SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
8/29/2025 9:18 AM
My Worship
Time Focus: PT-2 “Themes”
In
today’s SD, I continue to look into the intro to Jonah what John MacArthur
calls “Themes” and there are seven different titles that we will be looking at
beginning with “YAHWEH.”
“Several
theological themes drive the story of Jonah and its main
purpose. These include the Person of Yahweh and the divine perfections
of God’s sovereignty, omnipresence, grace, and judgment of
sinners. The book also highlights the need for sinners to repent and
the Lord’s willingness to forgive the penitent, whether Jew or Gentile.
OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD
“God’s omnipresence is a key truth that manifests itself
throughout the entire story. At the
outset, Johan’s flight proved that God was not limited to any physical space,
as the Lord was present at Joppa (Jonah 1:3), on the ship (1:4-7), in the sea
(1:17), and in the fish (2:1-9). At
Nineveh (3:10), and outside of Nineveh, God was present to hear the prayer of
His prophet (4:5). Despite his flagrant
attempt to flee, Jonah himself recognized God’s omnipresence, declaring that
Yahweh is ‘the God of heaven, who made
the sea and the dry land’ (1:9), and then praising God because ‘from the belly of Sheol,’ he heard
Jonah’s voice (2:2). God’s omnipresence
is a reminder of man’s inescapable accountability (1:3-17), the Lord’s
unrestricted availability to hear and answer prayer (2:2), and His
ever-readiness to save (2:3-9; 3:10; 4:2, 11).
Above all, the theme of divine omnipresence serves as a vivid reminder
that God reigns not only over Israel but over all the earth. Because He is Lord over all mankind, He not
only had the authority to send Jonah to the Ninevites, but He also had the
ability to bring them to repentance and salvation.
GRACE OF GOD
“From its beginning to its end, the story of Jonah
abounds with the grace of God. Yahweh
demonstrated His grace when He commissioned Jonah to bring a message of warning
to Nineveh in order to save the Ninevites (Johan 1:2). God expressed grace by persisting with His
plan even though Jonah rebelled against Him (1:4; 3:2). The Lord also extended His grace to the
sailors by bringing them to repentance (1:16).
When Jonah was thrown into the sea, God showed grace to His wayward
prophet by delivering him from death (1:17; 2:2, 6, 9, 10).
“God also extended grace to Jonah by giving him a second
opportunity to go and preach to Nineveh (3:2).
When Jonah declared the message to the Ninevites, God caused a revival,
saving more than half a million people (3:5-10). Despite Johan’s wicked and heartless response
to Nineveh’s repentance, God demonstrated further grace by patiently
confronting His prophet and expounding the wonder of His grace (Johan 4:9-11;
cf. Eph. 2:8). The breadth and variety
of instances in which God exercised patience and extended grace throughout this
book underscore the extent of His mercy and lovingkindness (cf. Ex. 33:19;
34:6).
“The book of Jonah
displays not only the breadth but also the depth of God’s grace. When the prophet was about to drown, the Lord
rescued him from sure death (Jonah 1:17-2:9), which then served as a sign that
God’s grace can overcome even the grave (cf. Matt. 12:39).” I am now going to quote some verses from
Matthew 12 “39 But He answered and said to them,
"An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no
sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; 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. 41 “The
men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will
condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold,
something greater than Jonah is here.” Now back to more from MacArthur’s
introduction: “As for the sailors and
the Ninevites, God’s grace transformed their hearts so that they would repent
and be saved (Johan 1:10, 14; 3:5-10).
God’s grace in those cases was magnified by the fact that Jonah was
either minimally involved in or resistant to their conversion (1:9; 3:4). The story of Jonah illustrates the abundance
and the power of divine grace, and reiterates the truth that salvation is
rooted solely in the grace of God (cf. Jonah 2:9; Eph. 2:8).”
Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today: Looking at these two
attributes of God, omnipresence, and grace shows me some things about when the
Lord saved me on January 26th 1974, and I have told this story a few
times in my Spiritual Diaries. Perhaps I
could say that I was running away from the Lord, but did not realize it as I
went to visit a friend of mine in January of 1974. I went there for reasons I will not get into,
but they were sinful to be sure. When I
got there he offered to me a series of cassette tapes to listen to “Two Years
After ‘The Late Great Planet Earth’” by Hal Lindsey. These messages were mostly on the end times
something I was deeply afraid of, and many answers were given to me as I listened
to these messages. God spoke to my heart
and saved me a few days into listening to these messages, as I only could
listen to one per day. I see God’s omnipresence
here as the timing was perfect, and I see His wonderful saving grace as that
too was perfect. I am ever thankful for
that trip to Florida.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I continue to trust the Lord in dealing with
my wife’s condition as it seems to us that the MRI she got was not bad at
all. Praise the Lord!
8/29/2025 10:07 AM
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