Can anyone really run from God?

In Jonah 1:1-17, God tells the prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh — and Jonah runs the opposite way. In this study, Dr. Toby Holt shows that no one can flee from the presence of God.

Told to preach to Israel’s enemies in Nineveh, Jonah instead boards a ship for Tarshish, about as far away as the world then knew. But God sends a violent storm. The pagan sailors cry out to their gods while Jonah sleeps; when the lot falls on him, Jonah is thrown into the sea, and the storm goes still. God then appoints a great fish to swallow him. Dr. Holt notes that Jonah’s three days in the fish point forward to Christ — a story that begins with a runaway prophet but ultimately points to Calvary.

Questions this study answers:

1. Why did Jonah run from God? He did not want to preach to Nineveh, Israel’s cruel enemy, so he fled toward Tarshish to escape the assignment — and even the presence of God.

2. Can anyone actually hide from God? No. As the storm showed Jonah, God is everywhere; there is no place we can go to escape Him.

3. How does Jonah’s story point to Jesus? Jesus pointed to Jonah’s three days in the fish as a sign of His own death and resurrection. Jonah’s account ultimately points to the cross.

“But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” — Jonah 1:3 (NKJV)

Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt is the President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, a Reformed seminary in Colorado Springs. He is known for clear, down-to-earth Bible teaching, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio.

Listen and go deeper: This sermon is part of the Jonah Explained study from New Geneva Theological Seminary. Find more verse-by-verse teaching across the Bible at newgeneva.org. To support this teaching ministry, visit newgeneva.org/give.

Was the great fish God’s judgment or His rescue?

In Jonah 2:1-10, Jonah prays from inside the belly of a great fish. In this study, Dr. Toby Holt asks whether that fish was God’s punishment — or His surprising means of rescue.

Having fled from God and been thrown into the sea, Jonah should have drowned. Instead, God sends a great fish to swallow him — not to destroy him, but to save him. Dr. Holt explains that God sometimes uses dreadful circumstances to bring a stubborn heart to repentance. From the darkness, Jonah remembers the Lord, turns from worthless idols, and declares the great truth at the heart of the book: “Salvation is of the LORD.”

Questions this study answers:

1. Was the fish judgment or mercy? It was mercy. The fish was God’s means of rescuing Jonah from drowning and bringing him to repentance.

2. Why does God sometimes allow hard circumstances? To turn stubborn hearts back to Himself. Dr. Holt describes the fish as God’s loving way of getting Jonah’s attention.

3. What does “Salvation is of the LORD” mean? It means rescue comes from God alone, not from ourselves or our idols. That truth is the turning point of Jonah’s whole story.

“But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.” — Jonah 2:9 (NKJV)

Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt is the President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, a Reformed seminary in Colorado Springs. He is known for clear, down-to-earth Bible teaching, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio.

Listen and go deeper: This sermon is part of the Jonah Explained study from New Geneva Theological Seminary. Find more verse-by-verse teaching across the Bible at newgeneva.org. To support this teaching ministry, visit newgeneva.org/give.

Can even the worst city be saved?

In Jonah 3:1-10, a reluctant prophet finally preaches to Nineveh — and the most violent city of its day repents. In this study, Dr. Toby Holt shows how far God’s mercy can reach.

Nineveh was the brutal capital of Assyria, infamous for staggering cruelty — which is part of why Jonah had refused to go. Yet when he finally preaches a short, blunt warning, the entire city, “from the greatest to the least,” turns to God in repentance. Dr. Holt explains that such widespread repentance happened because God enabled it, and points to other unlikely people God saved. Jesus Himself later affirmed that Nineveh’s repentance was real.

Questions this study answers:

1. Why didn’t Jonah want to preach to Nineveh? Because Nineveh was Israel’s brutal enemy, and Jonah did not want them spared. He would rather they be destroyed than forgiven.

2. How did the whole city come to repent? God moved them to respond to Jonah’s warning. From the king down to the least, the people turned from their sin.

3. What does Nineveh’s repentance teach us? That no one is beyond God’s mercy. If the cruelest city of its day could repent and be spared, no sinner is past hope.

“So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.” — Jonah 3:5 (NKJV)

Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt is the President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, a Reformed seminary in Colorado Springs. He is known for clear, down-to-earth Bible teaching, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio.

Listen and go deeper: This sermon is part of the Jonah Explained study from New Geneva Theological Seminary. Find more verse-by-verse teaching across the Bible at newgeneva.org. To support this teaching ministry, visit newgeneva.org/give.

Can you be angry at God for being too merciful?

In Jonah 4:1-11, the prophet is furious — not because God judged a city, but because God spared one. In this study, Dr. Toby Holt closes the book of Jonah with its searching final question about grace.

Jonah had finally preached to Nineveh, and the whole city repented. But instead of rejoicing, Jonah sulks, angry that God showed mercy to his enemies. God gives him an object lesson with a plant that grows and then withers, exposing that Jonah cared more about his own comfort than about 120,000 lost people. Dr. Holt shows how the plant pictures Christ, our covering from God’s judgment, and how the book ends with an unanswered question aimed straight at the reader: will we withhold the grace we ourselves have received?

Questions this study answers:

1. Why was Jonah angry that Nineveh was spared? Because he wanted his cruel enemies destroyed, not forgiven. He resented God’s mercy toward people he thought deserved judgment.

2. What was the point of the plant, the worm, and the wind? They were an object lesson. Jonah grieved over a withered plant but not over a city of lost people, exposing his hard heart.

3. What is the unanswered question at the end of Jonah? God asks whether He should not pity a great city of lost people. The book leaves us to answer whether we will share His heart for the lost.

“I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.” — Jonah 4:2 (NKJV)

Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt is the President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, a Reformed seminary in Colorado Springs. He is known for clear, down-to-earth Bible teaching, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio.

Listen and go deeper: This sermon is part of the Jonah Explained study from New Geneva Theological Seminary. Find more verse-by-verse teaching across the Bible at newgeneva.org. To support this teaching ministry, visit newgeneva.org/give.