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Bible Study - Book of Jonah Part 5 - Jonah 3:1-10

Last week, we heard of Jonah’s thoughts and meditation, especially upon some of the psalms, and his prayers while in the belly of the great fish. He called out to the Lord in his distress and knew that salvation would come only from the Lord and hoped to be in the temple again one day. The Lord answered his prayer and called the great fish to vomit him up onto dry land.

As Chapter 3 begins, God gave Jonah another chance to do what he had been called to do as His prophet, though he did not deserve it since he had still not fully repented of his attitude toward God and God’s will.  In Jonah 3:1-2, God commanded him again to go to Nineveh with almost the same words He used in Jonah 1:1-2. This time, Jonah went and followed “the Word of the Lord.”

God is a God of second (and even many more) chances for people, in His patient, forgiving mercy. Remember how Peter had failed Jesus and denied three times that he ever knew Him. Jesus forgave him and called him again to be His apostle and “feed His sheep.” (See John 21:15-18. Jesus also taught Peter to forgive not just 7 times but 70 times 7 times, over and over again. See Matthew 18:21-22. Peter learned to speak of God as “the God of all grace.” See 1 Peter 5:10 and 2 Peter 3:18.)

Think also of Saul, who was strongly anti-Christian and even involved in arresting and helping put Christians to death. The risen Lord Jesus turned his life around and made him a strong believer and missionary, with a new name, Paul. Paul often spoke of how undeserving he was and yet what a great example of what God’s mercy and forgiveness could do. (Read Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 1:12-17. Think about you and me, too. How many times have we failed our Lord and He has still loved and forgiven us, also? Every day? See Mark 2:15-17.)

Nineveh was a very great city, capital of the Assyrian Empire, the strongest power of the Middle Eastern world of that time. It was also a very wicked city, far from the one true God and His will. Jonah was sent to proclaim one very simple but strong warning to the people and leaders. He began to go into the city and called out, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 2:3-4). He said just what God wanted this time, and he used the same word that was used in Genesis 19:24-25, when God “overthrew” the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and utterly destroyed them, “even what grew on the ground.” God had given them opportunity to repent, too, but they refused and wanted to do more and more evil.

Amazingly, we hear in Jonah 3:5 that “the people of Nineveh believed God” and “called for a fast and put on sackcloth” as a sign of repentance for their wrongdoing. This word from Jonah reached the king of Nineveh (who was also the king of the whole Assyrian Empire) and he too showed repentance by removing his royal robe (see an example of such a robe, in Joshua 7:21, where the same word is used) and “covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes” (Jonah 3:6).

These are the typical things done by people in the ancient world as a sign of sorrow and repentance for their sins, not just Jews. (See Ezekiel 26:15-16, and the people of non-Jewish Tyre.) See also these examples from the Scriptures:

• Fasting (not eating food, and sometimes, drink, for a period of time) - Joel 1:14 and 2:12, 15 and Nehemiah 9:1
• Sackcloth (very rough clothing, maybe like wearing a burlap bag) - Joel 1:13, Genesis 37:34 (Jacob, when he thought his son, Joseph, was dead), Job 16:15, and even wicked King Ahab in 1 Kings 21:27, when he repented and was allowed to live longer
• Ashes - Job 42:6, Daniel 9:3, and Matthew 11:21

The King of Nineveh also decreed that both man and beast not eat and put on sackcloth and “call mightily to God” and “turn from evil” and “the violence that is in his hands” (Jonah 3:7-8). (The people of Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire were known for being very violent people and for using violence to get whatever they wanted for themselves, as they conquered and plundered other peoples.)

There are many skeptical people who would say that the simple preaching of Jonah could not possibly have accomplished all this. Jonah could not; but it was not simply his word, but the Word of God and from God that he proclaimed - the same Word of God that created the universe and our amazing world (see Genesis 1-2) and turned around the life of Paul and has turned our lives to faith and trust in our Lord and what Jesus has done for us. God’s Word is God’s power.

