Spring26 Bible School- Jonah- Tim Dobson, Catherine Penn and Phoebe Smith

Tonight we are looking at the book of Jonah, and Phoebe will be leading us through a mediation from Amos

Transcript

SPEAKER_10 0:03

So we're going to take um tonight we we've uh we've looked at um an introduction, we've then looked at Hosea, we looked at a meditation on Habakkuk. Uh last week we looked at Zechariah and Haggai, you know, meditation on Joel. Uh and so today we're going to look at the book of Jonah and we're going to have a meditation on the book of Amos. Um so it's great to have Catherine. Catherine's a member of our staff team, uh tries to look after Dave and um studying at WTC. So uh Catherine's gonna take us through this book. So over to you.

SPEAKER_09 0:39

Thanks, I'm just gonna give us before we read through the entire book, because it's short enough to read it all through together, um, just gonna give us a little bit of um background and introduction to the book. It's always really important, isn't it, to know the context and the history of the book that we're reading in the Bible just to just to help us to read it more carefully, just to so that we know what the original hearers or readers would have understood from it. So um I'm gonna do that. And um, if you don't know anything about the minor prophets at all, um, and if this you know you've been coming along for these weeks and and just to learn more about them, if you know nothing else, my guess is that most of us know something about Jonah. Um, I like this picture that that Tim's chosen because we do often treat Jonah like a children's story. I I remember my boys when they were growing up having one of those little picture books that said, you know, Jonah and the big fish. Um, but there's so much more to the book than that, and I hope that we'll sort of discover some of those layers this evening. And Jonah's interesting because it's it's a narrative, so it's not like many of the prophets, many of the minor prophets, it's not a collection of the prophecies of Jonah, it's more a book about Jonah. And a lot of the Old Testament, a lot of the Bible is written as a narrative, it's sort of history but written in a story form. Um and as we look at the book, I think we'll begin to we'll be able to see some of the some of the techniques and the the ways that uh a writer of narrative in the Bible um conveys truth to us. It doesn't always sort of spell out the things that we're supposed to learn in a really clear, well it is clear, but not in explicitly as we might want it to. But as we read it as a story, we learn things from it. Um we've thought a few times over the past few weeks about when we think about the context of the minor prophets, the history that the prophets were writing in, we've been thinking about the concept of superpowers that we're all familiar with, sort of those those nations and civilizations that wield um a sort of disproportionate amount of power and influence. And um Jonah, like the other prophets, was uh active in a time when um that part of the world that surrounding Israel was ruled by a succession of empires or superpowers, and Jonah um was around in the time of the Assyrian Empire, and the Assyrian Empire, we've got lots of archaeological evidence about them as well as what the Bible itself says. And the Assyrian Empire was especially ruthless and um brutal, really. They sought to expand their territory by taking over other nations, and and they did that by invading them, by um, you can read through there, just you know, uh exerting heavy taxes and looting, they enslaved people. There was um report of mass murder, and uh they were just they were just really brutal. Um, when they took over a nation, they would they would take the the survivors away, scatter them into other places and resettle the land with people from other nations just so that there couldn't be any um sort of coordinated uprising against the Assyrians, and we see that in the history of Israel as well as in the history of other nations. So it's important to be aware of that. Um Jonah's, yeah, he's around in this time and he's speaking very much into that Assyrian empire. Um we looked at that a couple of weeks ago, it's slightly brutal um image from that time of an Assyrian king um treating another king not very not very nicely. And um this is a map of the area. So this the the light sort of green area, the bigger area is the Assyrian Empire at its height. We're not quite there in at the time that Jonah was around. Um it's more like this this bluey-green area here, um, and there's Israel and Judah down there. Um so Jonah's around um when it's when the Assyrians are up here but they're threatening the nation, it's he's around after the kingdom's been divided into the ten northern tribes and the and the southern tribes, but before Samaria is invaded by the Assyrians. Um Tim's gonna talk in a minute about the king that we which is Jonah pops up again in the Bible. Um and so Tim's gonna talk about that. We know that he's around between he was around during the time of King Jerobam II, that's between 780 and 750-ish. Um so that's the the period of history that we're looking at. Um and yeah, it's we can also think about his name. It's really important to notice names when we're reading the Bible because they often have a meaning that maybe our names don't have these days. Jonah, the Hebrew name means dove, um, which is a strange name for Jonah. He's not very dove-like. Um, yeah, you know, the dove is used as a symbol in the scriptures, can be a symbol of the Holy Spirit, can sometimes be a symbol of Israel as a nation. Maybe there's something in that symbolism, but maybe it's just a bit ironic. You know, there's a lot of irony in the Bible. In the book of Jonah, there is irony, and uh, as we read the story, you'll see that really dove isn't a very good name for him, really, but that's his name. Um the book you'll find is in four chapters, those chapters aren't in the original text of the Hebrew, but actually it does fit quite neatly into four different sections. Um and it's sort of hinged on a verse at the beginning of chapter one, which says that the word of the Lord came to Jonah, and then again at the beginning of chapter three, the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, and we've seen that in other prophets as well. That's sort of how the books are structured with the word of the Lord coming to the prophet. Um, yeah, and Tim's going to talk a bit more about the history.

