WEBVTT 00:00:01.324 --> 00:00:02.267 Jonah, chapter 2. 00:00:02.267 --> 00:00:10.231 I was so excited last time with Obadiah I got to read the entire text. 00:00:10.231 --> 00:00:11.801 I'm not going to. 00:00:11.801 --> 00:00:13.006 I could read through the whole book of Jonah. 00:00:13.006 --> 00:00:21.190 I'm not going to do that tonight, but we're going to take a sample from Jonah in chapter 2, and we will be considering a bit more of the book as a whole. 00:00:21.190 --> 00:00:26.030 But I wanted to definitely get our eyes right on the text to start tonight. 00:00:26.030 --> 00:00:28.064 Jonah, chapter 2. 00:00:28.064 --> 00:00:37.829 I'll read the first nine verses Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God, from the belly of the fish. 00:00:39.500 --> 00:00:42.566 I called to the Lord in my distress and he answered me. 00:00:42.566 --> 00:00:46.874 I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol. 00:00:46.874 --> 00:00:53.698 You heard my voice when you threw me into the depths, into the heart of the seas. 00:00:53.698 --> 00:00:55.103 The current overcame me. 00:00:55.103 --> 00:01:01.500 All your breakers and your billows swept over me and I said I have been banished from your sight. 00:01:01.500 --> 00:01:04.984 Yet I will look once more towards your holy temple. 00:01:04.984 --> 00:01:07.908 The water engulfed me up to the neck. 00:01:07.908 --> 00:01:10.290 The watery depths overcame me. 00:01:10.290 --> 00:01:12.031 Seaweed was wrapped around my head. 00:01:12.031 --> 00:01:15.275 I sank to the foundations of the mountains. 00:01:15.275 --> 00:01:19.402 The earth's gates shut behind me forever. 00:01:19.402 --> 00:01:23.867 Then you raised my life from the pit, lord, my God. 00:01:23.867 --> 00:01:29.495 As my life was fading away, I remembered the Lord and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple. 00:01:29.495 --> 00:01:36.063 Those who cherish worthless idols abandon their faithful love. 00:01:36.063 --> 00:01:40.852 But as for me, I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. 00:01:40.852 --> 00:01:44.962 I will fulfill what I have vowed. 00:01:44.962 --> 00:01:47.510 Salvation belongs to the Lord. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:52.524 What's Jonah all about? 00:01:52.524 --> 00:01:56.953 What's the melodic line that was for you, two guys? 00:01:56.953 --> 00:01:59.441 Miracles? 00:01:59.441 --> 00:02:06.492 Maybe If you grew up in Sunday school, like I did, you heard the story of Jonah from a young age. 00:02:06.492 --> 00:02:07.875 It's pretty amazing. 00:02:07.875 --> 00:02:12.508 This big fish swallows this guy and he's alive in the fish for three days and then he escapes. 00:02:12.508 --> 00:02:15.274 Seems pretty miraculous, it is. 00:02:17.320 --> 00:02:18.286 What's Jonah all about? 00:02:18.286 --> 00:02:22.209 A little older, you might think it's about racism. 00:02:22.209 --> 00:02:24.766 Jonah hated those Ninevites. 00:02:24.766 --> 00:02:27.987 He was prejudiced against them and he shouldn't have been. 00:02:27.987 --> 00:02:29.852 Also true. 00:02:29.852 --> 00:02:33.490 Also true that he shouldn't have been prejudiced against the Ninevites. 00:02:33.490 --> 00:02:34.901 Or? 00:02:34.901 --> 00:02:41.713 I was talking to one person this week and he brought attention to the end of the book. 00:02:41.713 --> 00:02:51.271 It ends with Jonah seems to be having a pity party and sometimes you just got to suck it up and do what God calls you to do and not complain about it. 00:02:51.271 --> 00:02:54.144 Also true, right. 00:02:54.364 --> 00:02:56.087 So what's Jonah all about? 00:02:56.087 --> 00:03:06.633 Well, what we're going to try to do tonight is pull some different threads together from the book of Jonah to work toward answering that question. 00:03:06.633 --> 00:03:15.225 And I want to actually start with the words of Jesus, because if Jesus comments on some part of the Bible, that's pretty significant to take into hand. 00:03:15.225 --> 00:03:19.104 So let's hold your finger right here in Jonah and let's go over to Matthew 12. 00:03:19.104 --> 00:03:22.742 Just so you can see it with your own eyes, hold your finger in Jonah. 00:03:22.742 --> 00:03:25.330 Matthew is a little easier book to find. 00:03:25.419 --> 00:03:29.431 First book of the new Testament, matthew, chapter 12. 00:03:29.431 --> 00:03:36.289 And look at verse number 40. 00:03:36.289 --> 00:03:55.614 This is Christ speaking, for as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the son of man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. 00:03:55.614 --> 00:04:15.002 So Jesus sees in at least this central portion of Jonah that we read about Jonah being in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, jesus sees some kind of connection to his own life and ministry and what's coming. 00:04:15.002 --> 00:04:18.908 But what's the context here in Matthew 12? 