Most Christians have a schizophrenic view of God. The God of the O.T. and the one of the N.T. are two different Gods, or at least it seems so. The God of the O.T. is a Holy, but a hateful God. He hovers over sinful men with a Damacles sword, ready to bring a well-deserved judgment, whenever He arbitrarily declares that their number has come up! J.B Philllips, in his book, Your God is Too Small, labels this view of God as the Cosmic Killjoy, and the Resident Policeman, and clearly points out that those views of God fall short of accurately portraying the Biblical God. As Voltaire said, "in the beginning God created man in His image, and now man has returned the favor", may not be too far from the truth. But by N.T. times, this austere God has mellowed and morphed into an entirely different deity. Much like parents who were strict with their first child, less strict with their second, and by the later, late-in-life child they are too tired to care at all! So it seems, by N.T. times God is so tired of discipling his wayward creation, He gives up and just loves them!
Nothing could be further from the truth! Jonah is one Old Testament book that clearly negates that schizophrenic theology concerning God. Jonah is not a book about a whale; not a book about a prophet that ran from God; not a book about a great city called Ninevah. It is a book about a Great God! Jonah describes God in this way, "I knew that thou art a gracious God, merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness" (Jonah 4:2). Jonah is the "John 3:16" of the Old Testament. The book tells us that "God really does love the world", even the wicked inhabitants of Ninevah.
Then too, one of the key words in Jonah is "prepared" (Heb. manah). It means, "to assign" "to appoint", in the Qal stem; "to ordain" in the Piel stem. In the book we read, God "prepared a fish" (1:17); "prepared a plant" (4:6); "prepared a worm" (4:7); "prepared a scorching East wind" (4:8). God is the proactive God involved in His world-doing His work! Jonah is the O.T. declaration of Romans 8:28. We usually misquote the verse "all things work together for good, to those who love the Lord, and are called according to His purpose". But actually that does not represent God accurately. In the Greek N.T. the structure is much clearer! The subject of the sentence is God. The direct object is "all things". It should be translated "God works all things together for good, for those who love God, and are the called according to His purpose". Is that any clearer? Yes indeed. All things do not work together for God. The Sovereign God "works" all things together, weaving even bad things, evil choices, actions of evil men, and rebellious prophets, into His saving purposes.
So in Jonah, we also see that God prepares a "message" to be taken to a "municipality". His "minister" refuses to go. His prepared storm converts a ship full of Phoenician sailors; A prepared fish saves his wayward and rebellious prophet; Through those events he prepares a "messenger" to go to that "municipality" with a "ministry" that brings about the salvation and conversion of that entire city! The key verse of Jonah is "salvation is of the LORD" (2:9). He is the good and loving God who sovereignly orchestrates all things to bring about that great goal of salvation. He did that in the Old Testament. That is what Calvary is all about in the New Testament. That is what He is doing through His "prepared" people today, preaching "salvation is of the Lord" to modern day "Ninevahs" that He has made ready to receive His Word. We must obey the first time! If not, God can still use us a second or third, or hundredth time, if we will just "Go and Preach the preaching He bids us!" (Jonah 3:2). Remember the Bible clearly teaches " I am the LORD God, I change not!" (Malachi 3:6).
