More Than A Fish Story

Song: Victory In Jesus

Scripture: Jonah 3:1-10

Jonah lived and prophesied in Israel during the days of Jeroboam II, making him a contemporary of Amos and Hosea. Assyria was in the beginning stages of building an empire, but not the force it would be in later years. Jonah was given the unwelcome task of carrying a message of judgment to the enemies of Israel. It was not fear of his own fate as a messenger that troubled Jonah. He feared that Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, might actually repent and so escape the judgment of God. The lessons of Jonah anticipate the gospel age.

“God is not willing that any should perish,” is a lesson from Jonah. Jonah received one of the greatest responses that a prophet’s message has ever received, yet he pouted (4:1). God’s love for the lost and interest in seeking the lost ought to be shared by His people, His preachers.

“God is no respecter of person.” Even in the OT God had an interest in nations other than Israel. Jonah’s picture of God was too small. You cannot embrace God and at the same time erect fences between you and your neighbor who needs God.

“No sign will be given this generation but the sign of Jonah” was the application Jesus drew from the book. Jonah was “dead” for three days in the belly of the fish, and God delivered him to bring a message of repentance to the Gentiles. This incident in the life of the prophet anticipated Jesus.

Jason Moore