From Misplaced Faith to Faith
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1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
Jonah 1:3 (WNKJV)
3 And Jonah arose to Nineveh, and faithfully warned the people in spite of all of the evil they had done to his people, and a cry of repentance arose from the people to the Lord as a sweet savour.
Expected Outcome & Pattern
Expected Outcome & Pattern
Jonah 1:1–3 (WNKJV)
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 And Jonah arose to Nineveh, and faithfully warned the people in spite of all of the evil they had done to his people, and a cry of repentance arose from the people to the Lord as a sweet savour.
Actual Outcome & Pattern
Actual Outcome & Pattern
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
It is interesting to note that Jonah was called to "arise" and "cry out" against Nineveh, because the sins of this great nation rose up to to God. The pattern should have been, God calls Jonah to arise because of the sins that arose, and by arising and crying out either refusal to repent or repentance would rise up to God from the Ninevites . However, Jonah refused and arose to flee. In other words, he didn't want there to be any chance of the Ninevites repentance rising up to God.
Another Pattern
Another Pattern
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When we rebel against the Lord, we will become oblivious to our downward descent.
4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”
A similar experience is recorded in Matthew concerning Jesus.
24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep.
The experience is similar in that both Jonah and Jesus were asleep during a vicious storm. However, the experiences are dissimilar in that Jonah was presumptious and not sleeping in confidence of God’s care. Yet, Jesus was asleep, asured that nothing could harm him without his Father’s notice and care.
While Jonah is fast asleep, lost in a deep slumber, something even more incredible is revealed in the text. The Hebrew personifies the ship...
4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”
The ship threatened to break in pieces, whether by the force of the waves or by being driven upon the reefs which make the Palestinian coast so dangerous, the author does not say. It is a vivid word he uses, for it represents the ship as an animate being, agitated, full of fear, lit., it thought it would be broken in pieces (Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Amazed, “Be” Commentary Series (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 73–74).
The inanimate ship responds to the Lord, the wind and sea responds to the Lord; the pagan sailors respond to the Lord… everything and everyone was awake to God but Jonah!
Can the same be said of us today? Can the same be said of God’s remnant church today? We must ask ourselves the question, can the same be said of ME!
God is presented with a great challenge, He is being confronted with great rebellion, thus He must muster great effort to try and wake up his slumbering servant.
Show “same lemma” in NKJV than LEB
The great challenge was coming from Nineveh, however, a greater challenge comes up from an unexpected source, Jonah.
16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.
God used the unfaithfulness of Jonah to lead unbelievers who had placed their faith in idols to have faith in the living God. God led the pagans who had misplaced faith, to have faith in Him. The storm put Jonah to sleep, but the same storm woke up the pagan sailors to reality of the living God.
God will permit His people to be tried severly in an effort to wake them up, and while doing so, what He hurls on the earth will wake up unbelievers.
God will use the unfaithfulness of His people to turn unbelievers towards to path of life… all in an effort to revive us.
Just imagine how much more God can do if he is able to use the faithfulness of His people to the turn umbelievers to have faith in the living God?