Jonah

Introduction

A. The Book
1. This Book is Prophetic (Matt. 12:38-41; 16:4; Luke 11:29-32)
It was not written for Nineveh, but for Israel.
a. God seeks to purify the heart of His messenger that He may purify the heart of His people.
b. Judgment was preached by one prophet and grace reached Nineveh's heart.
c. Grace was given to Israel by many prophets that they refused and therefore were judged.
d. Nineveh shall rise in judgment and condemn every generation that rejects Christ. (Matt. 12:41)
e. God's elect will fulfill His mission.	Isaiah 42:1-4; 49:1-13; 11:10
2. This Book has a Missionary Purpose

Divine call (1:1-2) "the word of the LORD came"
Divine pity (4:11) "should not I spare Nineveh"
Divine patience (4:2; 3:10) "God repented"
Divine power (4:6-11; 1:4,17; 2:10) "the LORD spake unto the fish"

3. This Book is a Picture of End-Time Deliverance for all that will serve God.

B. The Prophet
The account of Jonah might seem so fantastic that we fail to relate to it and miss the many great lessons found in it. Jonah, in print, appears as almost a caricature and certianly an amazing combination of extremes.

God calls him and he runs.
God sends a tremendous storm to get his attention and Jonah goes and takes a nap.
His name means "a dove" which is a symbol of gentleness and purity and yet he demonstrates a very volatile nature.

Do I know anyone this intense? On more careful examination, I believe everyone of us can relate and learn from Jonah's testimony.The contrasts of this account makes our understanding it so much simpler.
1. Jonah's name means "dove"
2. Jonah was willing to receive mercy for His people and himself,but not willing to give mercy to strangers. (II Kings 14:25 Jonah 4:2)
3. A native of Gath-hepher in Zebulon, the son of Amittai of Galillee John 7:52 - Jonah, Nahum Not far from Nazareth where Jesus grew up.
4. Jonah in the great fish was a type of Christ’s death and resurrection.
5. Jonah loved truth, but truth must have full course in your life.
We must experience the revelation so we can be like the Lord in all His ways without delay.

C. The Message

Cry against wickedness that God may spare them.

1:1,2; 2:1-4; 3:9-4:2,11

Then Jonah prayed

2:1 Disobedience closed his lips - despair opened them.

Above all, God is merciful. (2:8)

Paying the fare is expensive (1:3) but Paying the vow is worth it (2:9; 1:16)

The storm, the fish, the worm, the wind

1:4 1:17 4:7 4:8
Jer. 4:11 a dry wind, not to winnow and not to cleanse

Salvation is only of the Lord (2:9; 1:16; 3:2)

Jonah and Paul were in the same sea (Jonah 1:3; Acts 27:3,20) and Both were sent to the Gentiles

If you walk contrary to God, He will walk contrary to you. (Jonah 1:3,10 Lev. 26:14-44 Jer. 22:4-9)

Turn now to God with all your heart with fasting and prayer. (Jonah 3:5 - 4:11 Joel 2:11-15)

The Word can restore what the worm has caused to wither. (Jonah 4:7,11 Psa. 78:19 Joel 2:25)

D. Outline

Jonah's First Commission (1:1-2:10)

Jonah's Revelation of the Word (1:1-2)
Jonah's Disobedience (1:3-11)
Jonah's Chastisment (1:4-17)
Jonah's Prayer (2:1-9)
Jonah's Deliverance (2:10)

Jonah's Second Commission (3:1-10)

A greater revelation of the Word. (3:1,2)
Jonah’s obedience (3:3,4)
Jonah’s message of judgment (3:4-10)

Jonah's Displeasure (4:1-11)

Jonah’s attitude towards the revelation of God’s nature for the wicked sinner to repent. (4:1-3)
Unreasonable (4:4)
More desiring of his own vindication that the sparing of Nineveh.(4:5)
More pity for himself than 120,000 that knew not the truth that he knew (4:6-10)
The Lord Has The Last Word (4:11)

