Jonah: May 2017
Table of Contents
Jonah
The servant’s instructions were simple, clear and understood: “Arise, go to Nineveh.” The servant’s understanding of his master’s heart was equally understood: I know “that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.” So what happens when the Master’s heart and will don’t match the servant’s heart and will? The servant tells us the answer: “I fled.” To flee is to go “down.” He went down to Joppa, he went down into the ship, he went down into the bottom of the ship, and the Lord sent him down into the deep, down into the bottoms of the mountains. While he went down of his own will, he slept, but when his master sent him down, he fainted. But he got a wake-up call and responded, “Salvation is of the Lord.” When back on land, the simple, clear instructions are repeated, “Arise, go to Nineveh.” He went; he preached; Nineveh was spared. Was he happy? No! Why not? Read on.
Jonah the Servant
There are two essential requisites for practical fitness and usefulness in the work of the Lord for every believer. These are:
1. A broken will
2. A broken heart
With our will unbroken, we are unable to discern the will of God, whether as to the practical difficulties of daily life or as to His work and service. If in the school of deep trials and sorrows, we have learned to judge our own perverse will, we shall be able "to prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Rom. 12:2).
When our heart with its own inclinations has been broken practically, God can reveal unto us His own heart of grace, love and tender sympathy. A broken will enables us to serve the Lord, but a broken heart makes us serve Him "after His own heart," in spirit and in truth.
Jonah, courageous servant of God though he was, had not yet learned these things. He was thinking of his own importance—of his own dignity as a prophet—and forgetting that he was God's prophet. No sooner does he receive a commandment from God than he attempts to "flee from the presence of the Lord." But the Lord soon showed him the folly of such an attempt, and Jonah had to learn some crushing lessons—two of them in the belly of the fish and the third under the gourd.
What Jonah Learned in the Belly of the Fish
The first two chapters of the Book of Jonah teach us two all-important truths. First, we learn that there is no place where God's arm cannot reach us. Second, we learn that there is no prison from which God's hand cannot deliver us.
Perhaps some might say that Jonah, as the Lord's prophet, ought to have been too intelligent and God-fearing to make the vain attempt to flee from the Lord's presence. Let us not deal too hardly with the prophet, for how often have we followed, like Jonah, the promptings of our natural will! It is easy to forget that truth so important for the practical life of faith, as expressed in Psalm 139:7: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?” It was this searching truth which Jonah practically forgot.
He appears to have reasoned somewhat thus: “God must have gracious intentions toward Nineveh, in charging me with this message of warning, and as a result the Ninevites will turn from their evil works and repent. God then will repent of the judgment announced to them, and I shall be exposed as a lying prophet.” The temptation in Jonah's case was not small, but where was his faith? Where was his trust in God, and the single eye and heart in the simple obedience of faith? Was not God able to take care of the character of His prophet?
Oh what a wretched thing is “self,” especially in the Lord's work and service! Rather let Nineveh perish with its millions of souls than the personal character of a prophet of God be impugned! In this dispensation of grace, the history of the church bears testimony to the sorrowful fruits of such unjudged pride in some, who were looked up to as servants of the blessed Lord. Oh, may we learn to be small before Him who was once the lowliest of all servants and who is now exalted to the right hand of God!
Jonah learned two important things in the fish's belly:
1. “They that observe lying vanities, forsake their own mercy,” and
2. “Salvation is of the Lord.”
The most deceptive of all lying vanities are not in the outer world, but within ourselves. Jonah, amidst the constant claims of his prophetic office, had not allowed himself sufficient time to learn, in the light of God’s presence, the insidious depths of his own evil heart, or he would not have tried “to flee from the Lord's presence” and he would not have found himself in the fish's belly. Jonah had to learn it at the bottom of the sea, where he had the “sentence of death in himself,” that he “might not trust in himself, but in God which raiseth the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9). He had to have the same experience as the Apostle Paul afterward, though not in the higher and deeper Christian measure of the latter. But even to a servant of God like Paul, the Apostle of glory, that lesson could not be spared. As with Jonah, and even with the apostle, so with every one of us, the having “the sentence of death in ourselves” must be experienced, before that victorious triumphant certainty of faith can render us superior to surrounding difficulties.
