Jonah: The Relentless Love of God

Sunday, June 28^th 2026

Jonah 3:10 - 4:11

Introduction

God’s Relentless Love Toward Our Enemies and Us

1. Jonah’s Anger at God’s Mercy

v.1 - “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.”

Jonah 4 opens with shocking words. The Hebrew text literally says Jonah thought God’s mercy was “evil.” The repentance of Nineveh was good news to heaven, but bad news to Jonah. Why?

“O LORD, 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 anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster.”

Jonah did not run because he feared failure. He ran because he feared success.

He knew God’s character. He knew if Nineveh repented, God would forgive them. Jonah wanted justice for Nineveh, not mercy.

Jonah exposes the self-righteousness hiding in the human heart. Sometimes believers can become angry when God blesses others. Angry when prodigals return. Angry when enemies are forgiven. None of us deserve mercy.

1. God Responds with Patience

v.4 - “Do you do well to be angry?”

What is astonishing is God’s response to Jonah.

God does not strike him dead. God does not abandon him. Instead, God asks a question: What patience!

Jonah does not answer. Instead, he walks outside the city and builds a shelter. He sits east of Nineveh hoping perhaps God will still destroy it.

This is the danger of religious pride. It can make us resent the very mercy that saved us.

• God Appoints the Plant, Worm and Wind

v.6 - “Now the LORD God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.”

One of the key themes in Jonah is God’s sovereignty. God appointed a storm. He appointed a fish. He appoints a plant.

Jonah is finally happy. In fact, the text says Jonah was “exceedingly glad” because of the plant. Interestingly, the same phrase used for his extreme anger in verse 1 is now used for his extreme joy.

He cares more about his shade than about thousands of lost souls in Nineveh. Before we judge Jonah too quickly, we should examine ourselves. How often are we more emotionally affected by our inconveniences than by the spiritual condition of people around us?

v.7,8 “But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, ‘it is better for me to die than to live.”

And yet God still patiently asks: “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?”

This time Jonah responds: “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”

Jonah is digging in his heels before Almighty God, but even here, the Lord continues teaching.

1. The Heart of the Book

v.10-11 - “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow… And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

This ending is intentionally unresolved. We never learn Jonah’s final response because the book turns the question toward us.

Will we share God’s heart for the lost? Will we rejoice in mercy? Will we love our enemies? Will we care more about people than personal comfort?

At the heart of Jonah 4 is the scandal of grace. How can God forgive wicked sinners?

The answer is the cross. God’s justice was not ignored. It was satisfied in Jesus. Jesus bore the wrath we deserved so mercy could flow freely to all who repent and believe.

Conclusion

The Lord is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

That is good news for sinners and that is good news for angry prophets too.