Jesus and Jonah
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Greetings
Greetings
PCAC , Thank you for opportunity, thanks to Barry and Living Water
Intro
Intro
John and Kelly Attwood Beeworld, Working in Asia Pastors and Leaders
Catcher
Catcher
Of all the prophets that Jesus could compare Himself to why would would he choose Jonah ? I mean Jonah wasn’t exactly a great example of all a prophet should be ? Was mean he ran from God didn’t he ? Why choose him.
Homeboys
Homeboys
The both from about the same area Gath Hepher and Galilee. By the way so was Elijah and Micah.
15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has dawned.”
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
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15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”
Simenon's Prophesy
Both of these verses speak about Jesus and Gentiles but for sure Jonah was the forerunner of Jesus.
Both have a focus on Israel but a connection with Gentiles. We know that Jonah was the first Missionary he went to Nineveh which was Gentiles. You know all missionary’s must cross an ocean or a sea ? (Laugh). But seriously they both grew up in border area’s where there were many Gentiles , Assyrians, Greeks and Romans, Philistines and Phoneticians although they were both Jews.
39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
Who was the focus of Jesus rebuke focused towards ? Pharisees and Teachers of the Law in Jerusalem. In other words the religious people... now we know that religious people in America especially evangelical Christians tend to vote as a block so they have significant political sway. But since the Jews basically function as a sub-culture theocracy under Rome... in Jewish culture these people Jesus was rebuking held significant Political Sway. Which is how they were able to get him murdered. We know that Jesus message to the Jewish religious leadership and political leaders was Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand but what about Jonah ? The sign will not be the one that they asked for but more of a rebuke using Jonah and Nineveh as an example. By the way at the time of Jonah you basically could not get more depraved than Nineveh which was founded on depravity because Nimrod is the one who founded Nineveh. So Nineveh already had a 1000 plus years of depravity before Jonah showed up. This kind of backs up the satirical rebuke from Jesus basically, Jesus is telling them “of all human history you guys are the worst kind of people” because he’s comparing them to the worst.
But what about Jonah who was the real focus of Jonah’s preaching. If you heard me speak on Friday you would have heard my full reasoning there. But now I will have to summarize it. The focus of the book of Jonah was not Nineveh. Jonah’s message to Nineveh consisted of something like 4 words, 40 days Nineveh overthrown. Irony: Nineveh took 4 words to repent and the People of Israel have had the law and the prophets for approx 1500 years. Northern Israel was full of Idolatry starting from Jereboam I and was in danger of being overthrown and was eventually overthrown in 722. The book of Jonah was something of a political satire focused on Northern Israel the message was if Nineveh can repent why can’t you !
Jesus picks up on this theme almost a thousand years later and the basic message is the same if Nineveh can repent with 4 words and Jonah why can you repent with the Messiah ? Who will have an even greater message ? Again we have the much used argument of the Greater to the Lesser. Greater = Jesus and Jerusalem lesser would be Jonah and Nineveh. It was a scathing rebuke which would ultimately lead to judgment because of their lack of repentance.
35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
The price for Jerusalem’s religious leaderships refusal to repent was pretty high. Look at the events that transpired between 66-70 AD. Lets just call these guys the Evangelical leaders of their time like some of ours they were intimately involved with the political machinations of our time divided down political lines.
What about US ?
What about us ?
What about us ?
We should not be involved in Political division this is a suckers game ? Which is to say it’s a con game. This is nothing but the Hegelian dialect on steroids. We need to be involved in sharing and living out the out the God and focus on expanding the Kingdom of God. The rock that was cut out of the mountain without human hands is going to roll on crushing every Kingdom that gets in its way. We call on all people to repent, God’s people first and also the Gentiles or face imminent destruction.