All three items come together in the book of Jonah. Each was created by God to prove a point to Jonah. The skeptic or those determined to ignore the power of the revealed will of God have often engaged in attacking the book of Jonah. Such attacks are made by those who ignore the evidence and seek for a way to dismiss their responsibilities to God.
In the first case, Jonah is in a boat that is in danger of being broken up by a storm (Jonah 1:4). Each sailor tried and then cried out to each of them, his god (verse 5). Jonah is awakened and told to pray to His God. Lots are cast to figure out who it is that has created this problem of the storm. The man Jonah is the one. They ask who he is and where he is from. He tells them and their fear grows. Finally they come to him asking him what they need to do in order to save themselves and the ship. Jonah answers, throw me over board.
These sailors make another try to beat the storm. So it is when men strive to save themselves without God. Others siege upon this principle and say man can do nothing to save himself. Such reasoning is not in accord with scripture. Those on the day of Pentecost were convinced of their guilt in the death of Jesus (Acts 2:36). They wanted to know what to do. They were told to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins in the name of the Lord (verse 38). We then move to verse 40 of the chapter and the apostles continue to speak by saying to their audience save yourselves. We can save ourselves by being obedient to the Lord (Heb. 5:9; 1 Peter 1:22).
The sailors in Jonah knew they had no power to do this on their own. They therefore followed instructions and cast Jonah over board. Once they did the sea became calm, whereupon they offered sacrifice and made vows. Promising to serve God, followed by keeping that promise results in faith and the potential for the growth of faith. When the sailors did as Jonah told them to, the result was calm and peace.
The Bible then states that God prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. Those against God try to argue that no one could survive under those conditions. As the chapter closes let us remind ourselves that God prepared the fish and that God could preserve the life of Jonah for three days and nights (Jonah 1:17).
Jonah goes and warns Nineveh of a coming destruction from God (Jonah 3:4). Everyone from the king on down went the route of sackcloth, ashes and fasting. God seeing the change in their hearts would not destroy them at that time. Jonah leaves the city, goes out to the east side to see what would happenedJudging by his anger in chapter 4, Jonah wanted God to destroy these wicked people. God creates a gourd that arises and blocks the sun’s rays and helps to shade Jonah. God follows this by creating a worm that attacks the gourd and the gourd dies. God causes a strong wind from the east to bear down on Jonah’s head and he is about ready to die (Jonah 4:8). The point with God was that the gourd and worm did what He wanted them to do. Yet here in Nineveh was all these people who could not discern their right hand from their left. What are a few lessons to be learned from this event?
One is without the Word of God being revealed to us and understood by us, we cannot be saved. Faith comes by hearing (Rom. 10:17). That hearing is not the hearing of an audible sound but rather the idea of comprehension. If one comprehends what God wants them to do and they do it, then God is able to accept them. They have not saved themselves no more than Naaman cured himself of leprosy by doing God’s will. The gourd and the worm are lessons from us to reduce our pride and realize how many are lost and, therefore, how many need to be saved. We have both the word and ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18,19).