Wed.’s Devo - Jonah’s Call

Read: Jonah 1:1-4:11; Revelation 5:1-14; Psalm 133:1-3; Proverbs 29:26-27 Jonah means a “dove” which we associate with “peace and the Holy Spirit”. He was the son of Amittai which means “truthful and honest”. Jonah was very honest with God. He told him exactly how he felt. He was from the tribe of Zebulim making him from Israel. God called Jonah to go preach to the great city of Nineveh which was the capital of the world kingdom. He was to announce judgment against it because of its wickedness. You would think that Jonah would have loved the opportunity to announce judgement against his enemy but because Jonah knew God’s great compassion and mercy, he wasn’t so eager to go. In fact, he took a boat in the opposite direction. God sent a terrible storm to turn Jonah around. While the storm was raging, the crew cried out to their gods, but Jonah was found fast asleep in the helm (reminds me of the time Jesus did the same thing.) The crew cast lots to find the man responsible for making the gods so mad and the lot fell on Jonah. When they questioned him, he told them that he was a Hebrew and his God was the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land. The crew were afraid and asked him what they could do to stop the storm. When he told them to cast him into the sea, they were not ready to make his god even madder by killing Jonah. Finally when they saw they would all die, they threw Jonah into the sea praying for penance. Immediately, the sea became calm and the soldiers were so struck with awe they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him. In the meantime, Jonah was swallowed by a great fish. He remained inside that fish until he finally repented and told God he would do what he asked. It had been three days and three nights. He was immediately cast up on the shore which just happened to be the closest shore to Nineveh. When Jonah got to Nineveh it took him three days to walk across it. The whole walk he shouted that in forty days, Nineveh would be destroyed. Remarkably, the people of Nineveh took his words seriously, and the king of Nineveh called a national fast and called them to repent. They did repent of their evil ways. When God saw their repentance he also changed his mind about his judgment. Jonah was irate because this was exactly what he was afraid of. He had seen prophets prophecy of Israel’s destruction and never saw it happen and thought the same thing would happen here making him look like a fool for lying. He had a pity party out on the east side of the city as he sat to watch and see if Nineveh would be destroyed or not. As he waited, God arranged a leafy plant to provide him with shade and Jonah was very grateful for the plant until God withered the plant and sent a scorching hot wind. Then Jonah wished to die. God spoke to Jonah and said, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?” Jonah answered, “Yes.” God explained that he, Jonah had felt sorry about the plant when he did nothing to put the plant there. But Nineveh had more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t He feel sorry for them? This story says so much about Gentiles and Jews. The Jews had prophet after prophet sent to them. God had given them signs and miracles to reflect back on. All of them were a call to remember who their God was, and yet they refused to listen. The Gentiles on the boat saw one sign and immediately repented. The people of Nineveh heard one line and instantly repented. No wonder, God would one day send his message to the Gentiles when his own people refused to accept the Messiah after years of prophecies and signs. In Revelation we read of the great pomp and circumstance of the giving of the scroll with the seven seals. It was so great a manuscript that no one in heaven except the Lamb could open it. Salvation came through the Lamb so destruction had to come through his authority. This was a ceremony of promotion for the Lamb as all heaven worshipped him. They sang a new song saying that he was worthy because his blood had ransomed people from every tribe, language, people and nation. Because of him, they had become a Kingdom of priests for God and they would reign on the earth. Then, all the creatures in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea sang a song of blessing, honor, glory and power to the the Lamb who sat on the throne. The four living beings amened it and the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb.