A Credible Review
Last week we finished the book of Jonah in our Basics course. This was a monumental moment due to the raw physical representation of a spiritual truth that Jesus Christ was going to declare on Calvary. The book of Jonah is a book dedicated to reveal the hidden truth of salvation for all of man kind. The story of Jonah can simply be put like this;
“The account of Jonah reveals the magnitude of God’s love, mercy and eagerness for all of mankind to be saved.”
God wanted Nineveh to understand that its sin was not tolerable to God and they needed to repent, Jonah 1:2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.” Yet, we know that Jonah ran from God. Why? Because he knew God was rich in love and mercy for those who come to Him with a repentant heart. Already we can see the subtle foreshadowing of John 3:16-17.
John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
Jonah then learns a valuable lesson about God being serious about how He will save those who belong to Him. We can see in the gospels from Jesus’s own words He takes it seriously, Matthew 18:12-14 “12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? 13 “And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that [sheep] than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 14 “Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”
Yet, Jonah is not done teaching us about the gospels! Because of his lack of obedience, he gets the horrific experience of being swallowed by an animal of the deep for three days. Imagine the agony, fear and complete turmoil that Jonah must have been under; to be swallowed whole by the animal in the water. This is only a foreshadow of what Jesus Christ would deal with on the cross. The agony, fear and complete turmoil of bearing our sin and shame for us; to be swallowed whole by our sin. If only people took sin as seriously as many do about being in the dark of water and having the fear grip them of the unknown beneath the waves. We take sin too lightly when we can clearly see by the book of Jonah that God does not.
Yet, God was not done with Jonah. After the third day he was delivered back to dry land in order to proceed with God’s rescue plan of Nineveh. Jonah 2:10-3:1, “So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying ‘arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.’” God is determined that His rescue plan is put in place. Unbeknown to Jonah, it would ultimately be fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Jonah’s predicament of three days within the beast pointed to what Jesus would have to go through.
Matthew 16:1-4 “1 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, [‘It will be] fair weather, for the sky is red’; 3 “and in the morning, [‘It will be] foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot [discern] the signs of the times. 4 “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.”
Now what does this mean for us today? What is the “So what factor”? Simply put, the Old Testament is very much alive and well in the New Testament. We should take seriously our study and review of what transpired in the old so that we can better understand what is taking place in the new. Typically, I have not taken steps to go deeper in one of the outlines, but I thought it would be prudent for us as believers to recognize the uniqueness that we find in understanding that God is real, His plan of salvation is authentic, and His actions throughout history prove His unwavering desire to rescue us from ourselves.
Hold until relieved, our Blessed Hope is coming,
JL