Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)
Among the Old Testament prophets, Jonah was the only one to leave Israel and actually preach the Word of the Lord openly in the streets of a foreign land. There was a kinship between Jonah and Jesus. Jonah was the only prophet with whom Jesus personally associated Himself. He spoke of him as "the sign to Israel." Jonah had a God-given burden for a Gentile city. The next to carry such a burden was Jesus Christ Himself. His heart was big enough to hold the whole of Israel, and the whole Gentile world!
No other prophet of Israel ever carried the Word of the Lord to the outside world except when they themselves were carried away as captives of war. In Babylon, some maintained their witness to the Lord, the God of Israel. We read of these in the books of Daniel and Esther.
But the northern tribes were absorbed into the Assyrian Empire and lost. In the Book of Psalms, we are told, "And those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a foreign land?" What a pity - those songs could have introduced the living God to the outside world.
The concern of God for His creatures extends to all equally, even to the most renegade and wicked. However, Jonah did not feel the same way at all and was out of sympathy with his commission. He tried to get away from God. But God was determined that he should go, and sent a storm at sea as Jonah tried to flee. It was God's storm of protest at Jonah's attitude, devoid of any pity.
God made Jonah a remarkable exception. He coerced him into doing what Israel was supposed to do, but never did. God had raised up Israel to make the name of the Lord known throughout the whole earth!
Even the original Church was entirely Jewish for maybe twenty years. Perhaps Jonah was, despite his shortcomings, one of the greatest of all the prophets!
Today, allow God to speak to your heart about your own responsibility to a dying world.
Among the Old Testament prophets, Jonah was the only one to leave Israel and actually preach the Word of the Lord openly in the streets of a foreign land. There was a kinship between Jonah and Jesus. Jonah was the only prophet with whom Jesus personally associated Himself. He spoke of him as "the sign to Israel." Jonah had a God-given burden for a Gentile city. The next to carry such a burden was Jesus Christ Himself. His heart was big enough to hold the whole of Israel, and the whole Gentile world!
No other prophet of Israel ever carried the Word of the Lord to the outside world except when they themselves were carried away as captives of war. In Babylon, some maintained their witness to the Lord, the God of Israel. We read of these in the books of Daniel and Esther.
But the northern tribes were absorbed into the Assyrian Empire and lost. In the Book of Psalms, we are told, "And those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a foreign land?" What a pity - those songs could have introduced the living God to the outside world.
The concern of God for His creatures extends to all equally, even to the most renegade and wicked. However, Jonah did not feel the same way at all and was out of sympathy with his commission. He tried to get away from God. But God was determined that he should go, and sent a storm at sea as Jonah tried to flee. It was God's storm of protest at Jonah's attitude, devoid of any pity.
God made Jonah a remarkable exception. He coerced him into doing what Israel was supposed to do, but never did. God had raised up Israel to make the name of the Lord known throughout the whole earth!
Even the original Church was entirely Jewish for maybe twenty years. Perhaps Jonah was, despite his shortcomings, one of the greatest of all the prophets!
Today, allow God to speak to your heart about your own responsibility to a dying world.