00:04:18.908 --> 00:04:26.451 Did Jesus kind of pull his disciples aside and say listen, let me tell you about some things that are coming up. 00:04:26.451 --> 00:04:28.406 I'm going to suffer and I'm going to die. 00:04:28.406 --> 00:04:29.288 I'm going to rise again. 00:04:30.620 --> 00:04:40.468 If you look at Matthew 12, the context is not a private conversation with his disciples about some prophetic things that were going to happen. 00:04:40.468 --> 00:04:58.701 The context is there's Pharisees representing Israel who are criticizing him and rejecting him, and they ask for a sign, and he said no sign is going to be given to this wicked and adulterous generation. 00:04:58.701 --> 00:05:16.353 So it's a context of Jesus pronouncing judgment against Israel, and Jonah's three days and three nights becomes this sign of resurrection for Christ. 00:05:16.353 --> 00:05:26.113 But it seems to be connected with the judgment that's happening or going to happen to the Pharisees, those within Israel that reject Jesus. 00:05:26.113 --> 00:05:45.173 Now, next question, with what Jesus says here that I'll just leave open for the time being, is Jesus just happened to call to mind one incident in the life of Jonah as applicable to his current day. 00:05:45.173 --> 00:05:50.142 He doesn't say I'll give you the sign of three days and three nights. 00:05:50.142 --> 00:05:51.807 He said I'll give you the sign of Jonah. 00:05:51.807 --> 00:06:06.283 So is there something more expansive about the nature and character of Jonah's ministry that Jesus sees, and maybe the three days and three nights is not the totality of all that he's trying to convey or bring out. 00:06:06.283 --> 00:06:07.565 So we're going to think about that. 00:06:07.565 --> 00:06:09.651 Go ahead and turn back to Jonah. 00:06:09.651 --> 00:06:11.942 That's what Jesus says. 00:06:11.942 --> 00:06:15.372 So we've got Jesus drawing a parallel to his own life. 00:06:15.372 --> 00:06:18.267 Often in scripture it's going to point us to Christ. 00:06:18.267 --> 00:06:19.571 We're expecting that, hopefully. 00:06:20.040 --> 00:06:28.202 While you're turning back to Jonah, there's one other place that mentions Jonah, 2 Kings. 00:06:28.202 --> 00:06:28.904 I'll read it for you. 00:06:28.904 --> 00:06:29.747 You don't have to turn there. 00:06:29.747 --> 00:06:31.071 2 Kings 14. 00:06:32.341 --> 00:06:44.088 In the 15th year of Judah's king, amaziah, son of Joash, jeroboam, son of Jehoash, became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned 41 years. 00:06:44.088 --> 00:06:46.466 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight. 00:06:46.466 --> 00:06:51.310 He did not turn away from all the sins Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit. 00:06:51.310 --> 00:07:12.444 He restored Israel's border from Labo Hamath as far as the Sea of Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, the word God had spoken through his servant, the prophet Jonah, son of Amittai, from Gath Hefer, and the way Jonah begins. 00:07:12.444 --> 00:07:17.475 If you look at the first chapter, the word Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai. 00:07:17.475 --> 00:07:20.189 So it seems pretty clear it's the same Jonah. 00:07:20.189 --> 00:07:21.721 It doesn't just happen to be a different Jonah. 00:07:21.721 --> 00:07:23.223 It doesn't just happen to be a different Jonah. 00:07:23.223 --> 00:07:34.435 So, although we have Jesus mentioning it in the Old Testament, we have Jonah serving at some point as a prophet in the northern kingdom under this wicked king. 00:07:34.435 --> 00:07:47.935 So when Israel's been divided Judah in the south, rest of the tribes in the north. 00:07:47.935 --> 00:07:49.319 Jonah's serving in some way there. 00:07:51.264 --> 00:07:55.504 Jonah is one of the few prophets who is explicitly told go to another nation and talk to them. 00:07:55.504 --> 00:08:07.377 A couple of weeks ago, with Obadiah, prophesied about Edom but he was never told, at least as far as we read to go to Edom. 00:08:07.377 --> 00:08:11.843 Jonah is actually told go, least as far as we read. 00:08:11.843 --> 00:08:12.124 To go to Edom. 00:08:12.124 --> 00:08:14.127 Jonah's actually told go, leave, go to Nineveh and give them God's word. 00:08:14.127 --> 00:08:17.793 But this book is part of Israel's scripture. 00:08:17.793 --> 00:08:19.560 It's the scrolls they collected. 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:29.425 So, as much as Jonah had a message from God for Nineveh, there's something there that was meant to be for Israel also. 00:08:29.425 --> 00:08:32.052 There's something there for us also as well. 00:08:34.216 --> 00:08:36.140 There's four basic scenes in Jonah. 00:08:36.140 --> 00:08:45.832 Now, this is not the outline, is not the four scenes, but I want to give you this just so you see the movement of the way the book is working in terms of the scene development. 