Tag: Jonah

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Jonah Devotionals

Better to die?

Book of Jonah

What’s striking in this passage is Jonah’s attitude toward people headed for destruction in contrast to Jesus’.

When God spared the Ninevites because of their repentance, Jonah was furious. He wanted them to perish.

After all, they were the enemies of the Jews. And since the Jews were God’s people, weren’t the people of Nineveh enemies of God?

So when God showed mercy to the Ninevites , Jonah screamed, “Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

It strikes me that Jesus said the very same thing to the Father, but for very different reasons.

Jesus saw us hurting because of our sin. He saw a people headed for hell.

And with great love and compassion, he said to the Father, “Father, take my life from me. For it is better for me to die on the cross for their sins, than to simply live here with you and watch them die.”

That’s the love Jesus had for you and me.

May we have that same compassion for those who are perishing around us.

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Jonah Devotionals

Salvation

Book of Jonah

I’ve really been looking at Jonah through different eyes which has been kind of cool.

Here we see Jonah’s cry from the fish, but we also see Jesus in kind of a reverse mirror image. Jonah, of course suffered for his own sin. Jesus suffered for ours. But that aside, the parallels are remarkable.

Like Jonah, Jesus was thrown into the waves of death.

Like Jonah, Jesus cried out, “I have been banished from your sight. Why have you forsaken me?” (4)

But like Jonah, though Jesus sunk to the pit, he was raised again.

The Father heard his cry, raised him from the grave, and brought him, not to the earthly temple, but the real one in heaven, where Jesus presented the blood he had shed on our behalf.

By his faithful love, Jesus offered the perfect sacrifice and fulfilled his vows to the Father. And in so doing, he fulfilled the meaning of his name, “The Lord saves.”

Or as Jonah cried out,

“Salvation belongs to the Lord.” (9)

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Jonah Devotionals

And the lot fell on…Jesus

Book of Jonah

I was reading Jonah again today, and again thought about the parallels between Jesus and Jonah.

I didn’t talk about it yesterday, but it did strike me that both in the boat and at the cross lots were cast.

Coincidence? Maybe. Certainly, the casting of lots were for totally different purposes.

At the cross, it was to decide who would get Jesus’ garment.

In the boat, it was to decide who was responsible for the storm.

In verse 7, it says,

So they cast lots, and the lot singled out Jonah. (Jonah 1:7)

My first thought was that had Jesus been in the boat, the lot would have fallen on everyone else but Jesus.

But then I thought about the cross.

If lots had been cast that day to decide who was guilty, who was responsible for all the tragedy, all the pain, all the evil in the world, who would have it fallen on?

If Jesus had stood on one side, and we on the other, who would have it fallen on?

Obviously it should have fallen on us.

But on that day, 2000 years ago, it fell on Jesus.

Not because he was at fault. But because he took all the blame that we deserved on himself.

As Isaiah said,

But he was pierced because of our rebellion,
crushed because of our iniquities;
punishment for our peace was on him,
and we are healed by his wounds.

We all went astray like sheep;
we all have turned to our own way;
and the Lord has punished him
for the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6)

Thank you Jesus, that 2000 years ago, the lot fell on you. That you took the blame for all our sin. And that because you did, I can now have peace with the Father.

May I never take for granted what you did for me on that day. In your name I pray, amen.

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Jonah Devotionals

Reluctant savior. Willing Savior.

Book of Jonah

As I was reading Jonah today, I thought about how Jesus compared his death and resurrection to Jonah going into the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. (Matthew 12:39-40).

So as I read today, I thought about how the stories of Jonah and Jesus were both similar and different.

Jonah was the son of the “faithful one.” (“Ammitai” means faithful.)

Jesus was the Son of our faithful God.

Jonah was given a mission to save…and ran away.

Jesus was given a mission to save…and he came willingly in love.

The sailors were unwilling to cast a guilty man into the sea.

The Jews shouted of an an innocent man, “Crucify him.”

It pleased God in both cases to sacrifice one to save the many. And when the man was sacrificed, his wrath ceased.

Through the sacrifice of Jonah, the sailors were saved and worshiped God.

Through the sacrifice of Jesus, we are saved, and came to worship God.

And as Jesus said, as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights and then came out alive, Jesus was in the grave for three days, and came out alive.

The sailors cried out to Jonah, “Maybe this god (of yours) will consider us, and we won’t perish.” (6)

God did consider us, and because he sent his only Son, everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

That’s what this Passion week is all about. So as the sailors did, let us fear God, worship him, and give our lives to him.

 

 

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Jonah

The God who delights in mercy

Jonah and Nineveh

One wonders at the attitude of Jonah as he preached to the Ninevites.

Sometimes we see people holding up signs at gay rallies or parades and shouting, “You’re going to hell!”

I wonder if that was the kind of attitude Jonah had as he preached in Nineveh.

As he was preaching, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned,” was he thinking to himself, “Go to hell you…?”

Some people have noted that there is no place in the Bible where it specifically says Jonah told the Ninevites to repent. They suggest that he only told them that judgment was coming.

I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it would fit in with his attitude in chapter 4.

Another interesting thing to note is that Jonah’s father’s name was “Amittai,” which means “truth” in Hebrew.

Jonah may have been a son of truth, but he most certainly wasn’t a son of mercy in this story.

And much to Jonah’s chagrin, the Ninevites repented. Even so, it seems that he held out hope that God would judge them anyway.

So he sat outside the city, just waiting for God to blast the people out of existence like he did with Sodom and Gomorrah.

As each hour passed, he grew more and more bitter when it became clear that God would show mercy because of their repentance.

And so God gave him a little object lesson.

God provided a vine that gave him shade, but then sent a worm to eat at it, causing it to wither away. And in the midst of the scorching heat, Jonah got even more bitter, screaming out, “Just kill me already!”

And God said, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”

Jonah answered, “Yes, I’m angry enough to die.”

God then said something that really made Jonah think.

He said, “You’re concerned about this vine, this plant, even though you didn’t plant it, tend to it, or do anything to make it grow. Yet I created the Ninevites. They are my precious creation, and I love them.

“There are 120,000 people in there who didn’t know anything about me or my will, and they were about to die for their evil.

“How can you not understand that I would care for them when you care for this mere plant that you did nothing to create.”

Assuming that Jonah was the one that wrote this book, it’s safe to assume that he got the message.

But how about us? Are we like Jonah, delighting in the fact that people are going to hell?

Or are we like God, weeping for them and doing everything we can to save them?

Are we angry when people escape God’s judgment because they repent?

Or are we rejoicing over it?

So many times, people are like Jonah and they delight only in the truth. They love shouting out, “You’re going to hell.” And they take great joy in imagining it happening.

But that’s not the way God is. He delights in mercy.

We should delight in it as well.

Do you?