Sooner or later, every one of us, like Jonah, has to spend a season “in the belly of the fish” (often even several seasons), to learn, like him, that hard and yet so important truth, that “they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.”
Salvation Is of the Lord
But there was another, no-less-important truth which Jonah had to learn in his prison. As we have seen, the first great truth had to be learned by him in the depths of the sea, when he was deprived of every human help. As soon as Jonah thoroughly had learned that lesson, the second was learned as a matter of course, that “salvation is of the Lord.”
When the Israelites had arrived at the Red Sea and every human way of deliverance cut off, then only the words were heard, “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show to you” (Ex. 14:13). Only when the converted but legal man in Romans 7, in the “belly of the fish,” has entirely come to naught as to his own strength, does he perceive that salvation and deliverance must come from the Lord, and he exclaims, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 7:25).
So it was with Jonah. He must first learn that “they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy,” and then, that “salvation is of the Lord.” Immediately, “the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land” (Jonah 2:10).
What Jonah Learned Under the Gourd
Jonah now had to learn by the withering of his own heart in its disappointment what the tender pity and mercy of God's heart is. This he learned under the miraculous gourd. The Lord had prepared this gourd for Jonah’s comfort—a gourd that came up on one night. However, Jonah’s comfort from the gourd was short-lived. “God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement [or, silent] east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:8). In reply to God’s question about his anger, the prophet's language now assumes the character of defiance: He replies, “I do well to be angry, even unto death” (Jonah 4:9).
But what was Jonah doing under the gourd? Was he not waiting for God's judgment, while God was waiting to be gracious? But the prophet did not understand as yet that voice of grace. The gourd had therefore to be stripped of its leaves, so that the prophet, deprived of its beneficial shadow, might learn by his own suffering his need of that sympathy which he lacked so much and had little known how to appreciate.
The Heart
Even to the most excellent of God's saints this exercise of conscience and heart cannot be spared. The conscience may be reached “in the belly of the fish,” but the heart must be touched by the withering of the gourd. It was God's intention that the heart as well as the conscience of His prophet (as of all His servants) should be exercised. There are believers whose consciences have been truly exercised, but from want of exercise of heart, they know but little of the sympathy of Christ. Jonah understood as yet very little of God's tender mercy; he had therefore through suffering to learn his own need of it.
“Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night and perished in a night: and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons which cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:10-11). Jonah mourned over the gourd’s sudden decay, because it deprived him of the relief which that it had provided for him. And should not God have pity on a city like Nineveh, with its thousands of babes [God knew their number] that could not discern their left hand from their right, and so much cattle? But now God had reached Jonah's heart, and his heart was to be broken and to be melted under the sense of God's grace and mercy.
The fact that the prophet himself wrote this book, thus recording his own sin and shame, proves how thoroughly not only his will, but also his heart, had been broken and humbled under the sense of the grace of such a God. May we too receive the instruction which God intends for us also, for the things that happened to Jonah are written for our admonition.
J. A. von Poseck (adapted)
Effective Service
Christians are always, more or less, affected by the prevailing spirit of the world which surrounds them. In the early days of Christianity, this was illustrated by the Corinthians, who, dwelling in a city noted for its luxury and license, soon had these evils springing up in their midst. One of the most striking features of our day is its general shallowness and lack of that serious purpose which deep conviction gives, and nowhere is this more painfully pronounced than in the church of God.
We do not usually fail in our pathway of testimony upon earth because of lack of knowledge, but rather because we are not utterly possessed by it, and hence feel so little. We resemble some broad but shallow lake, rather than a well of small circumference, but deep. It is the man of depth and feeling who is most effective in the service of the Lord.
