Jonah

What comes to mind when you think about the Book of Jonah?

Summary of the book , So God tells the prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach to the people , instead he runs to Joppa found a ship to Tarshish . While on the ship God sent a terrible storm and the crew threw Him overboard until a mighty fish swallowed him up . He spent 3 days in the belly of the fish until it spit him up on the shores of Nineveh where he ended up preaching to the people.

People have been arguing over whether it was a whale or a big fish for the last 3000 years

So I want to do my best at settling this age old argument once and for all .

When we search the original manuscripts the word for Kétos is used and it translates to Sea Monster

And while people were arguing the point , Jesus was already making references to it

Matthew 12:40 for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Now this actually makes a lot more of sense because comparing hell to a flipper the dolphin doesn’t seem right , but being swallowed by a sea monster and comparing that to being swallowed up by hell.

What it also shows is that even today from His throne above God is still in charge.

He’s in charge of the blessings and He is in charge of the wicked , He controls the light and the reciprocal holds true that He is also controls the darkness

Why did Jesus announce that He would spend 3 days in hell? And then compare it to Jonah .

1Peter 3:19in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah,

The parallels are right there in front of us because as God sent Jonah to preach to the wicked people in Nineveh but he ran away, God sent Jesus to preach to the wicked in hell but He went .

So here is your gut check this morning, If God sends you to help wicked people and you don’t go, who now is really wicked.

You see that the Lord sent Jonah to preach to the wicked, and that act of running away made actually made him more wicked than the ones he was suppose to lead.

The parable of the the two Sons fits right here

Matthew21:28“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ 29“And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. 30“The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. 31“Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. 32“For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him

This parable is a gotcha moment, because everyone would correctly say the first Son who eventually go did the Fathers will .

And this proves that you understand right from wrong and that you understand the message so you have no excuse .

Jesus’ point is that these religious people are actually in the second group, clearly understanding ,clearly disobeying and clearly the most wicked because they know the Fathers, will and still didn’t do it

John The Baptist was also preaching to the wicked but in this case it wasn’t to the people of Nineveh, or even to the prisoners of hell , John preached it to the religious wicked .

If your only take away from the book Jonah is a Big fish swallowed a guy then maybe tits time for you to look long and hard at yourself.

What all these have in common is are two things what they are and what they are lacking

Jonah, the prisoners of hell and the religious is they are all the self righteous , the people who think they are better than everyone. They don’t need no Savior or God

Mark 2:17 And hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."