Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, "Arise and go to Nineveh." (Jonah 3:12)

I'd be willing to bet a nickel (maybe even a dime) that if ten people were asked what they know about the Jonah story, most of them would say, "the whale." (Of course, the Bible never says that Jonah was swallowed by a whale - all the Bible says is "a great fish" - but everyone calls it a whale, anyway).

Everyone remembers the whale, but in point of fact, the whale is the least important part of this story. There are forty-eight verses in the Book of Jonah and only three of them mention the whale. You see, here is one of the best-known yet least understood episodes in all the Bible. If this sermon does nothing else, I want to convey to you what the story of Jonah is really about.

The backgro…