Sabbath afternoon Introduction

It’s interesting to know that a prophet of God had diverted his direction towards the instruction of God to preach to Nineveh. It’s a dramatic turn about of how God teaches lessons of obedience rather than running away from the responsibility where someone was called for.

Inspiration says, “In the history of Nineveh there is a lesson that you should study carefully. . . . You must know your duty to your fellow beings who are ignorant and defiled, and who need your help.” —Manuscript 164, 1897. {CTr 172.6}

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. Jonah 1:2.

Nineveh, wicked though it had become, was not wholly given over to evil. He who "beholdeth all the sons of men" (Psalm 33:13) . . . perceived in that city many who were reaching out after something better and higher. . . . God revealed Himself to them in an unmistakable manner, to lead them, if possible, to repentance. {CC 230.2}

The instrument chosen for this work was the prophet Jonah. . . . Had the prophet obeyed unquestioningly, he would have been spared many bitter experiences, and would have been blessed abundantly. Yet in the hour of Jonah's despair the Lord did not desert him. Through a series of trials and strange providences, the prophet's confidence in God and in His infinite power to save was to be revived. . . . {CC 230.3}

This week’s SSLesson will look more on the lessons of a successful missionary endeavor and God’s mighty interventions for the restlessness and lack of peace of Jonah’s commission to preach the warning of judgment for Nineveh.

Outline of the Study

Sunday: Running Away (Restlessly Running Away - Mat. 11:30; 2Kings 14:25)

Monday: A Three-Day Rest (Resting in the Depths – Jonah 2:19)

Tuesday: Mission Accomplished (Delivering Rest – Jonah 3:1-10)

Wednesday: An Angry, Restless Missionary (Not Finding Rest – Jonah 4:1-11)

Thursday: A Two-Way Street (Finding Rest – Jude 20-23)

Friday: Further Study

Prayer Thought

Study the history of Nineveh. God sent a special message by Jonah to that wicked city. "Arise," He bade Jonah, "go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me." Jonah was to "cry against" the city, but he was averse to bearing any such message. Instead of obeying, he "rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord" (Jonah 1:2, 3). Read the history. {2SAT 279.2} [Jonah 3:1-10; 4:1-11, quoted.] {2SAT 279.3}

Jonah seemed to suppose that his reputation as a prophet was injured. Many such messages as his would be given in our age, if the wicked cities would repent as did Nineveh. {2SAT 279.4}

Memory Verse

“And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left — and much livestock?” (Jonah 4:11, NKJV).

Words of Assurance

When the people of Nineveh humbled themselves before God, and cried to Him for mercy, He heard their cry. “God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.” {CTr 172.2}

But Jonah revealed that he did not value the souls in that wretched city. He valued his reputation, lest they should say he was a false prophet. . . . Now when he sees the Lord exercise His compassionate attributes and spare the city that had corrupted its ways before Him, Jonah does not co-operate with God in His merciful design. He has not the people’s interests in view. It does not grieve him that so large a number must perish who have not been educated to do right. Listen to his complaint: {CTr 172.3}

“Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.” {CTr 172.4}

Sunday: Running Away (Restlessly Running Away - Mat. 11:30; 2Kings 14:25)

“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 1:3)

Nineveh, that Great City

This is the special message that God bade his servant Jonah bear in the ancient and populous city founded by Asshur, the son of Shem, who "went forth" from "the land of Shinar" about the time of the dispersion from Babel, "and builded Nineveh" along the fertile bank of the Tigris, over two hundred miles to the northward from Babylon. {RH, October 18, 1906 par. 2}

Jonah was bidden to "cry against" the city, but he was averse to bearing any such message. Instead of obeying, he "rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish": so he paid the fare thereof and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." {RH, October 18, 1906 par. 3}

God in his providence taught Jonah, by severe affliction, the lesson of obedience that enabled him to fulfil God's purpose in behalf of the inhabitants of Nineveh. The record of his experience, as given in the first and second chapters of Jonah, is worthy of most careful study. {RH, October 18, 1906 par. 4}

"The word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey, . . . and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. {RH, October 18, 1906 par. 5}

Commission was Given

As the nature of this commission, with all its difficulties and seeming impossibilities, loomed up before Jonah, he began to question the wisdom of the call. As he questioned, he forgot that the God whom he served was all-wise and all-powerful, and he began to doubt whether he should undertake to carry out such a commission. While he hesitated, still doubting, Satan overwhelmed him with discouragement. Seized with a great dread, he "rose up to flee unto Tarshish." Going down to Joppa, and finding there a ship ready to sail, "he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish." Jonah 1:3. {RH, December 4, 1913 par. 5}

