Monthly Archive for November, 2001

Jonah 3:3

Published on November 30, 2001 in Jonah. 0 Comments
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Jonah 3: 3 “So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.”


3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.

Jonah’s obedience was now as striking as his past rebellion.  Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire.  It was a city of great significance militarily, economically and religiously.  Jonah went right into the teeth of the Assyrian Empire with his message from the Lord. 

Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.

A “three-day journey” indicates that it took three days to walk around Nineveh.  A person can walk about 20 miles a day so that would mean Nineveh was about 60 miles in circumference.  Nineveh was the largest city in the world at this time.  The city had 1,500 looming towers.  There were 120,000 children who could not tell their right hand from their left (4:11). 


PRINCIPLE:  God has marching orders for every believer. 


APPLICATION:  The personal element in evangelism is critical for effective evangelism to happen.  Someone must say, “I am going to do something about this.”  Ideas are not enough if they are not clothed in flesh. 

Some people feel that God has placed them on the shelf and is through with them.  Even churches and Christian organizations get this idea.  God can rescue individuals and organizations from shipwreck.  He can salvage us.  He can move us beyond our holding patterns.  

Many of us are unaware that we are dead to the dynamics of God in our lives.  This is certainly true with some churches.  This is a serious problem to the cause of Christ because they become bound by tradition.  They will not let the old ways die.  They cannot communicate to non-Christians and they lose relevance to where people are.  These churches are unaware that they are dying. 

Being used of God flows from the obedience of faith.  What mandates does God expect His people to obey so He can grow his church? A mandate is an authoritative command, a directive from a higher authority to a lower one‑‑in other words, marching orders.  Have you responded to God’s marching orders?

Jonah 3:2

Published on November 29, 2001 in Jonah. 0 Comments
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Jonah 3: 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”


2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”

God did not change His mind, for He still wanted Jonah to preach the same message.  He did not say, “Why didn’t you obey my command in the first place?”  No, God gave Jonah another chance to serve Him. 


PRINCIPLE:  The commission to reach others for the Lord is at the heart of God’s purpose for our existence here on earth. 


APPLICATION:  The Great Commission is the climax to the gospels.  Jesus considered it His supreme mandate (Mt 28:18-20; Mk 16:15; Ac 1:8; Jn 20:21).  The only command (imperative) in the Great Commission is “make disciples.”  The Great Commission involves more than evangelism; it also involves discipleship.  The decision to receive Christ is the first step. 

Mt 28: 18 “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.”

Jesus also gives three supplemental commands: “Go,” “baptize” and “teach.”  The “go” is the first step.  This is why Jonah needed commissioning.  “Baptizing” is initial incorporation into the local church.  “Teaching” helps people to mature in Christ. 

Jonah 3:1

Published on November 28, 2001 in Jonah. 1 Comment
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Jonah 3: 1 “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying…”


1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,

While Jonah sat on the shore stunned by his experience, the Lord gave him a second challenge. 

Mt 21: 28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 29 “He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 “Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 “Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to Him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.”

God gave Jonah another commission.  This is nothing more than sheer, unadulterated grace.  Jonah did not deserve the right to preach to the Ninevites.  He did not deserve the right to be the greatest evangelist of the Old Testament.  God gave Jonah the same trust before he went AWOL. 


PRINCIPLE:  God is open to use us anytime we chose to utilize His grace. 


APPLICATION:  God has a tough time getting the attention of some of us.  He has to push, pull and appeal.  Sometimes God has to push us with some form of discipline.  At other times He pulls us with incentive.  At times God reminds us of the true basis of why we serve – His love for us in Christ.

2 Co 5: 14 “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”

Our past patterns tend to imprison us.  We confuse preserving the principles of God’s Word with preserving a program.  We believe that, because the program ministered to us in the past, we should not change it now.  The law of inertia will blunt the work of Christ in our lives.  We will remain stuck and immovable.  This is involvement without results.  We are happy with things as they are.  This leaves us in spiritual exhaustion without worthwhile accomplishment. 

