SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/21/2025 10:10 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “A Restored Missionary”
Bible Reading and Meditation Reference: Jonah 3:1-3a
Message of the verses: “Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the second time, saying “Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out to it this very call which I am going to speak to you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of Yahweh.”
It is my desire to finish this section in this morning’s SD.
I have mentioned that what we have here is Jonah’s re-commission, and it comes from the Lord, and as He does this we can see that He still calls Nineveh as the great city, which is reaffirming its importance in the Gentile world and thus highlighting His interest in saving that city. Now to that end, while originally the Lord declared that Jonah was to “call out against” the city as seen in Jonah 1:2 “"Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.’” It is here that God instructed Jonah to call out to it. Calling against the city stressed judgment, but calling to the city indicates that there was also a benevolent purpose coming from God’s warning—to prompt the Ninevites to repent. In t his way, the prophet’s message was to proclaim judgment and mercy. Now as God had done at the outset of this book, the Lord demonstrated His compassion toward the people of Nineveh, and thus directed His prophet to align with that divine perspective. Here are some verses to go along with this, as I will just list them: (cf. 1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22).
Now the Lord is specifying that Jonah was to declare to the Ninevites the following: “this very call which I am going to speak to you.” So the repetition of the word call reinforced the idea that Jonah’s speech was fully prescribed by the Lord, as every word he was instructed to proclaim what that “which I [Yahweh] am going to speak to you.” Now because this message was from the Lord, Jonah could not alter or manipulate its content. Jonah was obligated to preach the very words that God had revealed to him.
Now in response to God’s commission, Jonah arose. Now we remember that he had done this before as seen in Johan 1:3 but in that case he went the opposite way from Nineveh which was disobedient to the Lord’s direction. Now this time, he went where the Lord commanded him to go, traveling east toward Nineveh. The difficult journey of nearly 500 miles assuming the fish ejected Jonah somewhere in Israel, which I have written about in earlier SD’s. At any rate this could have taken as much as a month to complete. This comes from Smith and Page, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah (pg. 256). The fact that Jonah went to Nineveh demonstrated the sincerity of his repentance and the reality of God’s grace working in his heart. MacArthur writes: “Repentance restores usefulness, as God forgives and enables His servants.
“That Jonah obeyed God fully is indicated in the phase according to the word of Yahweh, which describes full conformity to what God demands (cf. 1 Kings 17:5, 16; 2 Kings 10:17).” We will look at these verses at this time.
“5 So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.”
“16 The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke through Elijah.”
“17 When he came to Samaria, he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to Elijah.”
“In other words, Jonah journeyed to Nineveh not primarily because he was afraid of the consequences of disobedience but out of genuine and heartfelt submission to the Lord. In acting according to the word of Yahweh, the prophet moved beyond honoring God’s command to honoring Yahweh Himself. True obedience not only does what God commands, but more than that, it seeks to glorify the One who issues such commands (cf. Deut 6:4-6; Isa. 58:1-19; Zech 7:5; 1 Cor. 10:31; Col. 3:17; Heb. 13:15). While Jonah defied the presence of God at the outset (cf. Jonah 1:3), in response to the second commission, he honored the Lord from the heart, as demonstrated by his actions.”
Spiritual meaning For My Life Today: It is my true desire to do the things that the Lord has called me to do for the cause of Christ, believing that writing these Spiritual Diaries and putting them onto my blogs so that the Holy Spirit of God will use them to bring glory to my Lord Jesus Christ.
My Steps of Faith for Today: These are trying times that are going on in my family as my wife is dealing with cancer and not she has to have her second chemo treatment in the morning which lasts for a most of the day. I do trust the Lord to use this to help her feel better and defeat this terrible disease.
10/21/2025 10:57 AM
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