Let Us Behold (Not Begrudge) Our Gracious God (Jonah 4:1–11)

Let Us Behold (Not Begrudge) Our Gracious God(Jonah 4:1–11)

This Sunday we brought our study of Jonah to a close. After looking at the big picture of Jonah (Jonah 1–4), diving into his storm of disobedience (Jonah 1), going under the waters of Jonah’s baptism (Jonah 1:17; cf. Matthew 12:38–41), inspecting Jonah’s prayer (Jonah 2), and learning what true repentance looks like (Jonah 3), we set our gaze on the God of sovereign grace.

By reading in Jonah in conversation with Genesis 4, Exodus 34, and 1 Kings 19, to name but a few passages, we learned what Jonah 4 says to us about our hearts and God’s. Just as the other chapters examined the heart of the reader, Jonah 4 does so all the more. It finishes with Jonah’s rage and God’s question, and it prompts the reader to ask: Will you begrudge God’s grace too?

You can listen to the message online. Discussion questions can be found below as well as a few additional resources.

Jonah 4:1–11

Here is the ESV text of Jonah 4 organized according to the chiastic structure found in the chapter. See this blogpost for more on the chiastic structure of Jonah.

Discussion Questions

1. Big Picture

   1. What did you learn from the book of Jonah? What are one or two big takeaways from the book of Jonah?

   2. What did you learn about reading the Bible? How will read Jonah or other Minor Prophets in the future?

2. Inter-biblical Connections

   1. What stories / characters are “echoed” in Jonah 4? Hint: Genesis 4, Genesis 19, 1 Kings 19.

   2. How do we verify connections between one passage and another? Hint: Jonah 4 uses the same verbs as Genesis 4.

   3. What text is quoted in Jonah 4:2? Where else is that passage found? Hint: Numbers 14:18; Joel 2:12–14; Nahum 1:3; Psalms 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; John 1:14–18.

3. Jonah 4

   1. What do we learn about Jonah in this last chapter? What does the last chapter teach us about Jonah 1–3?

   2. What do we learn about God? What does is it say? What does Yahweh do?

   3. What do we learn about ourselves? Why is repentance such a necessary and ongoing part of the Christian life?

   4. Are there any particular characteristics of Jonah (e.g., self-comfort, theological arrogance, moodiness, etc. ) that we see in ourselves? How should we respond?

   5. Why is it so important to look away from ourselves and to God to elicit and experience change?

Additional Resources

Blog Posts

• Reading the Minor Prophets Together: Ten Observations from Paul House’s ‘The Unity of the Twelve’

• Sovereignty, Satire, and Second Chances: An Introduction to the Book of Jonah

• Getting into Jonah by Seeing the Book’s Literary Structures

• “On the Third Day”: What Jesus and the Apostles Saw When They Read the Old Testament by Bruce Forsee

• An Evidence of Repentance or Hypocrisy: Why Does Jonah 2 Cite So Many Psalms?

• A Repentant Prayer or a Faithless Fake? What Jonah 2 Teaches Us About Our Hearts

Books

• Jonah by O. Palmer Robertston

• Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah by T.D. Alexander, David Baker, and Bruce Waltke

• A Gracious and Compassionate God: Mission, Salvation, and Spirituality in the Book of Jonah by Daniel C. Timmer

Sermons

• Into the Depths (Jonah Overview)

• The Storm of Disobedience (Jonah 1) by Jared Bridges

• Swallowed in Death, Raised in Life (Jonah 1:17)

• Make My Life a Prayer to You (Jonah 2)

• Overturning Grace (Jonah 3) by Jared Bridges

• Let Us Behold (Not Begrudge) Our Gracious God (Jonah 4)

Soli Deo Gloria, ds