Church life becomes monotonous and boring because it is routine, regular and similar to running on a treadmill.  It is easy to fall into mediocrity.  Something that does not demand time and commitment from the people of God is probably not worthwhile.  It will dim our vision.  Deadness sets in.  If God can rescue Jonah from failure, He can rescue us as well. He can rescue our church and our family. 

Changing doctrine and changing method are two different things.  Some church leaders do not want their church to grow.  They launch excuses for maintaining the status quo and resisting the changes necessary to advance the cause of Christ: “It is quality that counts”;  “Numbers are not important”;  “I like our church the way it is”;  “It will cost too much in time and money.”  We need to muster the faith necessary to move beyond our comfort zones. 

Jonah 2:10

Published on November 27, 2001 in Jonah. 1 Comment
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Jonah 2: 10 So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”


Jonah cried out “Salvation is of the Lord” so Jehovah sent a fish to deliver him.

10 So the Lord spoke to the fish,

Jehovah’s commands to His irrational creatures are more readily obeyed that His commands to His cogent creatures.  The great fish obeyed Jehovah but Jonah did not.  Jonah would still be at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea if the great fish had said, “Not me.”  No, he just fanned his tail, took a deep dive into the Mediterranean Sea, and did the will of God.  

The fish knew right where to pick up Jonah and he knew exactly where to put him – on the right continent and in the right country.  He could have dropped him off in Italy, Spain or North Africa.  The Mediterranean Sea is a couple thousand miles long.  God does not relinquish His sovereignty over nature or His creatures. 

It must have been damp, dark, dank and clammy inside that fish.  There were probably a couple of crabs, a few fish and an octopus in the fish’s belly.  What a place of discipline! 

God directed the fish to deposit Jonah on the coast of Israel after a three-day return journey.  The fish disgorged Jonah on dry land.  The process of emitting Jonah must not have been very pleasant but he must have delighted to see that dry, solid ground again. 

and it vomited Jonah onto dry land

The Lord delivered the sorriest of all prophets and put him back on “dry land.”  Surprised and stunned, Jonah now sat on the Mediterranean shores of Israel.  He could now do the will of God and go to Nineveh.  We can almost see the dust fly to Nineveh– but Jonah did not have all the rebellion out of his spirit yet.  That took more than a drowning.


PRINCIPLE:  When we come to the end of ourselves and throw ourselves on the Lord, then He delivers us. 


APPLICATION:  God has committed Himself to work in us until Christ comes again.

Ph 1: 6 “…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ…”

The Lord not only saves us but also keeps us until He ultimately makes us like the Lord Jesus.  The Lord not only saves the sinner but He also saves the saint. 

He 7: 25 “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

The purpose of all chastening is to make us more useful for the Lord. 

Jonah2:5-9

Published on November 26, 2001 in Jonah. 0 Comments
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Jonah 2: 5 “The waters surrounded me, even to my soul;

The deep closed around me;

Weeds were wrapped around my head.

6  I went down to the moorings of the mountains;

The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;

Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,

O Lord, my God.

7  “When my soul fainted within me,

I remembered the Lord;

And my prayer went up to You,

Into Your holy temple.

8  “Those who regard worthless idols

Forsake their own Mercy.

9 But I will sacrifice to You

With the voice of thanksgiving;

I will pay what I have vowed.

Salvation is of the Lord.”


5  the waters surrounded me, even to my soul;

The deep closed around me;

Weeds were wrapped around my head.

The vegetation of the Mediterranean Sea wrapped around his head.

6  I went down to the moorings of the mountains;

Jonah went right to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.

The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;

Jonah thought that this was going to be his burial place.

Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,

O Lord, my God.

At the point of Jonah’s abject hopelessness and despair, God sent the fish to save Jonah from a watery grave.  God is always the God of grace. 