SPEAKER_10 7:06

So, when it comes to the book of Jonah, um, there's a little bit of um contention about is it history or is it a story? So, so is it recorded history? Did it really happen, or is it like uh a fable, like one of Aesop's fables? And um uh and uh it's a conversation that me and Dave, Dave Mitchell have had just about a week or so. Dave is is uh fairly certain that um it's uh it's a story or or a parable. Um and I think ah, I think it's probably history. Um but there is uh kind of yeah, so so is is is it like Jack and the Beanstalk? It's a it's a story, you might read the story and you can understand and get some truth from a story. Or was Joan a historical character like Henry VIII? He really did exist, and the story that we're told uh is a story that um that really happened. Actually, both of them, when we come to read them, in some ways we take the story, whether it's a true story or a fabricated story, and in some ways we can learn from them both. Um uh, but there's probably some some slight differences. So, so is it history or is it is it a is it parable, is it a story? Um Well, Jonah was a historical character. So Jonah does appear in one of the history books. Um so in 2 Kings chapter 14 verse uh 25 um uh it's it says this. It says about the king, uh like Catherine said, King Jeroboam, um uh King Jeroboam did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabad, uh which he had caused Israel to commit. He was um he was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel uh from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea. Now, if you know how the Old Testament history of kings works, it tends to be when a king is faithful to God and serving him, things tend to go well. And one of the indicators that things are going well is that the kind of the boundaries of the borders may expand, that they're not attacked, they're not kind of pressurized, actually, but they they may expand a bit. But here's a king, and he was doing what was evil uh in the eyes of the Lord, and so that should have meant that Israel would be persecuted or oppressed or should shrink. But it says here that the boundaries of Israel uh he restored the boundaries, so actually something was gained back. And it says here, in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel spoken to his servant, Jonah, son of Amitai, the prophet from Gadhe. The Lord had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering. There was no one to help them. And since the Lord had not said he would blot out the name of Israel from under the heavens, he saved them by the hands of Jeroboam, the son of Jehosh. So here we read that Jonah was a historical person, that he uh was a prophet. So it's the same, so it's Jonah may have been a common name, but Jonah, son of Amitai, kind of narrows it down a bit. Uh so when we read the book of Jonah, uh it is Jonah the son of Amitai, who's there. So we read and we read that he prophesies, and his prophecies seem to even counteract the sin and the evil king. Uh so he may have been quite a good prophet. Um so for me it's interesting. If you're going to make up a story, why do you make up a story that includes somebody who is an historical person? So if you're going to make up a story, why do you have to make up a story about kind of um uh I don't know, Tony Blair and the Beanstalk? Kind of if you're gonna make a story about Jack and the you probably would have, it would probably be an unknown person, Jack and the Beanstalk, kind of whereas if you said it was Tony Blair and the Beanstalk, you probably think, well, hang on a minute, Tony Blair was a real person, and so this probably it may be something else, but certainly it was be a be located somewhere in history. Does that does that kind of make sense? So um he was an historical person, so so for me that kind of says, well, maybe it is history rather than story, because why would you have a real person in a made-up story? Um uh he was quoted by Jesus, Jonah, and in in Jesus quoting Jonah, again, as he quotes him, it doesn't look as though saying, just as in Jack and the Bean's talk, this and this happened, so when I do things, it's going to be like this. He kind of, as Jesus refers to Jonah, we'll see um at the end of the session, he kind of does refer to him as if he was an historical person. Um but Dave and others would come back to me and say, but it's a story because of the way it's formulated. The way it's formulated, it looks very much like a story. So although the kind of Jonah is named, actually the king isn't named. In most of the other prophecies that we have in the minor prophets, actually, it probably would say the king of Israel, the king of Jude that was on the throne at the time. Actually, it doesn't name the king. Actually, there's no date to the story, so uh a bit like the book of Job. Again, some commentators would say you can't really date the book of Job. So was Job history or was Job uh a story? And again, some people would say maybe for that book, um, was he a really historical character or was he was it uh a story? Um uh and again people would go either way, but again, what we learn from that thing is the same. So um Tarshish when kind of um uh he tries to flee to Tarshish, it's like in our we might say, I'm gonna run away to Timbuktu. Kind of it's it's like it's the place that you kind of it's a long way away, kind of um, and Tarshish is like uh Timbuktu. Um again the thought that could somebody really be swallowed by a large fish, three days later, that fish is gonna vomit up and they'd still be alive. Ah, just kind of how's that going to happen? It must be a story. How is a plant going to grow overnight uh fast enough to shade in chapter four to shade Jonah from um uh the sun, and then it shrivels kind of almost instantly. How does that work? Um and and the style of uh like Kathy said there's a there's a part one. There's part one is is Jonah, he's disobedient, chapter one, he repents, chapter two. And Nineveh, they repent in in chapter three, like Jonah. And then once again, there's a conflict. Conflict at the beginning, conflict in the middle, two repentances at the end, two repentances in the middle. It looks as though it's been constructed stylistically as a story rather than as a history. Um uh but I I do think you can go either way, in some ways, we read it now, and the truth of Jonah, um tonight as we go through the book, actually there'll be something about it that will speak to us about his example of things that he did well, but mostly the things that he didn't do well. We learn something about the mercy and kindness of God, and and what so we can still learn things whether it's history or story. I suppose for me the deal is can we do we still believe in a God who's supernatural? Do we still believe that um a plant could grow overnight? Well, Jesus who turns water into wine instantaneously, Jesus who feeds five thousands with just a little loaf. Actually, Jesus shows that supernatural growth can happen instantaneously. So maybe that could happen in the oh that maybe there could be a plant that wears overnight. Actually, Jesus, when he refers to the story, says, just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the grave for three days. Actually, we believe in the resurrection of someone actually conquering death and coming back from life, so could he not bring someone back from a fish's stomach? Kind of, ah, so um and for me that would be probably a bit of the thing is that if we just say that history is story, and again, if you how far you go with that, you you maybe start to undermine the fact that God is supernatural. Actually, God is God. We're human beings, and God is God, and God could send a storm, God could send a fish, God could make a plant grow. Uh that is possible for God. Not possible for us, and it sounds kind of supernatural, unusual. It might sound like a comic book kind of format. Um uh yeah, so it might be, it may not be. And I think whichever way you believe, we can you can always get something out of the story. But I kind of wonder whether the supernatural nature of God can be lost sometimes when academics try and explain things. Um that makes sense. Any any questions or comments on that?

SPEAKER_15 16:09

I agree completely. I don't understand why people I'm sorry, uh so I'm not a good thing. Yeah, but people are selective, like you said, which part to C believes. I mean, if you believe someone from part to C, then why not live in the Fifth to 3D?

SPEAKER_11 16:22

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

unknown 16:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:25

But doesn't it make no sense?

SPEAKER_10 16:26

Sorry?

SPEAKER_06 16:27

Does it make a difference?

SPEAKER_10 16:28

Yeah, well, in some ways we can you can you can get truth, both perspectives you can get truth. I think the difference is uh can God do things that are supernatural and humanly unexplainable beyond our comprehension? And I suppose uh the nature and character of God can maybe, if it's if it's just a story and it's just make belief, then then okay, you can explain away quite a bit of that, and then maybe God diminishes a bit in the ability of what He can what He can do. Um but but the the the main thrust of the story I think is the same from both perspectives. Um yeah, true.

SPEAKER_14 17:09

Yeah, it could be both really, couldn't it?

unknown 17:11

Could be history and uh parable.

SPEAKER_10 17:13

Well, in some ways, the way that history is passed down, uh history is passed down uh by speech, by sitting around a campfire, and history is passed down as grandfathers talk to fathers talk to sons. I mean that that's how it was passed. So in some ways, history was passed down by telling story. Um it's whether in that oral traditions it's passed down, it maintains his historicity, or whether it's expanded in the telling. Um and again, Paul's assertion that scriptures God breathed, probably asserts that actually, even in the telling, somehow the the history, the facts were maintained as kind of generation to generation spoke verbally the words until they actually got written down.

SPEAKER_05 17:58

Um here it says time C 760 BC. Would you say that was around about the date when it when Jonah could be ready?

SPEAKER_10 18:10

So that was about the time that this this this king um uh was uh was re reigning, so it's about that time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 18:19

Would Jesus referred to Jonah if it wasn't true?

SPEAKER_10 18:23

Well, uh yeah. I mean that that is the question, isn't it? So so when Jesus was talking, he was talking to people of a cultural background. So he talked about Adam as if Adam was a historical person. He talked about Jonah as if Jonah was a historical person, he talked about Abraham as if Abraham was a so um so probably in that culture the people did feel that those people were historical people. Um now for us when when we look at the way that Genesis is constructed, and we did Bible Salon Genesis a few times ago, um, again, the the poetic nature of Genesis chapter 1 and 2, for example, maybe pointed it more towards that there's it was not like a a true history, those first 11 chapters, uh probably trying to do something else, kind of um yeah, but certainly from uh Abraham onwards, kind of we probably think those people were real historical people, and and some of the people are no I I agree there.

unknown 20:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 20:40

Yeah, it was it was kind of the farest reaches, kind of if you got so Tarshish was was Spain. So kind of if you travelled as far as Spain, you then had the ocean that obviously goes on forever to uh to uh to uh uh people living in the first century. So so it yeah, it's like the ends of the earth. You go to the ends of the earth, Tarshish is kind of uh yeah.

unknown 21:03

Um great.

SPEAKER_10 21:04

What we'll do is it's only four chapters, so we're gonna read, we'll read the whole of the book of Jones. Is that okay to do that now? Um, so uh again, if if there's anybody who's got a a uh reasonably loud reading voice.

