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by GLENN PEASE
03/10/18
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Based on Jonah 1:3

     Many of you have no doubt heard several times of the boy who drew a picture in Sunday School of an airplane with four people in it. The Sunday School teacher asked him what part of the Bible he was illustrating, and he said it was a picture of the flight of Mary and Joseph with Jesus into Egypt. When she noted that there were four and not just three in the plane, she inquired who the fourth one was. He responded, "That was Pilate." We are using that same pun in reference to Jonah's flight to Tarshish. Mary and Joseph fled to escape the enemy of God's plan, but Jonah fled to escape God's plan itself. There are two important lessons we can learn from this flight. The first lesson is on-

I. THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD.

     The lesson on providence in this verse is unique in relationship to all that the rest of the book teaches. All through the book we see how God works by means of nature in storms, growth of plants, in living creatures, like the great fish, and by means of a worm to accomplish His goal. In this verse, however, the emphasis is not on what God did, but on what He did not do. Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish in direct opposition to God's command, and God does not interfere immediately to stop him. He lets Jonah carry out his own plan.

     Notice that Jonah knew where he wanted to go. He wanted to go to Tarshish, and with that in mind, he goes down to Joppa, and there he finds conveniently and coincidentally, a ship going, of all places, to Tarshish. What luck! That is just where he wanted to go. Things couldn't have worked out better for Jonah in his effort to successfully disobey God.

     The lesson that many point out here is that we learn by this experience that good timing, and all things working out to aid you in your plan, is no necessary proof that it is God's will. Even the most evil of schemes can work like a charm, and have all the breaks in its favor. Therefore, we must beware of judging God's will only by the smooth operation of our plans. Sometimes Christians just assume if the door is open and the way is clear to act, that that means it must be God's will. This is not necessarily the case at all.

     Charles Spurgeon was a zealous Calvinist, who preached a high concept of the providence of God, but also pointed out how providence can be distorted and used to justify anything. He said, "If you sit down and try to find in the ways of God to you and excuse for the wrong which you mean to commit, the crafty devil and your deceitful heart together will soon conjure up a plea for providence." In other words, sometimes evil plans work out great, and God does not stop them. Jonah could say, "Well, I must not be so bad to flea after all. Things are working out just fine. It is almost as if it was providential.

     The racketeer who sees a perfect setup by which to gain a great deal of money illegally could as well plead providence. So also with the thief who finds the back door unlocked, or the keys left in the car. It makes his theft so much easier and with less risk. But who would be so foolish as to consider it providential? The value of seeing the way things worked out well for Jonah in disobedience is that it wakes us up to do some serious thinking about God's will. We are hereby warned against trusting too much to circumstances, and we are trust back to depend upon the Word of God.

     David had an experience which is a perfect illustration. You recall that when Saul was chasing him, David found him lying down asleep. Saul was out to kill David, and now David had the perfect setup to take Saul's life. Abishai even encourages him to see the hand of providence in this situation, and he said, "The Lord has delivered him into your hands. Let me pin him to the ground." (I Sam. 26:8). In spite of the favorable circumstance and advice, David chose to let him live because the Word of God said it was not right to lay your hands on God's anointed. He made his decision based on God's Word, and not on other factors that were strongly in favor of acting contrary to that Word.

     You might be in a situation where you have an urgent need for five dollars, and suddenly you find yourself in a situation where the clerk has forgotten to take the money of a previous customer. He has left the room for a moment, and you are all alone with a five dollar bill in front of you. You could well argue that the Lord knows how you need that five dollars right now. The circumstances seem perfect for you to take it, and no one would know the difference. The Word of God, however, says that you should not steal, and this out ways all the other factors. Convenience does not determine God's will, but just the opposite when it is convenient to do what God forbids.   It is never God's will to do wrong and call the success of it providential because it goes so smooth.

     No matter how amazing the combination of coincidences might be it is not God's will if it is opposed to His Word. Everything that goes well is not of God. Spurgeon cried out, "No! No! There are the devil's providence’s as well as divine providence’s." God's providence is always at work to bring men back to Him, as the following verses of Jonah illustrate. He is not responsible for the convenience by which Jonah, or anyone else, succeeds in their flight from Him and His plan.

