“Jonah Rose Up To Flee” - 2/4/25

 

This statement from Jonah 1:3 is well-known, I am sure. After God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach against them, he set out to do the opposite. He was fleeing from God, from his duty, from the Ninevites, and from his homeland to keep from doing what God said. What Jonah did was not a random mistake or a misunderstanding. This was a profound act of rebellion against the will of God Almighty! The Lord said long ago that “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft” in His eyes (I Sam. 15:23), and Jonah was guilty of it now.

 

Man does not take sin seriously. Many treat sin as a game, a joke (Prov. 14:9), as if it is not real. Folks laugh at sin and brag about their sin. They do not realize what sin has done to them and God. Some are ignorant of the impact of sin, that it ultimately brings death (Ezek. 18:20; Jas. 1:14-15). While we are not privy to all of Jonah’s thoughts at this time, it is evident that he was not serious about sin and preferred rebellion to obedience.

 

Some might ask why I use the term “rebellion” when referring to Jonah’s action in Jonah 1:3. I use the term because that is what it is! He rebelled just as much as Saul did when he refused to obey God (I Sam. 15). Jonah rebelled just as much as Adam and Eve did when they disobeyed Jehovah (Gen. 3:6). He rebelled just as Pharoah, Ahab, Caesar, and many more did!

 

Rebellion is not just something that happens with a raised fist or a scream. Rebellion can happen quietly as well. It is a conscious decision we make to reject what God wants. For example, Saul denied he had disobeyed God because of all the other things he had done “right” (I Sam. 15:13-15). Yet, Samuel pointed out the “bleating of the sheep … and the lowing of the oxen” (I Sam. 15:14). Doing what I want 1% of the time and doing what God wants 99% of the time does not equal complete obedience. That is true for Saul, Jonah, and us! Though we might point out times when Jonah obeyed God, this single act of running away to Tarshish instead of going to Nineveh proved his rebellion against God!

 

Yes, sometimes people rebel quietly! Yet, they must still face the consequences of their action (Rom. 6:23). It is high time we realize what sin is and take it seriously. When God tells us to do something, and we refuse, it is not cute. It is not a “minor infraction.” We have rebelled by following our will instead of God’s!

 

Let us examine ourselves (II Cor. 13:5). Are we truly doing what God wants, or are we rebelling against God by obeying only when it is what we want to do, anyway? As we continue to read the book of Jonah, we see that what Jonah did was not a “minor” act or something to be “swept under the rug!” His sins, as well as ours, have contributed to the demand that One come to die as a sacrifice for sin (Jn. 18:36-37). Yes, Jesus came and died on the cross so that we might be forgiven of our sins, our rebellion, when we genuinely repent (Lk. 13:3, 5; Acts 17:30; II Pet. 3:9). The urgency of repentance cannot be overstated. Have you repented?

 

– Jarrod M. Jacobs