7  When my soul fainted within me,

Just when Jonah thought that he was going to pass into death, the Lord delivered him from death.  Jonah thought that his life was ebbing away. 

I remembered the Lord;

And my prayer went up to You,

Into Your holy temple.

The “holy temple” here is probably the presence of God in heaven and not the temple in Jerusalem.

8  Those who regard worthless idols

Those who worship idols have no hope in a God who can deliver people from a watery grave.  This may be a reference to the Phoenician sailors. 

Forsake their own Mercy.

Mercy here emphasizes grace.  Those who worship anything other than the Lord forsake the source of grace in their lives.

La 3:22 “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

23 They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.”

Ro 12: 1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”

Ep 2: 4 “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…”

He 4: 16 “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

1 Pe 1: 3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…”

9 But I will sacrifice to You

With the voice of thanksgiving;

Jonah said that his sacrifice would not be an animal sacrifice but the sacrifice of his voice in praise. 

I will pay what I have vowed.

This vow may be a promise to do what God told him to do in the first place – to go to Nineveh.

Salvation is of the Lord.”

Salvation is wholly of Jehovah.  It belongs completely within His camp.  No one other than He Himself has a share in bestowing it.

Ps 28: 6 “Blessed be the Lord,

Because He has heard the voice of my supplications!”


PRINCIPLE:  We must remember God’s grace and mercy when under God’s discipline. 


APPLICATION:  Where did Jonah get the colossal nerve to thank God for deliverance while sitting in the fish’s belly?  He understood something of the grace and mercy of God.  Our privilege of serving the Lord is out of sheer, unadulterated grace.  We do not deserve to be used of Him, to make Christ known.

If you are out of fellowship with the Lord and are experiencing His discipline, remember God’s grace and mercy.  Claim it as your own.  God will not reject your claim on His grace.

Jonah 2:3-4

Published on November 25, 2001 in Jonah. 1 Comment
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Jonah 2: 3 “For You cast me into the deep,

Into the heart of the seas,

And the floods surrounded me;

All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.

             4  Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight;

Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’”


For You cast me into the deep,

Into the heart of the seas,

This phrase says that Jehovah “cast” Jonah into the deep, yet 1:15 says that the sailors did it.  The point is that God used the sailors to cast Jonah into the sea.  Jonah recognized that it was not the sailors who did it.  It was God’s discipline upon his life. 

Job 1: 21 “And he said:

‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb,

And naked shall I return there.

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;

Blessed be the name of the Lord.’”

And the floods surrounded me;

All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.

Again Jonah acknowledged God’s discipline upon him.

4  Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight;

Jonah viewed himself as banished by God because of his rebellion. 

Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’

Jonah vows that he will again walk with the Lord.  At the point of absolute despair, Jonah trusted that God would deliver him.  God did deliver him by the fish. 


PRINCIPLE:  Vows rarely make any appreciable change in our lives. 


APPLICATION:  Many of us make vows when we find ourselves in deep trouble.  We rarely keep them: “If only you get me out of this hospital whole, I will serve you.”  How many times have we heard this without anything coming of it? 

Jonah2:2

Published on November 24, 2001 in Jonah. 0 Comments
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Jonah 2: 2 “And he said:

“I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction,

And He answered me.

“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,

And You heard my voice.”


Verses 2-9 are a prayer.  It is a verbatim prayer of Jonah for delivering him from the belly of the great fish.

And he said:

Jonah now prayed to Jehovah in his desperation. 

I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction,

This passage shows a change of pace from the rebellious attitude of Jonah in chapter one to an appeal to God’s grace. 

And He answered me.

God answered Jonah’s prayer with a miraculous provision of the fish.  God must have had a great purpose for Jonah’s life since He provided the fish. 

Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,

“Sheol” is equivalent to the word Hades in the New Testament.  It is the place of departed spirits.  We can translate “Sheol” as grave in this verse.  The belly of the fish was a grave.  Apparently Jonah died. 