I. Jonah's First Commission (1:1-2:10)
God Speaks So Plainly To Jonah
v.1-2
Jonah's revelation of the Word
Jonah Runs From God
vs. 3
JONAH's DISOBEDIENCE. In disobeying God, Jonah not only went out from Joppa but from the presence of God. Things seemed fine, but favorable circumstances are not necessarily a sign that we are in the will of God. Jonah did not get by freely, but certainly "paid the fare thereof."
God Sends a Storm and Jonah Takes a Nap
vs. 4-5
GOD CHASTISES JONAH. Jonah's revelation of God's divine providence. The Lord sent a mighty tempest that put the ship in jeopardy. The Lord caused the lot to fall upon Jonah exposing him as the cause of the evil. The sea ceased from raging after Jonah was cast out of the ship. God prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Jonah was preserved for 3 days and nights in the belly of the great fish.
Jonah asleep is a picture of the church as a whole. Fatigued and worn out with mental anxiety and emotional strain and unaware of the dangers around them. 1:5-6
Jonah the Man of God Gets Rebuked by aTthe Heathen
vs. 6
Jonah Does His Best to Hide and his Sin is Still Discovered
vs. 7-10
analogy of "i wouldn't get caught'
Jonah Confesses and Things Get Worse
vs. 11-17
A confession of faith without works of repentance.Sin so hardens the heart that it would rather die than repent. Sin is so selfish when it is allowed on board it destroys all. At anytime that Jonah would repent, God would calm the storm. He did it for the mariners (1:15,16). He did it for the Ninevites (3:10).
4.	Jonah's prayer							 2:1-9

	(a)	Unto the Lord.						 2:1
	(b)	By reason of affliction.				 2:2
	(c)	I will look again.					 2:4
	(d)	He heard me.						 2:2
	(e)	Brought up my life from corruption.			 2:6

5.	Jonah's deliverance						 2:10

	(a)	An answer to prayer.					 2:7
	(b)	The results of faith in action, not mere confession.	 2:8
	(c)	The Lord's response to Jonah's repentance and obedience.
									 2:10

II. Jonah's Second Commission (3:1-10)
Jonah's Second Commission
1.	A greater revelation of the Word.				 3:1, 2

2.	Jonah's obedience						 3:3, 4

	(a)	In obeying God He found opportunity.		 3:5-9
	(b)	God demands explicit obedience.			 3:2
	(c)	Compare 3:3 with 1:3 and never forget 2:3 and never say 4:3.

3.	Jonah's message of judgment					 3:4

	(a)	Nineveh shall be overthrown in 40 days.		 3:4
	(b)	No message for repentance, mercy or deliverance, 
		Yet Nineveh believed God. 				 3:5-9
		(1)	The people believed and humbled themselves. vs. 5
		(2)	The king left his throne and laid aside his robe and
			He humbled himself.				 vs. 6
		(3)	The animals were made to fast so that even their
			Bleating and bellowing would be an appeal to 
			Heaven for mercy.				 3:7
	(c)	The response to the message.				 3:10
		(1)	They turned from their evil way.
		(2)	God saw their works.
	(d)	The Lord's response to their repentance.		 3:10
		He didn't send the overthrow.

III. Jonah's Displeasure (4:1-11)
Jonah's Displeasure							 4:1-11
1.	Jonah's attitude towards the revelation of God's nature was for that the 
Awful sinner didn't deserve to repent of his wickedness.	4:1-3
2.	Compare 4:5 with 3:3.
3.	Here we see Jonah prone to self-pity.				 4:3
4.	Unreasonable							 4:4
5.	More desiring of his own vindication that the sparing of Nineveh. 4:5
6.	Jonah had more pity for himself than the 120,000 that knew not the truth.
				 				 4:6-10

