Angry At God’s Mercy | Sunday, January 22, 2023
January 20, 2023 · Pastor Miles DeBenedictis
In this teaching
A study of Jonah 4 reveals a prophet whose head was filled with God's word while his heart was filled with hatred—a man so enraged by God's mercy toward Nineveh that he would rather die than see his enemies live. Pastor Miles uses Jonah's failure to call believers to share God's grace and mercy, especially with those they count as enemies.
- Jonah was not reluctant to prophesy, but reluctant to prophesy to people he hated, knowing God's mercy might spare them.
- Jonah's tragedy is that he knew God's word (Exodus 34:6) intimately yet missed God's heart, filling his heart with hatred instead.
- God's goodness, not fear, leads us to repentance; His default disposition is mercy, seeking one to stand in the gap rather than to destroy.
- Each thing God "prepared" (fish, plant, worm, east wind) was meant to teach and transform the prophet, not merely to torment him.
- Jesus, the One greater than Jonah, died so that we might have eternal life—the opposite of Jonah, who would rather die than see others live.
- As cultural hostility toward the church grows, believers are called to answer hatred with compassion and to share the gospel rather than wish destruction.
Then Jesus answered and said: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead... So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves? And he said, He who showed mercy on him. Then Jesus said to him, Go and do likewise. ()
When the wicked repent and the prophet rages, God's mercy exposes the hatred hiding in a heart that knows His word.
How Much Do You Have to Hate Somebody?
"How much do you have to hate somebody to be unwilling to share the truth with them, to share the good news of the gospel with them?" That was essentially the concluding question of the magician, illusionist, and avowed atheist Penn Gillette, in an off-the-cuff video he posted on social media back in 2008. The night before, Penn had an interaction with a Christian fan who gave him a Bible and wanted to share the gospel with him. What was striking about the video is that Gillette was clearly—even positively—impacted by the meeting.
His exact words are worth reading: "I've always said that I don't respect people who don't proselytize. I don't respect that at all. If you believe that there is a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it's not really worth telling them because it would make it socially awkward... how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? If I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was bearing down on you and you didn't believe it, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that."
Love Shows Mercy
Jesus taught that the second great commandment, on which all the law and the prophets hang, is, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." When a religious lawyer tried to quibble over the meaning of "neighbor"—wanting to justify himself and justify not loving all people—Jesus answered with the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Take careful note of how Jesus answered. According to Jesus, you determine who your neighbor is by how you treat that individual. Those whom you love and show compassion and mercy to—those are your neighbors. Love shows mercy. The concentration camp survivor Elie Wiesel rightly observed that the opposite of love is not hate; it is indifference. Apathetic indifference, the unwillingness to show mercy, is the epitome of hate.
A Reluctant Prophet With a Short Message
Over the last few weeks, Pastors Jason, Mark, and Garrett have introduced you to the prophet Jonah, a reluctant prophet. But even calling him reluctant, we should recognize that Jonah wasn't reluctant to prophesy—he had no problem declaring the word of God. He was reluctant to prophesy to someone he hated. In fact, the message Jonah was given probably delighted him. He was happy to tell Nineveh, "God is going to destroy you," because he hated the Assyrians, whose capital was Nineveh.
Jonah's message was simple and to the point: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown" (). One simple thing. So why the reluctance? Chapter four answers the question. In chapter three, Jonah's message of judgment was proclaimed, and the people of Nineveh responded with corporate repentance—from the king down to the animals. And God's response to their repentance was to relent from His judgment: "Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it" ().
Displeased Exceedingly
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the LORD, and said, Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. ()
This is one of the most staggering prophetic responses in all of Scripture. Many of the Old Testament prophets—Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel—prophesied and the people would not listen. Sometimes they were beaten, mocked, even killed. Jonah, on the other hand, preaches the shortest message imaginable, and an entire city repents. God responds in mercy, and Jonah responds to that mercy not with joy over one sinner who repents, but with exceedingly great anger.
How much do you have to hate someone to wish for their destruction and demise? What becomes clear is that Jonah's head was filled with God's word while his heart was filled with hatred.
A Head Full of Scripture, a Heart Full of Hate
How do I know Jonah's head was filled with God's word? Because in verse 2 he says, "I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness." Where did Jonah learn this? From one of my favorite passages in the Torah:
And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty... ()
Like the other prophets, Jonah was an expert in the law. That's exactly how he knew God would judge Nineveh for their wickedness—and exactly how he knew that God is merciful and gracious. The Assyrians were a wicked people who devised horrible things and did terrible things to many. But Jonah was worried that, just maybe, they might repent. And if they repented, he knew from that God would relent.
