would have the Bible before you?
        • Make note that we are blessed beyond measure in what is before us, and make note that it is an example of the persistence and pursuit of God.
        • The fact is that it has not been without struggle.
      • Throughout the course of human history…
        • Though many have sought to destroy it…
        • Though many have tried to distort it…
        • Though some have tried to conceal it…
      • The Word of God stands today, and it has passed from people through languages, across borders, cultures, nations…
        • It lay open in your lap this morning.
    • You cannot consider the pursuit of God in your life without considering how He has placed His Word in your hands, paid for by the blood of the saints.
      • That’s not dramatic, men have died in order that you may have a copy of God’s Word.
        • Let’s review before we continue on…
      • The pursuit and persistence of God toward us today is found in the…
        • History of Israel…
        • Sending of the Son of God…
        • The Death of Christ upon the tree…
        • The work of the Apostles…
        • The complete work and preservation of scripture…
        • And that is not all…
      • Maybe you wonder, what else could there be?
        • God has persisted in this work of my salvation from even before the foundation was laid upon the earth…
      • What else is there?
    • When you heard the Gospel that was persevered throughout the generations…
      • Who caused you to understand it?
    • When you heard of your offense before a Holy God, when you learned of your sins and your guilt before Him…
      • Who pricked your heart?
    • When you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you walked…
      • Who made you alive together with Christ?
    • Was it not the Spirit of the Living God that illuminated Scripture, convicted us of our Sin, and caused us to look upon the Savior?
      • Certainly it was!
        • If it were not for the work of the Spirit, then all the other effort and pursuit would still fall short.
      • For a dead man cannot make his heart beat again.
    • You must realize that if you are saved today it was not simply because you “decided to follow Jesus”...
      • You must recognize that the only reason the Gospel made sense and the only reason you were convicted of sin and the only reason you were convinced that Jesus is the Son of God and He paid for your sins…
      • Was because God in His pursuit of you sent forth His Spirit to draw you to Himself…
    • What a Glorious God we serve, what a Wonderful Savior we have, what a Marvelous Spirit that has sanctified us in Truth.  
  • Without which we would all be like the Ninevehites, who we are told did not even know their left hand from their right.
• It is humbling to consider the pursuit of God upon us, but is it not also a Glorious thing to behold?
  • Certainly it is…

Closing

• Church, it is here that we are going to close out today…
  • I hope that this message has been a refreshing reminder of the pursuit of God upon your life…
    • As we consider it I believe there are two clear ways in which we can respond to what we have seen together this morning…
  • First, I know it is very likely that there is at least one here today that has never placed their faith in Jesus.
    • So one of the clear responses to truths like this is a simple call to repent (turn from your sins) and to place your faith, trust, hope in Christ and be saved.
    • I remind you that God has shown Himself Glorious in how He has pursued His Creation, if the Spirit of God is drawing you I urge you to yield yourself to Him and be born again.
      • If that is you today and you know that He is drawing you to Himself then… 
    • Here in just a moment I will be down front. 
      • I will urge you to step out from the pew and walk down front and share that with me.
      • We will then pray together and celebrate what the Lord has done.
  • Let us not think though that there is not a response for those who are in Christ.
    • As you consider how God has personally pursued you I want to leave you with a question…
      • Why?
    • Why did God direct the nations, send His Son, preserve His Word, protect His Gospel, bring it to you…
      • Why?
  • This question will set the stage for where we will pick up our text next week. 
  • I urge you to prayerfully reflect upon it today.
• Let’s pray