     E. Stanley Jones received a letter from a woman to whose husband he had given his book, The Way. It was laid on a shelf where it gathered dust. She went to a university where she became very negative and cynical. She began to trust no one, and became hateful and bitter. She became so depressed she decided to take her own life. She bought some pills and hid them until her plan was perfected. When the day came she got her pills from the drawer and headed for the bathroom to get water. She stumbled on the rug and bumped the bookcase, and that book that sat for years on the top fell to the floor in front of her. She thought it was strange, and so she picked it up and read it. She was transformed by what she read. She became a convinced Christian with a new life. This is what we mean by providential. God is working in lives all the time to confront them and bring them back to Himself. The end result is what matters. If circumstances lead us to God, then it is truly providential. If circumstances lead us away from God, it is the devil's providence. We need to keep in mind always that bad things can go well, and not assume that they are providential because they go well. The second thing we want to look at is-

II. THE PRESENCE OF GOD.

     Notice that two times in this verse it is stated that Jonah's flight was for the purpose of escaping the presence of God. Jonah was the first missionary who tried to take his furlough before he even reached the field. Some try an suggest that Jonah had such a limited concept of God that he thought he could really escape his presence. The heathen had many gods like that. A god for each country, and one for the sea, etc. They were territorial gods whose power only extended to certain boundaries. We know that Jonah was not thinking like that, however, that the God of Israel was limited to Israel. It is true there was progress in the Jewish mind as to the greatness and omnipresent nature of God, but Jonah had reached a high concept. He was no babe-he was a mature Hebrew and in v. 9 he states his fear of the Lord: "The God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land." He knew God as the creator of all, and knew He was over all, and was everywhere present.

     The omnipresent nature of God was revealed in Gen. 28. We read there of Jacob's dream and of God's promise to be with him wherever he goes, and then in verse 16 we read, "Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." He, and all the chosen people, had to learn that Jehovah was the one God and creator of all, and was everywhere present, and not just in Israel, or in the temple, as was the case of the gods of the heathen. They often forgot this, however, and because of their small and weak concept of God they tried to escape their loyalty to Him, and the result was judgment.

     David gives us the clearest description of a high concept of the omnipresence of God in Ps. 139:7-10. "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." Certainly Jonah knew this Psalm and the theology behind it. He was not so foolish as to think he could really escape the presence of God, and yet the text says that was his object.

     The first thing we can learn is that our theology does not always direct our actions. You can honestly believe one thing, but then act contrary to it. That is why knowing the truth is not enough if one does not act in accordance with it. Jonah did not lack knowledge, but he lacked wisdom which is the ability to apply knowledge practically to a worthy end. How often we lack wisdom, and, like Jonah, rise up to flee from Him whom we know to be everywhere. Like Jonah we become completely inconsistent. He was to go to the Gentiles to warn them, but he did not want to, and so he goes to the Gentiles for help to escape. Jonah did not mind receiving the services of Gentiles, nor did he mind their presence, as long as they were not his equal before God.

     Many people feel this way about those of another race. Their theology says all men are created in the image of God with eternal souls, and all are people for whom Christ died. They do not mind receiving the services of these people who work in hospitals, businesses, and public facilities, but they still do not want to accept them as equals. Jonah was not opposed to anything but this one thing that God commanded, and that was that he should go and give the Gentiles the same chance as the Jews have had to repent and be forgiven. The hardest barrier to break is that of putting all men on your level in relationship to God. If that barrier is broken down, it will destroy all others, and that is why it becomes the last strong hold of prejudice.

      Jonah is proof that one can be a man of God and still be controlled by prejudice toward other people. He could not give up his prejudice, and at the same time he could not stand to have it revealed by being in the presence of God. Jonah was trying to escape the consciousness of God's fellowship, for the presence of God was a rebuke to his ungodlike attitude. He was, in effect, resigning his office as a prophet. He wanted to be a secret believer from now on. Prejudice and prophecy just did not mix, and he chose to give up his duty rather than sacrifice his prejudice.

      God, however, did not accept his resignation, and pursued him to teach him the folly of trying to act contrary to his theology. God showed Jonah that theology is the most practical thing in the world, and those who think they can ignore it, and escape it, are preparing themselves to be fools. God is everywhere present, and that fact together with His providence makes it both sinful and senseless to try and escape His command. Let us remember that it holds true for our standing orders as well-"Go into all the world and preach the Gospel."

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