And You heard my voice.

God delivered Jonah from the belly of the fish.  The emphasis in this verse is upon what God did. 


PRINCIPLE:  God has a purpose for us as long as we are still alive. 


APPLICATION:  God has a purpose for us as long as we are alive.  God may have to discipline us but He still has a purpose for us. 

What is Sheol?  Sheol is not the same as Hell.  Both Sheol and Hades are temporary hells and will be dumped into the Lake of Fire, the permanent Hell.

Re 20: 14 “Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”

Sheol is not a place where souls sleep.  The rich man saw Lazarus afar off (Lu 16).  He also saw Abraham and he talked to both of them. 

Sheol is divided into two separate compartments: 1) Paradise (the residence for believers) and 2) the place for the lost (Lu 16:25). 

Sheol can mean simply the grave.  It was used this way of the death of Christ. 

Ps 16: 10 “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,

Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.”

Ac 2: 29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 “Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 “he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.”

After the resurrection, Jesus brought captives of Hades out from that temporary abode into the permanent presence of God.  The Lord evacuated the believing division of Sheol.  The lost will remain there until it is dumped into the Lake of Fire. 

Jonah 2:1

Published on November 23, 2001 in Jonah. 0 Comments
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Jonah 2: 1 “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly.”


Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly

Now we come to the deliverance of Jonah from the fish’s belly.  The experience in the belly of this great fish made a prayer warrior out of Jonah. God put Jonah’s back against the wall before he felt the need to pray.  Before he preached to others, he needed to pray.  Jonah learned to pray in a different place. 

The sailors prayed in 1:6 when Jonah did not pray.  It took a harrowing experience to bring Jonah to the point of prayer. 


PRINCIPLE:  God uses adversity in our lives to bring us to the point of prayer. 


APPLICATION:  Misfortune makes prayer warriors out of us.  God allows adversity to come into our lives so that we will trust Him more.  Some of us do not pray until there is an emergency – until someone we love is dying, sick, or sued.  God has to put our back against the wall before we pray.  Before God uses us, we need to pray.  He drives us to our knees before He employs us in His service.  We must bathe our concern in prayer. 

Urgent prayer does not require long-windedness.  When Peter walked on water, he did not pray the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven… blub, blub, blub.”  If he had prayed that way, he would have drowned.  “Now I lay me down to sleep, blub, blub.”  All he said was “Save me.”  All we need to do is send up an urgent prayer and the Lord hears us. 

Instead of fading under pressure, we call on God’s grace. 

He 4: 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Jonah 1:17

Published on November 22, 2001 in Jonah. 1 Comment
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Jonah 1: 17 “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”


Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah.  

We come now to the first thing that God “prepared” in the book of Jonah.  The idea of “prepared” is appoint, order.  God does not relinquish His sovereignty over His creatures so He appointed a fish for His purpose and providence.  Sometimes God uses ordinary means for His purposes and sometimes He uses extraordinary means.  He could have sent a ship going back to Joppa but He chose a fish.  

Da 1: 5 “And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king.”This fish was not a whale but a “great fish.” 

The fish may have been a specially created fish for the occasion.  It was God’s grace to seek out His disobedient prophet and not allow him to remain in rebellion. 

And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights

The fish retained Jonah for “three days and three nights.”  This is a type of Christ.  Christ Himself used it in this way.  Christ is the antitype of Jonah in the belly of the fish for three days and nights.  The fish brought Jonah back to the coast of Israel and emitted him on the shore. 


PRINCIPLE:  We need to recognize and respond to God’s sovereign providences in our lives. 