SPEAKER_05 21:16

Um do you want to do chapter one? I can do chapter one.

SPEAKER_10 21:19

Anybody like to do chapter two, chapter two, thank you very much. Chapter three, chapter three, thank you very much, chapter four, we're going, goes, chapter four, chapter four. Do I hear chapter four? Chapter four, thank you very much. Sol to the gentleman at the back row. Um uh so so what we'll do, it'll probably take us ten minutes, but we'll we'll read through the whole of the book of Jonah, and then Catherine will take us through uh chapter one uh and just text me. Is that okay? So uh David, thank you very much, chapter one.

SPEAKER_05 21:47

Okay Jonah frees from the land, from the Lord. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amita. Go to the great city of Metra. Anyway, I preached against it because its wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah ran away from the Lord. I'm headed to Tar headed for Tar ship. He went down to Droka, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying to fair, he went aboard and sailed four Tar ship to flee from the Lord. And the Lord sent a great wind from the sea, and sent a violent storm below that a ship threatened to be up. All the sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god, and they sent the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. Again, I got below deck where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, How can you sleep? Get up a call on your guard. Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not pay. Then the sailors said to each other, Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity. They cast lots and the locked power on Germany. So they asked him, tell us who is responsible for making all this trouble for us. What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you? He answered, I am a heathen, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the turn. This terrified them. And he asked, What have you done? They knew he was running away from the Lord because he had already told them so the sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us? Take me up and throw me into the sea, he replied, and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you. Instead, they have their best to move back to land where they could not, for they see through evil wilder than before. Then they cried out to the Lord, please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing her. For you, Lord, have done as you please. Then they took gender and threw him over the raging sea to the heart. At this, then they greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord, and they vowed to him.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

I said I could have to watch your time. I don't want to check out the word.

SPEAKER_07 28:32

So you complained to the Lord about it. Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish. I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to anger and filled with unfair love. You are eager to turn back and destroy people. Just kill me now, Lord. I'd rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen. The Lord replied, is it right for you to be angry about this? Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. And the Lord God arranged for a leaf of a plant to grow there. And soon it spreads broad leaves over Jonah's head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But God had also arranged for a whim. The next morning at dawn, the ware ate through the skin of the plant so that it lived away. And as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. Death is certainly better than living like this, he exclaimed. Then God said to Jonah, Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died? Yes, Jonah retorted. Even angry enough to die. And the Lord said, You feel sorry about the plant? It came quickly and died quickly. Not to mention all the animals. Why shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?

SPEAKER_09 30:36

Thanks. So it's it's a great story, yeah. So we're gonna look at it. Um the chapter one starts with um those words that basically set up the plot of the whole book of Jonah. It says the word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amitai, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because its wickedness has come up against me. Um he's not just calling Jonah to preach against Nineveh to put but not a preach against Assyria, but go to the heart of the empire, right to the city of Nineveh. Um and Jonah doesn't just put his fingers in his ears and stay home, he does, as we said, he goes as far as he's concerned to the ends of the earth or tries to get as far away as he can, goes in the opposite direction. It's a really open rebellion against God. There's uh there's a repetition here. Um, if you've got an NIV in front of you like me, it doesn't quite come out in our translation, but literally in the Hebrew, there's a repetition of the word presence. Jonah flees from Tarshish. These two Tarshish rather from the presence of the Lord. Um he gets on board this ship and again away from the presence of the Lord. And the men on the ship, the sailors, they knew he was doing that, it says in verse 10, because he's already told them that he's fleeing from the presence of the Lord. Jonah's trying to run away from God himself. He feels so strongly about not wanting to go to Nineveh that he just wants to get away from God. We don't we don't find out in chapter one why it is that he wants to get away and why he doesn't want to do this. This is part of the the story as it develops. We won't we don't find that out until chapter four. Um but we know that he wants to he just wants to get away from God. He he even though he says in verse nine, I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land, he just he just doesn't want to do what God says. Um and we know, of course, and one of the lessons that comes out from from the book of Jonah, from the story as it's told, is that is that we can't escape from God's presence. Um it says in Psalm 139, where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? That same word. If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will hold me fast. Just words that really evoke the story of Jonah, I think, in that psalm. Even if he gets to Tarshish, even if he got to the far end of the sea, God would still be there. And that's one of the themes here that God is still with Jonah in all of this, however, much Jonah tries to get away from him. Another theme that um starts off in chapter one is this idea that um God provides. So although Jonah feels like he's in control of this situation, although he's doing all he can to make things happen or not happen, it's God who provides and creates. So it says uh there in verse four that it's it's the Lord who sent a great wind on the sea, and then down at the end of chapter one in verse 17, the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah. Um, these aren't accidents, these aren't coincidences. This is God being sovereign, being who he is, and um watching over Jonah, and we're gonna pick that theme up again in chapter four. And there's also a great um a great contrast in chapter one. Again, that's that's a technique that the authors of the Old Testament often use, and we can pick up as we read narrative passages like this. There's contrast and comparison. There's a contrast between the sailors and Jonah, which you might have heard as we read it. Um, the sailors start off worshipping other gods, it says they start off praying to different gods, they probably come together from different nations and different religious beliefs, and and so they're they're doing their best to protect their ship in the fear of this storm, but it just gets worse and worse, it says. So eventually they they discover, well, they they think that it's Jonah who's who's at fault here, who's causing this storm, which in a sense he is, it's God who sent this storm because of what Jonah's doing. Um and it says that Jonah's happy for them to to throw him into the sea. I don't think he's expecting the fish to come. This is just like he says in chapter four, he just wants to die. That's how much he wants to not go to Nineveh. Um, as the sailors throw him overboard, the sea grows calm because God is indeed the god of the sea, as Jonah himself says here slightly ironically. Um and we know that God is the one who controls the wind and the waves. We see that when we read the story of Jesus calming the storm in the New Testament, which which you know I think echoes this passage quite a lot. So as Jonah tries to get away from God, these sailors draw closer to God. And by the end of the chapter, it says that the men greatly feared the Lord and they offered a sacrifice to him and made vows to him. They start worshipping God. However, much Jonah tries to deny it, God he can't stop God being merciful and being the rescuer and the saviour. That is just what who he is and what his nature is. Um, and so the chapter ends on this surprising note. We're familiar with the story, maybe, so it's not so surprising, but uh God sends a big fish and it swallows Jonah, and it doesn't end there, thankfully, because if it ended there, we'd think he was in trouble, really. Um so just before we go on to chapter two, just want to spend a few minutes. Um I don't know how much time we've got, but just a few minutes with the people around you, just having a bit of a discussion about what we've thought about so far. Um, what stands out to you from chapter one? We've looked at it very quickly, but what is it that that stands out to you? And can you think of times when God has asked you to do something surprising or difficult or hard? And I guess the challenge is to us as well, how do you respond when God calls you to do something difficult? We can all think of times when perhaps we know that God wants us to do something, he wants us to say, speak to someone, we just sense that He He's calling us to ask if we can pray for a colleague, perhaps, or something like that. And there are times when we might back away from that and maybe not do what we feel the Holy Spirit is asking us to do, or perhaps there's times when you've stepped into what God has asked you to do. Um, so just just have a chat amongst yourselves for a few minutes. Just you know, what what jumps out at you from this chapter? Does it feel like more than a children's story? And yeah, when when has God asked you to do something hard? Yeah.