The Example of Ezra
As an illustration of a man who powerfully affected his fellows, take Ezra. Failure and trespass began to appear in the shattered remnant of Israel that returned from Babylon, and the old sin of mixing with the people of the land threatened again to ruin them. It was an emergency indeed. Ezra called together no committee; he laid no elaborate plans for reforming this abuse; he simply felt things before God and as they affected God. He so felt things that he rent his clothes, plucked off his hair, and sat down astonished, until, realizing the full extent of things, he fell on his knees and commenced a memorable prayer of confession by saying, "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to Thee, my God" (Ezra 9:3-6).
Then, as Ezra was himself moved, others were moved with him (Ezra 9: 4). Indeed, as the work of God in repentance and confession deepened in him, so the power of God radiated forth through him, until "there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore" (Ezra 10:1). The result was a national cleansing from their false associations, and the plague was stayed. What a contrast between the noisy and ineffective machinery of man's making, and the quiet ease and grace of a heaven-sent movement. But that movement works through a man who feels things with God.
Jonah’s Witness
Jonah illustrates another phase of the same thing. He was one of the most effective preachers of antiquity. Though addressing a people of great wickedness and carrying a message of judgment—always an unpopular one—yet his simple words produced astonishing results. The whole city of Nineveh sought the face of God and turned from their evil way (Jonah 3:5-9).
Why such extraordinary power with the message? Was it not because the man who cried, "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown," had become an example of that mission, fresh from an overthrow himself? Jonah learned experimentally what it meant to be overthrown by God. When, in the belly of the fish, all God's billows and waves passed over him, the agony of it must have burned into his soul in a way never to be effaced. When, therefore, this man preaches an overthrow, there is a power, a pungency, a heaven-born velocity about his words that would have been otherwise unknown.
It is better for us to master well one lesson in the school of God than to acquaint ourselves with much in a superficial way.
F. B. Hole (adapted)
Jonah ? A Type of Christ
In other articles in this magazine, we have considered Jonah both as a servant and also as a type of the nation of Israel. Both characters of Jonah afford us real insight into the wonderful ways of God, whether with His servants individually or with His earthly people collectively. But doubtless the most precious type depicted in Jonah is his reflection of Christ Himself.
At first glance, we can scarcely think of one so unsuited to being a type of Christ. Christ was the perfect, obedient servant; Jonah was willfully disobedient. Christ said, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God” (Heb. 10:9); Jonah clearly did his own will. Christ came in love and mercy to those who were His enemies; Jonah would rather have seen the destruction of thousands of people, as well as animals, rather than “lose face.” Christ never did one thing to please Himself; Jonah’s heart was occupied with himself.
In Death and Resurrection
Yet our blessed Lord Himself, while on earth, was pleased to compare Himself with Jonah in one distinct way, and in this one way, Jonah shows us a remarkable illustration of the work of Christ. If Jonah’s natural character and behavior were far removed from that of our blessed Lord Jesus, yet in this one way he is a type of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When our Lord was about to reject Israel and reach out to the nations, He could remind “that evil and adulterous generation” that “there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas” (Matt. 12:39). Jonah was a sign to the nation of Israel in two ways. First of all, he was a sign in his preaching to Nineveh. Our Lord reminded the Jews that “they [the Ninevites] repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here” (Luke 11:32). Jonah preached only one short sermon for one day, yet it resulted in the repentance of hundreds of thousands of people. Yet the continuous preaching of the Lord Jesus over 3½ years brought about the repentance of relatively few in Israel. However, our Lord was also a sign to them in His death and resurrection. He could say to them, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:40). (Some may argue that our Lord was not that long in the grave, but in making this comment about Himself, the Lord Jesus simply adhered to the Jewish way of reckoning time, that counted part of a day as an entire day.)
Faithfulness and Willfulness
Jonah was an unfaithful and willful servant, and it was only through the bitter experience of being in the whale’s belly that he learned obedience to his Lord’s will. But there was One who came into this world, not only in obedience to His Father’s will, but in glad obedience. He suffered too, far more than Jonah did, yet He suffered for the sins of others. It was because of His obedience and suffering on Calvary’s cross that God could act in grace, not only toward Jonah, but also toward the thousands in the city of Nineveh. Thus it was that Jonah, while undergoing what seemed like a hopeless imprisonment in the whale’s belly, could illustrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus.
