Evangelikal: Jurnal Teologi Injili dan Pembinaan Warga Jemaat
p-ISSN 2548-7868, e-ISSN 2548-7558
https://journal.sttsimpson.ac.id/index.php/EJTI/

Volume 9, Number 1, March 2025 (48-62)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46445/ejti.v9i1.851

An Exposition of God's Mission Based on Jonah 1 and
its Implications for the Church's Mission Ministry
Yunus D. A. Laukapitang1, Blake David Walburg2, Yosua Feliciano Camerling 3,
Sarah Citra Eunike4
1, 3, 4

Sekolah Tinggi Filsafat Theologia Jaffray, Makassar, Indonesia
Bethlehem College & Seminary, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

2

ABSTRACT
The Ninevites worshipped Dagon. Therefore, God sent Jonah to Nineveh to show His love to the
nation. This discussion focuses on understanding how God used Jonah’s disobedience to God’s
call for the salvation of Nineveh and how important it is for the mission ministry of the church
today. The trajectory of this paper follows the descriptive, investigative, and exegetical
theological research genre. This paper is divided into three parts. The first part is an investigation
of the exegetical aspects of Jonah 1. The second part is an exegetical exploration of the
significance of God’s Mission in Jonah 1. The third part is the application of God’s mission based
on Jonah 1 to the mission ministry of the church. This study finds that mission ministry is the
work of God, obedience to God’s will, and mission ministry is cross-cultural. Based on Jonah 1,
the involvement of God’s servants are basic tasks in conveying and spreading the gospel in the
salvation work.
Keywords: Church, God’s Mission, Jonah 1, Mission Ministry

Article history
Submitted: Sep. 20, 2024

Revised: Jan. 23, 2025

Accepted: Jan. 30, 2025

Corresponding author: Yunus D.A. Laukapitang (nus_lau@yahoo.com)
How to cite this article:
Laukapitang, Y.D.A., Walburg, B.D., Camerling, Y.F. & Eunike, S.C. (2025). An Exposition of God's Mission Based on
Jonah 1 and its Implications for the Church's Mission Ministry. Evangelikal: Jurnal Teologi Injili dan Pembinaan
Warga Jemaat. 9 (1): 48-62. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46445/ejti.v9i1.851
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permission directly from the copyright holder.

INTRODUCTION
The term “mission” has its roots in the Latin biblical text missio (to send), which is related
to the Greek verb “apostello” (to send) (Schirrmacher, 2017). In English, the term is known as
“mission” or “missions”. Mission refers to a church or institution’s specific task to reach people
for Christ through cross-cultural ministry. Meanwhile, missions include everything a church or
institution does that leads to the kingdom of God (Camerling et al., 2020).
It is unfortunate that the church’s weakness in mission is very clearly visible lately, and
is a big problem that ought to be corrected immediately, namely that there are still churches that
neglect the Great Commission, carrying out the preaching of the gospel, and discipleship. Second,
problems also arise in churches that preach the gospel but do not believe in miracles. They
consider Jesus’ miracles fairy tales from the past that are not by the rationalistic modern era. To
reach difficult areas and confront powers of darkness such as shamanism, the power of the
Kingdom of God is very much needed. Third, some preachers and churches believe in miracles
(such as miracles of divine healing) but do not evangelize areas that do not yet know the gospel.
As a result, the miracles are turned for the glory of the preacher, not to expand the Kingdom of
God (Antony, 2014).
Because of these issues, the author emphasizes this study on God's mission in Jonah 1
because the main theme of this book focuses on God’s mission to the Ninevites. This theme is
evident in the opening sentence of the book: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against
it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” (NIV- Jonah 1:1, 2). Jonah did not respond to
the call but went to Tarshish. Jonah's escape did not materialize because God surprised the ship
with a strong wind, Jonah was left abandoned to a great fish which swallowed and then vomited
him on the shore after three days. These strategies were God's initiative to compel Jonah to deliver
a message to the Ninevites. Thus, God called Jonah again to deliver His message to the Ninevites
(Jonah 3:1, 2). In line with the main theme of the book—the mission to Nineveh—the book reports
the story of the sailors who abandoned their gods and worshiped YHWH (Mwita, 2023). The
book of Jonah shows that God’s saving and transforming grace does, even in the OT period,
extend beyond Israel's national and ethnic borders (Timmer, 2008).
There are various views regarding the interpretation of the Book of Jonah. In her doctoral
thesis research, Zhu (2021) stated that after more than two thousand years of interpretation, “I am
not the first to claim that the book of Jonah can be read as a folktale.” Although the development
of folkloristics as a field is relatively new and the book of Jonah has not been historically
understood in such terms, the text is often read allegorically, and folktales are rich in allegory.
In addition, there are three main views regarding how to interpret the Book of Jonah.
Green (1984) explains these three views, namely: First, an allegorical (figurative) interpretation
which reveals this story as a picture of the mission and failure of the Israelites as God's true people.
Second, a parable interpretation that compares the book of Jonah with parables found in the New
Testament (for example, about the good Samaritan, Luke 10:29-37). This parable aims to teach a
moral/spiritual truth. The main interpretation in this group is that the author of the Book of Jonah
intended to reject the fanatical nationalism of the Jews and emphasize the universal view of God,
which includes all nations. Third, the historical interpretation is the traditional view, which
believes that the prophet Jonah served in Assyria (Nineveh). The historical interpretation seems

