SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/01/2025/10:00
AM
My
Worship Time Focus: PT-5 “The Final Admonition”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Jonah
4:9-11
Message of the verses: ““Then God said to Jonah,
“Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant? And he said, “I have good reason to be angry,
even to death.” Then Yahweh said, “You
had pity on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came to be overnight. So should I not have pity on Nineveh, the
great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left
hand, as well as many animals?”
John MacArthur writes the
following “The Lord reinforced His indisputable case by providing five features
that reveal His compassion on Nineveh as far superior to Jonah’s pity for the
plant.” Now in this morning’s SD I will
pick up the third and fourth feature by quoting them from MacArthur’s
commentary, and then, Lord willing I will do the fifth feature in tomorrow's
SD, which will be the very last SD on the book of Jonah, and then I will begin
my study on the book of Nahum, which is the second study in MacArthur’s book
which he has entitled “The MacArthur Old Testament Commentary” “JONAH &
NAHUM.”
“Third, the eternal souls of the
people made them inherently more valuable than a plant. The Hebrew word for persons is adam,
which is the term for man and the name given by God to the first man. The word adam alludes back to creation
when God uniquely made man in His image and according to His likeness as the
crown of creation (Genesis 1:26-28). As
the Creator and Sustainer of every human life (cf. Acts 17:28), the Lord placed
value on a city full of people who He created in His image. Jonah was indicted for prioritizing a plant
over immortal souls.
“Fourth, the state of Nineveh’s
children elicited divine compassion. The
Lord explained that 120,000 of the city’s inhabitants do not know the
difference between their right and left hand.
This refers to the youngest children who could not differentiate
between right and wrong. This language
points back to Deuteronomy 1:39 and
Isaiah 7:16 which describe moral authority and the ability to make reasoned
ethical decisions (cf. Gen. 3:22; Isa. 5:20; Amos 5:14; Mic 3:2). Little
children do not have such ability. Though
not innocent of sin (Ps. 51:5; Ecc. 7:70; Rom. 3:9-18), the children would not
have committed the deliberate acts of violence and immorality for which God
threatened to destroy the adults. Nahum
later declared that God punished Assyria’s capital for sins like harlotry and
sorcery—evils that young children would not have knowingly committed (cf. Nah.
3:1, 4). Certainly, such children were
more in need of mercy than Jonah’s plant.
If the Lord had been willing to show mercy on Sodom and Gomorrah for as
few as ten righteous people (Gen. 18:16-33), it is not surprising that He chose
to show mercy on Nineveh for the sake of 120,000 little children. God’s love for Gentile sinners went far
deeper than Jonah’s superficial and selfish affection for a shade bush.”
I had mentioned in an earlier SD
that this number of 120,000 would be explained and this is found in this
section that we are going over this morning.
Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today: The book of Jonah shows God’s great mercy as
He dealt with the people of Nineveh, and I certainly am thankful for the mercy
that God shows to me each and every day.
My Steps of Faith for Today: It is and always has been my desire ever
since I became a believer over 51 years ago to not take advantage of the mercy
that God has and continues to shot to me each day.
12/1/2025
10:22 AM
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