00:08:45.832 --> 00:08:52.389 Chapter one Jonah is fleeing from the Lord. 00:08:52.389 --> 00:08:54.091 Most of chapter one. 00:08:54.091 --> 00:08:58.621 Chapter two he's in the belly of this fish praying. 00:08:58.621 --> 00:09:00.284 That's what we read in the scriptures tonight. 00:09:00.284 --> 00:09:03.708 Chapter three he goes to Nineveh. 00:09:03.708 --> 00:09:04.630 He preaches to them. 00:09:04.630 --> 00:09:06.113 They repent. 00:09:06.113 --> 00:09:12.726 Chapter four he's outside of Nineveh, having a conversation with God. 00:09:12.726 --> 00:09:29.461 So, like I said, we're going to try to take some different threads, thematic threads, from the book of Jonah and see if we can see where this book is going, how it's shaping our thinking and as you look at the first part of chapter one so you can turn to chapter one if you haven't already done that. 00:09:29.461 --> 00:09:30.804 If you're chapter two, go back to chapter one. 00:09:31.727 --> 00:09:37.710 It starts off by repeating two times that Jonah was fleeing from the Lord's presence. 00:09:37.710 --> 00:09:52.821 You see that in verse number three look right there he got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord's presence and then, at the end of that same verse, he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the Lord's presence. 00:09:52.821 --> 00:09:56.287 It's an interesting way to describe his activity. 00:09:56.287 --> 00:10:01.282 Doesn't Psalm say where can I go from your presence? 00:10:01.282 --> 00:10:03.407 Where can I flee from your spirit? 00:10:03.407 --> 00:10:06.802 I mean, did Jonah think he could really get away from God? 00:10:06.802 --> 00:10:18.371 No, but keep in mind, in this old covenant not everyone had sort of immediate access to God's presence. 00:10:18.371 --> 00:10:24.086 There were the priests who could go into the temple, the holy place, but even only the one priest one time of year. 00:10:24.889 --> 00:10:27.514 The prophets often had a special privilege. 00:10:27.514 --> 00:10:33.528 They often received a window into the divine council and the divine courtroom to receive a message. 00:10:33.528 --> 00:10:42.971 And Jonah is confronted by God, but he rejects what God is calling him to do. 00:10:42.971 --> 00:10:51.105 God calls him to take upon himself to go to Nineveh and he says no and he goes the other way. 00:10:51.105 --> 00:10:56.134 The prophet of Israel rejects his vocation. 00:10:56.134 --> 00:10:58.804 That's the first threat I'm pulling out here. 00:10:58.804 --> 00:11:03.341 Prophet of Israel rejects his vocation, his calling from God. 00:11:03.341 --> 00:11:11.948 Remember when Pastor Doug preached a few weeks ago from Isaiah, the mountain of the Lord will be exalted and elevated. 00:11:11.948 --> 00:11:13.385 It's this holy place. 00:11:14.581 --> 00:11:19.072 Look at the way the narrator shows Jonah going down and down and down. 00:11:19.072 --> 00:11:28.625 Look at verse number three, verse three, he, as soon as he leaves the Lord's presence and the Lord dwells in an exalted place. 00:11:28.625 --> 00:11:38.087 He went down to Joppa, he paid the fare and went down into the ship. 00:11:38.087 --> 00:11:52.085 In verse number five, he goes down into the lowest part of the vessel and when the sailors find out there's this storm because of Jonah, they throw him even out of the boat and he goes down into the sea the verses that we read in chapter two. 00:11:52.085 --> 00:11:59.121 He's crying out from the very depths of the belly of the fish in this watery grave down, down, down, down. 00:11:59.121 --> 00:12:03.330 Rejecting God brings judgment. 00:12:03.330 --> 00:12:05.216 That's the second threat. 00:12:05.216 --> 00:12:10.124 Rejecting God brings judgment. 00:12:12.288 --> 00:12:25.416 Now there's an interesting turn of hope, because in chapter one, jonah's judged in a lot of ways throughout this book, but he's thrown into the sea and left for dead. 00:12:25.416 --> 00:12:30.038 I mean, that's pretty much almost as bad as it could get right there, right sea, and left for dead. 00:12:30.038 --> 00:12:32.221 I mean, that's pretty much almost as bad as it could get right there, right. 00:12:32.221 --> 00:12:32.961 So the sailors are what's going on? 00:12:32.961 --> 00:12:34.962 And Jonah confesses well, the God, I know the true God, living God. 00:12:34.962 --> 00:12:38.885 He's created the storm, and so they throw him overboard. 00:12:38.885 --> 00:12:42.188 So he's thrown overboard. 00:12:42.188 --> 00:12:46.511 And when he's thrown overboard, though, this is where the hope comes in judgment for him. 00:12:46.511 --> 00:12:58.941 As far as he knows, he's dead in the ocean, in the storm, but then the storm stops. 00:12:58.941 --> 00:13:08.124 And the rest of these guys, who are probably not Israelites, they're foreigners, they're another nation, and yet they offer sacrifices and vows and call on the Lord in an act of thanks. 