Fish Stories | Jonah: A great fish, a greater God
The great story arc of the Bible points to Jesus and the work being accomplished by the Holy Spirit to bring together people in whose attention, worship, is centered on the glory of God & the Lamb forever.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!
We are called, invited, into the mission of the Holy Spirit to spread the Gospel to those in our sphere of influence. This invitation to share the good news, the Gospel, will have a cost. There is a cost of discipleship. We are disciples and are actively discipled by something or someone. Have we counted the cost to follow Jesus and are willing to obey His call and invitation to the work He is doing through the Holy Spirit today?
God’s joyful glorification of his own grace in beautifying an undeserving people whose beauty is their enjoyment and praise and reflection of Christ now and forever in the new heaven and the new earth.”
Jonah, a prophet in Israel, had been used by God to deliver a prophetic word to His own people that had come to pass during the evil reign of Jeroboam II. This account is in 2 Kings 14:23-27.
Jonah had become a national hero. His status, popularity and fame may have increased because of the favorable outcome for the northern kingdom. Obedience to deliver a word from God may be easy when the benefits, the blessings, are easily recognized—they’re tangible. This word to the northern kingdom was not due to the goodness that was being done by the people of Israel at this time—there was evil being promoted by king Jeroboam II. God was still good to Israel despite their evil, their disobedience, to His law and commandments that would promote blessing upon them for the glory of God. All calamity, evil, that we commit or promote will have a consequence. God must punish the evil for His standard of justice and holiness—His character will not default, He will be faithful to who He is.
Personal introspection:
– What if the word we are given is to a people group that does not look, act, or talk the same way we do?
– What does it look like when we are called to love and serve our enemies?
– What if there is a cost, a discomfort, to the calling from the Lord that is placed on our lives?
– Is our comfort, our reputation, greater than the character of God?
In Jonah chapter 1, we read of the account where Jonah was given a word from the Lord to share with the Assyrian nation, specifically the city of Ninevah. Jonah ran from this call and fled from the presence of the Lord. His disobedience to the Lord’s call does not stop the pursuit of the Father after Jonah. Jonah’s disobedience led to the salvation experience of mariners onboard the ship heading to Tarshish as they witnessed the calamity of the storm, but also the calm after they hurled Jonah into the sea. God displayed His purposeful sovereignty over nature through the storm and the appointment of a big fish to swallow Jonah. The Father was in pursuit of Jonah to share the word from Him to the people of Ninevah. In this city were people created in the image of God. His heart was toward them. Their repentance for their evil and their turn from their actions towards His merciful hand of grace allowed the Father to relent of the disaster that was due to their evil.
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
I hope that as we looked into the mirror of the Word and the narrative book of Jonah that we see that it so much more than a “fish story”. The book of Jonah is a beautiful account of God’s grace that lifts our eyes to the greatest love story—Jesus’ perfect & obedient life offered up as a sacrifice for our sin so that we can experience eternal & abundant life.
We can trust in the character, the steadfast love, of God. His goodness is toward and for our greatest good. He can be trusted. In Him our life can become hidden-He becomes our satisfaction. We receive and feel joy. A differentiated joy that will allow us to witness of His goodness and love.
Personal introspection:
– Where has God called you, what purpose, task, or vision has been imparted by the Holy Spirit?
– What has your response to that been?
– Are you running toward it, or away from it?
God desires our obedience—He will be faithful to produce an outcome that will bring him glory & praise. We can devote ourselves to the practice of disciplines and character development that will produce fruit in our lives as we seek to abide in the vine of His Word, prayer, and fellowship with other believers.
…make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“We want a softened heart that moves with tender affection towards the world when we gaze upon the glory in His Word.”
“Love is the epicenter of the distinctly Christian way of being in the world.”
”…Love is to be the signature disposition of Christ’s disciples.”
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
May we have a renewed confidence in the steadfast love of God, His character, that enables our obedience to the call of God on our lives to share the good news of Jesus with hearts of love and lives of service.
Living Hope Ministries 