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to be the most meaningful explanation and has support from the fact that the Lord Jesus himself
considered it to be an event that happened, such that it can be a picture of His death and
resurrection (Matt.12:39-40; Luke 11:29-30). It is also clear that the Lord Jesus considered the
conversion of the Ninevites as a historical fact (Matt.12:41), (Green, 1984).
From this interpretation, the book of Jonah is a historical fact showing God’s love for the
Gentile nations for salvation through the covenant that God made with Abraham, the ancestor of
the Israelite nation. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your
name great, and you will be a blessing” (Gen. 12:2). The Book of Jonah as a historical fact is also
explained: One such scholar who holds the parable view is Pete Enns who I think would stand up
for the Progressive Christian community and is linked with controversy regarding some
unorthodox ideas (Townsend, 2023).
For centuries, the most common approach to Jonah was to understand it as a historical
narrative. In more recent times, however, many have read Jonah as a parable: a story that is not
true but is intended to convey a particular point. Scholars do not seem to have a sense of whether
this nonhuman entity is merely an instrument of the gods or whether prophetic and divine interests
ultimately triumph at the end of the book. There is much more to be said about this always
fascinating book that seems to resist monolithic interpretation, and a brief look at the book’s
recent interpretive history suggests that scholars will continue to grapple with the book’s
specificity for some time to come (Tillema, 2023).
Robert Alan King also argues that with the available evidence, Jonah must be historical,
including all of its more extraordinary aspects such as Jonah being swallowed by a great fish or
whale. If it is not literal, then the story is completely meaningless and analyzes the history of
much of the Bible by also ignoring the testimony of Jesus and others about many other major
events in biblical history. If we reject the story of Jonah as a visual story in the face of Jesus’
position that it is to be taken literally, then we must also understand the story of Adam and Eve,
the trickery of the talking snake, the parting of the Red Sea, and almost every other major biblical
event from the beginning (Bullock, 2007; King, 2017).
Regarding authorship of the book of Jonah, Bullock (2009) wrote, that there is no way to
determine who might have written the book. In the narration, the third person is used. Perhaps
Jonah himself was the author, in chapter 2, he composed a psalm. But there is no need to insist
that Jonah wrote the book. Whoever the author was, he was a very skilled writer, had good Hebrew
language skills and his literary ability to tell a story was not surpassed by any other writer in the
Old Testament (Bullock, 2009).
The Book of Jonah has several main characteristics: First, this book is one of two Old
Testament prophetic books written by a prophet who was raised in the northern kingdom of Israel
(the other being Hosea). Second, this book is a masterpiece of the short prose story literary style;
only Jonah's thanksgiving prayer (Jonah 2:2-9) was written in verse. Third, the book is full of
supernatural acts of God; apart from the timing of the storm and the appearance of the great fish,
there was the jatropha tree, a worm, and the east wind, and (most remarkably) the conversion of
the entire city of Nineveh. Fourth, this book contains the clearest Old Testament message that
God's saving grace is for Gentiles as well as Jews (Bullock, 2009).

