Overview:
Before, God hurled a storm and appointed a fish to get Jonah’s attention. Jonah eventually complied and walked the entire city preaching.After Jonah obeyed and then grew furious, the Almighty didn’t cast him aside. God cared about Jonah as much as He cared about the Ninevites, so He appointed a plant, a worm, and a wind to, once again, get the prophet’s attention. Sadly, Jonah simply didn’t get God’s message.Join Chuck Swindoll as he examines the remaining verses of this literary masterpiece, the book of Jonah. Learn about the character of God, who is not willing that any perish but that they turn to Him for renewal and grace. Do you know someone in need of that grace?
Message Summary:
In “Ticked Off to the Bitter End,” Chuck Swindoll explores the final, puzzling scene of the book of Jonah. After witnessing a massive revival, Jonah is not celebrating; he is “ticked off” and waiting for fire to fall. Swindoll examines the extreme contrast between the heart of a bitter prophet and the heart of a compassionate God. Using the “triple appointment” of a plant, a worm, and a wind, God attempts one last time to break through Jonah’s ethnocentric pride and self-pity. This message is a sobering look at how we can know the theology of grace while having a heart that is cold toward those who need it most, reminding us that God cares as much about the restoration of a stubborn believer as He does about the salvation of the lost.
Message Key Facts:
- The Watcher’s Booth: Jonah sat east of the city, not to pray for them, but to see if God would still destroy them—showing his hope that repentance wouldn’t “count.”
- The Sovereignty of “Appointments”: The text emphasizes God’s active management of the world, specifically “appointing” the plant for shade, the worm for destruction, and the wind for discipline.
- The Priority of Comfort: Jonah was more concerned with the death of a plant that provided him personal shade than the death of 120,000 eternal souls in Nineveh.
- An Uncomfortable Question: The book ends with a question from God that goes unanswered by Jonah, placing the burden of the answer on the reader’s own life.
Message References:
- Waiting for Judgment to Fall
- Why we sometimes prefer the destruction of our enemies over their conversion.
- Scripture: Jonah 4:5 (Jonah went out and sat… to see what would happen to the city).
- The Gift and the Grief of the Vine
- How God provides comforts (the vine) only to take them away (the worm) to test our reactions.
- Scripture: Jonah 4:6–7 (The Lord God appointed a plant… then God appointed a worm).
- The Fainting Prophet and the Scorching Wind
- The physical discomfort that mirrors Jonah’s spiritual dehydration.
- Scripture: Jonah 4:8–9 (God appointed a scorching east wind… “I have a good reason to be angry, even to death”).
- God’s Final Rebuttal: Values and Perspectives
- The staggering difference between Jonah’s pity for a plant and God’s compassion for a city.
- Scripture: Jonah 4:10–11 (“Should I not have compassion on Nineveh… which has more than 120,000 persons?”).