SPEAKER_14 38:04

In the internet chapter, it says uh make a sacrifice under the Lord, but isn't uh the sacrifice order made by um offering a gem?

SPEAKER_09 38:17

I don't I don't know that they were offering us well, maybe they thought they were offering a sacrifice. I don't know. They they asked that he, you know, they say, Don't hold us against this. Um they sort of recognise that it's not it's not a good thing to do. That's a that's an interesting thing. To me, it implies that there's something else that goes on after Joan has gone in the sea. Actually, they they they they're what it's an act of worship to God.

SPEAKER_10 38:40

Yeah, killing a goat or anything. No, no, no, no. It was a sacrifice of thanks of thanks. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 38:46

Because sacrifice doesn't, you know, there can be sacrifices that aren't just about life. So yeah. Is that a case of just a few minutes? That's all right.

SPEAKER_10 44:02

Great. But should we um should we regroup for a moment? And um, it's an interesting start to the the adventure, isn't it? Interesting start of the story. That here's Jonah choosing to be disobedient, um, and God uh doesn't let him alone. He doesn't say, okay, well, if you're not interested in me, Jonah, I'm not interested in you. See ya, kind of actually he is interested. He's interested enough to send a storm, he's interested enough to send a fish. Um do you think that the storm and the fish were uh judgment on his disobedience? So is he being naughty and God's sending a storm to to punish your bad Jonah? You shouldn't do what you're told. And is the fish being swallowed by a fish? Is that is that judgment?

SPEAKER_05 44:52

I think it was just my reaction.

SPEAKER_12 44:56

It's potentially more consequence and redirection as opposed to judgment. Okay, it's sort of a you know, if we can find out. Yeah, exactly. Uh time out of it. In my mind, the presence of darkness in our world isn't something that God's put there, it's the absence of God being there. And so when he and Jonah's trying to run away from God, um it's a redirection, it's Jonah being thrown off a boat. This is the consequence because God isn't there, it's a you know drowning, obviously horrible thing. God's like, okay, no, I still need you for this, and then pushing him back in the right direction. That's what he tells it feels like to me.

SPEAKER_10 45:41

So so it could be so sometimes judgment is consequential. We make some kind of choices, and because we make some choices to disobey God, actually, the consequence of that choice is we've stepped out of God's will, we've stepped out of God's purposes, and actually there's a consequence to that. Um here it seems a lot more intentional by God. He sends the psalm, he sends the fish. It seems that God and and I wonder as we come to chapter two, and we see Jonah's response. Actually, I think Jonah regards it in the end as mercy and salvation rather than punishment and judgment. And and there's and sometimes there are things in our lives that we think there's a storm that comes in life. We think, oh, why is God punishing me? What's God doing to try and and maybe you're you're aware that you disobey God? What's God trying to do to punish me? That I've got a storm of life coming my way. Actually, it may be that God's trying to say, I've not forgotten you. In Hebrews it says that kind of what father doesn't discipline his children. And discipline isn't pleasant at the time, but we know that's far good. And in some ways, these two things, the storm and the fish, I think were just God's loving kindness to Jonah. Jonah, I don't want you to remain being a sinner. Actually, I want to rescue you. Actually, I want you to repent, which is why chapter two is a story of repentance. Actually, it's a story, it's a it's a prayer of acknowledgement that he'd been trying to flee from the presence of God, and now in being hurled into the sea, uh, as soon as he's thrown into the sea, it goes calm. So you might think, you might think, oh great. You might look round to the boat, you can rescue me now, and before they have time, this fish has got him. Um but maybe it's when he starts to sink. And when it he says that kind of uh from the depth of the grave, I called to my help, you hurled me into the deep, to the heart of the sea. The currents were swirling around me. Actually, it seemed to be that he was drowning. Uh, and so the fish, in the end, you might think being swallowed by a fish is not a pleasant experience, but in some ways, it did rescue him from death. He was going to drown. Uh, and so God sending a fish sounds slightly gruesome. What would it be like to be incarcerated in the fish's fish's stomach, dangling your toes in the gastric juices, kind of pitch black, kind of um it may not, it may not sound like kind of uh a package elevator in Spain. But as we see this prayer in chapter two that Jonah prays, actually Jonah realizes that God is has been merciful to him. That he he was sinking and and God somehow has rescued and saved him. Yeah, yeah. But throughout it all, Jonah is trying to run away, but God's trying to draw him back. And actually, in the stomach of a fish, actually he he is drawn back. So that in the end, the storm was uncomfortable, being swallowed by the fish, I'm sure it was uncomfortable, but in the end it was for his good. And so the prayer he says that actually you rescued me, salvation comes from the Lord. Now you might not think sitting in a in a stomach of a big fish is salvation, but actually at that point he realized that he'd been trying to flee from God's presence, which is which is why um we talked last week about why was it that the temple being rebuilt was such a big deal? Um, actually, the temple was the place where God's presence dwelt. The God who was everywhere was was somewhere, was in the temple. And so it's interesting that he says twice here, I um verse 4, I will look again towards your holy temple. Um and then in verse uh seven, my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Actually, first chapter he's trying to flee from the presence of God. Now, even though he's in the darkness, in his mind's eye, actually, where's your presence? Oh, it's in the temple. So even in his prayer, now it seems to be he's turned around rather than trying to flee from God's presence. Actually, now he's trying to look to God's presence. And obviously, you can't see anything apart from the internal workings of a fish. Um, but in his mind's eye, he's trying to seek God's presence again. So here he's there's repentance, he is somebody who repents. And again, I wonder whether when we know what it is to follow the Lord, again, he was a prophet prophesying to Israel, and and that kind of seemed to work, and now he's got to prophesy to people he doesn't want to prophesy to, so he's he's taken a step away. And in that disobedience, God doesn't leave him on his own, he wants to do something, and God won't leave you on your own. Uh, there's times in life where we follow him wholeheartedly. If there's times when we don't, God doesn't say, okay, Tim, well, if you're not bothered with me, I'm not bothered with you. No, he's always bothered about me. And he might be bothered enough to send something my way, and actually, ultimately, although it doesn't feel pleasant, it's for my good. Actually, it's for my salvation, for my rescue.

SPEAKER_05 51:23

I just want to try first.