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Apart from that, the interesting thing about Jonah is that he was one of the prophets who
was sent to the Gentiles with the message of repentance. This is in contrast to Hosea, another
prophet from the northern kingdom who only focused on the Israelites.
Jonah is the only Old Testament prophet on record whom God sent to a heathen nation
with a message of repentance. Nahum’s later ministry to Nineveh consisted of announcing certain
overthrow, although, had the Ninevites repented again, God might have relented. Jonah was
Israel’s foreign missionary, whereas Hosea was Israel’s home missionary. Both of these prophets
revealed important characteristics about God: Hosea, God’s loyal love for Israel, and Jonah, His
compassion for all people, specifically Gentiles (Olabiyi, 2024).
There is no date for the author of the book of Jonah. To explain the year this book was
written, Bullock (2009) wrote: “The Book of Jonah was probably written as early as the mideighth century. There are no compelling reasons that this should not be the case. It is possible,
however, that it existed in its present form later, but before or soon after the fall of Samaria and
the northern tribes. The story has a northern air about it, almost a boast in this prophet going on a
mission to one of Assyria's main cities and preaching bad news. The fact that Yahweh preserved
Nineveh after its conversion is a faithful testimony of His sovereign control over that foreign
power” (Bullock, 2009).
Regarding the year of writing, Leslie C. Allen (1976) gives good information: “The date
of the book of Jonah is by no means easy to determine. The period of the prophet of 2 Kings
14:25, c. 780 B.C., is not necessarily the time when the book was produced. Although it has often
been assumed that Jonah was the author, the narrative is anonymous and has no direct reference
to its author. Some clues point to a later date. The reference to Nineveh in 3:3 indicates that the
city was only a distant memory in the author’s time. Nineveh fell in 612 B.C. From this
explanation it can be concluded that the date of writing of the book of Jonah could range from the
3rd to 8th century BC, “or approximately 760 BC.”” (Allen, 1976).
The reader of Jonah can see in general that the purpose of the book of Jonah is to reveal
God's love to the Gentiles in fulfillment of His promise to Abraham to bless all nations. Other
purposes that can be seen in this book are: First, to show Israel and the Gentiles how great and
extensive is the action of God's saving love through the preaching of repentance. Second, to show
through Jonah's experience how far Israel has fallen from the missionary calling to be a
redemptive light to a people living in darkness (Genesis 12:1-3; Isaiah 42:6-7; 49:6). Third, to
show backslidden Israel that God in His love and mercy has sent not one but many faithful
prophets to bring His message of repentance to escape the inevitable punishment for sin.
Jensen (2024) argues that Jonah is Paul’s typological opposite. “Indeed, in all of the Old
Testament, it would be hard to find a more perfect antithesis to Paul than Jonah. While Paul
covered the sea to carry out God’s saving purposes for the Gentiles, Jonah covered the sea to
avoid bringing God’s mercy to the Gentiles. For that reason, it is easy to miss the crucial similarity
between Jonah and Paul: they were both profound theologians of God’s grace for the Gentiles.
Jonah—not just the book of Jonah, but Jonah himself—anticipated Paul’s crucial secret by
hundreds of years. Jonah, like Paul, recognized that God’s mercy for the wayward but transacting
Jews was a sign and guarantee of God’s mercy for the wayward but transacting Jews” (Jensen,
2024).

