Islamic Finance 101 - Dr. Main Alqudah [https://www.guidancecollege.org/]
Jonah Session 04 Chapter 3
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Hinweis der Redaktion
Where? Notice that the fish delivered Jonah back to the first place he received his commission. We sometimes are taken back to the starting block to see if we are going to be obedient to God after God has brought us out of a mess. Sometimes we keep taking the same spiritual quiz over and over because we keep failing the test. Message? The message the first time was spelled out (see 1:1). The second time it wasn’t given to him directly. Maybe he had too much detail the first time and the Lord was going to spoon feed him instructions this time. Did God compromise His purposes and plans to accommodate Jonah’s prejudices? God knows that each of us is different but those differences don’t allow us to override God’s program.
Response? Jonah went in the opposite direction the first time. He IMMEDIATELY went in the direction God had commanded. He obeyed God because he learned from the previous three days that to disobey God could be a very uncomfortable experience not only for himself but for others (i.e., the mariners, their customers). Important: The things that may seem important to us have great value to God (1 Cor 1:25, 27). Nineveh was an important city (“great” KJV) which speaks not only of the priority in God’s eye but also a description of the size/cultural impact of this metropolis. So large that it took three days to get through it all.
Worked the city: “the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step”. Jonah worked his way through the city on the first day. He didn’t have committee meetings or elaborate planning meetings. He dove right in and began the work that God had commanded him. There was a sense of urgency to all that Jonah did. God gave Jonah a direct message of impending judgment: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” That term “overturned” has reference to the same kind of destruction that fell upon Sodom in Genesis (Gen 19:21, 25, 29). Expiration date: 40 days. We have to let people know in our witnessing that the offer of salvation is a limited time offer. Once you die, you don’ t have a 2nd chance to repent and receive Jesus Christ for your sins. Hebrews 9:27-28, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”
Belief: Salvation begins with a belief in what God has said. See Acts 16:30-31; Romans 10:9-10. Belief occurs on the inside and works its way out. Fasting: The great city of Nineveh took its attention off of itself and focused it on God through self-denial. Estimates are that there were some 1 million people in and around Nineveh and the word says that everyone from the greatest to the smallest participated. “sackcloth” defined as a garment made of coarse sacking; formerly worn as an indication of remorse (see Genesis 37:34; Daniel 9:3) or humility. Recall from Nahum 3 that Nineveh was a violent society that was merciless over those peoples they conquered. Salvation: the people responded to Jonah’s message by being converted.
The word that Jonah preached was that destruction was to come in 40 days if Nineveh didn’t change its ways. So the whole region was on pins and needles for 40 days not knowing if they had met the demands of the God of Israel and if their lives would be spared.
Jonah was obedient and when you are obedient, God will move on your behalf (Deut 30:15-18; 2 Corinthians 10:5;)Some have suggested that his appearance was different because of the digestive juices from the fish’s belly that may have bleached Jonah’s skin. So he looked different which gave weight or “street cred” to Jonah’s message.