APPLICATION:  If a dog bites a man, that is not news; but when a man bites a dog, that is news.  When a man catches a fish, that is not news; but when a fish catches a man, that is news!  Most of us take fish stories with a grain of salt because fishermen tend to exaggerate their exploits.  There is a tendency to discount their stories.  However, the One who tells this story is God Himself.  That automatically excludes exaggeration, for God cannot lie.  Moreover, Jesus Himself vouches for the truth of this story in Matthew 12.  The story of Jonah illustrates the death and resurrection of Christ.  We encroach on the credibility of Christ if we say that Jonah is a myth.  God prepared a particular fish for Jonah at a specific time – He maneuvered the right fish at the right time into position: “Calling fish number 1,509,889; come to longitude 37 degrees, latitude 34 degrees and pick up a renegade prophet.”  The fish obeyed!  He was at the right latitude and longitude at the right time!  This is one of the great fish stories of all time.  The fish swallowed him whole, brought him back and emitted him on the shore of Israel.  This fish obeyed better than Jonah.  I don’t know if Jonah gave the fish indigestion or not!  The digestive juices must have been awful for Jonah.

May God grip our hearts in obeying the Great Commission.

Jonah 1:11-16

Published on November 21, 2001 in Jonah. 0 Comments
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Jonah 1: 11 “Then they said to him, ‘What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?’—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.”  12 And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.” 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.”


11 Then they said to him, ‘What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous

The sailors asked Jonah for the mind of God on their crisis.  They did not want to dump Jonah into the sea.  They displayed more compassion for the one man, Jonah, than Jonah himself did for the 600,000 Ninevites. 

It was not the mariners’ fault that they had a runaway prophet on board: “Why did our ship happen to be in Joppa when Jonah arrived?  Why are we so unfortunate?  Why couldn’t Jonah have found another ship or come at another time?”  They probably screened their passengers after this to make sure that they did not have any more renegade prophets on board! 

12 And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”

Jonah came clean about the cause of the raging storm – it was his rebellion against God’s will. 

13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them.

The sailors tried to save Jonah even in the face of what he told them: “After all, Jonah paid his fare.”  But it is vain to go against a sovereign God.  They tried everything in their power to save the ship and Jonah but the only way they would be saved was to throw Jonah overboard. 

14 Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.”

The sailors finally came to the realization of the pointlessness of their exertion.  They then prayed that the LORD would not hold them responsible for Jonah’s death.  They did not want to incur God’s wrath for killing Jonah.  It is interesting that they addressed their prayer to the LORD (Jehovah) and not to a god in the pantheon.

The mariners recognized the sovereignty of God: “You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.”  They said in effect, “You characteristically do as you please.”  They understood the sovereignty of God. 

15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.

What a picture – Jonah sailing through the air into the sea!  The will of God became immediately apparent when “the sea ceased from its raging.”  They got rid of their problem prophet.  They threw no life preserver after him!  “Good riddance, we don’t want him back.”  However, the Lord was not finished with Jonah yet.  This was the first of a number of miracles in the book of Jonah. 

16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.

In another contrast, Jonah still disobeyed God and the heathen sailors praised Him.  This situation brought them to faith in Jehovah.  They learned the uselessness of their own endeavors and turned to God to deliver them.  Man, by man’s effort, cannot put himself in right relation to God.  Jonah needed to learn this lesson as well. 

The two words “feared” and “exceedingly” are literally, “The men feared the LORD with a great fear.”  This is an emphatic idea putting importance on the magnitude of their awe of God.  This is a strange turn of events – sailors come to God in the context of Jonah’s rebellion.  God used Jonah in spite of himself.  Genuine believers manifest true faith.  They always accept God’s way as best.  


PRINCIPLE:  God wants us to be a wing rather than a weight to those around us. 


APPLICATION:  As Jonah was a weight rather than a wing to the sailors of the ship, so we can be a weight to the cause of Christ.  A backslider is a curse to those in association with him.  If our old nature is in the ascendancy, we do not have a testimony to those around us.  We are a curse rather than a blessing.  We are a wing to those who come into contact with us.  We are a liability, not an asset to others.