Expert: Logan - 6/30/2004

Question
I was wondering if you could explain or find out what the book of Jonah in the first testament, specifically, the first chapter means.  I was also pondering about how the first chapter affects us today.

thanks

Answer
 I will read it over the 4th of July weekend, and then let you know what I think.  Thanks.  Cherish your Liberty!


   O.K. Jeff, here is what I think of Jonah chapter 1.  I believe that one of the things we can get from it is that God wants us to do certain things, and if that means punishing us until we do, He will do it.  It is the same with a child's Parents.  God is my Heavenly Father, and He can righteously punish me if I refuse to do His Will.  God's Will will be done.  He will not allow man, Satan, or his fallen angels to interupt or thwart His Will.  God wanted Salvation to be showed to the Ninevites, and it happened!

 My Parents knew a man who said that God wanted him to be a missionary, but he said,  "No." to God.  He then ended up in a Hospital with a broken back.  He then said, "Yes." to God.  He became a missionary, and when we do God's Will, we will be glad that we are.  God's Will is best for us.  God uses us like a tool on a job.  The "job" will be done, regardless of the tool used.  Sometimes we think that if we refuse God, then that will stop the "job."  Wrong!  God is a Sovereign God.  Sometimes we think that we did the "job"--as in when we give The Gospel and someone is Saved.  No.  We were merely the tool of God.  If a screwdriver refused to be used by the Master craftsman, for a particular project, would the craftsman be helpless?  Could he not use another screwdriver, if he so wished?  The job will be done, and the Craftsman may put the wayward screwdriver to the grinding stone, in order to prepare it for the job.  God will do as He pleases.  
 Jonah 1:14  "Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee."
 
 God wanted Jonah for the job, and in the end, He got His way.  Jonah went to Ninevah, and taught them about God, and they repented.  Yet, even in Jonah's disobediance, God was with him, and still loved him.  He did not lose his Salvation by disobeying.

 Jonah 2:4 "Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple."          
 But praise God, Jonah obeyed.  And there is no way that he is regreting it now.  He is happy, in Heaven, realizing that God used him.  Sometimes I do some odd job for my Church, and it is not always easy, but when I am done, and even during the process, I can look at it and be proud(in a good way), that God used me for this.  That He chose me for this.  And that feels mighty good!     

Thanks alot Jeff, and feel free to ask any question again.

 God's Gospel:

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Romans 3:23   "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23   "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8   "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16   "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans 10:9-10