Like the film Vanishing Point (1971 great movie), Jonah’s story makes more sense in reverse. Let's start back at the beginning which is only explained at the end!
For the lesson of the Prophet Jonah we're used to starting with the storm and the big fish. The drama. The rebellion. But the real revelation comes at the end of the book of Jonah. Here is when we find out that Jonah is not spiritually confused, he is theologically frustrated. He is not running away because he doubts God — but because he knows God too well and we find out that Jonah has decided to try and place himself where God can't use him (far away in the opposite direction).
Start in the last of the book on Jonah Chapter 4. There he is, angry, honest, in conversation with God. He confesses: > “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” (Jonah 4:2)
This is the key to the whole book. Jonah didn’t run out of fear. He ran because he didn’t want to be part of a mercy he already predicted. He didn’t misunderstand God. He didn’t think Nineveh was too strong, or himself too weak. He simply couldn’t stomach the idea that these people — violent, cruel, enemies of Israel — would receive the same mercy that Jonah knew was part of God’s character.
Jonah wasn’t learning grace. He already knew God's grace. He just didn’t want it applied to them, and he didn't want to be part of it. Jonah just didn't want to do it.
So Let’s Walk the Story Backwards
God provides a plant for shade. Then a worm, and a wind. Jonah pouts in the heat. The prophet is angry not just at the outcome, but at having been used to cause the outcome he expected all along. He wanted to physically place himself where God couldn’t use him, on an island or in a land far away.
So he fled in an opposite direction, he thought to place himself where he couldn’t be used. A ship. A storm. A reluctant prophet goes below deck and sleeps.
Here’s where your perspective deepens: Jonah’s sleep isn’t escapism. It’s resignation. He knows what’s coming. He knows who God is. He isn’t suicidal in the modern sense — he’s resolved. Jonah is so confident in God’s sovereignty; he can sleep through the storm (only Christ is recorded as being able to do that) even while refusing the mission. He even offers himself up: “Throw me overboard.” He’s not avoiding consequences — he’s trying to opt out of participation.
And yet God doesn’t let go of his servant.
A fish. A rescue. A prayer that echoes Psalms. Jonah still knows who God is. Still reverent. Still relational. Still a prayerful follower. His theology is intact. But he's very unhappy.
Five Words That Turned a City
Jonah finally arrives in Nineveh. Whether witnesses saw him beached by a sea creature or if he was accompanied by rumours from the sailors who saw him tossed overboard, he trudges into town with a message, a message he doesn’t even want to succeed.
The Hebrew message is just five words: > עוד ארבעים ונינוה נהפכת > “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4)
In Hebrew: 5 words.
In English (NKJV): 7 words.
There is no altar call. No grace-filled plea. No explanation. Just warning of judgment.
And yet the city hears the warning and repents.
Jonah 4:11 tells us there were at least 120,000 people who couldn’t tell their right hand from their left — population numbers in scripture are widely understood to mean adult men. So if that 120,000 number represents only the men, then the full population of Nineveh could easily have been 300,000 to 500,000 including women and children, plus a significant amount of livestock.
At a minimum, the city had 120,000 adults who repented. Even the animals were ordered dressed in sackcloth (Jonah 3:7–8).
This is one of the greatest mass repentance recorded in the Bible. And it came from a prophet who wanted nothing to do with it, and who can be described as the GOAT evangelist of all time. A sermon warning of 7 words and a whole city repeants.
And Jonah’s worst fear comes true:
God forgives, God see's Nineveh's repentance and... forgives them!!
Among congregations, some will speculate that surely not everyone in Nineveh repented. That maybe the repentance was shallow or cultural. But Scripture is clear: God relented. And God does not get tricked. His mercy in response to the warning affirms the authenticity of their collective repentance — as only God can see it. The sincerity of their turning was known to Him, and He responded accordingly. At this very time in history, prophets like Isaiah were alive — but Jonah was the one sent. And God used him, despite his resistance, to reach a people Jonah never wanted to love.
Jonah Is Still God’s Prophet
This is what must not be missed.
Jonah is not rejected. God converses with him. Patiently. Honestly. Tenderly. Like Moses, Jonah receives not a vision or dream, but dialogue. Direct address. (Numbers Chapter 12 gives insight into how and with whom God converses, the humble)
He is still God’s man—even while disagreeing.
Jonah isn’t wrestling with who God is. He’s wrestling with how far God’s mercy reaches.
And so God teaches him with a plant what He already tried to teach with a storm. That His concern is not just for the prophet, but for the whole of His creation.
The Sign of Jonah
It’s no accident that Jesus chooses Jonah as His sign.
“No sign will be given except the sign of the prophet Jonah…” (Matt. 12:39)
Not Isaiah. Not Daniel. Not Elijah. Jonah.
Because Jonah embodies what Christ would fulfill: undeserved mercy, death and resurrection, and the gospel reaching those outside the circle of comfort.
Jonah’s theology was solid and correct setting his expectation while at his home. His attitude wasn’t right.
His journey is the journey of many of us: knowing what God is like… and struggling with what that means for the people we’d rather not forgive.
When Right Theology Isn’t Enough
Jonah proves that you can eventually be obedient with your feet, but still resistant in your heart. That you can proclaim the truth, but grieve the result. That you can preach God’s mercy while quietly wishing for judgment.
And still, you may remain God’s prophet and become the GOAT Evangelist of all time.
God doesn’t discard Jonah. He patiently holds the mirror.
And ends the book not with a closing line, but with a question—for Jonah, and for us:
“Should I not have concern for the great city?” (Jonah 4:11)
The real sign of Jonah isn’t just repentance. It’s that God still works through us, even when we disagree with Him.
#hisgate #truthatthegate #rayoflight