Salvation Belongs to the Lord

At last Jonah had learned that "Salvation belongeth unto the Lord." Psalms 3:8. "Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel." Jeremiah 3:23. Men have sold themselves to the enemy of all righteousness. They cannot redeem themselves. Only by accepting Christ as a personal Saviour can human beings be delivered from the power of the enemy. {RH, December 4, 1913 par. 15}

Man's pride would lead him to seek for salvation in some other way than that devised by God. He is unwilling to be accounted as nothing, unwilling to recognize Christ as the only one who can save to the uttermost. But of Christ it is written, "There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." "In all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted." The one word written above the life that Christ lived in this world in behalf of the fallen race, is "Salvation." {RH, December 4, 1913 par. 16}

Consider the following

Jonah lived in Gath-hepher. He was a successful prophet during Jeroboam II reign (2 Kings 14:25). He knew God and rested in Him.

God requested him to deliver a message to Nineveh. Jonah chose to run away and to seek rest in the hold of a sinking boat.

Jonah knew about the cruelty of the Ninevites (an Assyrian city). They had carried out several raids into Israelite territory.

He panicked. How could he preach to his enemies? Wouldn’t they react violently? And what if God forgive the Ninevites? He would look like a lying prophet!

Monday: A Three-Day Rest (Resting in the Depths – Jonah 2:19)

“In trouble, deep trouble, I prayed to God. He answered me. From the belly of the grave I cried, ‘Help!’ You heard

my cry.” (Jonah 2:2 MSG)

Historical background

The records show that the ancient Near East during the 8^th century B.C. was dominated by the cruel overlords – the Neo-Assyrian, the time that Jonah ministered in the house of Israel. At around 75 years later, the Neo-Assyrian king Sennacherib attacked Judah but wasn’t victorious for God had protected and have mercy with them. Earlier Israel (10 tribes and Samaria) already had fallen about twenty years earlier, and king Hezekiah apparently had joined a local anti-Assyrian coalition.

This account was recorded in 2Kings 18 and Isaiah 36.

Only God knows the future, and we should place our hopes and ambitions in His mighty hand. Then, and then only, will we come to the "top." And if we are tempted to say we will or will not do this or that, then let us remember Jonah: He said he would not bear a message to Nineveh, and straightway took a boat for Tarshish. But the boatmen threw him overboard and the great fish picked him up and brought him right back to the place whence he was trying to run away. {1TG50: 27.1}

Questions to Ponder

In Sunday’s lesson we talk about the great and seems mission impossible which Jonah had been commanded to warn the sinful city.

Let’s consider some questions here:

1. Is it really difficult for Jonah to just obey God’s command?

2. Did God allow Jonah to flee away? Is it wonder that Jonah didn’t want to go?

3. Have we ever done fleeing from God before? If so, what lesson have you learned from it?

4. If Jonah had obeyed right away, will he experience being in the belly of the big fish, three days and three nights?

Inspiration says, “Of Jonah, we read in Desire of Ages, page 406, "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, Christ was to be the same time 'in the heart of the earth.' And as the preaching of Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so Christ's preaching was a sign to His generation." See also Prophets and Kings, page 274. {SR1: 16.1}

The Sign of Jonah

Though a number of times we have conclusively cleared the questions as to (1) whether Jesus, in order to fulfill the "sign of Jonah," was "three days and three nights" in the grave, or

(2) whether the sign was fulfilled in some other way and

(3) whether He was crucified on Friday, on Thursday, or on Wednesday, there still seem to be some points which are not clear to all, first of which underlies the question:

Was Christ Crucified on the Day the Leaven Was Put Out of the Houses -- On the Fourteenth Day?

Mark, who was an eyewitness of the event says, "And the first day of unleavened bread when they killed the passover, His disciples said unto Him, Where wilt Thou that we go and prepare that Thou mayest eat the passover? And He sendeth forth two of His disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him.... And His disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as He had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. And in the evening He cometh with the twelve. And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with Me shall betray Me." Mark 14:12, 13, 16-18.

Since the Passover lamb was killed in the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month (Ex. 12:6), and was eaten at the commencement of the fifteenth day (Num. 28:17), and since the gospel writers declare that Jesus ate the Passover at the very hour the whole Jewish nation ate it, the fact is solidly established that the time of the crucifixion of Christ did not coincide with the time of the killing of the lamb on the fourteenth day for the first of the Passover feasts. It did coincide, however, with the killing of the lamb for the second of the feasts, as will be seen from the following paragraphs

Consider the following

God sent a giant fish to save Jonah from death. Finally, he found the rest he was longing for. His prayer reflects his feelings in that moment (Jonah 2).

