Want to learn more about Jonah? Use these Bible Studies for personal devotion, group Bible studies, or teaching a church class. Below are links to the lessons in this 13-part series.
Introduction: Do you remember "Jonah and the Whale?" This week we begin a new quarter of studies on the book of Jonah. Years ago, when I was teaching the book of Jonah, an elderly man in my class reported that when he was a boy a whale had been transported on a...
Introduction: What kind of God do we serve? Is He a God who is an "absentee landlord?" Is He a God who knows His people and no others? Is He a God who knows about the intimate details of your life? Can you hide from God? Let's jump into our lesson and see what...
Introduction: "If a tree falls in the forest where no one is around, does it make any sound?" This is a rough recollection of one of those brain-teasing Philosophy 101 questions that you were given in college. Our lesson this week asks, "If a person violated th...
Introduction: Jonah's name in Hebrew means "dove." When you think about doves in the Bible, they are generally associated with good news, right? After the great flood, a dove revealed the water had receded. Genesis 8:11. When Jesus was baptized, God's Spirit w...
Introduction: Jonah had God's "marching instructions" for him. Instead of marching in the correct direction, he ran off the other way. Instead of bringing news of the Great God of Heaven to the citizens of Nineveh, Jonah first brought the news to a group of hea...
Introduction: Have you ever thought you were in the wrong place at the wrong time? The sailors on Jonah's ship thought they had been caught between an angry God and a disobedient prophet. However much they wished they had skipped this voyage, it turned out to be...
Introduction: Will God let us run away from obedience to Him? If you say, "yes," then how easy is it to run away? The book of Jonah suggests it is not an easy thing to run away from God. If we equate obedience to God with eternal salvation, God's persistence sho...
Introduction: At long last Jonah is back on track. God has asked him once again to go and share God's word with the people of Nineveh. This time Jonah obeys. Think back to the lesson when we discussed all the reasons why Jonah would not want to go to Nineveh. R...
Introduction: What an amazing day for Jonah! He doesn't get skinned alive and his hide stretched out on a rock to tan. He doesn't get a limb or two removed. He does not get mortared up alive in some wall. He wasn't impaled on a post. None of the terrible things...
Introduction: Remember how we ended last week's lesson? Jonah puts up his beach umbrella, breaks out his lawn-chair recliner, fixes himself a cold drink, and stretches out for what remains of the 40 days to see the fireworks start over Nineveh. Jonah turns from...
Introduction: Last week we left Jonah, as we have at previous points in the story, as an angry, unhappy man. Jonah tells God that the loss of his shade vine and the hot weather has left him "angry enough to die" ( Jonah 4:9). God provides a dose of logic to Jon...
Introduction: Have you heard the expression, "It was all over except for the shouting?" That is where we are in our study of Jonah. Our Jonah story is over. If I were to grade Jonah as a prophet, it would be a pretty low score. How about you? What do you think...
Introduction: We have finally come to our last study of the book of Jonah. What kind of a picture of God have we seen in the book of Jonah? What have we learned about His involvement in our life, His concern, His Love, His power and His judgment? The book of Jo...