The Lord Has the Last Word						 4:11
"Should not I spare - that Great City" What about your city?		
Jonah 1:1 "NOW"
Have God's compassion, fill your heart.m
Judgment is sure to come if there is not true repentance.
/////////////////////
The Message of the Book
Cry against wickedness that God may spare them. 1:1,2; 2:1-4; 3:9-4:2,11
Then Jonah prayed (2:1) disobedience closed his lips, despair opened them.
Paying the fare is expensive			1:3
Paying the vow is worth it			2:9; 1:16
The storm, the fish, the worm, the wind 	1:4,17; 4:7,8; Jer. 4:11
Salvation is only of the Lord			2:9; 1:16; 3:2
Jonah and Paul in the same sea and sent to the Gentiles. Jonah 1:3; Acts 27:3, 20
If you walk contrary to God, He will walk contrary to you. 1:3, 10; Lev. 26:14-44; Jer. 22:4-9
Turn to God with all your heart with fasting and prayer. 3:5-4:11; Joel 2:11-15
The Word can restore what the worm has withered. 4:7,11; Ps. 78:19; Joel 2:25
///////////////// diff file jonah part 2
Jonah Chapter 1, Part 2
Jonah 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Mt 16:25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
True Christianity is Christ Centered.
God Centered Ministry (The Shortest Path to Obscurity)
Introduction: Meaning, worth
Do something and be somebody that counts. Self promotion. Usefulness to God and true worth begins with a death to the self life.
First, the prophecy deals with Jonah himself. Jonah Ran from God.
Jer 23:24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
Pr 18:10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
1:3 Why did Jonah run?
1. God's will didn't make sense to him
2. What was going through Jonah's mind?

Vs. 3 He paid the fare thereof…
And it was a farther journey …5x's…
Tarshish stood more than 2,500 miles from Israel in the opposite direction of Nineveh.( which was 500 miles east of home) . He tried to get as far away as j he could … Does it really matter how FAR you run?
Nineveh: -was a great city (Lu 24:13) located on the east bank of the Tigris River about 550 miles from the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Founded by Nimrod
Jonah explains later WHY he ran…
Jonah 4:2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, "OLord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to …
in his heart Jonah knew that God's intention was to show mercy. Jonah discovered that God's salvation is available to all who repent, not just to the people of Jonah's choosing.
Not a Very Good Prophet
Based soley on our reading of Jonah 4 brief chapters, we probably conclude that Jonah was not a very good prophet.

1. Ran from the Presence of God
2. Disobeyed God
3. Preached Begrudgingly
4. Preaching Without Mercy
5. Disappointed at the Mercy of God

<Many jews even called him a FALSE prophet because Nineveh was destroyed in 40 days like he said
4:1--But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
Jews called him the FALSE prophet … because the destruction of Nineveh didn't happen :) (God showed mercy to their repentance)
Could this have been part of his motivation?

A Strong Start
Jonah's immediate predecessors were Elijah and Elisha; Jonah, Amos and Hosea were contemporary prophets; Isaiah immediately followed them. Prophesied in Israel sometime before the reign of Jeroboam II. (58 years after Jehu's first year)
[858] that the repentance of the Ninevites happened in the twenty-third year of the reign of Jehu, king of Israel
(FIRST YEAR of Jehu as king: 2 Kings 9:1 Elisha sends a disciple to anoint Jehu king (removing Ahab and Jezebel); The Jews say that this was JONAH the prophet.
2 Kings 9:4 So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramothgilead.
ACC: This should be translated, The servant of the prophet; that is, the servant which Elisha now had in place of Gehazi. --- Prophesied and Ran --- What did this mad man say? "JEHU IS KING").
AFTER NINEVEH: 2Ki 14:25 He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.
Jonah's date is determined by this passage. He was contemporary with Hosea and Amos, and earlier than Micah.
Gittah-hepher. Or, Gathhepher (1 Kings 14:25) was the birth place of the prophet Jonah. Now el-Mesh-hed, where the tomb of Jonah is still shown. in Zebulon which is in Southern Galilee. The prophet Jonah was a Galilean from Gath-hepher. Out of Galilee ! (compare John 7:52