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The main purpose of the book is to teach Israelites that God loves other nations beyond
their own; or to teach the prophets who peddle selfishness that he loves other nations and people
(Olabiyi, 2024). This shows that in the Book of Jonah God wants to show the depth of His love
for all mankind. Israel failed to carry out this task. But God never fails. He used Israel's failure to
express His love for the salvation of the nations.
METHOD
This study uses research materials from the book of Jonah in the Bible and other books
and journals related to the book of Jonah. The trajectory of this paper follows the type of
descriptive, investigative, and exegetical theological research (Mwita, 2023). This paper is
divided into three parts. The first part is an investigation of the exegetical aspects of Jonah 1. The
second part is an exegetical exploration of the significance of God's Mission in Jonah 1. The
exegetical part refers to a method that explores the biblical passage by looking at its original intent
which leads to theological significance. The third part is the implications of God's mission based
on Jonah 1 for the church’s mission ministry.
The data collection method used is by searching for literature studies and other documents
related to the title of the study. The analysis method used is by using a qualitative approach with
a descriptive method. According to Hikmat (2011), the descriptive method is a research method
to create a picture of a situation or event so that basic data is collected that provides a clearer
picture.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Exposition of the Book of Jonah 1
This section focuses on explaining the calling of Jonah, which is divided into several parts,
namely:
1:1-2: Understanding the Context of Jonah's Call to Service
1:3: Jonah’s attitude towards the call to ministry
1:4-11: The Impact of Disobedience to the Call to Ministry
1:12-15: The Way Out of Disobedience to the Call
1:16-17: Positive Consequences of Disobedience to the Call to Ministry
Understanding the Context of Jonah's Call to Service (1:1-2)
Jonah's call to service in the context of the text includes the source of the call to service,
the object of the call to service, the contents of the news of the call to service, and the background
of the call to service. The source of Jonah’s call to ministry came from GOD. The phrase “the
word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amitai,” shows this truth. This also shows God’s
sovereignty to call Jonah to go (Da Silva, 2019). The object of Jonah's call to ministry is clearly
explained by God, namely, Nineveh, that great city (1:2). Regarding the city of Nineveh, it is
explained, “Nineveh, powerful and famous, was the capital of the pagan Assyrian empire, Israel's
constant enemy.” (Guthrie, 1976). Nineveh is said to be a great city, in the text described in Jonah
3:3, “Nineveh was an amazing city, three days’ journey in breadth.” In another section, it is
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explained about this city, namely: This was the capital of the Assyrian empire, one of the most
ancient cities of the world, Gen. 10; and one of the largest, as it was three days, journey in
circumference. Ancient writers represent it as long; being in length one hundred and fifty stadia,
and ninety in breadth, the compass being four hundred and eighty stadia. Now as the stadium is
allowed to have equal to or furlong eight of which make a mile, this amounts to fifty-four English
miles. See on chap. 3:3. But we must not suppose that all this space was covered with compact
streets and buildings; it took in a considerable space of the country, probably all the cultivated
ground necessary to support all the inhabitants of that district (Botros, 2020). It is reported to have
had walls one hundred feet high, and so broad that three chariots might run abreast upon them. It
was situated on the Tigris, or a little to the west, or on the west side of that river. It had at this
time one hundred and twenty thousand persons in it, reputed to be in a state of infancy, which on
a moderate computation would make the whole number six hundred thousand persons. But some,
supposing that person not being able to distinguish their right hand from their left must mean
children under two years of age, and reckoning one such child for every twenty persons from that
age upwards, make the population amount to two million five hundred thousand (Clarke, 2018).
The city of Nineveh is also historically described: Since 1100 BC, Nineveh was the
residence of kings. During the reign of Sargon II (722-705 BC), Nineveh became the capital of
Assyria. Sennacherib (705-681 BC) especially loved Nineveh and made it the main city of his
kingdom (Frahm, 2008). “Therefore Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and returned and
remained in Nineveh” (II Kings 19:36). Sennacherib made many improvements in Nineveh. He
ordered the construction of giant walls and built the oldest aqueduct in the city's history. The
aqueduct is part of a canal that carries water from mountains 56 km away (Packer et al., 2001).
From the statements above, it show that the object of the prophet Jonah’s call to service was the
city of Nineveh, a city which was the centre of world civilization at that time with a large
population and good urban planning in the fields of irrigation, governance and development.
Jonah's Attitude Towards the Call to Service (1:3)
Jonah’s attitude towards God’s call for him was to flee to Tarshish, far from the presence
of God. The words “far from the presence of the LORD” are used twice in the text. The word
“before” is explained.
Verse 3 begins to clarify Jonah’s reaction. The first word in verse three,
“wayyaqom,” exhibits two distinct characteristics. First, Jonah followed the instruction “qom” in
verse 2 with the phrase “wayyaqom,” which is the root verb “qom” in its qal imperfect waw
sequential form. Secondly, verse 3’s opening waw consecutive denotes a contrast (Brown et al.,
2011). This indicates that although Jonah did indeed obey the first command, his motivation for
doing so was different. To go to Nineveh and proclaim to them, he disregarded the second and
third orders. Far from the Lord’s presence, he instead fled to Tarshish (v. 3a) (Prabowo, 2024).
Being far from the presence of GOD, also having an understanding of being far from
God’s himself. This shows that in Jonah’s understanding, God was limited, so if he was far from
the presence of GOD, then the call could not be carried out. It could be that in Jonah’s thoughts,
the presence of God only revolves around the Temple of God, so if he is far from the Temple of
God, then God will not be able to realize His plans. Jonah went to the area of Yafo to go to

