In the Old Testament, God’s people – the Jews – were supposed to be a blessing to other nations[1], pointing them to God. Ultimately this blessing came through Jesus Christ, but in the meantime God’s people didn’t always live up to His expectations. One disappointing example was Jonah. God said to him in Jonah 1:2 –
“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
But Nineveh was in Assyria, one of Israel’s enemies. God said in the call to Jonah that they were “evil.” 50 or so years later Assyria would conquer Israel. Jonah hated his enemy Assyria and didn’t want to prophesy to them even though God told him to, so what did he do instead? He ran away.
In his commentary on Jonah, Warren Wiersbe wrote: “When you turn your back on God, the only direction you can go is down.”[2] What did he mean?
Notice that in verse 3, Jonah goes “down to Joppa,” and “down into” a ship he found to take him to Tarshish, far away from both Israel and Nineveh. Later in verse 5, Jonah “had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.” From the minute Jonah decided to run from God, he found himself in a descending spiral and ended up in despair, asking the sailors to throw him (down?) into the sea to calm a storm. The Bible doesn’t use the word “down”, but you could say that after Jonah was tossed in the sea that he went down into the belly of the great fish when he was swallowed up.
It is only when Jonah prays a prayer of thanksgiving to God for saving his life and he says “you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God” that things start to look up for him. He is then “vomited…out upon the dry land”[3] and given a second chance.
Like the ancient Jews, the modern church is also called to be a blessing to the nations, for example in Matthew 28:19-20, the verses known as the “Great Commission”:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
This commission is to bless “all nations,” and note Jesus said to “make disciples,” not to “make converts” which means that the Great Commission goes beyond evangelism. While we are all called to evangelize, and some are particularly blessed in it, the commission includes each Christian’s ministry to the church as well as we help each other live as Christ did, blessing those around us. As Paul wrote in Romans 12:4-8, we all have a role in making disciples:
“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”
This isn’t a full list of what are called “spiritual gifts,” but prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, generosity, leadership and mercy cover a lot of different activities and ministries.
While Jonah had his call to preach to Nineveh, and all Christians have the call to “make disciples of all nations,” but like Jonah do we also have certain people or types of people – maybe those we consider evil – we’d rather not minister to? Are there tasks that we run away from, even if we feel God is calling us to do them, because of who else is involved? Are there times where we, like Jonah, are what Wiersbe called a “narrow-minded patriot,”[4] more concerned about being on the right side from our worldly or political perspective than about being on God’s side?
If so, the lesson from Jonah is: don’t neglect what God has called you to do, because when you do, “the only direction you can go is down.”
Maybe even into the belly of a big fish.
Who is God asking us to minister to today?
[1] Genesis 12:3
[2] Wiersbe, Warren. Be Amazed (Minor Prophets Hosea – Malachi) (1996). P. 99.
[3] Jonah 2:10
[4] Wiersbe, Warren. Be Amazed (Minor Prophets Hosea – Malachi) (1996). P. 113.
