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Most people
who are somewhat familiar with the Bible, if asked,
"What is the most significant thing about the
book of Jonah?" would probably respond that a
man was swallowed by a whale and miraculously
survived in the whale's stomach for three days!
But there is a lot more to the story. First of
all, it may not have been a whale at all, since
the Hebrew says it was a "dag gadol" - a big fish!
However, there are more important lessons to be
learned from this book than a man surviving for
three days in the belly of a fish. Jonah was a
prophet, someone who hears clearly and directly
from the Creator of the universe. God is able
to speak very clearly to human beings when He
wants to. Most of the prophets of Israel, when
they heard God speaking to them, obeyed God and
did and said exactly what God wanted. But not
the prophet Jonah! When Jonah learned that God
was sending him on a mission to Nineveh, the wicked
capital of the Assyrians, Israel’s bitter enemies,
Jonah went in the other direction! Instead of
heading east by land, Jonah went west by sea!
But Jonah discovered a very important truth, a
lesson that all of us should learn before it is
too late: you can't run away from God! He is everywhere
and ultimately He is unavoidable!
How did
Jonah learn that lesson? God sent a huge storm
that endangered the ship on which Jonah was escaping.
The Gentile pagan sailors on the ship sensed that
this was no ordinary storm - that there were supernatural
purposes at work - that someone on board was disobedient
to a god. So they cast lots to see who it was.
Well, the lot that was cast fell on the Jewish
prophet. Was it a coincidence? No, God is behind
all circumstances, even in what seems to us to
be insignificant. So, reluctantly, the men threw
Jonah off the ship, and miraculously the storm
immediately stopped. Jonah had indeed been the
source of the problem! And these Gentile pagans
began to revere the Lord God of Israel, because
it was obvious to them that He was real, and had
power over the winds, waves, storms and seas.
You see, God was using His disobedient Jewish
prophet to teach the Gentiles His truth, just
as for the past 2,000 years He has used the Jewish
people among the nations, though we too have been
disobedient.
But God
didn't want His disobedient prophet to die. He
wanted him to amend his ways and begin obeying
the commands of God. So the Lord had prepared
a big fish - which was right there and ready to
swallow Jonah, who spent his next three days and
nights inside the fish. It must have been wet,
dark, smelly and terrifying. During those awful
three days, Jonah learned a very important lesson
- that it was wrong to disobey God, whether or
not he liked what the Lord was asking him to do.
From the belly of the fish, he determined to obey
the King of Heaven, and prayed. The result? Once
he was spit out on shore, he did what God asked.
He went to Nineveh.
Then the
word of the Lord came to Jonah "shayneet" - a
second time. That tells us that God is a God of
"shayneets" - renewed opportunities! When we admit
our mistakes, often He will forgive us and allow
us to try again. That's very good news, isn't
it? I've needed more than a few “shayneets,” and
even some "sh'leesheets" - third times, and on
occasion some additional times beyond that! So,
just maybe, sometimes we ought to be willing to
give others a second chance, too?
Jonah
finally arrived in Nineveh, the great capital
city of the Assyrian empire. His message to Israel's
cruel pagan enemies was, "You have forty days
(forty being the Biblical number for testing and
judgment) before Nineveh will be judged and destroyed!"
Did the evil polytheistic Assyrians, who were
the enemies of the Jewish people, reject this
message and kill the prophet? No! Another, even
greater, miracle occurred! All the people changed
their ways. Everyone, from the king and his nobles
all the way down to the common people and servants
(even all the animals!) listened to the prophet
of Israel, humbled themselves by fasting, putting
on sackcloth, turning toward the God of Israel
and changing their ways! Throughout the rest of
human history, nothing else quite like this has
ever happened. None of the great revivals ever
witnessed an entire city, let alone a nation,
turn to God with such repentance. This may be
the greatest miracle in human history, because
it is easier for the Creator to manipulate the
elements of nature than redirect a human heart
to Himself.
And that's
really what God wanted to see happen all along.
And so the Merciful One decided to avert His threatened
judgment, and spared them. Why? Because, in spite
of our wickedness, God is not the kind of God
who wants to destroy human beings made in His
image. Instead, He desires all of us, Jews and
Gentiles, rich and poor, powerful and weak, to
humble ourselves, turn to Him, and begin doing
things His way. God takes no pleasure in the death
of the wicked. He wants the wicked to repent and
live. He only brings judgment as a last resort.
Was God's
prophet happy with this miraculous turn of events,
all these people turning to the God of Israel?
No! Jonah was not only greatly displeased, but
he was so angry that he wanted to die! Why? He
may have felt like a traitor because the Assyrians,
Israel’s enemies, repented and were spared. He
may have felt like a false prophet because the
prophecy he declared didn’t come to pass.
Jonah
found a place where he could rest, perhaps waiting
around to see if God would change His mind and
destroy Nineveh. Then another miracle occurred.
The Lord created a special vine to grow near him
to give him shade. Jonah was delighted with the
vine. But on the next day God sent a worm which
killed the vine. Jonah, sitting under the blistering
Middle Eastern sun, became hot, faint, angry,
upset and wanted more than ever to die. It's a
good thing Jonah knew that suicide was wrong.
But God didn’t allow Jonah to die. Instead He
corrected his values by speaking to him for the
final time. The Lord told him that he was wrong
to be more upset over the death of a plant than
he was over the prospect of the demise of an entire
nation. God’s desire was to spare hundreds of
thousands of human beings created in His image,
who had the potential to be reconciled to Him
and live with Him forever.
The
greatest lesson of the book of Jonah is not that
a man survived three days and three nights in
the belly of a fish. It is rather that God is
concerned that all human beings be reconciled
to Him, not just the Jewish people. You see,
Nineveh is a symbol for the whole world: godless,
pagan, warlike, aggressive, cruel and the enemy
of God and His people. Like Nineveh, the world
is alienated from God and headed for destruction.
But the God of Israel wants us all to turn to
Him, whether we are Jews or Gentiles, weak or
powerful, rich or poor, so that we may be spared
from destruction.
The only
way the Holy One is able to spare Jew or Gentile
is through Israel’s greatest prophet, Messiah
Yeshua, who said, "Just as Jonah was three
days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish,
so will the Son of Man be three days and three
nights in the heart of the Earth." Just as
Jonah's three days and nights in the belly of
the fish was a miraculous sign to the Ninevites,
so Messiah’s death, burial and resurrection is
a sign to all of mankind that the God of Israel
indeed sent Yeshua to be the Savior of the world.
If we
don’t believe in the Messiah and obey Him, Yeshua
went on to warn, "The men of Nineveh will stand
up with this generation at the judgment, and will
condemn it, because they repented at the preaching
of Jonah; and behold, Something Greater than Jonah
is here." God would have destroyed the wicked
people of Nineveh, had they not listened to Jonah,
turned to God and amended their ways. An even
greater judgment is in store for everyone who
spurns the Prophet who is greater than Jonah,
the Son of God, Yeshua of Nazareth. The God of
Israel has made Him a sign to the whole world
by His resurrection from the dead! So, whoever
you are, Jew or Gentile, pay attention, for Something
Greater than Jonah is here!
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