Series: Jonah

Service: Sun PM Worship

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Bill Sanchez

Summary Running from God The Prophet Jonah

📘 Sermon Information

Course Title: Bible Study / Old Testament Prophets

Instructor: Bill Sanchez

Date: 2025-10-12 Sunday PM Worship

Chapter/Topic: Jonah (with background from 2 Kings 14)

🧠Key Learnings

Jonah’s calling and initial refusal

Jonah is commanded by God to go to Nineveh and cry out against its wickedness (Jonah 1:1–2). Instead of obeying, Jonah flees toward Tarshish—the opposite direction—attempting to escape God’s command. His flight is deliberate, extensive (willing to go ~2,000 miles), and funded, showing strong intent to avoid obedience. This illustrates that people sometimes disobey God not from ignorance but from deliberate refusal when God’s will conflicts with their preferences or prejudices.

Running from God leads downward and burdens others

Jonah’s flight results in literal and figurative descent: he goes “down” into the ship’s hold, is cast overboard during a storm, and is swallowed by a great fish. The storm aboard the ship demonstrates that one person’s sin becomes a burden on others—the crew suffers and nearly perishes because of Jonah’s disobedience. The principle taught: disobedience isolates and drags down the disobedient and those around them.

God’s sovereignty and mercy in pursuit of the disobedient

Despite Jonah’s flight, God pursues and rescues him—appointing a fish to swallow him and later causing it to release him. Jonah prays from inside the fish, receives God’s deliverance, and is recommissioned. God does not rescind His original command because Jonah ran; He reissues it, demonstrating that God’s expectations remain consistent and His mercy persists even after failure.

Superficial obedience vs. genuine heart transformation

When Jonah finally goes to Nineveh, his obedience is minimal and grudging—he walks only part of the city and utters a short, stark proclamation (“Forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown”). That bare-minimum obedience precipitates a massive city-wide repentance, yet Jonah remains angry and resentful. The lesson: one can comply outwardly while remaining disobedient inwardly; God desires inward transformation (becoming like Him), not mere external conformity.

God desires all to repent; Jonah’s prejudice reveals a deeper heart issue

Jonah resents God’s mercy toward Nineveh because he considers them unworthy. He prefers God’s judgment to God’s mercy for those he hates. God’s response—questioning Jonah about his anger and teaching him through the plant/ worm episode—exposes Jonah’s self-centeredness: Jonah values his own comfort and sense of justice more than God’s compassion. The book shows that the true enemy often is ourselves: our prejudice, self-righteousness, and unwillingness to love as God loves.

Running to God means becoming like God and participating in His mission

The ultimate call is not merely to be rescued by God but to be remade into His likeness—loving the things God loves, showing mercy, and bringing others to Him. Jesus is presented as the greater counterpart: unlike Jonah, Jesus willingly went to people who did not deserve mercy, died and rose again, and called people to repentance. Running to God involves full commitment (not half-hearted) and actively bringing others into relationship with God.

✏️ Key Concepts

Concept 1: Divine Commission and Human Response

Definition: A divine commission is God’s directive to an individual to act on His behalf; human response can be obedient, reluctant, or rebellious.

Key Points:

• God commands Jonah to preach to Nineveh (Jonah 1:1–2).
• Jonah’s first response is flight (Tarshish), showing refusal when the mission conflicts with his prejudices.
• God’s expectation remains unchanged despite Jonah’s disobedience.

Example / Analogy: Jonah leaving for Tarshish (running away from God’s mission) —— the speaker.

Concept 2: Consequences of Disobedience

Definition: Disobedience to God’s commands brings personal and communal consequences that often worsen the situation.

Key Points:

• Jonah’s disobedience causes a storm that endangers the sailors (his sin burdens others).
• Disobedience leads Jonah downward—physically into the sea and the fish, spiritually into blindness and selfishness.
• <span style="line-