This is my last assembly for this term. May you remember what I say from the Bible today over the summer holidays.
I feel that I would like to go back a little from what I said on Tuesday past and deal with the earlier verse of this portion.
Jonah’s lessons at the hands of the Lord have been well learned!From the seashore he immediately turns and heads away to Nineveh.
He foreshadows the journey of repentance taken by the prodigal. His heart has been humbled and the spirit of questioning God’s wisdom is gone. Jonah has been restored to the land of the living and also to obedience and submission.
THE GREAT MERCY OF GOD TO WAYWARD SAINTS
1. The Lord does not cease to speak.
“And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time,” verse 1. In a state of backsliding we are in no state to hear and receive God’s Word.
2. The unchanging message of Jehovah.
The command is to go with the same message as given at the first, 1:1. There is no new message. There is only the one, unchanging message of God. Time does not alter it nor do circumstances.
3. God entrusts those who have failed with His work.
There is none that have not failed. The apostles are the most prominent examples. There is no one else to employ. This magnifies the wonderful grace of God. 1 Cor 1:25-29. Jonah was unworthy of restoration to life and liberty never mind reinstated as a prophet!
THE SOLEMN DUTY OF THE PREACHER
1. He must go where he is directed.
No easy task. “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me,” Jonah 1:2. Great journey, great city, great sin!
2. Jonah made no move until commanded to do so.
He stands, as it were, on the seashore until commended to go. He does not presume as the Israelites, Numbers 14:40-45.
3. Jonah must preach what he is given.
“Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee,” 3:2. The word of the Lord must be spoken just as it is delivered; nothing must be added to it, or taken from it; the whole counsel of God must be declared; prophets and ministers must preach, not as men bid them, but as God bids them.
4. There must be no delay.
God’s time must be observed. “So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD,” 3:3. Nothing else is regarded. God’s timing is unacceptable to human thinking but not to faith.
5. Jonah showed diligence.
Jonah 3:3-4. He was three days in visiting every nook and cranny of the alleys and streets of the city. What a lesson this is for us!
6. Jonah’s message showed that the sinners of Nineveh had but a short time.
40 days. I believe that a precise date is given because they had but a short time, no time to waste! The time had come. So it will be at Christ’s return. Precise time will be revealed then also, Matthew 24:29-30.