God calls Jonah to prophesy against Nineveh but he flees by boat to Tarshish. God sends a storm and Jonah is thrown overboard, being swallowed by a great fish. After repenting, Jonah is spit out and goes to Nineveh, prophesying its destruction. The people repent and God spares the city, but Jonah is displeased, feeling his prophecy has failed. God rebukes Jonah for showing more compassion for a plant than for the people of Nineveh.

1. Jonah 1:3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish
from the presence of the Lord. He went
down to Joppa, and found a ship going to
Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down
into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the
presence of the Lord.

2. Background
 Jonah means (dove)
 He is known as the reluctant prophet
 He is from Gath Hepher
 Date – 782 BC
 Contemporary with Hosea, Isaiah,
Amos, Micah

3. Background
 Ninevah – capital of
Assyria
 A cruel powerful enemy
of Israel
 Ninevah was where the
current city of Mosul,
Iraq is located.

4. Background
 The story of Jonah is a type of the
death, burial and resurrection of
Jesus.
 Matthew 12:40 For as Jonah was three
days and three nights in the belly of the
great fish, so will the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the
earth.

5. Outline
 Jonah ran FROM God (ch. 1)

6. Outline
 Jonah ran FROM God (ch. 1)
 Jonah ran TO God (ch. 2)

7. Outline
 Jonah ran FROM God (ch. 1)
 Jonah ran TO God (ch. 2)
 Jonah ran WITH God (ch. 3)

8. Outline
 Jonah ran FROM God (ch. 1)
 Jonah ran TO God (ch. 2)
 Jonah ran WITH God (ch. 3)
 Jonah ran AHEAD of God (ch. 4)

9. Lessons from Jonah
 Thereis always a price to pay when
you run away from God
– But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the
presence of the Lord. He went down to
Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish;
so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to
go with them to Tarshish from the presence
of the Lord. Jonah 1:3

10. Lessons from Jonah
 There is always a price to pay when you
run away from God
 Rebellion always hurts others
– Then the mariners were afraid; and
every man cried out to his god, and
threw the cargo that was in the ship
into the sea, to lighten the load. Jonah
1:5a

11. Lessons from Jonah
 There is always a price to pay when you
run away from God
 Rebellion always hurts others
 It is possible to be at rest out of God's
will
– But Jonah had gone down into the
lowest parts of the ship, had lain down,
and was fast asleep. Jonah 1:5b

12. Lessons from Jonah
 Faith
leads to repentance then to good
works
– 8 But let man and beast be covered with
sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let
every one turn from his evil way and from
the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who can
tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away
from His fierce anger, so that we may not
perish? Jonah 3:8-9

13. Lessons from Jonah
 Faith
leads to repentance then to good
works
 God's actions toward men reflect
man's heart toward God
– 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. Jonah 3:10

14. Lessons from Jonah
 Faithleads to repentance then to good
works
 God's actions toward men reflect man's
heart toward God
 We must make the spritual a priority
over the material.

15. Lessons from Jonah
9 Then God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you
to be angry about the plant?" And he said, "It
is right for me to be angry, even to death!" 10
But the Lord said, "You have had pity on the
plant for which you have not labored, nor
made it grow, which came up in a night and
perished in a night.
Jonah 4:9-10

16. Lessons from Jonah
11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that
great city, in which are more than one
hundred and twenty thousand persons
who cannot discern between their right
hand and their left--and much
livestock?" Jonah 4:11

17. Lessons from Jonah
FINAL LESSON – GOD DOES NOT
CHANGE HIS COMMANDS.
1:2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great
city, and cry out against it; for their
wickedness has come up before Me."
3 :2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great
city, and preach to it the message that I
tell you."