“YET forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Such was the preaching of Jonah to the men of Nineveh as he entered a day’s journey into the city, and cried against it.
For the moment we will leave the preaching to consider the preacher. Who is he that in the proud city of Asshur raises his voice to proclaim its overthrow? We may imagine the scorn with which, at first, a haughty Ninevite might regard him. “Who,” he might ask, “dare utter such a message?” The reply that he was a Hebrew prophet would perhaps increase his contempt. But the day wears on, and still the prophet proclaims the message of God. A strange rumor is spreading as to the messenger. Though he is only a poor prophet of Israel, he has come back from the very BELLY OF HELL to deliver his message. In his own history he has learned what the judgment of God is. Hear his cry to the Lord in his affliction: “Out of the belly of hell cried I, and Thou heardest my voice. For Thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over me” (Jonah 2:2, 32And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. 3For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. (Jonah 2:2‑3)).
The rumor as to the preacher spreads. It reaches the ears of the King that a man who has been three days and three nights in the living grave of a fish’s belly has come back from the jaws of death and Hades to proclaim the overthrow of the city. His preaching does not consist of mere words. He is himself a sign to the Ninevites (Luke 11:3030For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. (Luke 11:30)). “They repented at the preaching of Jonas.” The King “arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.” The people, too, believed God, and proclaimed a fast.
Reader, a greater than Jonah is now preaching. A dead and risen Man is verily speaking to you. How shall you escape if you turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven? (Heb. 12:2525See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: (Hebrews 12:25)), He Who has been in the depths of the judgment of God against sin is now the risen One. There is a double pledge in the resurrection of the blessed Saviour, who once knew the deep waters of death when the floods overflowed (Psa. 69:1, 21<<To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David.>> Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. 2I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. (Psalm 69:1‑2)). First, through this Man, whom God raised from the dead, having seen no corruption, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. JESUS RISEN is the pledge, to all that believe, of full and free forgiveness, and justification from all things (Acts 13:38-3938Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38‑39)). Secondly, God has appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man Whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead (Acts 17:3131Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31)). JESUS RISEN is the pledge of judgment to the unbelieving world.
Reader, this dead and risen Man is a sign to you. Will you heed the Preacher? Will you hearken to His preaching? An assurance of judgment in righteousness comes to you from One Who has been in the heart of the earth, but is now in heavenly glory; and from thence He now speaks. A message of forgiveness of sins, and full and perfect justification, comes to every one through Him. The men of Nineveh will indeed rise up in the judgment and condemn you, if you disregard such a Preacher by turning from Him “that speaketh from heaven.” T. H. R.
Deeper Enjoyment of Christ Longed For.
Thank God for your longings after Christ; only don’t get occupied with the “leaning” but rather with the love that faith leans upon― “the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.”
The Holy Ghost is the One that ministers of His love to us; and therefore we have to take diligent heed that nothing in us, or in our way, is allowed to grieve Him. It is negligence as to this which hinders the apprehension and enjoyment of Divine love in our souls.
I quite agree with you, and believe the verse you quote. The crushing of an idol that only leaves a bitter smarting, or an aching void, is of little value. Yet surrender is surrender, notwithstanding. Only you must see that if surrender is worth anything it must be to make room for that which you value more than the thing surrendered.
Get with Him, dear friend. Reach Him in the place where He now is. Tell out the tale of your coldness in His ear. Make known all your exercises at His feet. Keep your mouth and heart and ears open to Him, and all that you wish for will surely flow in. The empty shell, dropped into the ocean, has not to cry, “Fill me.”
GEO. C.
Comfort of Hope—Fragment of Letter. ―
“Soon we shall see Him, and go no more out! And then, what a review! and what Divine cheer with it! We shall never give Him any more restoration-work to do. He will take pleasure in being ever near us, and being ever ‘the Image of the invisible God’ to us, as well as the glorious Proclaimer of all His ways of grace.”
E. P.