SPEAKER_10 51:24

Yeah. So so here it's here it's it's uh it's definitely he has a change of of heart. Uh, there's something that goes on where he contemplates what has happened. He contemplates his sin. He contemplates that actually when when you disobey God, um, I don't think you necessarily get suicidal tendencies like he does here, but certainly he seems to be able to sleep through the storm. And I know there's sometimes there's a soporific effect of constantly going against God and going against his will. Actually, we've kind of, I mean, it was like the bit last week where kind of it's like you're you're working and there's not enough money and you're eating, but you never quite satisfy your hunger, and and somehow there's a lethargy that comes on Jonah because of his disobedience. Um but as as he um as he's in the fish, he said, In my distress, I called for board, and he answered me. So he's there, Lord, help help me. In my distress, God did help me! How did he help me? I was swallowed by a fish. That's how he helped me. Um uh you hurled me into the depth. Well, it was actually the fishermen that did that, but they were doing it because they were trying to do something to please you. You hurled me into the depths to the very heart of the sea. Uh, the current swirled about me. Your waves and your breakers they swept over me. Uh, I've been banished from your sight. Again, it's realizing, oh, there's a separation between me and God now. And that separation doesn't feel good. Kind of, you've banished me from your your your sight. Yeah, I will look again towards Yahoo Temple. The engulfing waters that threatened me, the deep surrounded me, seaweed was wrapped around my head. Kind of but um uh to the roots of the oceans I sank. But you brought my life up from the pit, oh Lord my God. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, O Lord. Again, rather than fleeing from God, God, I want to remember you. Uh um about 15 times there's there's allusions to the psalms. I've I've again I'll I'll send you the notes, we haven't got time to read them all. But actually, even if you read those little selections, actually it's a great theme of the of the psalmist. Kind of, I was sunk into the dirt and the mire. I was in this kind of pit, and you lifted me out and you rescued me. And and as he's here in the dark, trying to seek the Lord, actually draws on some of the psalms. As he's here imprisoned, a bit like Paul and Silas, where they're imprisoned uh in the deepest, darkest dungeon. And what's that what they're doing? They're praising, they're praising God. Maybe they use some of the psalms as as kind of Jonah here is alluding to the Psalms. And and in the Psalms, in the worship, in the acknowledgement of God who you are, in that repentance of turning round, actually, it triggers a response from God. That response is fish vomit. Out comes Jonah onto onto the beach. Um, and uh we see, but I but I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what I vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord. Now that sounds like quite a an upbeat, kind of thankful prayer. He's still in the dark, he's still got his toes dangling the gastric juices, kind of he's still he's still not rescued, but in some ways, even God, whatever happens now, you rescued me. Um, but then he does give uh Jonah a second a second chance. And so chapter three, if chapter two is about Jonah repenting, disobedience to being obedient. Uh when chapter three starts, um he says, actually, I I I will go, I will go uh to Nineveh. And um again it was probably a 700-mile trek. I'm not sure how far the boat had got, but he would have had to travel even further than if he'd had just gone from his home hometown. Um, and as he trekked there, there's probably think, am I doing the right thing? Am I doing what God wants? God, what do you want me to say? Kind of um, and finally he gets to to Nineveh. And if chapter two is a story about uh one sinner repenting, chapter three is about sinners repenting. Um, it's interesting that um what tended to happen with the uh Old Testament people of God is they thought they were God's chosen people, they were the God's special people. Somehow they had privilege, they had the blessing, they had the covenant, they had everything. And and God always intended to bless them so that the whole world would be blessed. Kind of that was the that was the chosenness. The chosenness was not to that they were chosen, they were chosen for a purpose and a task. Um, and it was always for the nation to be blessed. And here, Jonas, even in his disobedience, actually the nations are reached because these foreign sailors get converted to follow Yahweh, follow um follow God. But in chapter 3, we see uh what turns out to be 120,000 people uh get saved. Um so he preaches uh and he sends the message of God, and these people who again had um notorious um reputation for mass murder, for marauding armies, for doing all these horrendous forms of torture and whatever, uh, as Jonah walks towards that and God's saying in 40, I'm gonna destroy it, he's probably thinking, Yep, God, you know what? I kind of agree with you. They're so mean, they're so horrible, they do so many hard things. But God, yet, if you're gonna judge them, if you're gonna destroy them, yeah, you're you're you're doing the right thing. And and so when he goes and he preaches, actually, I think he's super surprised that he, although it takes three days to go past, it's only one day in, and one day in they hear the message and they start to repent. And they start to repent, big style. Kind of they they believe in God, kind of it's not their God, it's not the God of the Assyrians, actually, it's it's in the God of Israel. They start to to fast, go without food, go without drink, uh, they start to put on sackcloth and ashes. Um, they're even so concerned that kind of that God's gonna think this is true repentance. Do you know what? We're gonna hedge our bets, we're even gonna cover the uh our cattle with sackcloth as well and scatter ashes on them too. Just God, can you preserve life? If everything's gonna be destroyed, actually, we're we're here now repenting to you. Actually, they call out on God and they turned to him. And again, it's just a real surprise. The people who you think are the furthest from finding God in your office, in your community, in your workplace, actually, you never know what God, if you just genuinely share your faith in Jesus, who knows what might happen. And and Jonah just has these feeble words, it it kind of is not even a great long preach, it's just one sentence. And somehow God is at work and they uh they repent. Um, and it's interesting the the narrative as a prophecy. So here's the story of Jonah, and it's classed, although it looks like a history, it's classed amongst the prophets. Why? Because there is God is speaking through this, God is speaking about his kindness, his generosity. He's speaking um uh about his responsiveness. Again, um in verse 10, it's just this one of these strange verses that appears a few times in the Bible where um when God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented. Actually, if we see Jonah repenting, we see the Ninevehes repenting. Actually, it seems to be here almost God repents, God turns around, God changes his mind. That's what turns repentance is turning around. No, Jonah was going this way, he turns around to find God's presence. Actually, Assyria were going this way of violence, they're turning around towards God. Actually, God was going to bring deliverance, instead, God relents and he brings salvation, he brings freedom. Um, and again, there's all kinds of theological debates around can God actually change his mind? Um, and and there's this this Greek and this Jewish view of God. And I think Western theology has been quite influenced by Greek thought, and and Greek thought um has all these strong omni words, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, uh, to try and describe God. And because that's how Greeks, the Greeks would say that the the world is broken and fragile, but the resilient, the the true, the eternal is the spiritual realm, and the spiritual realm is kind of is is perfect. Um, and so would say that that God is is perfect. You might agree that God is perfect, but actually, if God is perfect, he cannot change. Because if God is perfect, and if he changes, he's either got to change one way, he tried to change this for better or for worse. And actually, God can't get any better than perfect, actually, he can't get any worse than perfect. So, God, if God is perfect, He can't He can't change, and so people sometimes would wrestle with this idea that what kind of God is it that is relational? I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He defines himself in very relational terms. I am Jesus, my father is a relational term. God talks about like when we looked at Hosea, it's like a husband and a wife. It's a relational term. Actually, God defines himself in relational terms, and in relationship terms, where love is the key, change is possible because you change because you love more, and God is totally loving. So here he thinks, oh, uh-uh, I wasn't kind of expecting that. When he saw what they did, he changes his mind. Now that doesn't make God less God, in fact, probably that makes God more God because he created humanity to enjoy a relationship with him, to respond to him in an appropriate way. And here the Assyrians, and they are responding to God, they're reacting to his message and they're taking us seriously and repenting. So I think again, Jonah as a prophet, what is Jonah saying about the character nature of God? He's saying that God is a God who responds, reacts. In fact, that's how the old covenant works. If you you'll be blessed. If you do this, this and this, you'll be cursed. There's a prophecy that's conditional. And here you're going to be destroyed. All the horrible things you've done, I've seen it. Actually, judgment, you you'll it would be just for me to judge you. But somehow there's repentance. And where's repentance? Mercy triumphs over judgment. That actually God extends uh mercy uh to them. Does that make sense? And any any questions or or comments on that?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:33

The only thing I would say about that is I mean that's our word.

SPEAKER_10 1:02:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:38

So God's beyond us anyway. Yeah, yeah. So we're limiting the thing that I say is perfect. Yes. So they're not perfect. So is it not I I never limited God to that. And also, if I got it wrong, was the message I'm gonna destroy you, that was the message.

SPEAKER_10 1:03:01

Yeah, yeah, in 40 days you'll be destroyed.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:04

He never expected them to do anything about that. He expected them to just hear the message and do nothing.