He thanked God for listening to his distressed cry (v. 2).

God saved his life when death was certain. This gave him hope that he would see the Temple again (v. 3-6).

He was sure that God was listening to his prayer in His Heavenly Temple (v. 7).

He acknowledged that doing God’s will is the only safe way (v. 8-9).

Tuesday: Mission Accomplished (Delivering Rest – Jonah 3:1-10)

“So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.” (Jonah 3:5)

Perhaps the strongest Scriptural exemplification of the futility of one's attempting to dodge his God-given duty, is that of the classic case of the prophet Jonah's, on the one hand, securing ship passage to Tarshish in his desperation to escape the stern task which God had assigned him -- to warn Nineveh; and of God's consequently, on the other hand, manifesting His might in frustrating the prophet's misbegotten, errant effort which brought him face to face with catastrophe which, in turn, shocked him into realizing this great recreancy to his God-given duty, and enabled the ship's crew to recognize God's voice speaking Jonah's condemnation through himself, demanding that they throw him overboard. Had not God undertaken to prevail with Jonah, with the crew, and with the sea, there would have come disaster to every soul not only aboard the vessel but also in the capital city, Nineveh. But as Jonah at last saw himself becoming a menace to humanity for shunning his God-given duty, and as the crew solemnly took heed to the Voice which spoke through him, God brought all of them out of trouble so that none suffered. There could therefore be only criminal folly in our pursuing any Jonah-like course of duty-dodging which could only bring upon us the sorest retributive difficulty and disaster. {MSDSDA: 9.1}

The Antitypical Nineveh Ahead

The capital city of Assyria (the power that rules the people) is to become a desolation. This Nineveh is evidently the antitype of ancient Nineveh, as is the Babylon of The Revelation the antitype of ancient Babylon.

Nah. 1:1; 3:18 -- "The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.... Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them."

Plainly, Assyria with her capital city, Nineveh, are the one people.

Now to find who the other people are, we shall read chapter 1, verses 12, 13, and 15 (omitting those parts of the verses which pertain to Assyria).

Nah. 1:12, 13, 15 -- "Thus saith the Lord;... Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder... Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows:

for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off."

The people whom God has afflicted (by their dispersion among the nations) and whom He promises to afflict no more, and to break the Assyrian yoke from off their shoulders, are His people, His church -- antitypical Judah. They are, therefore, the other people.

The title of God's people, you note, is "Judah." They are counselled to behold the messenger of God who at the fulfillment of this prophecy brings to them good tidings, tidings of peace...the message of the Kingdom of peace (Isa. 11:6-9). The Lord counsels them to be honest with Him, honest in their profession of faith. They are, moreover, assured that at the fulfillment of this prophecy the destroying angels are to remove the wicked from the midst of the righteous. Thus will the wicked be "raptured" away and be no more. {1TG24: 12.2}

Consider the following

One day of Jonah’s preaching about the destruction to come was enough to move the Ninevites to collective repentance.

The Holy Spirit arduously worked the Ninevites’ hearts. Even the king covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes to show his repentance (Jonah 3:9).

The Ninevites found rest in God’s mercy.

Wednesday: An Angry, Restless Missionary (Not Finding Rest – Jonah 4:1-11)

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.” (Jonah 4:1)

When Jonah learned of God's purpose to spare the city that, notwithstanding its wickedness, had been led to repent in sackcloth and ashes, he should have been the first to rejoice because of God's amazing grace; but instead he allowed his mind to dwell upon the possibility of his being regarded as a false prophet. Jealous of his reputation, he lost sight of the infinitely greater value of the souls in that wretched city. The compassion shown by God toward the repentant Ninevites "displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry." "Was not this my saying," he inquired of the Lord, "when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest Thee of the evil." Jonah 4:1, 2. {PK 271.1}

Once more he yielded to his inclination to question and doubt, and once more he was overwhelmed with discouragement. Losing sight of the interests of others, and feeling as if he would rather die than live to see the city spared, in his dissatisfaction he exclaimed, "Now, O Lord, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live." {PK 271.2}

"Doest thou well to be angry?" the Lord inquired. "So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd." Verses 3-6. {PK 272.1}

Then the Lord gave Jonah an object lesson. He "prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live." {PK 272.2}

Again God spoke to His prophet, "Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?" And he said, "I do well to be angry, even unto death." {PK 272.3}

"Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?" Verses 7-11. {PK 272.4}

Confused, humiliated, and unable to understand God's purpose in sparing Nineveh, Jonah nevertheless had fulfilled the commission given him to warn that great city; and though the event predicted did not come to pass, yet the message of warning was nonetheless from God. And it accomplished the purpose God designed it should. The glory of His grace was revealed among the heathen. Those who had long been sitting "in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron," "cried unto the Lord in their trouble," and "He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder." "He sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." Psalm 107:10, 13, 14, 20. {PK 272.5}

Consider the following

Jonah knew God and His mercy. He was sure God had forgiven Nineveh even before the 40-day period ended (Jonah 4:2, 5). Then he would look like a false prophet!