00:13:08.124 --> 00:13:12.701 Now, I don't know these sailors, whether they truly were converted, I can't answer that question. 00:13:12.701 --> 00:13:19.359 But and this is the third thread the prophet's judgment brings salvation to the Gentiles. 00:13:19.359 --> 00:13:22.845 He's thrown overboard, but they're saved. 00:13:24.087 --> 00:13:32.219 In chapter two, which is the chapter that I read Jonah's crying out from the belly of the fish and it sounds like one of David's Psalms. 00:13:32.219 --> 00:13:41.562 If I just read that part of Jonah's prayer and I didn't read anything about the fish or whatever you'd think, oh, it must be David when his enemies are chasing him and he doesn't know what's going on or where to be. 00:13:41.562 --> 00:13:47.739 But it's Jonah and he seems to be crying out in genuine turning to the Lord. 00:13:47.739 --> 00:13:57.703 In chapter three, when Nineveh hears the message of God's judgment, what do they do, this foreign people? 00:13:57.703 --> 00:14:01.465 They turn in repentance and cry out to the Lord. 00:14:01.465 --> 00:14:11.274 So chapter two is similar to chapter three in the sense of there's a crying out of Lord. 00:14:11.274 --> 00:14:12.336 I've got no other options. 00:14:12.336 --> 00:14:13.980 Lord, have mercy on me. 00:14:13.980 --> 00:14:17.807 In chapter two it's Jonah, the prophet of Israel, crying out. 00:14:17.807 --> 00:14:21.501 In chapter three it's this foreign nation of Nineveh crying out. 00:14:21.501 --> 00:14:30.081 But regardless of who you are, when you cry out to God in genuine repentance, there's hope. 00:14:32.125 --> 00:14:40.245 So, fourth thread, if I can put it this way, those who cry out to God in true repentance find resurrection, hope. 00:14:40.245 --> 00:14:44.282 Now we think of resurrection as only life after death. 00:14:44.282 --> 00:14:50.957 But the language that Jonah uses, of the weeds are wrapped around me and I'm down in the pit and I'm in your bars. 00:14:50.957 --> 00:14:53.201 He's as good as dead. 00:14:53.201 --> 00:14:56.008 And then the fish spits him out on dry land. 00:14:56.008 --> 00:15:01.206 Nineveh hears the message and it's you're going to be judged, god's going to condemn you. 00:15:01.206 --> 00:15:03.880 And they're saying, oh no, we don't have any hope. 00:15:03.880 --> 00:15:06.486 But then God relents and gives life. 00:15:06.486 --> 00:15:09.903 So it's this kind of resurrection to hope as the people cry out to God. 00:15:10.274 --> 00:15:19.100 And then chapter four is an interesting way to end the book because it doesn't end with Jonah's prophecy and the nation's repentance. 00:15:19.100 --> 00:15:25.318 It ends with Jonah having a conversation with God outside of Nineveh. 00:15:25.318 --> 00:15:31.168 He's got kind of a bad attitude and we wonder, when you read the book of Jonah again, if you're thinking about it's got kind of a bad attitude. 00:15:31.168 --> 00:15:34.339 And we wonder, when you read the book of Jonah Again, if you're thinking about it from the perspective of a children's Sunday school story. 00:15:34.339 --> 00:15:39.101 It's like, well, just there's the fish and God did an amazing thing, which is true, but that's not how the book ends. 00:15:39.101 --> 00:15:44.697 It doesn't actually leave you with the fish, it leaves you with Jonah out there and we don't know what happened to Jonah. 00:15:44.697 --> 00:15:47.761 Did he come to his senses? 00:15:47.761 --> 00:15:49.083 What happened to Nineveh? 00:15:49.083 --> 00:15:52.009 They all repented and God spared them. 00:15:52.009 --> 00:15:58.355 Did they become like? 00:15:58.355 --> 00:16:00.080 We don't read later scriptures of them having this legacy of godly offspring. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:00.782 What happened to Nineveh? 00:16:00.782 --> 00:16:01.383 We don't know. 00:16:01.383 --> 00:16:03.347 It's kind of like a cliffhanger story. 00:16:03.347 --> 00:16:07.399 But the story ends with God. 00:16:07.399 --> 00:16:17.450 It ends with his speech and his character, just like how it began when the word of the Lord comes to Jonah. 00:16:17.450 --> 00:16:26.158 So if you're thinking of Jonah as a story first and foremost about him, or even the Ninevites, that's not what you're left with. 00:16:26.158 --> 00:16:27.100 You're left with God. 00:16:27.100 --> 00:16:29.181 So look at chapter 4, verse 2. 00:16:29.181 --> 00:16:41.448 Jonah says he knows that God is gracious and compassionate and slow to anger and abounding in faithful love. 00:16:41.448 --> 00:16:53.217 And in the very last verse of the book, chapter 4, verse 11, it's God speaking and yes, he's confronting Jonah about his lack of compassion. 00:16:53.217 --> 00:17:03.177 But the Lord says may I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people? 