SPEAKER_10 1:03:10

Well, I mean that that that's what that's what the judgment was. In 40 days, trouble's coming your way. There was no uh so therefore, so so when the prophets prophesy to to Israel, frequently there's there's kind of um something might happen. Yeah, yeah. Kind of trouble's coming your way, therefore repent. Actually, we don't hear there's a call to repent, it's just a declaration, judgment's coming your way. And so they decide off their own bat seemingly to repent.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:42

It reminds me of revival, really, isn't it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 1:03:45

Definitely, definitely. And an unexpected, an unexpected revival that that that that changes people's hearts, even from the king, who would be the king, like we had that diagram of when you when you of someone who captures another king and pokes his eyes out and rips out his tongue. Kind of that that king actually suddenly repents and and turns to God, looking for mercy. Um, which is the extraordinary thing, which is why when we look to chapter four, you think, well, why does Jonah react so badly to this? And because he feels affronted. Um we'll look at that in a in a moment. So, any other questions on chapter two and chapter three before we move on?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:27

Do you think God would have known what they were gonna do anyway?

SPEAKER_10 1:04:31

Well, that so that so that's the thing. Yeah, yeah, no, no, I to I totally and that that is so so is God playing a game of Sherads, or is it is he playing some kind of some kind of game with them? Because he he was always gonna forgive them, so kind of he knew what he was gonna do.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:46

He knew whether they were gonna do it whether they were gonna do what he wanted, or whether they were gonna go their own way. He knew.

SPEAKER_10 1:04:52

Yeah, so some people would say that. Some people say that he didn't know. Some people say, like in in Jeremiah, kind of there's this I I treated you like a uh a son, and I thought you would love me, but you didn't. As if kind of God anticipated a response and he didn't get that response. God says to Moses, look, Moses, these people, you've been up here getting the law, and they've been building this gold calf, I'm gonna annihilate them and I'm gonna start again with you. And Moses reasons with God and he changes his mind. Now, was God always going to change his mind or did it actually work?

SPEAKER_04 1:05:32

We don't know, do we? I haven't seen it. We don't know.

SPEAKER_10 1:05:37

But but within it, there's this idea if we think that God's a relational God rather than a static omnipresent deity, if he's a relational God who wants to be known and wants us to know him, then there's something profound about the possibility of prayer in a vertical commas working. That God will do something because of us that he wouldn't have done anyway. So does prayer really work, or is prayer just God's going to do it anyway, and we're just saying stuff? I believe prayers work because God has chosen to set the world up on relational terms. That he always wanted us to be loved by him, to love him, and to cooperate with him. Genesis chapter one, kind of subdue the other, kind of rule on my behalf. I want I'm not going to just do it all, you do it for me. He wanted that cooperative nature. So when we would cooperate with God, he might be doing one thing, but actually he's up for changing his mind. Because there's a relational connection, is what he's looking for. He so badly wants to be known that he became a human being. That's how badly he wants to be known. Kind of, he became the incarnation, shows us how much God wants to be known. He wants to be related to, he wants to be loved because he steps into our world. If that makes sense. We have been given free choice because in the end of the day, we have free choice because if love is going to be real, it has to be freely given rather than pre-programmed. Kind of, we we could be pre-programmed to say, I love you, God, I love you, God. That's not love. It's kind of we had to have the freedom to do that. And so the relational terms on which Germany responds to God and Anilwitz responds to God, it's because of those relational terms. Just um okay, five minutes. We we uh we probably ought to go on. Is that okay? So I was going to give you five minutes, but because of we probably need to finish. So um, homework. What does that tell you about the character nature of God? Uh, what does repentance look like for you? For them as that cloth for Nascists. What does repentance look like for you? Uh I'll send you little notes. But um the last chapter. Okay, we'll send you a few. Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:45

Okay. So we're into chapter four, finishing the book off, and and chapter four, as would have struck you as you read it, is a funny chapter, isn't it? It's a strange way to end this book. Um, another slightly strange turn in the story. We we finally find out why Jonah decided to flee to Tarshish. Um he says here, isn't this what I said, Lord? I knew this would happen, is sort of what he says. He sounds a little bit like a sort of grumpy teenager, I think, initially. Um, I knew this would happen. Um, I knew you'd be compassionate. He's he's referencing and echoing um words that we find in Exodus 34. This is where uh just after Moses has gone up Mount Sinai um with the with the new tablets of the law with the commandments written on, and God reveals himself to Moses and declares who he is. And it says in Exodus 34, the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him, with Moses, and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. This great famous statement of the character of God, which comes up in other places in scripture as well. Um, in his anger, Jonah declares great truths about who God is. It's interesting that he never stops doing that through the book, but he thinks God is just too forgiving and too compassionate. The Assyrians, you remember, were Israel's ruthless enemies. Like they were they were really cruel and brutal. And Jonah knew the danger that they posed to Israel, and he feels so strongly about this that he just wants God to take his life. God's mercy to Jonah just feels like injustice. And how does God respond? Well, he he provides these things that we've also already mentioned. There's more of these providing words, as we've already noticed, like in chapter one. God provides the plants, he provides the worm that destroys the plant, um, and then he sends this scorching east wind that that means that Jonah is sort of overcome by the heat of this day. God himself provides this object lesson, this visual um demonstration of the point that he's trying to get across. Again, God showing that he's the one who's control in control, he's the one that is still with Jonah, even though Jonah is is so angry and just wants to die. God is the creator and the provider, and then God asks these questions, um, which is really striking about this chapter. That's how God responds to what Jonah says. He asks him questions, and and we see that, don't we, elsewhere in the Bible that God often asks questions of people. Jesus in the gospels often asks questions rather than giving people sort of direct um responses. And there's this contrast here, then Jonah was was so concerned about this plant that he didn't make that just sprang up overnight and then was destroyed by that worm. Um, and God says, if you're so concerned about just that plant, shouldn't I be concerned about the people and the animals of Nineveh who God did make and who God loves? We're taught in scripture to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us. And God is showing in the way that he reaches out to Nineveh through Jonah that he has compassion on his enemies that uh and the enemies of his people. But Jonah, in contrast, is hard-hearted towards the Ninevehites. He doesn't want salvation to come to them. He doesn't want his enemies to know God. They don't deserve compassion as far as Jonah is concerned, they deserve judgment. That's why he went in the opposite direction when God called him to go to Assyria. And it's really interesting, I think, that it ends with these questions. And and maybe um maybe that is a bit attention-grabbing to you that the whole book ends on a question that we don't quite get an answer to. Um and if something in the scriptures seems to grab our attention, it probably should grab our attention. You know, I think it is striking and it should be striking that this book ends with a question. Um God is inviting Jonah to respond to him, he's inviting Jonah to examine his heart and his attitudes, and so in the same way, he's inviting us to answer this question and to look at our own hearts. Um, do we put limits on God's compassion? Do we pray with faith for our enemies? Do we seek to forgive people, you know, individuals who who maybe hurt us deeply? Um do we put uh a limit on the reach of God's mercy? And you know, there's a lot in this book when we look at the character of Jonah and how he's presented to us, um, there's a lot that really acts as a bit of a mirror to us, I think, as we look at it, and something that's worth thinking about as as you you go away in the next few days and maybe look back at this book. Jonah comes across as as fearful and you know, as we've said, fleeing from God's presence in chapter one. He's he's apathetic. There he is, as Tim said, asleep in the boat while this storm is raging. And in chapter four, he's angry, he's hard-hearted, he's judgmental. Um, and that is a bit of a challenge to us, I think, as we as we look at him. You know, can we see any of that in our heart? Is there anything that God is inviting us to examine in ourselves as we think about Jonah? Jonah, um, it's interesting. He's he's he knows the word of the Lord. Yeah, he quotes it several times. He's he he he doesn't seem to doubt it in a sense. He he's just saying, This is what you're like, God. I know this is what you're like. But it's possible to to know God's word and to miss the point. So it's really important that we we come to things like this, that we study the scriptures, that we learn the scriptures and and go deeper in them. That's how we get to know God better. It's so important. But it is possible to do that and miss the heart of the Lord, to have the word of the Lord without the heart of the Lord, which is what Jonah seems to do here. So, again, I think that's another theme, uh, another you know, lesson that comes from the book of Jonah. Um, yeah, so I've I've really enjoyed looking at Jonah because I've found it surprisingly challenging as I've I've looked at it in preparation for this. And one of the things that struck me is that of course God never gives up on Jonah. Actually, however much Jonah, you know, never seems it doesn't really change by the end of the book. Although he seems to have this repentance and he seems to, you know, eventually he does go to Nineveh and do what God asked him to do. Actually, he's still really angry here at the end of the book. So angry that he wants to die. That seems like the best option to him. Um, but God never gives up on him, he's still inviting him into his presence and still inviting him to respond at the end. And I found that really encouraging um and challenging for me as I've looked at it. So, yeah, Tim's gonna finish off that.

