JONAH & THE GREAT FISH
Today’s Reading: Jonah 1-4
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
Jaffa, Israel (ancient Joppa), is one of the world’s oldest harbours still in use today. “He (Jonah) went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish (Spain); so he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3b).
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verses: Jonah 1:17, 4:11
Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights….
And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left–and much livestock?
Instead of going 500 miles northeast in obedience to God, Jonah disobeys God and sets out for Spain, 2,000 miles west. Jonah lived in the northern kingdom of Israel and had to travel 50 miles southwest to reach the harbour of Joppa, exactly the opposite direction from Nineveh. Read the historical reference to Jonah from 2 Kings 14:23-26. “Gath Hepher,” Jonah’s home village, is the modern village of Mishad, an Arab Muslim community three miles north of Nazareth. Jewish tradition says that Jonah was the son of the widow of Zarephath, whom Elijah had raised from the dead (1Kings 17:8-24).
Jonah knew his Bible. He quoted from four different Psalms while inside “the belly of the fish” (Psalm 3:8, 31:22, 42:7, and 69:1). In fact, he quotes from 14 Bible verses. When he finally confesses, “I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord,” the fish rises to the surface and spits him out onto shore, perhaps the very one in Joppa.
The Apostle Matthew records that Jesus likened his time in the grave to Jonah’s experience inside the great fish (Matthew 12:38-41). Another time Jesus speaks of the “sign of the prophet Jonah” (Matthew 16:2-4).
When Jonah finally reaches Nineveh and preaches a one-sentence sermon, “Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown,” we read that the entire city “turned from their evil way.” That’s called repentance! (Jonah 3:10a).
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, give me grace to always obey You. I pray that if I should, like Jonah, go in the opposite direction that You desire of me, that You will do whatever it takes to turn me 180 degrees back into the centre of Your perfect will! Lord, You prepared a great fish to turn Jonah around, and I ask You to prepare a circumstance of Your choice which, if necessary, will do the same for me. I pray this in the Name of the One who taught about Himself using the story of Jonah, Jesus Christ (Messiah)! Amen!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
There is a tradition that says that Jonah was a student at the “School of the Prophets.” Remember the student who was chopping down a tree to help build a new building at the Bible College when the axehead came loose, sank to the bottom of the river, and became the occasion of one of Elisha’s miracles? The axe head floated to the surface and the student picked it up (2 Kings 6:1-7). Do you think that student could’ve been Jonah who, when the sailors threw him overboard, knew that if God would save an axehead, He would also save him from drowning? Maybe yes maybe no. I like to think about what was going on inside Jonah’s head when he said, “Throw me overboard” (read 2 Kings 6:1-7).
Some say that the story of Jonah is way too unbelievable. The way I look at it is this…I’ve decided for myself that if God decides to do anything, He has the ability to do it. Of course I don’t understand how this could be, but then I certainly don’t understand the nature of the billions of stars and planets in the cosmos either. There’s an old chorus I’m singing under my breath just now, “God can do anything, anything, anything, anything but fail” (I forget some words here, help me out). I’ll try to find it on “Google”…Yes! here is an unusual version of the song. I’m worshipping the Lord along with the singer (click here).
Yours for believing that God can do anything but fail!!!
David
So rich and deep is Your Word, oh God. How could anyone doubt it’s truth after studying Jonah and all the scriptures prophetically intertwined? I love Jonah; wrote an exegesis of Jonah 2. Have a blessed Easter Saturday saints; hope you can all get outside for a walk and fresh air, even though we are still under self-isolation and it looks like it will be a long time coming. Still, we rejoice because our Saviour is risen. He is risen, indeed!! Praying for you and your loved ones.
“He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” Luke 24:6-7 ESV
Paul Baloche – He Is Risen (Lyric Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44v_oAwQLfo
Christ is risen indeed!
A greatest and most wonderful gift we can give our grandchildren/children is the knowledge of God’s Word:
https://youtu.be/vfFUEc3ErOk
Abundant blessings on this special and joyful, yes joyful, weekend…God’s gift to us all.
Amen to that,Lynda.Happy Easter.
Happy Easter to u as well dear brother William and as always your poems r powerful. Thanx so much 4 sharing. God bless you and all Christians this Easter.
Amen
We may overlook the lesson Nineveh learned as they repented as a whole and pray that we today,in all countries,should pray for genuine repentance for this scourge may only be the beginning of our chastisement?We must continue to watch Israel to know if we are in the last days.Have a Happy Easter and give thanks.God bless
Am I worthy
Am I worthy to touch His feet,
Can I ever stand up to greet
He who died upon the cross
Knowing my sins would be His loss.
When I look at the cross I see,
His wounded face looking at me,
But through the pain He grins
With a love that pardons sins.
His crown of thorns I wish to bear
To prove to Him the love I share,
For the love it took to die for us
Is still in need of complete redress.
So when we think we are kings
Remember He of holy things,
Who was so lowly yet most high,
And soon is coming in the sky.
GW(Bill) Marshall/(2011~2012)
Amen
I got a post from Ravi Zachariah showing his hospital room. He went in for adjustment to his former back injury & was surprised when he was told he has a rare cancer (sarcoma). He is in a Texas hospital. Please pray for him. He is an amazing Apologist & young university students (& anyone) truly are ministered to through his answers to their questions Thanks
Thanks for the update, Doreen. Praying for Ravi.
Thank you William, Beverlee, Rob and Luisa for your prayers and encouraging words yesterday. They are much appreciated even though my thanks are delayed. Congratulations Eleanor and Edward on your 55th Anniversary. Praise to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords for paying the ultimate sacrifice for our sins so we could go free if we turn to Him in repentance. Am amazed again how our reading schedule set by David Mainse so much speaks to us about what is happening in the world today. Now how the events in the Book of Jonah relates to Easter in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. God is good through it all. Blessings saints!
Prayers for Zacharias. Thought of how much he is needed in the universities today considering what is going on there.
But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.
“The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent. (from Matthew 12)
As David prayed, yes, Lord, help us go and do what You call us to. In Jesus’s great name, amen
https://youtu.be/PH2IOGRb8nc
Beautiful Rob!! Fernando Ortega – How Deep The Father’s Love
I am scared; I have a loan at the bank and not enough money to pay it out; I only have the pension; I confess to the Lord that I messed up with the money.I am sorry; I am asking the Lord for a financial windfall to clear the debts; help family;friends/missions; invest some and continue to serve the Lord where ever I can; please pray for me.
I had a wonderful day yesterday; weeding; cleaning up the yard; and I am so thankful to the Lord for giving me my car; a woman gifted it to me, 2005 Toyota,completely redone under the hood; winter/summer tires/complete;so thankful to the lady who owned the car; it takes my breath away;
I pray the Lord will help me with the finances; I have a room at the back, I pray the Lord would bring the right person to rent the place; this person must be working the afternoon shift; non smoker/no alcohol;no drugs;no pets;no parties;
a working mature person;goes to the pool, please pray for this person to come across my path; that money would go on the loan ….in Jesus Name we pray
wanted to mention we can’t go out much because of the virus; I pray people have turned to God; I pray they will talk with God; I pray the Lord will heal the people in Jesus Name we pray amen amen amen