Commentators and historians have also pointed out that Middle Eastern people and cultures of that time were very emotional and had high esteem for prophets and oracles and may well have heard stories of earlier prophets of Israel, and could be influenced by them. The Roman writer Cicero speaks of these characteristics; and the fact that cattle and other animals were even involved in the mourning process of these peoples is attested by the Greek historian, Herodotus, and later, Plutarch. Look at Joel 1:18,20 and how “even the beasts of the field” are described as “panting” for God’s help in a time of trouble and judgment. Think also of how during “Holy Week” in the New Testament, many Jewish people, also emotional, were stirred up and praising Jesus on Palm Sunday, and yet by Good Friday were calling for His crucifixion.

The Lutheran Bible Companion also points out two periods in Assyrian history, during the time that Jonah lived and could have preached at Nineveh , that could reflect his influence. There was a time of “great religious stirrings” where some called for putting trust in only one God and no other, which parallels the Old Testament teaching of monotheism, that there is only one true God, which Jonah did follow. There was also a time where there were two severe plagues and an earthquake, which severely troubled the people and could have helped make them more open to the warning of judgment and the call to repentance by Jonah.

Most important, we have the words of our Lord Jesus, recorded in Matthew 12:41 and Luke 11:32, that the “men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah.” (We’ll talk more about this passage and what else Jesus affirms regarding Jonah, probably next week.)

As we return now to Jonah 3:9, the King of Nineveh, after commanding the people to call out to God and repent and turn from their evil ways, then says, “Who knows what God will do? Hopefully, He will turn away from His anger and relent, so that we may not perish.” This sounds much like what is said in Joel 2:14: “Who knows whether God will not turn and relent” from the disaster threatened for His own chosen people if they did not return to Him in faith. Joel, of course, also reaffirmed the mercy of God. Read Joel 2:13, and then all of Joel 2:12-17 and God’s response in Joel 2:18. See also Exodus 32:11-14, after the people of Israel had built and worshiped a golden calf as a pagan god. Moses pleaded with God to turn away from His “burning anger,” and God did so.

That is exactly what God did also for the pagan people of Nineveh, in Jonah 3:10. He saw “how they turned from their evil way,” and He did not bring disaster and “overthrow” the city and its people. Jeremiah spoke of the same outcome, in an example in Jeremiah 18:7. He also gave the same warning, even to his own people of Israel, if they kept going away from the Lord and His will.

Sadly, the repentance of the people of Nineveh did not last for a long time. They did not continue in faith and response to the one true God and went back to their very evil ways. See the prophecy of Nahum about their coming destruction. This time they did not listen and Nineveh fell to the Babylonians and was destroyed in 612 BC. This is a danger. Think about the reaction in the United States after so many people were killed in the terrorist attacks on 9/11. There was religious fervor for a time, and more people went back to church, but it did not last either.

Next week, we will talk about Jonah’s surprising reaction to God’s mercy upon Nineveh in Jonah, Chapter 4.

Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday - February 27, 2022

Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday, based on:

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Hebrews 3:1-6 

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon originally delivered February 10, 2013

Preparing for Worship - February 27, 2022

This coming Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday and the last Sunday of the Epiphany season. Christ’s light as Lord and Savior clearly shines forth in the Gospel lesson, and all the other readings give insight into that, as well.

The Old Testament Lesson, from Deuteronomy 34:1-12, tells of God taking Moses to a high mountain and showing him all of the land promised to God’s people of Israel. Moses would not be the one to lead the people into the land, though. Joshua, blessed by the Lord through Moses, would become that leader. Moses then died, and the Lord took care of his burial. Moses was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, whom God knew very directly, but Moses only prefigured the much greater Prophet, our Lord Jesus (Deuteronomy 18:15ff).

The Psalm is Psalm 99, which praises and worships the Holy Lord God, the Lord of the universe and all the earth. He spoke to prophets like Moses and Samuel and others “in the pillar of the cloud,” judging wrongdoing but also showing Himself to be “a forgiving God.”

The Epistle, from Hebrews 3:1-6, says that Moses could only “testify to things that would be spoken later.” Christ Jesus has much greater glory, as the greatest Apostle and High Priest and Builder, Creator of all things, and the true Son of God. (See also Hebrews 1:1-3.) Jesus is our “hope” and “confidence,” and “we are His house,” and He lives and works in us through His Word and the faith and forgiveness He gives us.