00:17:03.177 --> 00:17:07.684 And he, jonah, you don't care, but I care. 00:17:07.684 --> 00:17:10.089 That's how the book ends. 00:17:12.795 --> 00:17:21.230 So fifth thread is that God wants to reveal his mercy to the nations. 00:17:21.230 --> 00:17:24.218 Okay, so let's review. 00:17:24.218 --> 00:17:25.000 I know that was that. 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:25.903 I gave you a lot there. 00:17:25.903 --> 00:17:26.625 Let's review that. 00:17:27.134 --> 00:17:30.660 Thread number one the prophet of Israel rejects his vocation. 00:17:30.660 --> 00:17:34.605 Thread number two rejecting God brings judgment. 00:17:34.605 --> 00:17:41.702 Number three the prophet's judgment brings salvation to the Gentiles. 00:17:41.702 --> 00:17:46.259 It happens in the sea and then it happens when Jonah's put in the fish. 00:17:46.259 --> 00:17:50.256 That finally turns him to give the message of salvation to those that are outside. 00:17:50.256 --> 00:17:56.288 Number four those who cry out to God in true repentance find resurrection, hope. 00:17:56.288 --> 00:18:02.670 And number five God wants to reveal his glorious mercy to the nations. 00:18:02.670 --> 00:18:09.507 And that seems like a little bit of an overarching bigger thread in terms of emphasis than the rest of those threads. 00:18:09.507 --> 00:18:13.037 You're done. 00:18:13.037 --> 00:18:13.657 No, I'm not done. 00:18:13.657 --> 00:18:17.929 Those five threads are about Jonah. 00:18:17.929 --> 00:18:21.597 Remember I said this is a story for Israel. 00:18:21.597 --> 00:18:22.881 It's part of their scripture. 00:18:22.881 --> 00:18:29.766 So let's think about those five threads just a little bit in light of the whole nation of Israel and their history. 00:18:31.695 --> 00:18:34.663 The prophet of Israel rejects his vocation. 00:18:34.663 --> 00:18:35.567 That's the first thread. 00:18:35.567 --> 00:18:41.684 Didn't God call the whole nation of Israel to be a light to the Gentiles? 00:18:41.684 --> 00:18:44.436 Didn't he say here's my law. 00:18:44.436 --> 00:18:47.205 When you keep it, other nations are going to look at you and see your wisdom. 00:18:47.205 --> 00:18:49.097 So they weren't. 00:18:49.097 --> 00:18:54.743 Israel wasn't called to be a missionary in the way that we think of immediately sail somewhere and tell someone. 00:18:54.743 --> 00:18:56.818 They weren't called the same way that Jonah was. 00:18:56.818 --> 00:19:10.060 But God had appointed Israel to be his, the guardian of his scripture and his mouthpiece of character that nations would see them and want to turn to the Lord. 00:19:10.060 --> 00:19:14.384 How did Israel do with that vocation, with that calling from the Lord? 00:19:14.384 --> 00:19:16.797 They reject it. 00:19:16.797 --> 00:19:22.669 Instead of being a light to the nations, they want to be like the nations. 00:19:22.669 --> 00:19:25.159 Give us a king like the nations. 00:19:25.159 --> 00:19:27.124 Give us idols like the nations. 00:19:27.124 --> 00:19:28.736 Give us practices like the nations. 00:19:28.736 --> 00:19:29.979 They reject their calling. 00:19:29.979 --> 00:19:33.387 Number two rejecting God brings judgment. 00:19:33.387 --> 00:19:37.176 Hasn't Israel seen this time and time again in their history? 00:19:37.176 --> 00:19:41.876 In the Old Testament don't we see rejecting the Lord judgment, rejecting the Lord judgment. 00:19:41.876 --> 00:19:47.596 Number three the prophet's judgment brings salvation to the Gentiles. 00:19:47.636 --> 00:19:54.788 This is not as transparent, but think about some of the key figures. 00:19:54.788 --> 00:20:02.144 If you think about Jacob, the father of the Israelites, his 12 sons, the Bible spends the most amount of time on Joseph. 00:20:02.144 --> 00:20:04.361 What happens to Joseph? 00:20:04.361 --> 00:20:06.342 He's put down in the pit. 00:20:06.342 --> 00:20:07.498 He's left for dead. 00:20:07.498 --> 00:20:07.818 He shipped away. 00:20:07.818 --> 00:20:08.221 He's in the prison. 00:20:08.221 --> 00:20:08.663 He's left for dead. 00:20:08.663 --> 00:20:09.506 He's shipped away. 00:20:09.506 --> 00:20:10.711 He's in the prison. 00:20:10.711 --> 00:20:18.429 He's lied about, but he emerges from the prison and he helps rescue Egypt from a famine. 00:20:20.436 --> 00:20:23.806 Think about the book of Isaiah. 00:20:23.806 --> 00:20:25.361 We're going through that book right now. 00:20:25.361 --> 00:20:29.365 It calls Israel the servant of the Lord. 00:20:29.365 --> 00:20:49.460 Through that book right now, it calls Israel the servant of the Lord, and yet Isaiah is constantly talking about judgment that's coming to the servant of the Lord, and yet there's hope in the book of Isaiah that ultimately the Gentiles are going to see light and experience salvation when you fast forward to the New Testament. 00:20:51.042 --> 00:20:55.599 The Jews of Jesus' day rejected him and Jesus pronounced his judgment on them. 00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:58.547 But then what does Paul say in Romans 11? 