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<2011.12> Our Position in Light of the Book of Jonah

Except the Sign of the Prophet Jonah 1
This is an edited version of the lecture titled, "Except the Sign of the Prophet Jonah" which was preached on December 15, 2007.
"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me." 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 1:2-3)
The Entire Flow of the Bible Presented in the Book of Jonah
So far we've been studying the book of Genesis in segments from the beginning. While studying the content of the short passages that we read I tried to cover in depth the flow of the history that appears in the entire Bible, God's plan within that history and the relationship between the Jews and the Church. It is necessary for us to understand through the Bible the heart of God, the order in which He carried out His work of salvation for mankind and how He fulfilled this.
Genesis chapter 22 shows us Abraham taking Isaac up Mount Moriah in obedience to God's command to sacrifice his son Isaac and we know the significance of this incident in relation to the entire flow of the Bible. We are aware of the plight that Isaac was in and the process in which he received this new fate. And we know how this applies to us personally and how this appears to us in history.
The answer given to us in the Bible is that there is a "first man Adam" and a "last Adam". It talks about the first man Adam as a living being and Jesus Christ as a life-giving spirit. (See 1 Corinthians 15:45) In other words, there is a history of the human beings captured in sin, the history of the Old Testament pertaining to the nation of Israel. Then there is the New Testament that announces the Church, which is a gathering of those who have been born again through the words of God and are called the children of God. And we experience and learn about this through the Bible as we live our lives. The New Testament tells us that the Jews seek signs. Jesus talked about Jonah when He said, "and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." (See Matthew 12:39, Mark 16:4, Luke 11:29) The experience that Jonah went through shows us the reason why Jesus was born in this world and how He would die. This is explained in the Book of the Gospels.
Most people know about Jonah. You may have seen his story at a Bible school play or in some kind of comic book or fable book that frequently depicts the prophet Jonah. Biblical scholars and historians acknowledge that the book of Jonah was recorded around 760 BC. The story of the book of Jonah takes place in the city of Nineveh, which is the capital of the Assyrian empire. The content of the book of Jonah is quite simple. It doesn't appear to hold some kind if significant message. Of course there are many people who think about the true significance of the book of Jonah in light of the words Jesus said: "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." (Matthew 12:40)
But as we read the book of Jonah, there's a common mistake that we may make. We are likely to think that the book of Jonah is simply a book about a man named Jonah. When we read the book of Esther, there are many characters that appear?Esther, Mordecai, King Ahasuerus, Haman, Queen Vashti and many other people. And while we read the passages, we are able to see whom Mordecai represents in light of the entire Bible and whom he is a shadow of. And we are able to think about the position of the Jews and the Church through the relationship of Queen Vashti and Esther. And through Haman, we are able to think about Satan's plan to directly defy God's plan.  This would be a large-scale production with many characters if it were a play. Compared to this, only one man Jonah seems to be present in the book of Jonah. 
Let's think about the other books of the Prophets that are titled after the prophet like the book of Jonah. There's the book of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and many more. And though it's not one of the books of the Prophets, there are books such as Nehemiah and Esther that are titled with an individual's name. It's true that the people whose name are in the title appear in the content of those books, however, it's not a story about that individual. It's a record of the state of the nation of Israel, the events that happened to the nation of Israel throughout history and the many sins that they committed as a nation.
The books in the New Testament with titles of individual's names such as Timothy and Philemon, compared to other books of the Bible, are viewed as more personal in nature. In contrast to the writings starting with "Letter to the church in Ephesus or the church in Corinth", the writing is a bit narrower in scope when it says it's a letter to Timothy. These books feel more personal and written within humanly relationships. There are books that are not named after the writers in the Bible, and in such books as the Psalms in the Old Testament we can see many impressive writings about the things experienced by David and other people in their individual lives.
The book of Jonah is also about what one individual experienced and realized. But from that individual's personality and the many events that unfold as a result of his actions speaks to us and is thought provoking. And it's not inaccurate to say that the historical events that the nation of Israel experienced, the plan of God that is in the entire Bible, and how God led this history of salvation to solve the sin of mankind and the entire flow of the Bible, is shown to us through Jonah's experience.
But while we read the book of Jonah, if we exclude the many incidents and combination of causes that are present in the other books of the Bible, it is easy to narrow-mindedly see this as an incident that one person experienced and later received a blessing. The story of Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 is the same. Through the many incidents that occur in the family of this one man, Abraham, we are able to see how Jesus Christ was born and we are provided an explanation of the relationship between the Jews and the Church that came about through Him.
Jonah's Personality
In the book of Jonah, it starts with God telling Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh to tell them how the city was filled with wickedness. But problems arose when Jonah didn't go to Nineveh and got onto a random boat that went to Tarshish. We feel familiar to Jonah as we read about him in the book of Jonah. He is someone that closely resembles the way we are. He doesn't act holy in any manner. And when we see him being disobedient to God, we are able to comfort ourselves thinking, "Even prophets were disobedient. I am just like that." Isn't that the case? It's a very interesting part to read. He is the type of person who gets upset easily and changes his mind frequently. Although Jonah's age is not listed, I am curious to know as I read about him.
While working with many people, because I'm human, there are times when I see someone making the same mistake over and over I would think, "The work would go so much better without that person.' And when I hear people who are polite to me to my face and then talk negative about me behind my back, I think it's childish and I feel upset. I'm just honestly sharing the thoughts that occur to me. In that perspective, Jonah is not really a trustworthy person. If you entrusted him with money to go to the bank to payoff, he is the type of person who would take a cab and go somewhere else with the money.

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