Jonah in the whale’s belly corresponds to our blessed Lord under the sentence of death, and thus the Spirit of God gives Jonah expressions in his circumstances that far exceed any mere human terminology. For example, he says, “Out of the belly of Sheol cried I” (Jonah 2:2 JND); our blessed Lord could say, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol” (Psa. 16:10 JND). Jonah could say, “The floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me” (Jonah 2:3); our Lord said prophetically, “All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me” (Psa. 42:7). Jonah could say, “My prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple” (Jonah 2:7); our Lord said, “As for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time” (Psa. 69:13). All of these expressions, and others, were doubtless ordered by the Spirit of God, as being suitable to one who was a type of our Lord Jesus.
Contrasting Comparisons
Jonah resembled the Lord Jesus in other ways too. With reference to Jonah, there could be no fruit—no blessing—from the first man. Jonah, acting in the flesh, fled from the presence of the Lord and refused to go to Nineveh and preach the message given to him. It was only after going through the storm at sea and spending those awful days in the whale’s belly that he was ready to preach to the people of Nineveh. It was only, figuratively speaking, after death and resurrection, that he was able to give a message which resulted in blessing to thousands. So it was also with our blessed Lord. He could say at the end of His earthly ministry, “I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened until it be accomplished!” (Luke 12:50). So also he could say to some Greeks who wished to see Him, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). Our Lord did indeed “instruct many in righteousness” (Isa. 53:11 JND) during his earthly ministry, but it was only in His death that He was able to “bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:11). All blessing, whether in heaven or on earth, flows from the death and resurrection of Christ; Jonah’s time in the whale’s belly, and his subsequently being vomited out on dry land, is a picture of this.
The Power of God
Finally, Jonah recognized that if he was to be delivered, it must be by the power of God Himself. After all the expressions in his prayer in the whale’s belly—expressions that, as we have seen, resemble the prophetic language of our blessed Lord—Jonah finally says, “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). So also did the Lord Jesus. As a divine Person, He could say, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). As the perfect, dependent Man, He could say, “Save me from the lion’s mouth” (Psa. 22:21), and, “Take me not away in the midst of my days” (Psa. 102:24). His resurrection was the seal that God His Father had been fully satisfied and glorified in His work on the cross.
In being portrayed as a type of the Lord Jesus, Jonah joins a number of Old Testament believers whose failures are also recorded for us. Men like Isaac, Moses, Aaron, Samson, David and Solomon, to name a few, are all a picture of Christ in some way or other, yet failure, and sometimes serious failure, is recorded in the life of each of them. All this only magnifies the grace of God, while showing us that God looks for what is of Christ in each of His own, and He loves to record it!
W. J. Prost
Jonah – A Type of Israel
The Book of Jonah is prophetic in character, although it contains no such predictive utterances as are found in Isaiah and Ezekiel. The Christ who was to come is clearly foreshadowed in Jonah's three days’ sojourn in the belly of the fish, and the history of Israel may be clearly perceived in the disobedience of the prophet and its results for himself and others.
It was a great honor for Jonah to be selected to carry a message from God to Nineveh, the imposing capital of the greatest earthly power in his day. Jonah should have endeavored to enter into Jehovah's thoughts in the matter, so that he might faithfully represent Him to the dark heathen. In this the prophet most miserably failed. In like manner, the nation of Israel was divinely chosen to be God's channel of blessing to all the people of the earth. “Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen” (Isa. 43:10). The most cursory reader of the Old Testament cannot fail to see that Israel occupies the central place therein. About four centuries after the flood, when all the newly-formed nations had gone into idolatry, God called Abram and blessed him, but this was with a view to universal blessing. “In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). This word was confirmed and expanded after the offering up of Isaac: “Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 22:17-18).