SPEAKER_10 1:15:35

Well, when we've looked at the minor prophets, one question that we've said is um uh scripture points towards Jesus. Uh so in in what way does the book of Jonah uh point towards Jesus or help us to understand Jesus? Um and yeah, I wonder if you have any thoughts when when Jesus was on the road to Emmaus talking to his his friends, they didn't quite know who he was, it says that he um he talks to them from the law and the prophets uh everything concerning himself. So as he talked about Jonah, what was kind of what might you have said that what how does Jonah point towards Jesus?

SPEAKER_16 1:16:15

Is Jonah angry because the his Lord is sharing his compassion for those that aren't chosen?

SPEAKER_10 1:16:26

Yeah, yeah. It it could be that that oh I thought we were God's chosen people, and and now you've shown them compassion, are they God's chosen people too?

SPEAKER_16 1:16:33

Kind of it could be really, really bad. They're massive words.

SPEAKER_10 1:16:38

Yeah, yeah. But God's intention was always to go from Israel out to all nations. That was his the flow was that way and never to keep all nations.

SPEAKER_16 1:16:45

Had Jonah miss at that point.

SPEAKER_10 1:16:48

Uh I yes, I'm sure we have, yeah.

SPEAKER_13 1:16:51

I think the story doesn't actually just let me see it. The pagans any better than the story. The pagans were not able to try and put that. The pagans need to be sorry.

SPEAKER_10 1:17:10

Yeah. And and and and that's why the lesson that people at the time, before Jesus were told, do they look at themselves and think, well, actually, once like the other prophets might have to say, actually, you're not fulfilling the destiny that you should be fulfilling. Jonah, actually, you're not fulfilling the destiny you should be. Actually, like I say, the the the non-Jewish, the Gentile nations are actually behaving slightly better than you at the moment. Actually, that is that's a deal going on there. Um for the life of Jesus, how how would this point for us?

SPEAKER_06 1:17:47

He was in like refers to the three days, didn't they? He was in this for three days, which is like Jesus, and also um at the end Jonah turns against it turns against God, if you like, like the like people turned against Jesus.

SPEAKER_10 1:18:03

Okay, okay. Yes, yeah. So that I mean let's just look at those two. So the two two places where um Jesus Jesus does talk about Jonah. So in Matthew's gospel chapter 12, um he has some Pharisees and teachers of the law come to him and they say to Jesus, Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you. Okay, we've heard great news. We've heard news about kind of people who've been kind of uh lame started to walk again. We've heard about that. You've feed them 5,000. But kind of do another little party trick for us. We want to see a little miracle. Come on, impress us if you can. Um and Jesus knows their heart, and so he says, he answers them, a wicked and adulterous generation ask for a miraculous sign. Again, that those that Jesus kind of heals, whatever, kind of they're looking for compassion, they're looking for tenderness. Actually, they just want a sign. Um, and they says this, but none will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So is Jesus saying there, okay, you you're wanting a sign, you want another miracle, you want water into wine. Actually, there's going to be a bigger sign. Actually, the sign that I've truly come to deliver is not just one or two miracles. Actually, the sign I'm coming to deliver is the sign of Jonah. And what was the sign of Jonah? The sign of Judah was a people who were under judgment found mercy. Actually, the the people that were under judgment found mercy. So the story, the sign of Jonah was here's people who are under judgment, actually, and they find mercy. So, in some ways, if you look at the story of Jonah, it starts off with judgment. Actually, for why did God send Jesus to this world? Because we were under judgment. Actually, and all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Actually, we needed rescue. Unless Jesus came, actually, we were under judgment. We would have faced eternity without without God and this life without God. So the story of Jesus starts with why's he come to rescue and save us. Actually, the the the death of an innocent man, don't put the blood of this innocent man on us. And here's Jesus who dies. Actually, he dies an innocent man. And we communion, we talk about the blood of Jesus, the blood of an innocent man, kind of, and they're they're saying to this God that they don't really know, don't hold the blood of this innocent man kind of to our account. Actually, but we want to say, yes, please hold the death of an innocent man, the blood of Jesus, to our account. Actually, we want the death of that innocent man to cleanse us, to free us, to release us. The son of Jonah was three days and three nights in the in the fish, Jonah chapter 1, verse 17. Actually, Jesus' prediction that he would he would die. Now, Jonah didn't die, he was he as if he was going, thought he was going to die, but he was he was rescued and saved. But it was a picture like baptism as a picture of death and resurrection, being thrown into the sea, being swallowed by a fish, being vomited out. Actually, it was a sign of death and resurrection, and that's the sign, death, and resurrection. So after Jesus' death and resurrection, the those first disciples go preaching and they preach about repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Kind of what must we do to be saved? Well, repent and believe. That's that is the appropriate response. And people who repent and believe, they find that there's mercy and forgiveness. And Jesus is saying, actually, you would just want a little trinkety, miraculous sign. Why I've come is I've got I've come to deliver the sign of Jonah. Uh so the way that overarching narrative in the book of Jonah speaks is the overarching narrative of Jesus who turns judgment to mercy. Does that kind of make sense? So um, and the second thing that um that he says is it's not the sign of Jonah, but Jonah was assigned. So it says, for as Jonah was assigned to the Nineveh, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. In what way was Jonah assigned to the Nineveh? Well, I think he was given a second chance. Uh it could be it was given a second chance.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:34

God never get up on him.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:41

He might not have known about that.

unknown 1:22:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 1:22:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_10 1:22:50

