“PT-2 Introduction to Jonah”

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/24/2025 8:00 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  “PT-2 Introduction to Jonah”

            In today’s SD and in the following SD’s for a while we will look at what John MacArthur wrote in his new book which is entitled “Johan & Nahum” the rather long introduction.  I will pick up where I left off yesterday morning.

            “As God granted repentance to the Ninevites in Jonah’s day, so He ordained that salvation would come to the Gentiles centuries later through prophets parallel to Jonah.  Peter Bar-Jonah found himself at Joppa, akin to Jonah, commissioned by God to go to the Gentles (cf. Acts 10:1-23).  But unlike Jonah who fled from God’s calling, Peter obeyed his commission.  He went to the Gentiles, preaching the gospel to Cornelius and those of his household, demonstrating the triumph of God’s intention to reach the nations (cf. 11:18).  Paul too was like Jonah, finding himself aboard a ship caught in a terrible storm (cf. 27:1-38).  But unlike Jonah, Paul journeyed specifically to the Gentiles rather than fleeing away from them.  Similar to Jonah, both Peter (Acts 10:13-16) and Paul) Phil. 3:1-6) had at one point been reluctant to minister to Gentiles.  But being commissioned by the Lord Jesus, they did not follow in Jonah’s footsteps.  Instead, they emulated the example of Christ, who Himself represents the ultimate antithesis of Johan.  Unlike the wayward prophet, Jesus boarded a storm-bound boat precisely to minister in a Gentile region (Luke 8:22-25).  The Lord Jesus miraculously calmed that storm, thereby demonstrating that He is God, the very One who subdued the sea for Jonah centuries earlier (8:24-25).  He also declared that He would fulfill the sign of Jonah, which He did by overcoming death in His resurrection on the third day (Matt. 16:39-40).  Before ascending to heaven, He commissioned His disciples to go into the world and to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:7-8).  Thus, what was prefigured in Jonah came to pass in Jesus.  While Jonah attempted to impede God’s saving purposes, he actually served to illustrate their ultimate fulfillment through the Messiah.  The book of Jonah, therefore, points to the work of Christ and unveils the heart of God to seek and save the lost.”

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  I suppose that I have been hard on Jonah in my heart for how he did not want to go and minister to the Gentiles, and I guess that the Lord also had issues with him, and so I attribute that to our old sinful nature which gets in my way like it did Jonah’s way.  I need to be honest with the Lord when this happens and confess my sin to Him, for He will forgive me like He did Jonah.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will cause the MRI that my wife will have this Wednesday to turn out without any more cancer showing.  I trust that the Lord will allow me to get to church this morning and teach our Sunday school class without any affects of IBS.

8/24/2025 8:21 AM