A Role Model
It was never intended that this highly favored stock should be exclusive. Their very sanctuary was to be “an house of prayer for all people” (Isa. 56:7). It does not appear that Israel was to be a missionary people, earnestly propagating what they knew of the one true God, but they were certainly to be a model people. Possessing laws that were perfect, having been received directly from heaven, all their ways should have been well-pleasing to God and a rebuke to the nations around them. But, sadly, they were untrue to their privileged position of separation to God; they copied the evil ways of their neighbors, and so brought down upon themselves the stern censure—“the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you” (Rom. 2:24). It will be a great day for the world when Zechariah 8:23 becomes true: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; in those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold ... of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.”
As surely as the unfaithfulness of Jonah brought a storm upon the pagan mariners, so the unfaithfulness of Israel has brought sore trouble upon the nations in general, as well as their own guilty heads. When Jehovah would no longer bear with the iniquity of the chosen people, He employed Nebuchadnezzar to chastise both them and all the nations around them. The whole system of nations, of which Israel was the divinely established center, was broken up. Abraham's seed thus became a curse in the earth, not a blessing.
Jehovah’s Patience
Jehovah's patience with both Jonah and his nation is arresting. How graciously did He plead with the perverse prophet! And how graciously did He bear with the hypocrisy of the Jewish remnant from the days of Ezra to the coming of the Lord Jesus! Even then, in full view of their hatred, He pleaded that the unfruitful fig tree be granted one year more (Luke 13:6-9). But the further testimony of the Holy Spirit after our Lord's return to heaven was all in vain, and once more the people were cast out of their land and flung among the nations. The casting forth of Jonah typifies this. The chosen people are now an unwanted people and problem among the nations. The whole earth has been plunged into confusion and disaster by the terrible transgressions against the Lord in which Israel has led the way.
God’s Grace
But the outflow of God's grace is not checked by the sin of man; thus, while Israel continues unrepentant, the Holy Spirit is working amongst the Gentiles, gathering out from among them millions for heavenly blessing. All these will stand in relationship with Christ as His body and bride forever. Israel's fall has become the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles (Rom. 11:12). While hundreds of thousands of people in Nineveh were rejoicing in the mercy of God, Jonah was displeased and angry. Similarly, when a number of Gentile believers in Antioch were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit, the Jews “were filled with envy, and spake against the things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming” (Acts 13:44-52).
A Wonderful Change
A great and wonderful change is coming. Israel's blindness is not total; when the fullness of the Gentiles is gathered in, “all Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:25-26). This means the believing remnant, “for they are not all Israel which are of Israel” (Rom. 9:7). Obstinate rebels will be purged out (Ezek. 20:38). The restored nation will stand before the world as though risen from the dead. Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones shows this Ezek. 37. Daniel 12:2 teaches the same thing. The physical dead are not in view; the nation as such is meant. After centuries of degradation in the dust, they will come upon the political stage once more (as they now have, since Fereday wrote this article). The believing remnant will enjoy eternal life (in earthly conditions) and the rebels will be consigned to shame and everlasting contempt. Jonah's reappearance after being “three days in the heart of the seas” is typical of this. The following Scriptures should also be read in this connection: Romans 11:15; Hosea 6:2. Being then in the enjoyment of mercy themselves, the people, unlike Jonah, will gladly dispense blessing to others. Psalm 67 gives us their joyous language in that great day. Note the words “all the nations”; “all the ends of the earth”; “all rejoicing and singing for joy.” “O sing unto Jehovah a new song: sing unto Jehovah, all the ends of the earth” (Psa. 96:1). Alas, Jonah was not in singing humor as he contemplated the goodness of God to the Ninevites!
The whole earth will be fully blessed at the appearance of the Lord Jesus, and Israel, completely purged of the Jonah spirit, will rejoice in it. God will be known, not merely as Creator, but as the faithful, covenant-keeping Jehovah. “I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord” (Ezek. 38:23). This blessed result was reached in the case of Jonah's shipmates. They turned from their own empty deities, and they “offered a sacrifice unto Jehovah, and made vows” (Jonah 1:16).