I've got a thought. If if it's a story, sorry, if it's history rather than story, if you spent three days and three nights inside a fish's stomach, you might be partially digested. So it may be that as he's vomited out, actually he carries the marks on his body, his hair might have been bleached, his skin might have been slightly kind of um corroded. And actually, as this prophet comes into town with his kind of stark, kind of bleached hair and and and skin that's still slightly kind of scabby, and he says, kind of repent. So just as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, actually look at this body. This is a sign of what disobedience does to you. And as Jesus hangs on the cross, as he's beaten, as he's spat upon, as he's flogged, as he has nails put, actually, this is what sin does to you. Just as Jonah was assigned to the Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be assigned to this generation. Actually, this is what sin does to you. Come and find forgiveness. Come and find, don't go this way. Um and it's amazing that I think Jesus is saying, actually, I think Jonah himself was assigned to the Ninevites of a sign of the consequences of disobedience, but actually the consequences of rescue as well. And so for me, as Jesus hangs on the cross, he's somehow he's a as Jonah was a sign of in his physical body, the consequences of sin. Jesus in his physical body bears the consequences of sin. Um so uh again, what is the sign? Uh I think for me that's the sign of disobedience, is that um any brief questions? How do we see Jesus in in the prophets? Uh again, I think both the overarching narrative of judgment to mercy is the sign of Jonah that Jesus lives out. Uh but Jesus himself, as he carries in his body sin, the consequence of disobedience, um, uh, and he's a sign to that generation. This is what's in do something, guys, because this is what's in dust to you. Um that's the book of Jonah. Um uh, and hopefully, if you go and read it again, maybe you find some things that are interesting there. Um uh we're gonna finish it in in ten minutes, but each time that we uh do Bible school, sometimes there's a bit to stretch your brains and make you think, but we know that scripture is there to touch our hearts as well. So we end each evening with a meditation, a chance just to reflect and have the chance to pause and to think. Um and Phoebe's gonna lead our meditation uh this evening as we come to a close looking meditation on the book of Amos. So, Phoebe, thanks so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:57

Yeah, I've just got a short reflection to share with you and then a panel. Um, I think it's really interesting. Having heard some of the themes that come up in Jonah, um, quite a few of them overlap with lots of the prophets, but including Amos. Um, and Amos is the book that I was reading and reflecting on. Um, and it's he's actually a contemporary of Jonah. He comes, he's speaking into the Northern Kingdom just like um Jonah was, um, so a similar context historically, um, and he comes just after Jonah, and yeah, and just before Hosea, who was spoken about a couple of weeks ago. Um, and for me it's been a real privilege to read to have time to read through the book of Amos and his sermons, his poems, and his visions. Um and there's a few things that I think are really amazing about the book of Amos. Firstly, that Amos is a shepherd, um, which I just love because this is yet another example of God using totally unexpected and underappreciated people to be a mouthpiece to a whole nation. Um I think that's incredible that it's a shepherd, that's a mouthpiece to a whole nation, um, kind of reflects lots of other characters that God uses in the Bible, like David in the Old Testament and Mary in the New Testament as well. Um, and yeah, that it's such a demonstration of God's love and ability to equip and partner with humans. Um, I also love that this book gives a real insight into who our God is as creator, faithful through the whole of our history, compassionate, full of grace and forgiveness, which we see in Jonah as well, slow to anger and God of justice as well. Um, and justice is a big theme in the book of Amos. Um, and that's the third thing that I think is so amazing about it. It's such a powerful wake up. Call to justice. Amos speaks to the people of Israel, starting with the accusations of the way that the nations and Israel are sinning, and then moving into messages to the leaders to share God's lament over them, specifically over their idolatry, how they're pursuing other gods instead of pursuing the God, and their participation in patterns of injustice and oppression of the poor. It's such a strong message to the people of Israel to check over their lives of prosperity and ease. It's a challenge to notice how they are worshipping other gods and trampling on the poor in their business deals, their purchases, bribes. Amos makes it very clear that this is the opposite of how God called them to live as a blessing to all nations and how much God hates the injustice that they are participating in. God says, even though you offer me your burnt offerings, I will not accept them. Take me away from the noise of your songs because of the hypocrisy of their worship to Him and their oppression of the poor. It's such a challenge and a provocation to the people at the time to reconsider their priorities. But what I found reading Amos now was that it holds the same powerful force of accountability to us today. Where, like the Israelites, are we pursuing idols that are not God? Where are we choosing ease, comfort, and prosperity at the expense of pursuing justice for the poor? Amos isn't a comfortable read, but it does provide hope at the end for all of those who fall short, but well, all of us who fall short, myself very much included. But this is what I value so much about Amos is that, and the Bible as a whole, actually, it's able to challenge me and hold me accountable, like the most honest friend. Amos has really shown me how the minor prophets as well can be so valuable in shaping our relationship with God and our prayers as well. Um, it's really influenced my prayers, actually, and my thinking and my conversations with friends whilst reading it. So I'd like to just conclude now with a prayer that's formed from the words of Amos, reflecting how it speaks of God, lament, and justice. So if you're willing, let's take some time to pray now. Create a God, who formed the stars and made the Pleiades and Orion, who turned deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth. The Lord is his name. The Lord God of hosts, who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth. The Lord is his name. Powerful God, more powerful than world leaders, whose heights are like the height of the cedars, and who are as strong as oaks, you destroyed their fruit above and their roots beneath. Faithful God, who brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and led them into the wilderness, and raised up prophets, and remind us, is this not indeed so, O people of Israel? You God, who equipped Amos as your mouthpiece, who are ever at work and never leaves us. We hear your lament over us, saying, They do not know how to do right, lamenting, yet you did not return to me. Yet you did not return to me. We are sorry for when we pursue other things in place of you, and claim our victories to be by our own strength for ourselves, forgetting that throughout time it was you, God, who protected, and you who provided. We hear your words, thus says the Lord to the house of Israel, seek me and live, but do not seek Bethel, for Bethel shall come to nothing. Seek the Lord and live. Lord of life, help us to seek you again. Seek good and not evil, you say to the people of Israel. You have turned justice into poison, the fruit of righteousness into bitterness. You trample on the poor, turn aside the needy in the gate. Lord, this is your lament that still rings true. God, we are sorry. We join you in sadness for the way injustice still prevails in our world, our nation, our city of Bristol. We are sorry and ask your forgiveness for the ways we have participated in systems of injustice by accident or by own deliberate fault. We are sorry for when our worship of you has been disconnected from the way we treat people. Provoke us to marry our worship with acts of justice for the poor. With Psalm 139, I ask, search me God, and know my heart. See if there is any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. When I am tempted to return to old patterns, old ways that are not like yours. Teach me again to listen for your voice. Open my ears and my heart to the prophets and the value of their words. Align my will once again with your will, that I might participate in being a blessing to others, just as you called your people to be in the very beginning. Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. God, we ask for this, and the wisdom to know how to participate. Let justice roll down like waters over our world, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream through our city. Compassionate and gracious God, God of redemption, thank you for your repeated promise of restoration. In that day, declares the Lord, I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen, and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it. Thank you that though we turn from you, all your acts show us that you lean in towards us, not away. In particular when you came to us as Jesus. Your way is towards redemption, justice for the poor, and restoration for the whole earth. Help us to be participants in bringing your kingdom here on earth and draw us back to you again. Amen.

SPEAKER_10 1:36:39

That is the end of spring Bible school. Um, if I could just put up again the um little QR code, if if you are able just to have a couple of minutes to um uh to give us a bit of feedback. So we're gonna run um there's gonna be summer Bible school, autumn Bible school. So every Tuesday in in August um uh we'll have space. If there's any book of the Bible you'd like us to cover any difficult theme, uh let's just I think three questions, four questions, but the last one is anything else, do put down some comments down by. But um, thank you so much for coming on. I hope you've enjoyed it. I hope that uh inspiring to read the Mine Prophets uh and wrestle with those and not speak to you about who he is on his ways. Um but if you have any feedback,