So Jonah's original plan was a forty-day vacation in the opposite direction. He went to Joppa, got on a boat, and figured, "I'll just stay at sea for forty days, and Nineveh will be no more." But God said no. He brought Jonah to the people, gave them one more chance, and now spares them. And Jonah is seething: "God, this is exactly what I told You. I knew You would be merciful and gracious if they repented." He wanted them damned. They deserved God's wrath—which was probably true—but Jonah missed God's true heart and God's true will.
Better for Me to Die
Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live! ()
If you would rather die than see others live, then you do not have the heart of Christ. You've lost the plot. You may know God and even genuinely know His word—Jonah did—but if it's only in your head while hatred fills your heart, something is deeply wrong. The very verse before "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" says, "You shall not hate your brother in your heart" (). Jonah knew those words, and yet he says, "I would rather die than see the people of Nineveh live."
In contrast, Jesus—the One greater than Jonah—came and died to bring us God's grace and mercy unto eternal life. As John writes, "He who loves his brother abides in the light... but he who hates his brother is in darkness" (), and "whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him" ().
You may comfort yourself that you've never acted with Jonah's overt anger. But before we comfort ourselves, we should remember Penn Gillette's question: how much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them? That's not a question I'm using to beat you over the head—it's one I've had to wrestle with myself.
Is It Right for You to Be Angry?
Then the LORD said, Is it right for you to be angry? ()
There's a psychologist on TV, Dr. Phil, who asks people, "How's that working out for you?" That's essentially what God is doing here—a divine gut check. Do you have a good reason for this exceedingly great anger? Jonah isn't just a little upset; he is seething with indignation. He may have had real reasons; the nations around Assyria were not happy with Nineveh. But God simply asks: is this the right response?
Jonah gives the "no-response response." He went out of the city, sat on the east side, built himself a shelter, and waited to see what would become of the city. It's five minutes to midnight; apocalypse is coming for Nineveh, and Jonah has front-row seats. He wants to watch it burn.
God's Aim in Prayer Is to Change Us
I'll give Jonah a small amount of credit: he did the right thing with his anger by bringing it to God in prayer. His prayer was pitifully honest—better than the superficial spirituality many of us put on, pretending to be more spiritual than we are. He expressed his emotions honestly.
But here is something key to write down: God's aim in prayer is to change us. His ultimate end is not that we would influence Him, but that He would transform us. And yet Jonah remains largely unchanged. From the start he wanted Nineveh destroyed, hoped they would be hardhearted and stiff-necked, and now seethes because their repentance invited God's grace. When God interrogates him about his unrighteous heart, Jonah cannot even respond. He turns and walks away—distancing himself from God again, because a hard heart always causes us to distance ourselves from God. Sin separates.
The Plant, the Worm, the Wind
And the LORD God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. ()
With Nineveh's repentance secured, God is now seeking the repentance of the angry prophet. This is an amazing turn of events: the wicked pagans of Nineveh are, at this moment, in a better place with God than the prophet who preached to them. The heart of Jonah is further from God than the hearts of the people of Nineveh—and still God continues to be kind.
This brings to mind Paul in Romans: "Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" (). Notice that God's judgment is according to truth—He is upright, not capricious, showing no partiality. But He is also good and patient. He is not relentless; He is relenting. His goodness is meant to lead us to repentance. God is not holding a piano over your head, ready to coax you into repentance by fear. He is good and kind and merciful so that the sinner will turn to Him. We do not turn from our sin out of fear of God; we turn to God rejoicing in His goodness. Kindness leads us to repentance.
God Pursues the Hardhearted
What we see here is that God pursues the hardhearted, seeking mercifully to restore. The Ninevites repented and turned to Him; now He pursues the hardhearted prophet, seeking to restore him too. That, when you boil it down, is the whole story of the gospel—the metanarrative of Scripture, with its four major movements: creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.
And I cannot miss the opportunity to speak to you right now, wherever you are. If you find yourself like Nineveh before Jonah came, far from God because sin has separated you—or like Jonah, having distanced yourself in anger and hardheartedness—God is pursuing you. Not with His finger on the trigger or the "smite" button, but with His grace and goodness. He desires that you turn to Him in repentance and faith. And what you will find, like the prodigal son who came to his senses and returned, is the Father waiting with open arms.
What Has God Been Preparing?