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Tarshish (Pettengil, 2017). However, Baxter (2002) wrote a different understanding. Prophet
Jonah knew very well that God was present in every place. It is also known that he could not
escape from GOD’s vision, but he was willing to bear God’s vengeance as long as the Israelites
were safe. Indeed, so that Israel could be saved that is why he fled! Never let him be labeled a
narrow-minded nationalist, or a coward, who only remembers how to save himself. He was a
prophet who loved his people and the reason he ran away contained elements of heroism, even
though that reason misled him into disobeying God's commands (Baxter, 2002).
From these explanations, we can get a picture of an inner conflict experienced by Jonah
regarding God’s command to go to Nineveh. The conflict between obedience to God’s commands,
the characteristics of God who is full of love and merciful, who is long-suffering and abundant in
steadfast love and who is sorry for the disaster that He is about to bring (4:2), love for Israel as
his nation, hatred for Nineveh was a cruel nation that would punish its people. However, the
reality is that Jonah chose to disobey God’s commands for various human considerations. Jonah
fled to Tarshish. Tarshish refers to the city of Tartessos at the mouth of the Guadalquivir in
southwestern Spain. Tarshish, according to Jeremiah 10:9 and Ezekiel 27:12, was a place where
silver, tin, iron, and lead were mined. The purpose of this reference probably indicates the
westernmost point of the then known world (Jonker & Lawrie, 2005).
The Impact of Disobedience to the Call to Ministry (1:4-11)
The impact of Jonah’s disobedience to the call to service given by God had an impact on
God’s sovereign actions to realize His plans. The author uses strong language to convey God’s
disciplinary response when Jonah starts his voyage of fleeing from him (v.4). The narrator makes
it very clear that God’s reaction to Jonah’s departure is the sea’s fierce fury. The narrator starts
where the preceding verse finishes by putting the subject ‫ יהוה‬before the verb, breaking with the
prevalent Hebrew narrative grammar where the phrase starts with a verb. According to Trible,
this rhetorical strategy establishes “emphases and contrasts” and validates the divine direction
and gravity of the circumstance (Trible, 1994).
Yahweh is credited with sending the huge wind in response to Jonah's escape, which
resulted in a tremendous storm and severely damaged the ship. The Hebrew word ‫( טול‬Hifil; cf.
vv. 5, 12, 15), translated as “he hurled,” shows the powerful action of God expressed through the
double use of the adjective ‫“( גדול‬great”) to describe the wind and the storm.2 The powerful force
of Yahweh’s hurling is first felt by the ship. The narrator skillfully uses ‫“( חשב‬intended to”) to
give the sense of serious danger as the ship is about to be broken.3 The powerful roaring of the
sea reflects God’s rage towards Jonah, and its initial result is destruction. God, moreover, reveals
his sovereignty over nature in a series of events throughout the book: the storm (1:4), the fish
(2:1, 10), the vine (4:6), the worm (4:7), and the east wind (4:8). As we continue, it is interesting
to note that it is the sailors, not Jonah, who recognize first the anger of a deity (Botros, 2020).
What Jonah thought was different. God sent a storm into the sea, so there was a big storm.
The ship was almost destroyed. The words “God sent down” indicate God’s sovereignty over the
wind, to carry out His will. This also shows that Jonah could not escape from God’s presence.
“The word bring down is translated from the Hebrew word tuwl which is translated to throw,
throw out, throw away, throw it out, throw it, throw it, throw it down, bring it down, throw it
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away, throw it away, lay it down.” This word denotes a situation that suddenly occurs as a
sovereign act of God. Meanwhile, the word “big” is explained: The word big is translated from
the Hebrew word gadowl meaning great, large in magnitude and extend, in number, in intensity,
loud (in soud), older (in age), in importance, important things, great, distinguished (of men), God
Himself (of God), great things, haughty things, greatness, haggedolom, the great man? father of
Zabdiel (Anderson, 2012).
This indicates a wind condition of great intensity which causes storms and waves with
large sounds. So it was explained that the ship was almost destroyed, due to strong storm winds
that could destroy the ship. There were efforts made by the sailors to save themselves. Each of
them cried out to his god, threw out all the ship's cargo to lighten it and through casting lots tried
to determine who caused this (1:7). Shouting to one's god (1:5) is an expression of fear and hope
for salvation from the god one worships. Dumping the ship's cargo (1:5), is a technical method
commonly used to make it easier for the ship to move in accordance with the direction of the
water current. If it remains heavy, it will make it easier for the ship to be hit by waves and cause
destruction and through casting lots it is Jonah who is cast by lot (1:7) (Lovelace, 2019).
Jonah conveys his existence as the cause of disaster (8-10). In this part of the text, Yunus
answers several questions from them, namely: (a) Because of whom have we been hit by this
disaster? (b) What is your job? (c) Where do you come from? (d) What is your country and what
nation are you? To these questions, Jonah gave an explanation: (a) I am a Hebrew. (b) I fear the
LORD, the God of the heavens, who made the surface and the land. (c) I fled far from the presence
of the LORD.
Jonah’s explanations had the effect of fear. The Bible explains they were very afraid (v.
10). This is because they already had an understanding of the God of Jonah as the owner of the
sky and the one who has made the sea and land, and nowknowing that Jonah was the cause of the
disaster because he ran away from God when God called him to go to Nineveh.
Though rebellious against God’s command (cf. vv.2-3) Jonah responded to the sailors’
barrage of five question by stating with no uncertainty his nationality (I am a Hebrew) and the
worth and power of His God. Though disobedient to God, Jonah at least knew what He is like.
Jonah said that God is the Lord (Yahweh), the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God of
Israel. The prophet also said his God is the God of heaven (cf. Gen. 24:3, 7 and comments on
Ezra 1:2), the one true Sovereign, in contrast with the sailors’ many false gods (cf. Jonah 1:5).
Jonah also affirmed that Yahweh is Creator, the one Who made the sea and the land (cf. Ex.
20:11); Ps. 95:5). As Creator of the world He can control nature, including stroms on the sea (cf.
Ps. 89:9). The sailors clearly acknowledged this fact in their quetion (Jonah 1:11). It may seem
strange that Jonah claimde to worship this God when he did not obey Him, but his is often true of
believers (Tiemeyer, 2017).
The Way Out of Disobedience to the Call (1:12-15)
Jonah was the one who conveyed the way to free them from disaster to their question,
“What will we do with you so that the sea calms down and does not attack us again, because the
sea is getting more and more stormy.” Jonah told him how to relieve the disaster caused by
himself, namely by throwing Jonah into the sea (v. 13). However, in the text it is explained that