00:20:58.547 --> 00:21:01.981 Their rejection was salvation for the Gentiles. 00:21:01.981 --> 00:21:13.630 It was mercy for the Gentiles that they returned to and they heard the gospel Number four those who cry out to God in true repentance find resurrection, hope. 00:21:13.630 --> 00:21:24.039 We see certain kings in Israel, like David, who says against you and you only have I sinned, and God restores him. 00:21:24.039 --> 00:21:30.778 We do seem to see seasons in Israel's life where they turn to the Lord and they're not cut off forever. 00:21:30.778 --> 00:21:31.961 God brings them back. 00:21:31.961 --> 00:21:39.546 There's resurrection hope in the nation of Israel, and remember Romans 11, those branches that are cut off. 00:21:39.546 --> 00:21:43.582 But later Israelites come and if they have faith they'll be grafted in. 00:21:43.582 --> 00:21:45.146 They'll receive mercy from the Lord. 00:21:48.474 --> 00:21:52.124 God wants to reveal his glorious mercy to the nations. 00:21:52.124 --> 00:21:54.147 Why does God send Jonah on this mission? 00:21:54.147 --> 00:21:57.897 Because he wants to reveal mercy to the nations. 00:21:57.897 --> 00:22:06.807 Why does God call Israel to be a light to the Gentiles, because he wants to show his mercy not just to Israel but to all kinds of people. 00:22:06.807 --> 00:22:12.444 And that brings us back to where we started, with Christ, with Jesus. 00:22:12.444 --> 00:22:23.161 So now we've Jonah, jews, jesus, if you can think about Jonah in that context. 00:22:23.161 --> 00:22:26.720 Tonight we looked at Jonah with those threads, looked at the Jews. 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:28.721 Now let's think about Jesus. 00:22:30.275 --> 00:22:35.564 The prophet of Israel rejects his vocation, but this is the reverse when it comes to Christ. 00:22:35.564 --> 00:22:39.560 Here am I, I've come to do your will, o God, your laws, within my heart. 00:22:39.560 --> 00:22:43.541 This prophet of the Lord who comes down Rejecting God, brings judgment. 00:22:43.541 --> 00:22:57.163 Well, jesus never rejected his father, but he did actually come to suffer judgment for all those Jews and Gentiles who belonged to him, who were chosen by God, all those he came to take their judgment, the rejecters. 00:22:57.163 --> 00:23:04.219 And, yes, number three Jesus's judgment brings salvation to the Gentiles. 00:23:04.219 --> 00:23:18.386 He opens up the way for all kinds of people, jew and Gentile alike, so that those number four who cry out to God in true repentance find resurrection, hope, not just temporary rescue from disaster. 00:23:18.386 --> 00:23:26.724 Like the sailors in the sea which, again, maybe they truly had some spiritual grasp with the Lord, we don't know they found that salvation from the immediate storm. 00:23:26.724 --> 00:23:30.361 Christ comes and it's resurrection, hope eternally. 00:23:30.361 --> 00:23:36.420 It's all the weight of sin that would take us down, down down to hell forever. 00:23:36.420 --> 00:23:46.345 No, not, if we're trusted in Christ and Jesus comes to reveal the Father's glory. 00:23:46.345 --> 00:23:48.689 He came full of grace and truth. 00:23:48.689 --> 00:23:56.105 The same God who revealed himself in Jonah as a God of mercy mercy for the Ninevites, mercy for pagan people. 00:23:56.105 --> 00:24:00.926 Jesus reveals there's a God who would be so merciful. 00:24:00.926 --> 00:24:10.224 He wouldn't just even allow us some opportunity to save ourselves, as if that were even possible, but he's going to come and do all the rescuing, all the saving, himself. 00:24:14.036 --> 00:24:15.422 So what's this book of Jonah all about? 00:24:15.422 --> 00:24:18.172 About miracles, yes, there's miracles. 00:24:18.172 --> 00:24:19.496 It's about racism. 00:24:19.496 --> 00:24:20.920 Yes, there's prejudice. 00:24:20.920 --> 00:24:22.143 That's wrong Jonah's part. 00:24:22.143 --> 00:24:24.288 It's about not having a pity party. 00:24:24.288 --> 00:24:25.804 Yes, that's true. 00:24:25.804 --> 00:24:28.737 But there's a bigger story of Jonah. 00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:40.682 So here's how I would summarize it God will secure his purpose of mercy to the nations through the dying and rising of his prophet. 00:24:40.682 --> 00:24:42.867 That's a little long. 00:24:42.867 --> 00:24:44.656 I tried to make it more concise. 00:24:44.656 --> 00:24:46.523 If you had a better idea, come talk to me afterwards. 00:24:46.523 --> 00:24:56.689 I know, but let me repeat that again God will secure his purpose of mercy to the nations through the dying and rising of his prophet. 00:24:56.689 --> 00:24:59.461 Jonah is as good as dead in the sea. 00:24:59.461 --> 00:25:00.403 The sailors are saved. 00:25:00.403 --> 00:25:02.102 He's as good as dead in the belly of the fish. 00:25:02.102 --> 00:25:03.701 But after three days he comes out. 00:25:03.701 --> 00:25:09.219 Nineveh hears and believes Praise God for his mercy. 