“Who is this man that even the wind and the sea obey him?” I take comfort in the fact that even Jesus’ disciples did not comprehend who they were following.
Part of the beauty of studying the Bible is learning about the nature and character of God. Apart from God’s revealing himself in the Scriptures, and the illuminating work of the Spirit, we would have no answer for the question who is God?
As youth ministers, we need to teach teenagers from the whole Bible because Scripture collectively reveals God to them. The Book of Jonah provides a particular opportunity to teach teenagers about the character of God in response to human sin and failure.
Let’s remind ourselves of the narrative of Jonah to make this point.
Scene 1: The Opposite Direction
God calls Jonah to Nineveh and Jonah heads to Tarshish on a boat.
It’s as though God had said, “head to New York, Jonah” and Jonah were to say, “one ticket to Wyoming, please.” In other words, Jonah headed in the opposite direction of God’s command.
Scene 2: Jonah Doesn’t Need Dramamine
God sends a storm; the men on the boat wonder whose god is angry. Jonah, waking from his slumber, comes clean and they toss him from the ship. The men then make sacrifices to Yahweh so he won’t punish them for “killing” one of his people.
Scene 3: The Fish Was How Big?
Jonah is swallowed by a giant fish and amid suffocating, drowning, etc… Jonah was as good as dead.
Scene 4: Three Days In A Smelly Fish
At the command of God, the fish spits Jonah up. God calls him to arise and obey. Jonah obeys and heads to Nineveh. He proclaims that God will destroy Nineveh if the people there do not repent. The people repent and turn from their evil ways.
Scene 5: Angered By His Grace
God has compassion on Nineveh and Jonah is not happy about it. “I knew you would do this! This is why I fled. Because you are gracious to sinners. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Just kill me now God.”
Scene 6: Shade, Worms, and Lessons.
Then Jonah goes and sits in a booth he made for himself to see what is going to become of the city. So God allows a plant to come and cover up Jonah to comfort him and stop the sun. Jonah feels glad! But the next day, God appoints a worm to attack the plant so that it withers. Then God appoints a scorching heat and a strong wind causing Jonah to feel faint. Jonah says it would be better for him to die. Then God asks the same question but about the plant, “Do you do well to be angry about the plant?” You pity the plant that you did not create or grow, should not I pity Nineveh?
God is Sovereign
We need to show teenagers that God’s sovereignty is on full display in the book of Jonah.
God commands Jonah to go to Nineveh. God causes the storm. He causes the storm to stop. God appoints a giant fish to swallow Jonah. God has mercy on Jonah when he cries out to the Lord. He tells the fish to throw Jonah up. God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh again. He warns Nineveh, through Jonah, that their evil will lead to their destruction. God shows Nineveh mercy when they turned from evil. He continues to teach a sulky, whining, Jonah.
If you had been worshipping the pantheon of gods in your region and you heard this story of Yahweh, the Israelites, one true God you would start to think, “I don’t think I’m as safe with my gods as I thought I was.” Or “Wow, look at how merciful he is to people who do not even worship him, and do only evil in his sight! Look at how he is sovereign over all areas and places.” While reading the Old Testament we need to remind ourselves of the polytheistic beliefs that reigned at that time in order to grasp more fully the glorious self-revelation of God.
God is Unique
We can also help our students to contrast the depiction of Yahweh in Jonah with the gods of the ancient near east.
In ancient times people did not have one god, they had many gods. They believe a different god ruled over the different parts of creation. For example, some ruled over the water, some over the wind, some the sea creatures, some over life or death or crops.
Furthermore, the gods were associated with the land conquered or ruled by that people. For instance if you are from the United States and you travel to Ireland then you would be in the region where the gods of Ireland ruled. There would have been different gods over the region of Tarshish, over the sea, over Nineveh.
The worldview at the time made it common for different people groups to believe in different gods. You can see how the God of Israel is unique. The God of Israel claims to be the one true God over all things.
God is Gracious
The Book of Jonah is an incredible picture of not only the powerful transcendence of God, but of the personal interaction of God with his people, his image bearers.
God is gracious to sinners. Look at what Jonah confessed as his reason for running to Tarshish, “for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (Jonah 4:2). This is the character of God, which we get to proclaim to our students.
God Saves Through Jesus
Much of what keeps youth ministers and teenagers from studying the Old Testament is the struggle to see its relevance for today. But studying the Book of Jonah (or any other book of the Old Testament) not only shows us the history of salvation for God’s people, it also points us forward in that history to what God has done in Christ.
Jesus himself gives us this interpretation of the Bible when he speaks of “the sign of Jonah” to the pharisees in Matthew 12:38-41: “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Jonah is a “type” of Christ, meaning he prefigures Christ by pointing forward to him. Biblical typology helps us to understand how the whole Bible connects as one story. In the case of Jonah, his three days inside of the fish prefigure the way Jesus will spend three days in the grave.
By showing our students the similarities and differences between Jonah and Jesus, we can help them understand how Jonah points to the perfect work of Christ.
Similarities
- Both Jonah and Jesus are prophets.
- Both suffered.
- Each was entombed for three days and three nights.
- God raised Jesus from the dead, and Jonah from being as good as dead.
- Both preached to crowds and saw God rescue people by his power.
Differences
- Jonah deserved the punishment of God. Jesus did not.
- Jonah ran from God’s will. Jesus did not.
- Jonah eventually died, but Jesus died for the sin of his people, which he took upon himself.
- Jonah hated the nations, Jesus died that the whole world may know that salvation belongs to the Lord.
- Jonah was a sinner, Jesus was the righteous one.
- Jonah was angry because the people of Nineveh repented, but Jesus went to the cross “for the joy set before him” (Heb. 12:2)
Our Great God
A rule of thumb I have for teaching any Old Testament book to teenagers is that if my heart is not soaring at how incredible God is, then I have not understood the book correctly—and therefore am not ready to teach it. Study with joy, knowing that in God’s word there are treasures galore.
God uses the story of Jonah to show us who he is. God called his prophet to warn sinners, but Jonah didn’t want to. In Christ, we have God’s Word in the flesh, tasked with the salvation of sinners—and he wants to do it! Death is swallowed up by the death of Christ, and our salvation is assured in the resurrection of Christ. As you teach the book of Jonah, may students come to know our great God.
If you’re looking for more resources to help you teach teenagers the Bible, Rooted offers Bible-based curriculum, available on Rooted Reservoir.