God’s strategy to save lost humanity sometimes appears strange. Nineveh, a city of 120,000 people, was the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Assyrian armies were some of the most vicious in the Near East. Their cruelty was well known throughout the Mediterranean basin. They not only attacked enemy strongholds, but they also destroyed them. They brutally murdered the opposition and took thousands of young people as their slaves.

Imagine Jonah’s reaction when God instructed him to travel from Israel to Nineveh to preach a message of repentance in this wicked city. Rather than trusting God’s power to accomplish God’s command, he was overwhelmed with anxiety. He had no rest or peace of mind, so he fled in the opposite direction. One of the remarkable things about this story is God’s heartfelt desire to save the inhabitants of Nineveh. God is passionate about saving lost people. He will do whatever it takes to redeem them. The story of Jonah not only is about saving Nineveh; but it also is about saving Jonah, the reluctant prophet.

Jonah probably did not realize the depth of his animosity toward the Ninevites. Running from God, he ended up in the belly of a huge fish and had three days to contemplate his relationship with God. In an act of sheer desperation, Jonah cried out to God. When the huge fish spat him up on the shore, the reluctant runaway became the agreeable missionary. But the story does not end there. Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh, and when they repented, he was angry. He thought more of his reputation than of God’s honor and His love for the people of Nineveh. In this week’s lesson, we discover this wonderful truth: Jonah needed the gospel as much as the people of Nineveh did, and so do we.

Part II: Commentary

Jonah was a resident of a small city called Gath-hepher, located a short distance from the seaport city of Joppa (2 Kings 14:25). Filled with fear because of the cruelty of the inhabitants in Nineveh, he ran from God’s call to witness to them. Boarding a sailing vessel headed for Tarshish, he desired to get as far away from Nineveh as possible. Although we cannot be certain, Tarshish is thought by many Bible commentators to be Tartessus in southern Spain near Gibraltar. The westward journey by sea from Joppa to Tartessus was approximately 2,200 miles. Nineveh, on the other hand, was located about 700 miles northeast of Joppa.

The thought of being ridiculed, rejected, or even worse, persecuted overwhelmed the prophet. The difficulties before him appeared so great that he could not face them. Commenting on Jonah’s lack of faith, Ellen G. White describes Jonah’s mindset: “As the prophet thought of the difficulties and seeming impossibilities of this commission, he was tempted to question the wisdom of the call. From a human viewpoint it seemed as if nothing could be gained by proclaiming such a message in that proud city. He forgot for the moment that the God whom he served was all-wise and all-powerful. While he hesitated, still doubting, Satan overwhelmed him with discouragement. The prophet was seized with a great dread, and he ‘rose up to flee unto Tarshish.’ Going to Joppa, and finding there a ship ready to sail, ‘he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them’ [Jon. 1:3].

“In the charge given him, Jonah had been entrusted with a heavy responsibility; yet He who had bidden him go was able to sustain His servant and grant him success. Had the prophet obeyed unquestioningly, he would have been spared many bitter experiences, and would have been blessed abundantly.”—Prophets and Kings, p. 266.

Jonah did not solve his problem by running away from it. Running only plunged him into more difficulty. The God who commissioned him to preach repentance in Nineveh was fully capable of sustaining, supporting, and strengthening him. God never gives us a task without giving us the ability to accomplish that task. “As the will of man cooperates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent. Whatever is to be done at His command may be accomplished in His strength. All His biddings are enablings.”—Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 333. Jonah thought more of his weakness than he did of God’s strength. But God was not through with him yet.

Jonah was on his way to Tarshish, but God was on His way to Jonah. As the prophet ran from God’s call, God called out to the prophet. Scripture says, “The Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up” (Jon. 1:4, NKJV). The storm was so fierce that it threatened to break the ship to pieces. When it appeared that the cargo and the whole crew would be lost, in his absolute despair, Jonah begged them to throw him overboard. As he sank beneath the waves, he was swallowed by a large fish. The Bible says, “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (Jon. 1:17, NKJV).

There are those who believe the story of Jonah is too fanciful to be true. They think it is a mythical tale of fiction rather than a historical narrative. The evidence of Scripture, history, and archaeology is against that view, however. Among other reasons for believing that Jonah’s story is a real-life event is that, according to 2 Kings 14:25, Jonah was a historical character. The Jews regarded the book of Jonah as historical. Archaeological finds at Nineveh confirm the size of the city as described in the Bible. Jesus Himself refers to Nineveh and the story of Jonah (Matt. 12:39, 40; Luke 11:29, 30). One of the major issues revolves around whether a fish could ever swallow someone and if that person could survive.

