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.