When Israel, after ages of antagonism to God and His blessed ways, perceives how marvelously He has wrought, they will say with the apostle, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33). In deplorable imitation of Joseph's brethren, they have intended evil in all that they have done to Christ and to His saints, but God in His perfect wisdom has turned it to good (Gen. 41:20). He will be victorious at last over all the workings of the enemy, and every purpose of His grace will reach glorious fulfillment.
The Murmuring Prophet
It is sad that the Book of Jonah should close with the prophet murmuring outside, while within the city there was gladness and peace. In this he was not a type of his nation. In the coming age of universal blessing, Israel will be the center and heart of it all. With the long-rejected Christ honored in their midst, the people will be happy themselves and will be delighted to see everyone happy around them even to the uttermost parts of the earth.
May the God of all grace grant to us all true largeness of heart. Thus shall we understand and approve His ways and find pleasure and profit therein for our souls.
W. W. Fereday (adapted)
Jonah – Grace to the Gentiles
Jonah’s prophecy is in the main the history of himself. It shows that the prophet embodied in himself the testimony of God through Israel to the Gentiles (compare Matt. 24:14), and also the important fact that God regards the contrition and turning from evil of a city or nation. Jonah was directed to go and cry against that great city Nineveh, but instead of obeying, he fled from the presence of the Lord. He himself tells us why he fled—he knew Jehovah was gracious: If he foretold the destruction of the city and God spared it, he would lose his reputation (Jonah 4:2). It was the same with Israel: They could not bear grace being shown to the Gentiles (compare Acts 13:45; 1 Thess. 2:16). Jonah was God’s servant, but unfaithful: His unfaithfulness brought him into the depths of judgment, but he then embodied in his own person the truth of the testimony he proclaimed, and yet while proclaiming the judgment, he was unprepared for the extension of mercy to the Gentiles. God stopped him in his course, and though he slept, the sailors called him to account. After praying to their gods, they drew lots and the lot fell on Jonah. He had to confess he was fleeing from Jehovah, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land. Thus Jehovah was made known to those Gentile seamen. The obduracy of the Jews only opened the door wider for grace to go to the Gentiles. We may hope that Jonah humbled himself before being used by the Spirit to write his own history—a history which shows what the heart of even a servant of God was, and the means employed by God to teach him.
Jonah?s Prophecy
“The prophet Jonas [Jonah].” This is our Lord's own description of him in Matthew 12:39, but the cursory reader of the book might ask. “Where are the prophecies?” Certainly Jonah's book differs in character from those of Isaiah and other prophets. Their rich and full unfoldings of glories yet to come are lacking in Jonah's chapters, but prophecy is there nevertheless. The fact is that the man himself and Jehovah's remarkable dealings with him constitute a prophecy, and that of a deeply interesting character. In this unfaithful witness God gives us an illustration of His ways with the unfaithful nation to which he belonged. Thus there is a prophetic as well as moral instruction in the Book of Jonah. It is a prophecy in picture.
The Word of the Lord
“The word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me” (Jonah 1:1-2). Jonah had already been entrusted with messages from Jehovah to Israel (2 Kings 14:25). Now he has the unique distinction of being sent “far hence unto the Gentiles” (Acts 22:21).
It is an unspeakable honor to be a messenger for God at any time. Jonah, however, was not pleased to be sent to preach to Gentiles. He had been God's willing mouthpiece to proclaim good things to his own nation, but a foreign nation—a power dangerously hostile to Israel—that was a different matter! Even after the Holy Spirit came from heaven after the exaltation of the Lord Jesus, Peter had scruples about carrying the gospel to the Roman garrison in Caesarea (Acts 10). Even Christians, although divinely separated by grace from the world and united to Christ in heaven, are sometimes influenced by what is being said and done around them. How slow are we to learn the blessed meaning of God's “whosoever”! The heart of God most assuredly goes out equally to men of every country and color, and He desires that they may “be saved, and... come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4).