00:25:09.219 --> 00:25:10.382 Israel's as good as dead. 00:25:10.382 --> 00:25:13.669 But Ezekiel says oh, these dry bones, they're going to live. 00:25:13.669 --> 00:25:19.366 Israel's cut off and Gentiles are grafted in, but then more Israelites are grafted in. 00:25:19.366 --> 00:25:20.877 Praise God for his mercy. 00:25:20.877 --> 00:25:29.226 We see Jesus, the great prophet of Israel, sacrificing himself, and his sacrifice was successful. 00:25:29.226 --> 00:25:36.586 And we know he's successful because he rose from the grave and he's received the inheritance of all the nations. 00:25:36.586 --> 00:25:38.289 Praise God for his mercy. 00:25:38.289 --> 00:25:42.099 Last thing for you today. 00:25:42.099 --> 00:25:43.044 I'll leave you with this. 00:25:43.044 --> 00:25:50.161 So again, god will secure his purpose of mercy to the nations through the dying and rising of his prophet. 00:25:50.161 --> 00:25:54.717 Last thing for today, just something for you to think about this week. 00:25:55.798 --> 00:26:01.128 In Jonah 2, did you notice that Jonah says he'll look towards God's temple? 00:26:01.128 --> 00:26:03.759 He says it two times. 00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:11.838 Verse number four I will look towards your holy temple, verse number seven my prayer came to you, to your holy temple. 00:26:11.838 --> 00:26:15.445 What's he talking about? 00:26:15.445 --> 00:26:19.558 He's in the belly of a fish in the Mediterranean Sea somewhere. 00:26:19.558 --> 00:26:22.025 The temple's back in Jerusalem. 00:26:22.025 --> 00:26:24.198 He's not doing any looking to the temple. 00:26:24.198 --> 00:26:25.123 Okay, and remember the reading from 2 Kings. 00:26:25.123 --> 00:26:25.988 He's a prophet, any looking to the temple. 00:26:25.988 --> 00:26:26.371 Okay, that's that's. 00:26:26.371 --> 00:26:27.656 And remember the reading from second kings. 00:26:27.656 --> 00:26:29.561 He's a prophet to the northern kingdom. 00:26:29.561 --> 00:26:33.582 He's not even a prophet that we read about, at least to the southern kingdom. 00:26:33.582 --> 00:26:37.734 So he doesn't seem to have a lot of the northern kingdom. 00:26:37.734 --> 00:26:41.238 Under this bad king was setting up false places of worship. 00:26:42.298 --> 00:26:45.602 Jonah is is fleeing God's presence. 00:26:45.602 --> 00:26:46.963 Jonah is fleeing God's presence. 00:26:46.963 --> 00:26:50.426 So the way the book begins, he's fleeing God's presence. 00:26:50.426 --> 00:26:55.270 Where would Israel go to find God's presence? 00:26:55.270 --> 00:27:00.196 First and foremost, the temple. 00:27:00.196 --> 00:27:04.560 So it's almost as though he's leaving the place he needs to be. 00:27:04.560 --> 00:27:08.703 But then in chapter two, he's recognizing there's one true temple. 00:27:08.703 --> 00:27:14.328 It's not getting away from God, it's not false worship of the northern kingdom. 00:27:14.328 --> 00:27:21.080 There's one true temple and I've got to look there, I've got to submit myself to God. 00:27:21.080 --> 00:27:37.859 So you have the prayer with the temple language, you have the beginning a little bit, and then look in chapter 4. 00:27:37.859 --> 00:27:38.362 Okay, he has this relapse. 00:27:38.362 --> 00:27:41.615 So, like Noah coming out of the ark and Israel coming out of Egypt, jonah comes up out of the waters and he's recommissioned, he's ready to go and he preaches. 00:27:41.615 --> 00:27:44.278 But then setback. 00:27:44.278 --> 00:27:54.040 He's upset and verse number five of chapter four says that he goes from the city of Nineveh away from God, out east. 00:27:54.040 --> 00:28:01.838 The first person in the Bible that's described that way he went from the presence of the Lord east, is Cain. 00:28:01.838 --> 00:28:07.605 That's not a very good overtone, right of what's going on here. 00:28:07.605 --> 00:28:14.780 But then Jonah, 4, verse 5 says that Jonah makes himself a shelter. 00:28:14.780 --> 00:28:18.648 That's what the NIV says, that's what the CSB says. 00:28:18.689 --> 00:28:30.983 I think the ESV uses the word booth, this specific word in chapter 4, verse 5, it's not always used in a religious sense, but it is often used in a religious sense. 00:28:30.983 --> 00:28:47.202 It's the word in Leviticus and Deuteronomy that says it's a festival of booths or a festival of shelters, this celebration where the Israelites make these special tents to commemorate what happened when they came out of Egypt. 00:28:47.202 --> 00:28:48.779 There's feasting and celebration. 00:28:48.779 --> 00:28:51.007 It's the same word. 00:28:51.007 --> 00:29:00.233 I don't see our brother Bob Wepler tonight when he preached from the book of Amos I'll rebuild the booth of David that's fallen. 00:29:00.233 --> 00:29:04.300 Exact same word there, booth or shelter, that's used. 00:29:04.300 --> 00:29:10.589 And here's Jonah making himself his own booth. 