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they did not immediately throw Jonah, but there were attempts to bring the ship to land but were
unable to. Because the sea was getting rougher, the last resort was to throw Jonah into the sea.
However, before doing this, there is a prayer for safety. The content of his prayer was a request
“Don’t let us perish because of this man's life. Do not lay upon us the blood of innocent people,
for you, LORD, have done as you willed.” The contents of the prayers of the ship’s crew show a
new understanding of God, that God is a just God, and He rewards people according to His crimes.
God is absolute sovereign. He does things according to His perfect will.
Positive Consequences of Disobedience to the Call to Ministry (1:16-17)
Apart from the negative impact of Jonah's disobedience which had a disastrous impact,
there is a positive side. Jonah's disobedience had a positive impact on the people on the ship, in
that they had a new understanding of the God of Israel as the God who created the heavens, seas
and land. He is angry with people who are not faithful to His commands. So the effect was that
they became afraid of the LORD, then offered sacrifices to the LORD and made vows. This was
God's purpose for the Israelites, that the other nations would know God (Isaiah 43:21). “Utterly
amazed at the sudden calm, they offered a sacrifice in praise to the Lord (Yahweh, Israel’s God)
and promised (made vows) to continue their praise. Again the sailors are seen in contrast with
their former passenger. Whereas Jonah was disobedient to God, they were praising Him!”
(Anderson, 2012).
God again continued His plan through a big fish that swallowed Jonah. Jonah stayed in
the fish's stomach for three days and three nights. Regarding the existence of large fish, there are
several interesting views. “The Hebrew word translated “predestination” means “to provide,” not
to specifically create. The fish is called a “big fish”, it could be a whale, shark or other fish.”
What is the concept of fish in the Nineveh/Assyrian understanding? There are several
explanations given, including Assyrian culture tells of the Goddess Atorgis, the daughter of Queen
Semiramis, who fell in love with a shepherd from the human world. In her search, the princess
finally found the shepherd and finally they fell in love, the two of them spent their days together
even though they met in secret. One day, the princess wanted to give a surprise to her lover, but
unfortunately, the surprise brought by the princess was a dagger and accidentally stabbed her
lover to death. The princess felt so lost and deeply sad, that in the end, she decided to commit
suicide and jump into the lake to take the form of a fish. Miraculously, because the princess's
beauty could not change into the shape of a fish, it only changed from back to feet, which finally
became like fish fins. A folklore expert, S. Baring Gould, in his book entitled Curious Myths of
the Middle Ages, published in 1884, wrote that the story of the Mermaid began with the story of
a god/goddess after fish in ancient religions. Gould wrote that the god Jannes from the Chaldeans
and the god Dagon from the Philistines (Israel) had the appearance of a mermaid (Baring-Gould,
1906).
Dagon was also the first god of Syria and Mesopotamia. Further, it can be explained: that
Dagon was found in Phoenicia and Mesopotamia; even in Mari, he was an important god. Dagon’s
role in Ugarit is limited, but he is described as the father of Baal. Like Baal himself, he seems to
have been a weather god who was also a god of fertility. The name Dagon may be related to the
Hebrew word “dagan” which is “wheat”. In Palestine Dagon was worshipped by the Philistines
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(cf. I Sam. 5, in Ashdod; and Judges 16:23, in Gaza). Presumably, he was an ancient god from
the west Semitic region that was taken over by the Philistines when they entered the land of Kanan
(Emanuel, 2016).
There is a testimony that states, “Recently I met a Diaspora Jew, he was wearing a gold
necklace with a fish logo, it reminded me of the god Dagon, the male fish god and that informed
me a little, that indeed the god Baal is still an idol.” In the end, God brought Jonah back to Nineveh
to reveal His will for the people of Nineveh through a big fish determined by God Himself.
Implications For the Church’s Mission Ministry
From the explanation of the book of Jonah, several principles can be applied in current
church mission ministry, specifically in mission ministry, namely, mission ministry is God's work,
mission ministry is obedience to God's will and mission ministry is cross-cultural ministry.
Missionary Ministry is God’s Work
The Bible testifies that mission work to bring about the restoration of the relationship
between humans and God is God's initiative and work alone. In Genesis 3, when humans fell into
sin, it shows the existence of this principle. This work of God is expressed by God calling
Abraham, God making a covenant with humans (Genesis 3:15) and God making clothes from
animal skins and wearing them on humans (Genesis 3:21). The mission work continued with
Noah and his descendants. Specifically, God's initiative to make a covenant with Abraham,
through which all the tribes were blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). “The LORD associates with His
people in the covenant that He has established. We read about God's covenant with Abraham
(Gen. 17), and then with Israel as a whole (Ex. 19-20). It is always emphasized that the provision
of the agreement comes from GOD's side, not from humans.”
The writer of Hebrews clearly states God’s work through the prophets to reveal His will.
But in these last days, he speaks through his son Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-3). Jesus Christ is the
culmination of God's work for the salvation of humans from sin. Jesus came to be equal to humans
to die for all human sins on the cross (John 3:16; Mark 10:45; II Corinthians 5:21; Isaiah 53).
Missionary ministry is God’s work and is a continuity. Jesus said, “as you sent me into the world,
so I sent them into the world” (John 17:18). This work of God is continued by God’s church today
to make disciples of all nations of the Lord Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20). To realize this task, Jesus
gave the Holy Spirit to complete, give the power to seal, indwell, fulfil and lead believers in the
task of sending (Ephesians 4:11-16; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8; Ephesians 5:18;
Galatians 5:25). God gave authority to the church today to send believers out into all the activities
of life to bring each person to a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul explained
the concept of sending very clearly in Romans 10:13-15, that is, the church sent, there were those
who preached, there were those who heard about Him, believed in Him, and cried out to Him.
This sending circle can be described as follows:

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7. Saved
by Jesus

1.
Discipleship
Center
Church
2. Sending

6. Calling
out to
Jesus

3.
Preaching
Jesus

5. Believe
in Jesus

4. Hearing
About
Jesus

Figure 1. Circle of Sending
For this to be effective in a local church, four areas of knowledge need to continue to be
developed to evangelize with God, namely: Getting to know Christ as Savior, getting to know the
Gospel, getting to know the thoughts and attitudes of people who are still lost and getting to know
basic communication skills (Daniels, 2003).
Missionary Ministry is Obedience to God's Will
From the book of Jonah chapter 1, the principle of mission ministry that can be applied
in the church today is that mission ministry is a ministry of obedience to God's will. The Bible
testifies that it is God’s will that all people turn and repent and come to the knowledge of the truth
(I Timothy 2:4). Ezekiel 18:32, “For I am not pleased that anyone should die, says the Lord God.
Therefore, repent, so that you may live.” Obedience to God’s will was demonstrated by Christ
when He carried out God's will for the atonement of human sins through His death on the cross.
The Apostle Paul explained in Philippians 2:8, “And being found as a man, He humbled Himself
and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
The Apostle Paul can also give an example of his obedience to God's will for him to be
an apostle to the Gentiles. He testified to this obedience when he wrote to Timothy as a young
man in ministry in the city of Ephesus. He wrote, “As for me, my blood has begun to be poured
out as an offering and the hour of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have crossed
the finish line and I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:6-7).
Obedience to God’s will has an impact on God's glory as an incentive to realize the
purpose of the sending. Metzger (2005) wrote:
The highest motivation in witnessing is to glorify God, to see His perfection realized through
the joyful praise of His redeemed people. If this is not our driving force in the depths of our
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57