Jonah’s Attitude
Jonah, on hearing the word of Jehovah, made a dash for the port of Joppa. He would flee from His presence! Vain effort! But why did Jonah refuse the divine commission to preach to the men of Nineveh? The known goodness of God was his difficulty, as we see in Jonah 4:2. He was sure that if the Ninevites repented of their wickedness, God would show mercy. Jonah felt that his dignity would be affected if he proclaimed a judgment which was not executed. Rather let a whole vast city perish than that his credit should suffer! It seems almost incredible that a man born of the Spirit could be so self-important and behave so contemptibly! This story, so simply told, is written as a warning to us all. If we get out of communion with God, His tender compassions become foreign to us. Harsh feelings develop, and we behave abominably. We shall doubtless meet Jonah in the glory of God before long (like ourselves, a sinner saved by grace), but in the meantime, let us seek to be as unlike him as possible in our service and testimony for God.
Providential Circumstances
It seemed quite providential that a ship was about to sail for Tarshish when the wayward prophet reached Joppa, but circumstances are not always a safe guide for God's saints. Let us never forget this. It does not follow that because circumstances fit in nicely with our wishes, God has ordered things so for us. Jonah, tired with his journey, went below and was soon in a sound sleep. “But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken” (Jonah 1:4). At a later date, Paul was exposed to a great storm in the same Mediterranean Sea, but the contrast between Paul and Jonah when danger arose is very striking (Acts 27). The apostle was traveling towards Rome in accordance with the Lord's words in Acts 23:11, “Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.” With these words ringing in his ears, Paul moved confidently. His moral dignity throughout the storm was wonderful. He almost took command of the ship, even though both owner and skipper were on board. “Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me.” Yet Paul was no ordinary passenger; he was a prisoner in custody! By contrast, Jonah was a mean figure among the ship's company, and he fully merited the rebuke of the master (Jonah 1:6).
Let us not miss the lesson of this contrast. A Christian walking in communion with God is on a high level, but a Christian out of communion is a degraded spectacle. Men respect the one, but they despise the other. The one will be a blessing to men, but the other may be a stumbling block and even a curse!
W. W. Fereday (adapted)
Two Ways in Which Jonah’s History Is Used in the New Testament
We may remark that the case of Jonah is used in the New Testament in two ways, which must not be confounded together. He is mentioned as a testimony in the world, by the Word of God—a service with which the Lord compares His own; afterwards, as in the belly of the fish—a circumstance used by the Lord as a figure of the time during which He lay in the grave. Jonah, by his preaching, was a sign to the Ninevites, even as the Lord was to the Jews, harder of hearing and of heart than those pagans who were afar from God.
Jonah was also (in that which happened to him in consequence of his refusal to bear testimony) a type of that which befell Jesus when He bore the penalty of the people’s sin. When he was raised from the dead, He became the testimony of grace, and at the same time the occasion of judgment to those who had rejected Him. We see in his history that Jonah is also a remarkable moral figure of Israel—at least of Israel’s conduct.
J. N. Darby (adapted)
Yolo
It was only a very short time ago that I realized that this was now a legitimate word in English. In a recent issue of Time magazine, a columnist called attention to some new words that had lately been introduced into the Oxford English Dictionary. One of these was the word “yolo,” an acronym for the phrase, “You only live once.” It is indeed of comparatively recent origin, having been popularized by the song “The Motto,” sung by Canadian singer Aubrey Drake Graham in 2011. What is amazing is not the use of the words, for similar expressions have been used a number of times before. For example, in the twentieth century, the same phrase, “you only live once” was generally attributed to the comedian Mae West. A similar phrase was also used by the composer Johann Strauss in 1855, and the German author Goethe wrote, “One lives but once in the world,” back in 1774. Further back, the Latin expression “carpe diem” (literally “seize the day”) was around for centuries and carries the same connotation. But these expressions were comparatively little known and little used. What is amazing is how quickly Drake’s expression caught on and how widely it has been used among young people in the last few years. In fact, Drake himself apologized for the widespread use of the phrase, saying that he had “no idea that it would become so big.”