Yet the Ninevites Repented
from Charles Spurgeon, "My Sermon Notes, Vol. 2" p. 333
Jonah 3:4 …Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Matthew 12:41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment…
"The Ninevites' Repentance"
The men of Nineveh repented but…
I. Their Calls to Repentance Were Not Many
Ninevah heard only one prophet and he was neither the greatest nor most affectionate.
II. The Message of the Prophet was Not Encouraging
His message began and ended with threating with no mention of the possibility of pardon.
III. The Prophet Himself Was No Helper of their Hope
Jonah was no loving tender pastor anxious to gather the lost sheep. He disliked the ministry in which he was engaged.
IV. The Hope to which the Ninevites Could Reach was Slender
"Who can tell?" Have we not all at least this hope? Will we act on it?
[He saw a cannon shot off and at the warning of the fire lighting the ordance the soldiers fell to the ground escaping the bullet. ] "God, in like manner, warns before He wounds; frights before He fights. 'Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Oh, Let us fall down before the Lord our maker. Then shall His anger be pleased to make in us a daily passover, and his bullets leveled at us must fly above us. --Thomas Fuller,
[710 BC] Nineveh relapsed, and about one hundred and fifty years afterwards, the Prophet Nahum was sent to predict the miraculous discomfiture of the Assyrian king under Sennacherib, an event which took place about 710 B.C., and also the
[612 BC] total destruction of Nineveh by Medes and Persians and rebelling Babylonians.

////////////////diff file part 3 says
God Speaks So Plainly To Jonah, vs. 1-2
v.1-2 Jonah's revelation of the Word
Have we ever thought, "If God would just speak that plainly to me, I would know and do His will with no problem!"
God does speak plainly to each one of us. God knows and understands "our language". He knows HOW we hear and what will get our attention.
Jonah Runs From God, vs 3
JONAH's DISOBEDIENCE. In disobeying God, Jonah not only went out from Joppa but from the presence of God. Things seemed fine, but favorable circumstances are not necessarily a sign that we are in the will of God. Jonah did not get by freely, but certainly "paid the fare thereof."
God Sends a Storm and Jonah Takes a Nap, vs. 4-5
GOD CHASTISES JONAH. Jonah's revelation of God's divine providence. The Lord sent a mighty tempest that put the ship in jeopardy. The Lord caused the lot to fall upon Jonah exposing him as the cause of the evil. The sea ceased from raging after Jonah was cast out of the ship. God prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Jonah was preserved for 3 days and nights in the belly of the great fish.
Jonah asleep is a picture of the church as a whole. Fatigued and worn out with mental anxiety and emotional strain and unaware of the dangers around them. 1:5-6
Jonah, the Man of God, Gets Rebuked by the Heathen, vs. 6
Could God have allowed this to humble a self-righteous Jonah?
Jonah Does His Best to Hide and his Sin is Still Discovered, vs. 7-10
analogy of "I wouldn't get caught'. Be sure your sin will find you out.
Jonah Confesses and Things Get Worse, vs. 11-17
A confession of faith without works of repentance.Sin so hardens the heart that it would rather die than repent. Sin is so selfish when it is allowed on board it destroys all. At anytime that Jonah would repent, God would calm the storm. He did it for the mariners (1:15,16). He did it for the Ninevites (3:10).
Jonah Did the Will of God Poorly
Jonah 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Mt 16:25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
True Christianity is Christ Centered.
SUBTITLE: God Centered Ministry (The Shortest Path to Obscurity)
Introduction: Meaning, worth
Do something and be somebody that counts. Self promotion. Usefulness to God and true worth begins with a death to the self life.
First, the prophecy deals with Jonah himself. Jonah Ran from God.
Jer 23:24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
Pr 18:10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
1:3 Why did Jonah run?
1. God's will didn't make sense to him
2. What was going through Jonah's mind?

Vs. 3 He paid the fare thereof…
And it was a farther journey …(5x's farther)…
Tarshish stood more than 2,500 miles from Israel in the opposite direction of Nineveh.( which was 500 miles east of home) . He tried to get as far away as j he could … Does it really matter how FAR you run?
Nineveh: -was a great city (Lu 24:13) located on the east bank of the Tigris River about 550 miles from the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Founded by Nimrod
Jonah explains later WHY he ran…

Jonah 4:2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, "OLord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to …

in his heart Jonah knew that God's intention was to show mercy. Jonah discovered that God's salvation is available to all who repent, not just to the people of Jonah's choosing.
Not a Very Good Prophet
Based solely on our reading of Jonah 4 brief chapters, we probably conclude that Jonah was not a very good prophet.