00:29:13.415 --> 00:29:16.141 You got God's anger burning down on Nineveh. 00:29:16.141 --> 00:29:18.445 They repent and God relents. 00:29:18.445 --> 00:29:20.756 Now Jonah's the one who's angry. 00:29:20.756 --> 00:29:21.499 He's ticked off. 00:29:21.499 --> 00:29:22.903 Do you do well to be angry. 00:29:22.903 --> 00:29:24.086 Jonah's like yeah, I think so. 00:29:24.086 --> 00:29:29.296 Do you do well to be angry? 00:29:29.296 --> 00:29:29.997 Jonah's like yeah, I think so. 00:29:29.997 --> 00:29:30.597 I'm pretty ticked off. 00:29:30.618 --> 00:29:38.838 And Jonah's one that's angry and the sun is scorching down on him and his head, the sun that God made the burning anger on the Ninevites. 00:29:38.838 --> 00:29:43.257 Now we've got the sun and Jonah's feeling the sun, so I'll make my own shelter. 00:29:43.257 --> 00:29:45.118 How does that work for him? 00:29:45.118 --> 00:29:49.905 Verse number six sorry, let's go. 00:29:49.905 --> 00:29:50.547 Verse number five. 00:29:50.547 --> 00:30:00.353 It does say that his shelter he made that little booth that he constructed. 00:30:00.353 --> 00:30:00.855 It provides shade. 00:30:00.855 --> 00:30:05.286 But then in verse number eight, it says the sun is being down on Jonah's head so much he wants to die. 00:30:05.286 --> 00:30:06.191 Well, what about his booth? 00:30:06.191 --> 00:30:07.635 Well, his booth wasn't really cutting it. 00:30:07.635 --> 00:30:10.522 His booth wasn't really giving him the shade that he needed. 00:30:10.522 --> 00:30:18.065 Verse number six there's a plant that provides shade for Jonah's head. 00:30:18.065 --> 00:30:22.737 So the plant seems to be doing a better job than the booth. 00:30:22.737 --> 00:30:25.161 Where did the plant come from? 00:30:25.161 --> 00:30:30.069 The plant came from God, the booth came from Jonah. 00:30:30.069 --> 00:30:46.107 It's God's shelter, not Jonah's shelter, it's God's plan. 00:30:46.107 --> 00:30:51.112 God provides the plant to rescue Jonah from his. 00:30:51.335 --> 00:30:53.540 And then the CSB, I think, says trouble. 00:30:53.540 --> 00:30:55.005 Most of you say trouble there. 00:30:55.005 --> 00:30:58.017 In verse number six, what's Jonah's trouble? 00:30:58.017 --> 00:31:00.601 Like? 00:31:00.601 --> 00:31:01.522 Well, it was hot out. 00:31:01.522 --> 00:31:04.367 This is the same word. 00:31:04.608 --> 00:31:08.578 And if you've got a little note in your Bible, you guys see that little note in your Bible there. 00:31:08.578 --> 00:31:09.821 Some of you have it, some of you might not. 00:31:09.821 --> 00:31:15.185 It's okay if you don't, but there's a little note for all of you in the margin there where it says to rescue him from his trouble. 00:31:15.185 --> 00:31:18.182 And it says in the margin or what's the word there? 00:31:18.182 --> 00:31:20.729 Disaster or evil. 00:31:20.729 --> 00:31:30.108 This is the same word that's used at the beginning of the book when Nineveh's trouble comes up before God. 00:31:31.474 --> 00:31:34.563 Now, was Nineveh's trouble that it was just really hot where they lived in their country? 00:31:34.563 --> 00:31:40.826 No, nineveh's trouble was the whole constellation of their rebellion. 00:31:40.826 --> 00:31:54.838 So I think there's an attentional link of those words where here, when it talks about Jonah's trouble, it doesn't just mean it was hot out and he was kind of needed a fan. 00:31:54.838 --> 00:31:55.981 He was not remembering what the message was. 00:31:55.981 --> 00:31:58.127 He was angry when he should have had the heart of God for these people. 00:31:58.127 --> 00:32:01.317 What's going to get him out of the trouble? 00:32:01.317 --> 00:32:04.566 Well, it's the shade that the Lord provides. 00:32:04.566 --> 00:32:06.867 It's the shelter that the Lord provides. 00:32:06.867 --> 00:32:07.914 So's the shelter that the Lord provides. 00:32:08.798 --> 00:32:16.604 So just something to chew on as you go forward, friends, we can't bring ourselves resurrection, hope and we want to dwell with God. 00:32:16.604 --> 00:32:20.145 That's a good thing, to long for God's presence in his dwelling. 00:32:20.145 --> 00:32:25.257 But if we think we're going to create it or craft it on our own, we're in. 00:32:25.257 --> 00:32:27.384 To create it or craft it on our own, we're in big trouble. 00:32:27.384 --> 00:32:32.700 It's God who has sent Jesus Christ to tabernacle among us. 00:32:32.700 --> 00:32:40.417 It's Christ that brings us the ultimate rescue from our trouble and that refuge. 00:32:40.458 --> 00:32:45.605 We sing songs like in the shadow of a mighty cross, I dear refuge of my weary soul. 00:32:45.885 --> 00:32:54.307 These are lines that speak of Christ and all that he's done as the true dwelling place of God, as the great hope of all that we need. 00:32:55.736 --> 00:32:56.797 And isn't God merciful? 00:32:56.797 --> 00:32:57.778 Let's pray. 00:32:57.778 --> 00:33:05.047