The phrase itself was taken up by young people right after Drake’s song was first introduced, and it was adopted into slang within a few months, no doubt spread by what might be termed the turbocharged vehicle of modern social media. It is generally used to express the view that one should make the most of the present moment without much concern for the future, and it is often used as a rationale for impulsive, reckless, or irresponsible behavior.
“Let Us Eat and Drink”
From the worldly point of view, the expression is, for the most part, used by young people and, perhaps, defines the somewhat common teenage penchant for testing the limits of acceptable behavior. But the fact that the expression was so widely adopted perhaps points to a deeper attitude, namely, one of extreme dissatisfaction, frustration, and perhaps disillusionment with the future of our world. We cannot relive the past, and the future of this world looks dismal, from a natural perspective. A precipitous rise in violent behavior, a worldwide shortage of resources (particularly food), nationalism, combined with a unsustainable debt load, both public and private, have all resulted in an interplay of economic and political forces with which man is unable to cope. In consequence, many are adopting the attitude that the Apostle Paul warned about in 1 Corinthians 15:32: “Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.”
This mindset comes about because the horizon of the natural man is only this world; he sees his life down here as the beginning and end of it all. But even those who generally adopt this view are beginning to be concerned. As one worldly writer observed, we do indeed live only once, but we must also remember that we die only once. Even the world recognizes that sometimes reckless behavior is fatal, and then life down here is over.
“After Death the Judgment”
But how solemn to contemplate the truth of Scripture, that tells us, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27)! More than this, the man who dies without Christ does not die only once; Scripture tells us that at the great white throne judgment, “death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Rev. 20:14 JND). In no way does this imply annihilation, but rather a state of banishment from God’s presence for all eternity. What a sobering thought!
A Voice for Believers
But does all this have a voice for the believer? Indeed it does, for we too “live only once,” in the sense of life down here. Since we have been brought to know God through our Lord Jesus Christ and have been given new life in Him, we recognize that we were made for eternity, and not merely for time. It is sad sometimes to see believers (who should be living for eternity) walking after the course of this world and setting their hearts on things down here. It is true that we no longer fear the judgment to which we have just called attention in the previous paragraph, but are we left here simply to enjoy ourselves to the full, until the Lord calls us home? No indeed! Rather, we are called to seek the glory of and be occupied with the interests of the One who loves us and gave His life for us.
Many years ago, a young man, when asked to write in an autograph book, wrote the following before signing his name:
“Love that transcends our highest powers,
Demands our soul, our life, our all.”
This was abstracted from the hymn written long ago by Isaac Watts, and no doubt expressed the longing of his heart. But some years later the young woman who owned the autograph book asked the father of that same young man to write in her book. He had served the Lord for many years, and as he perused the book, he came across his son’s entry. He immediately wrote below it:
“Know ye not that ... ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:20).
These two quotations bring before us the sovereignty of God, in His choosing of us, and also our responsibility, in responding to His claims over us. We are indeed not our own, but God delights in the response of our hearts to His love and in a life down here that is lived for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do live down here only once, but during this short lifetime we are building for eternity. Let us always remember the words penned by another (C. T. Studd) who gave up much in this world in order to serve the Lord:
“Only one life, ’twill soon be past;
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
W. J. Prost
Step by Step
“O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23).
Child of my love, fear not the unknown morrow;
Dread not the new demand life makes of thee;
Thy ignorance does hold no cause for sorrow,
Since what thou knowest not is known of Me.
Thou canst not see the hidden meaning
Of my command, but thou the light shall gain;
Walk on in faith, upon My promise leaning,
And as thou goest, all shall be made plain.
One step thou seest—then go forward boldly;
One step is far enough for faith to see;
Take that, and thy next duty shall be told thee,
For step by step thy Lord is leading thee.
Stand not in fear thy adversaries counting;
Dare every peril, save to disobey;
Thou shalt march on, all obstacles surmounting,
for I, the Strong, will open up the way.
Wherefore go gladly to the task assigned thee,
Having my promise, needing nothing more
Than just to know, where’er the future find thee,
In all thy journeying I go before.
F. J. Exley