hearts, if our testimony is driven by less than that motivation, our witnessing is not in
harmony with the plan of salvation. The great goal of divine election is the glory of God
(Romans 11:36; Ephesians 1:12). When we preach Christ without this primary motivation,
we operate in a conflict of interest with our message and with the Spirit.
This explanation shows that obedience to God’s call will have an impact on God’s glory
in the basis and goals of ministry. The call to mission includes awareness of the needs of, and
concern for, a lost world; obedience to the commandments of Christ; radical commitment to God;
your church’s recognition of your gifts; a strong passion and yearning for missions; and gifts of
the Spirit. The missionary call is God’s method for mobilizing His children for intercultural
ministry and sustaining them in the work He designed for them before the foundation of the world
(Acts 17:26), (Sills, 2011).
The ministry of sending is the ministry of self-denial, carrying the cross and following
the example of Christ. The Church today is called to obey God’s will for the salvation of the
nations. The church needs to prepare God’s people to carry out this task through various mission
trainings in both large and small groups. The Church has been sent by Christ into the world to be
light and salt to the world. So, obedience to God’s will that has been demonstrated by Christ
becomes an example for the church to obey in carrying out God's will in the task of sending.
Mission Ministry is a Cross-Cultural Ministry
The principle of mission ministry that can be seen in the text of Jonah chapter 1 shows
that mission ministry is cross-cultural (Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:19-2). Serving in missions means
serving people who have a different culture from those sent to bring the message of salvation.
mission ministry is a challenge because it is conducted with a different way of thinking from the
group of people being served. The solution is an approach that is informed by local culture. Just
as a news anchor is required to be able to understand the way of thinking of the people he is
targeting. This way of thinking of the local culture is found in the language and cultural symbols
of the group. The principle of cross-cultural ministry has also been demonstrated by God through
Jesus Christ, incarnational ministry. Becoming the same as humans, sharing what humans
experience and even dying as someone who was crucified for human salvation (Hebrews 2:1418; John 1:14). Regarding the example of Jesus' ministry, it is explained:
“The Lord Jesus came to sinners. He is our example. The Lord Jesus is also the Great
Communicator. The Lord Jesus communicated based on three main stages: First, the absolute or
basic stage through teaching. Second, the illustrative stage through parables. Third, the personal
stage when he speaks to individuals” (Daniels, 2003).
The Apostle Paul also took a contextualization approach when carrying out the
missionary ministry in Athens (Acts 17:16-34). He explains the Gospel starting from inscription
to an unknown God. “What you worship without knowing, that is what I proclaim to you” (Acts
17:23). Regarding the ministry of the apostle Paul in this text, Daniels (2003) explains Paul on
Mars Hill. “The news delivered by Paul is not only an example of a seeker-sensitive message (in
Acts 17:27, Paul talks about people who “seek” God), but is also an example of
“contextualization” or cross-cultural testimony. The message “translated” the truth of the Gospel
into a form that the people in that place could understand. This is not changing God’s word or

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compromising it. This is communicating God’s truth according to the listener’s level of
understanding. Paul did it. The Lord Jesus also did it.” (Daniels, 2003).
Regarding the contextualization of services, it is explained in fact, the purpose of
contextualization is the same as the purpose of Jesus’ incarnation. Just as God revealed Himself
to humans through Jewish culture, so we want to reveal God to tribes who do not yet know Jesus
through their culture. Therefore, contextualization is a divine principle that was manifested in the
incarnation of Jesus (Hitchen, 2014).
In I Corinthians 9:19-23, the apostle Paul provides beautiful principles for cross-cultural
ministry. He stated, “I do all these things for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in it” (I
Corinthians 9:23). If the principles and examples of cross-cultural ministry that were implemented
by Jesus and the Apostle Paul are implemented well by God’s church today in the context of its
mission, then God’s salvation can be realized among the various ethnic groups in the world today.
So that in the end all knees bow and all tongues confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the
Father (Philippians 2).
CONCLUSION
God loves all ethnic groups in the world. The Book of Jonah proves this truth. God
commanded Jonah to proclaim the news of God’s judgment on Nineveh so that they might be
saved. God was full of mercy, so Jonah ran away from God's presence in order to not carry out
the command. God in His sovereignty used natural forces to bring Jonah back to His plan.
In Jonah’s disobedience there was a positive thing that happened, when lots were cast and
he was hit by the lottery, which showings that he was the cause of the incident. On that occasion,
Jonah was able to testify about who he was, who God was whom he worshiped, what tasks God
had given him, and his attitude towards the orders given. Jonah provided a solution for the safety
of the many people on the ship, namely that he became a victim because of his mistake which had
caused a big storm. After he was thrown into the sea, God chose a big fish to help him. This had
the effect of people recognizing the God of Israel who was worshiped by Jonah as the true God,
in contrast to the other gods worshiped by the people on the ship.
God’s determination of the existence of a big fish, when connected to the beliefs of
Nineveh at that time, can show a strategy that God used to make God’s message effective for
other nations who did not yet know the true God. As an implication of current mission ministry,
from the Jonah incident the principle can be drawn that mission ministry is God's work, mission
ministry is obedience to God’s will and mission ministry is a cross-cultural ministry.

Competing interests
The author has no competing interests.

Author contributions
Y.D.A.L. formal analysis, writing original draft preparation. B.D.W., Y.F.C., S.C.E., conceptualization,
methodology, writing review, and editing.

Y.D.A. Laukapitang, et al., An Exposition of God's Mission Based on Jonah 1 …

59

Ethical considerations
This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Funding information
This research received no external funding.

Data availability
The data supporting this study's findings are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable
request.

Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and are the product of professional
research. It does not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated institution, funder,
agency, or that of the publisher. The authors are responsible for this article's results, findings, and content.

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