1. Ran from the Presence of God
2. Disobeyed God
3. Preached Begrudgingly
4. Preaching Without Mercy
5. Disappointed at the Mercy of God

Many jews even called him a FALSE prophet because Nineveh was destroyed in 40 days like he said
4:1--But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
Jews called him the FALSE prophet … because the destruction of Nineveh didn't happen :) (God showed mercy to their repentance)
Could this have been part of his motivation?

A Strong Start
Jonah's immediate predecessors were Elijah and Elisha; Jonah, Amos and Hosea were contemporary prophets; Isaiah immediately followed them. Prophesied in Israel sometime before the reign of Jeroboam II. (58 years after Jehu's first year)
[858] that the repentance of the Ninevites happened in the twenty-third year of the reign of Jehu, king of Israel
(FIRST YEAR of Jehu as king: 2 Kings 9:1 Elisha sends a disciple to anoint Jehu king (removing Ahab and Jezebel); The Jews say that this was JONAH the prophet.
2 Kings 9:4 So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramothgilead.
ACC: This should be translated, The servant of the prophet; that is, the servant which Elisha now had in place of Gehazi. --- Prophesied and Ran --- What did this mad man say? "JEHU IS KING").
AFTER NINEVEH: 2Ki 14:25 He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.
Jonah's date is determined by this passage. He was contemporary with Hosea and Amos, and earlier than Micah.
Gittah-hepher. Or, Gathhepher (1 Kings 14:25) was the birth place of the prophet Jonah. Now el-Mesh-hed, where the tomb of Jonah is still shown. in Zebulon which is in Southern Galilee. The prophet Jonah was a Galilean from Gath-hepher. Out of Galilee ! (compare John 7:52

Yet the Ninevites Repented
from Charles Spurgeon, "My Sermon Notes, Vol. 2" p. 333
Jonah 3:4 …Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Matthew 12:41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment…
"The Ninevites' Repentance"
The men of Nineveh repented but…
I. Their Calls to Repentance Were Not Many
Ninevah heard only one prophet and he was neither the greatest nor most affectionate.
II. The Message of the Prophet was Not Encouraging
His message began and ended with threating with no mention of the possibility of pardon.
III. The Prophet Himself Was No Helper of their Hope
Jonah was no loving tender pastor anxious to gather the lost sheep. He disliked the ministry in which he was engaged.
IV. The Hope to which the Ninevites Could Reach was Slender
"Who can tell?" Have we not all at least this hope? Will we act on it?
[He saw a cannon shot off and at the warning of the fire lighting the ordance the soldiers fell to the ground escaping the bullet. ] "God, in like manner, warns before He wounds; frights before He fights. 'Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Oh, Let us fall down before the Lord our maker. Then shall His anger be pleased to make in us a daily passover, and his bullets leveled at us must fly above us. --Thomas Fuller,
[710 BC] Nineveh relapsed, and about one hundred and fifty years afterwards, the Prophet Nahum was sent to predict the miraculous discomfiture of the Assyrian king under Sennacherib, an event which took place about 710 B.C., and also the
[612 BC] total destruction of Nineveh by Medes and Persians and rebelling Babylonians.