But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered... God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah's head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. ()
It's understandable to wonder why God seems to keep poking at Jonah. But each thing God prepares—the great fish, the plant, the worm, the hot east wind—is for a purpose. God is preparing to teach the prophet an important truth. And it has to be asked: what has God been preparing in your life to try to get you to return to Him? What big fish, what worm, what east wind has been in your life lately—and are you listening?
Then God said to Jonah, Is it right for you to be angry about the plant? And he said, It is right for me to be angry, even to death! ()
This time Jonah responds: "I am angry, and I have the right to be. I never wanted to come to Nineveh. I did what You told me to do, but they deserve to die. They do not deserve Your goodness, Your deliverance, Your mercy. If they're not going to get what they deserve, I just want to die."
Should I Not Pity Nineveh?
But the LORD said, You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow... 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? ()
God says, "Jonah, you have had compassion on this goofy plant, yet none upon Nineveh, where there are 120,000 who cannot discern between their right hand and their left." Most commentators agree this refers to children—the innocent, those who have not reached an age of accountability. And if you have no pity for the people, perhaps you have pity for the animals. Jonah considered Nineveh too wicked to receive mercy. He was a divine justice warrior, and in his mind justice would be best served by Nineveh's destruction—even if it meant destroying the righteous with the wicked.
One Who Stands in the Gap
There were many wicked cities deserving God's judgment, both before and after Jonah—Sodom and Gomorrah among them. But when judgment came to their gates, there was one who interceded for the innocent: Abraham.
And Abraham came near and said, Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city... Far be it from You to do such a thing... Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? So the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. ()
The conversation continues—forty-five, thirty, twenty, ten—and God says that for ten righteous He would spare the whole city, because He is upright when He judges. Ultimately there were not ten, so God removed the four righteous and then poured out judgment. But when God prepares to judge—just as in Nineveh—He seeks one who might stand in the gap. That's why He called Jonah, just as Abraham had interceded.
Centuries later God said through Ezekiel, "So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them" (). God will by no means overlook guilt, but He is always looking for mercy. God's default is mercy—intending to rescue sinners and then to make them merciful like Himself.
The Greater Than Jonah
In truth, the Book of Jonah doesn't give us what we want. We want a positive resolution to this crazy story, but chapter four leaves us hanging. The bad guys repent, and the supposed good guy just walks away, leaving us wondering what ever happened to Jonah. It's a strange story, one that has troubled many—did a fish really swallow this man? At the very least, Jesus speaks of Jonah as a historical figure, so I assume it happened just as it's written.
And speaking of Jesus, we must remember the One greater than Jonah—the One whom Jonah pictures, who like Jonah in the great fish spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jonah wanted to die because God's mercy gave Nineveh new life. But Jesus, the greater than Jonah, came and died to bring God's grace and mercy to us, leading to eternal life.
Why Jonah, in 2023?
Why study Jonah at the start of a new year? I think there's an important message here. As I look at our culture and the world today, I believe there is very possibly coming a time when the antagonism of those who hate God and His word will increase—and that hatred will be directed at His people, His church. The temptation will be to hate those who hate God. But God is going to call His church to be gracious, compassionate, merciful, loving, and slow to anger—just like Him.
So what will you do when those outside the church become more hateful? Will you respond to their hate with more hate, or will you seek to be compassionate and gracious, sharing the good news—not overlooking the truth, calling people to repent and making clear what is right and wrong before a holy God, but still acting with compassion? Maybe you find yourself in the belly of a fish, not wanting to be gracious, or seething with bitterness. Don't fall into the snare of Jonah, whose head was filled with God's word but whose heart was filled with hatred—who would rather die than see others live. Rejoice instead in the Lord, who kept reaching out to rescue even Jonah. If you have tasted the grace and mercy of God, then it is our commission to share that grace and mercy with others.
Closing Prayer
Father God, I pray as we come into 2023, and as it is highly likely that each person who watches this has a Ninevite in their life—someone they count as an enemy, someone they don't like—You've not only called us to love our neighbors, but commanded us to love our enemies. You've said that by this people will know we are Your followers, that we have love for one another. So God, I pray that You would fill our hearts with Your love, which is the evidence that Your Holy Spirit is in us, for the fruit of the Spirit is love. Fill our lives with Your love; cause it to overflow to our neighbors, our co-workers, our family members, our friends—and also to those we count as Ninevites. Lord, help us to share the good news of Your grace with them. You've been so merciful and gracious with us; help us to share that same mercy and grace with others. For we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
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