God patiently warned Jonah that getting angry was not right (Jonah 4:4). Then He used a practical example to teach him how mercy works.

God gave Jonah a beautiful plant so he could sit in the shade. However, God made it wither during the night. Jonah got so angry that he wanted to die.

Thursday: A Two-Way Street (Finding Rest – Jude 20-23)

“keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” (Jude 21)

Jonah Typipies Christ

Christ during His earthly ministry referred to the good wrought by the preaching of Jonah in Nineveh, and compared the inhabitants of that heathen center with the professed people of God in His day. "The men of Nineveh," He declared, "shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here." Matthew 12:40, 41. Into the busy world, filled with the din of commerce and the altercation of trade, where men were trying to get all they could for self, Christ had come; and above the confusion His voice, like the trump of God, was heard: "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Mark 8:36, 37. {PK 273.1}

As the preaching of Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so Christ's preaching was a sign to His generation. But what a contrast in the reception of the word! Yet in the face of indifference and scorn the Saviour labored on and on, until He had accomplished His mission. {PK 274.1}

The lesson is for God's messengers today, when the cities of the nations are as verily in need of a knowledge of the attributes and purposes of the true God as were the Ninevites of old. Christ's ambassadors are to point men to the nobler world, which has largely been lost sight of. According to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, the only city that will endure is the city whose builder and maker is God. With the eye of faith man may behold the threshold of heaven, flushed with God's living glory. Through His ministering servants the Lord Jesus is calling upon men to strive with sanctified ambition to secure the immortal inheritance. He urges them to lay up treasure beside the throne of God. {PK 274.2}

Consider the following

The Ninevites needed someone to warn them about their wrongdoing. God sent a prophet who NEEDED to love the Ninevites!

Maybe Jonah didn’t know that he was not ready to have a Ninevite neighbor in Heaven. He needed to learn to love like God does.

If the tradition is right, Jonah learnt the lesson and spent the rest of his life caring for the Ninevites.

On the other hand, the king [Adad-nirari III (810-782 BC)] introduced monotheism into Nineveh. The love of God triumphed both in Nineveh and in Jonah’s heart!

Friday: Meditation

From age to age Satan has sought to keep men in ignorance of the beneficent designs of Jehovah. He has endeavored to remove from their sight the great things of God's law--the principles of justice, mercy, and love therein set forth. Men boast of the wonderful progress and enlightenment of the age in which we are now living; but God sees the earth filled with iniquity and violence. Men declare that the law of God has been abrogated, that the Bible is not authentic; and as a result, a tide of evil, such as has not been seen since the days of Noah and of apostate Israel, is sweeping over the world. Nobility of soul, gentleness, piety, are battered away to gratify the lust for forbidden things. The black record of crime committed for the sake of gain is enough to chill the blood and fill the soul with horror. {PK 275.2}

Our God is a God of mercy. With long-sufferance and tender compassion He deals with the transgressors of His law. And yet, in this our day, when men and women have so many opportunities for becoming familiar with the divine law as revealed in Holy Writ, the great Ruler of the universe cannot behold with any satisfaction the wicked cities, where reign violence and crime. The end of God's forbearance with those who persist in disobedience is approaching rapidly. {PK 275.3}

Questions to Ponder

1. Ought men to be surprised over a sudden and unexpected change in the dealings of the Supreme Ruler with the inhabitants of a fallen world?

2. Ought they to be surprised when punishment follows transgression and increasing crime?

3. Ought they to be surprised that God should bring destruction and death upon those whose ill-gotten gains have been obtained through deception and fraud?

Notwithstanding the fact that increasing light regarding God's requirements has been shining on their pathway, many have refused to recognize Jehovah's rulership, and have chosen to remain under the black banner of the originator of all rebellion against the government of heaven. {PK 276.1}

From the Pen of Inspiration

“In the charge given him, Jonah had been entrusted with a heavy responsibility; yet He who had bidden him go was able to sustain His servant and grant him success. Had the prophet obeyed unquestioningly, he would have been spared many bitter experiences, and would have been blessed abundantly. Yet in the hour of Jonah’s despair the Lord did not desert him. Through a series of trials and strange providences, the prophet’s confidence in God and in His infinite power to save was to be revived.”

E. G. W. (Prophets and Kings, cp. 22, p. 266)

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