Highlights from the Theology of Jonah: God's Sovereignty

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Great fish: "Please remove your foot from my mouth."
This weekend I had the privilege of writing a theology of Jonah, the Old Testament prophet. I enjoyed the project. The class spent four weeks translating and discussing the book and this paper gave us a chance to reflect on what we've learned and make some observations.

Here's one I took away: God shows Himself to be the Ruler of everything in the book of Jonah, both by what God does and what Jonah is so bad at doing. Nothing can stop God from doing what He wants to do. Here's a list of examples: He caused a violent storm on the sea (1:4), caused the storm to dissipate (1:15), prepared a great fish to preserve Jonah (1:17), appointed a plant to grow (4:6), appointed a worm to strike the plant (4:7), appointed a hot wind to strike Jonah (4:8), and prepared judgment for Nineveh down to the very day (3:4).

In contrast, when Jonah tried to assert his self-sovereignty by refusing God's summons for service and paying his way to sail in the other direction, God overcame his efforts. Jonah’s money could not compete with God's authority over nature, and Jonah had to be saved by God. Recommissioned, Jonah went on to proclaim the word of God in Nineveh, but not willingly, as we find out in 4:2. Despite Jonah’s best efforts to keep Nineveh from having a chance at repentance, God's will prevailed and He spared repentant Nineveh.

I'm trying to hold the focus to God's sovereignty revealed in Jonah, but already it's hard to miss God's kindness and Jonah's bitterness. More on those later.

Father, You have revealed Yourself to be all-powerful. You have no trouble accomplishing Your purposes in the world! I praise You for that. I recognize that I can rest in Your strength. You have showed Yourself strong by fulfilling Your promises to send a Messiah who would save us from our sin. Your plan is succeeding despite man's rebellion and sin. I look forward with joy to the complete fulfillment of Your promises when Jesus returns. May I be as obedient to Your voice as nature is so that I can pray and live Your prayer, "May Your Kingdom come and Your will be done.

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