JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF THE EARTH

The Book of Jonah

Recap: God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 8When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live." 9But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?" "I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die." 10But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

· Resume: NO CONCLUSION

The Book of Jonah ends without a real conclusion. We do not know what happened to Jonah. Nor do we know if he wrote the book while sitting on the mountain and died soon thereafter, or if this was a reflection back on a certain period of time in his life.

PERSONAL APPLICATION:

onah’s story has much to say about the heart of God and the mission of God’s people. God desires to show His mercy and offer forgiveness to all people of the Earth. He has committed this ministry of reconciliation and the message of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18, 19) to the church. Just as Israel was commissioned to reveal God to the world (Gen12:3), so the church has been commissioned to go into all the world and preach the gospel (Matt. 28:18-20). When the church has the attitude of exclusiveness, exhibited by Jonah and Israel, it fails to accomplish its task. But, when the church takes seriously the command of God to arise and go to the nations of the world, those people who hear the Word and respond in faith experience the mercy and forgiveness of God in life-changing, culture-impacting measure.

CHRIST REVEALED:

God’s word’s to Jonah in 4:10, 11 are paralleled by Jesus’s words John’s 3:16, God is concerned for all the inhabitants of the Earth. It is true that Christ has a special relationship with members of His body the church, but Christ’s love for the world was dramatically demonstrated when He died on the Cross for the sins of all mankind.