Jonah was willing to receive mercy for His people and himself, but not willing to give mercy to strangers (II Kings 14:25; Jonah 4:2).
Jonah was a native of Gath-hepher in Zebulon and the son of Amittai of Galillee. (John 7:52 - Jonah, Nahum. Not far from Nazareth where Jesus grew up.)
Jonah in the great fish was a type of Christ's death and resurrection.
Jonah loved truth, but truth must have full course in your life. We must experience the Revelation so we can be like the Lord all ways without delay.
The Man of God was Reluctant to Pray, 1:17; 2:1
The Reason I Didn't Pray
After 3 Days and 3 Nights in the belly of the fish, then Jonah prayed.
In Jonah 1:1,2 the Word of the Lord came to Jonah. In verse 3, he tried to run from the presence of God. Paid the fare, got in the ship and headed with those going to Tarshish. God sent a storm and Jonah slept inside the ship. The heathen shipmaster told Jonah he HAD TO PRAY. He witnessed about God, He confessed his sin against God and even judged his life WORTHLESS. The HEATHEN prayed unto God, gave a sacrifice and made vows unto God. God prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah and after 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the whale…
2:1 -- THEN JONAH PRAYED.
"I Wouldn't never take that much to get ME to pray."
Jonah confesses in 2:2 why he finally DID PRAY, but what was the cause of the delay?
Jonah 2:8—They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

observe: same as Gen. 2:15; Exodus 20:6;
lying vanities: desolating, evil (destructive), moral ruin, idolatry

ACC: "In leaving that God who is the Fountain of mercy, they abandon that measure of mercy which he had treasured up for them."
Contrast Jonah "running from the presence of God" with the words of his prayer "thy holy Temple" (2 x's). What was Jonah's idolatry/lying vanities he observed?
We have talked at length about his WILL, but let's consider today Jonah's MIND.
His First Mistake was "Minding" At All

Romans 8:7—Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. [… the minding of the flesh…]

Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

are we dead? Does a dead man get a vote? "Minding the Flesh" is the surest way to get out of the will of God.
He KNEW His Decision was not in Harmony with God's Will
"I already know what you are going to say, why talk about it?"

Is God Austere? Luke 19:21 (rough, severe, mean) UNAPPROACHABLE

Dad to me, "You can talk to me about anything."

The Prodigal Son

The decision already made. We often wait until we have dug the grave so deep we can't see a way out before we ask for help. Jonah knew he was wrong, but his reasoning eliminated his only source of REAL HELP.
2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Let God in on the process.
How about, instead of waiting until "God get me out of this great fish", Jonah prayed, "God give me GRACE for the Ninevites."
At the first thought of resistance to God, immediately turn that over to the Champion of your soul -- let ME help you.

Our Mind Get's Overwhelmed

Just Day to Day Stuff
He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day. -- John Bunyan

Let the Lord Cover You... Don't Run, Dwell in His Secret Place
Psalm 91:1— He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
The Reason of the Reason was Grace, 2:1-2
Jonah had his mind made up to resist God and it was only because God's pursuit of Jonah was more than he could bear that he finally prayed. Why does God love me so much ?!?!?

Jonah 2:2—And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD,…

God could have moved on to Amos or Hosea…

In Amos' prophecy, 13 times, he began with "thus saith the Lord". The book of Amos illustrates that prophet as being fully capable and qualified of declaring God's Word.

Hosea is one of the most remarkable prophets of Scripture, when you consider how personally God used him. God literally made his life a sermon for the nation of Israel.
Hosea 1:2 And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms…
Hosea 1:3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim;…
Surely, a man willing to marry and love a harlot because God said to, would be willing to preach to the Ninevites.

BUT GOD PURSUED JONAH …

Allowed a Ship to be in Port
Sent Out a Great Wind into the Sea
Prepared a Great Fish
2:3 You [God] Cast me into the Deep
2:3 Thy [God's] Billows and Thy waves passed over me

Jonah wasn't just a number to God. He wasn't just one of many people he could have used, but to God, Jonah was God's choice for this task.

God Set His Sights on an Idol Worshipper in Ur of Chaldees and When He moved to Haran, God pursued Him there -- Abram
Mordecai told Esther … Esther 4:14 … for such a time as this?
Jesus dramatically introduced himself to his persecutor with the intent of turning him for the work of God. -- Saul of Tarsus

What grace is this, that would include Jonah in God's plan of salvation?
John Newton put it this way … Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
Johnson Oatman, Jr. wrote: Jesus included me, yes, He included me,
When the Lord said, Whosoever, He included ME;
Jonah's Deliverance Was Perfectly Incomplete