John D. Morris, PhD, a scientist with the Institute for Creation Research, explains the possibility of Jonah’s being swallowed by a large fish this way: “There are several species of whale and of sharks alive today with gullets large enough to swallow a man whole. Among extinct animals like the plesiosaurs, the same could be said, and perhaps this was a heretofore unknown fish of large size. The point is, the story is not impossible. However, most important, the Bible says that ‘the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah’ (Jon. 1:17). Clearly this event was miraculous and not a naturalistic phenomenon. Thus, we don’t have to give it an explanation limited by modern experience or knowledge.

“Could a man survive in a fish’s belly? The Hebrew idiom ‘three days and three nights’ has been clearly shown both from Scripture and other sources to mean a period beginning on one day and ending on the day after the one following. It doesn’t necessarily mean three full days and nights. Furthermore, there have been several reported cases of modern sailors or other individuals swallowed by such an animal, only to be recovered many hours later” (John D. Morris, “Did Jonah Really Get Swallowed by a Whale?” Institute for Creation Research, December 1, 1993, http://icr.org/article/did-jonah-really-get-swallowed-by-whale). Morris goes on to say that as Christians, we believe in the miraculous, so we accept the Word of God as the story reads in the book of Jonah.

There, in the belly of that large fish, Jonah was able to do some serious thinking. Filled with hopeless despair, he cried out to God. “ ‘When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple’ ” (Jon. 2:7, NKJV). Jonah looked beyond the darkness to the bright light shining from heaven’s sanctuary. He focused his attention on the eternal. The psalmist Asaph declares, “Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary. . . . You are the God who does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the peoples. You have with Your arm redeemed Your people” (Ps. 77:13–15, NKJV). Jonah discovered the God who does wonders. Whatever circumstance we find ourselves in, as we look to the sanctuary and behold the glory of God, like Jonah, our confidence in God and His infinite power will increase. Commenting on Jonah’s experience, Ellen G. White states: “Yet in the hour of Jonah’s despair the Lord did not desert him. Through a series of trials and strange providences, the prophet’s confidence in God and in His infinite power to save was to be revived.”—Prophets and Kings, p. 266.

When Jonah’s faith revived, God worked a miracle, and the large fish spat Jonah out onto the shore. Jonah traveled to Nineveh and preached that God was going to destroy the wicked city. To his surprise, the people repented. There was a great spiritual revival. The king issued a decree in harmony with Eastern custom, and the entire nation fasted, confessed their sin, and repented. Amazingly enough, Jonah was incredibly disappointed. He had fulfilled God’s command, but the terrible consequences did not follow.

In prophecy, there is a category known as conditional prophecy. This concept is expressed well in Jonah 3:10: “Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it” (NKJV). The fulfillment of the prophecy was based on their response. When they repented, God “relented.” Jonah’s preaching had been a success, but the reluctant prophet did not recognize it. He felt like a failure, but centuries later, Jesus cited Jonah as an example of faithfulness for his preaching to Nineveh. Here is incredibly good news: God does not give up on us easily. Jonah needed the gospel as much as the Ninevites did. God pursued him, would not let him go, and held on to him until Jonah recognized His mighty hand.

Part III: Life Application

Have you ever sensed that God was leading you to do something, but you were reluctant to do it? Have you ever felt the Holy Spirit’s working on your heart, convicting you to make a decision, and you have been hesitant because of the perceived consequences? Maybe like Jonah, you have been a reluctant missionary. You have heard God’s call to take an office in the church, witness to a neighbor or work colleague, or share the gospel with an unbelieving family member. At the same time, you are worried that you may not be qualified to do it. Or in your witness, you are afraid you might say the wrong thing. You are fearful that they might not accept what you have to say. Even worse, you are afraid they might reject you. Here are a couple things to remember. First, God does not call the qualified; He qualifies those whom He calls. Second, when God impresses you to do something and you accept His assignment, He takes upon Himself the responsibility for the results. God does not call us to “success.” He calls us to faithfulness. If we are faithful to the task He assigns us to do, one day He will say, “ ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. . . . Enter into the joy of your lord’ ” (Matt. 25:21, NKJV).