That “greater glory” of Jesus is shown in our Gospel lesson, from Luke 9:28-36. Jesus took some of His disciples to a mountain to pray. There, His appearance changed, and He became “dazzling white.” Moses and Elijah also appeared and talked with Him about His “departure,” literally, His “exodus.” Through His coming suffering and death and resurrection, He would accomplish the saving work of rescuing us from sin and Satan and death - a much greater rescue than the rescue of God’s people from slavery in Egypt in the time of Moses. From a cloud that then enveloped those on the mountain, the Heavenly Father declared that Jesus was His Son, His Chosen One (see Isaiah 42:1), and that everyone needs to “listen to Him” and His saving Words and works.

Bible Study - Book of Jonah Part 4 - Jonah 2:1-10

We begin this study at Jonah 2:1, after Jonah was thrown into the Mediterranean Sea in a great storm and, by a miracle of God, did not drown but was swallowed by a great fish. For parts of three days, Jonah was in the belly of the great fish, protected and kept alive by God Himself. While inside the fish, Jonah had plenty of time to think and meditate, and he especially seemed to focus on psalms that he knew from his work as a prophet and from his time in worship, where psalms were the songbook, the hymnal, for God’s people. All this leads Jonah to the prayer that he prayed to God in Jonah, Chapter 2.

Dr. Walter Roehrs suggests that we consider three things about this prayer:

1. The prayer is seen and described and written down “retrospectively” (after the fact) “from the vantage point of his deliverance.” So, “both his past petitions and his present thanksgiving are recorded.”
2. There is nothing about the physical aspect of his being in a great fish and being vomited out. The prayer is only about his inner spiritual thinking and meditation.
3. The prayer is sincere toward God, but never does Jonah clearly confess his own sin of rebellion against God and His will. He thinks about Jerusalem and the temple there, but there is still no clear thought about Nineveh, and the needs of the people there. Jonah still is far from understanding God’s will and plan.

As we get into that prayer, then, we see that Jonah does clearly recognize and pray to the one true God, “the Lord his God.” (If your translation has “the LORD” all in capital letters, that indicates that this is the special Hebrew name for God, often called “Yahweh.” Jonah used that special name four times in this short prayer, and it is used is verse 1 and verse 10, as well. Jonah kept faith with the one true God, even though he was still struggling with God’s specific plan for him, as we will see.

As a prophet, Jonah also knew and used God’s Word and had worshipped Him using the songbook, the hymnal of God’s people, the psalms. David had written many of them nearly 200 years before, and Jonah seems to have had them in mind as he was in the great fish for those three days. Many of the phrases he uses have parallels in the psalms and some might even have been direct quotes from psalms he remembered. (In the podcast I suggested keeping your Bible open to Jonah but also to the psalms, and I read from many of them. In this summary, I will simply list Psalm parallels, and you can look them up on your own, as you choose.)

In Jonah 2:2-3, Jonah knew to call upon the LORD in his distress “in the belly of Sheol.” He trusted that the Lord would hear and answer. (Sheol is a Hebrew word which can mean "the place of the dead.” Jonah must have felt near to death and not sure if he would survive. “Sheol” can also be a word for “hell” in some contexts, but not here, though Jonah may well have felt that he was in a “hellish” situation, in a great fish in the sea. See parallels in Psalm 18:3-6, a psalm of David, and Psalm 130:1.)

In Jonah 2:3, Jonah admits that it was really not the sailors but the Lord who had “cast” him “into the deep.” He says, in verse 4, to the Lord, “I am driven away from Your sight.” He had purposely tried to run away from God and now realizes what great agony he had brought upon himself and how much he needed the Lord from whom he had tried to escape. (See parallels in Psalm 31:22, another psalm of David.) How much Jonah wishes he could be in the “holy temple” in Jerusalem, where God would show His presence and he could hear God’s Word (Jonah 2:4 and 2:7). (See parallels again in Psalm 31:22 and Psalm 27:4-5.)

Again, Jonah thinks of how trapped he is in a “land whose bars could close upon him forever,” in death, in “the pit” (Jonah 2:5-6). (See the parallels in Psalm 69:1-3, still another psalm of David.) Yet, in Jonah 2:7, when his “life was fainting away,” Jonah “remembered the Lord,” and seemed to realize that the Lord could still “bring his life up from the pit.” He could still talk with the Lord in prayer, right where he was, and be heard and helped, through the Word of God that he knew, in these psalms. (See Psalm 5:7 and Psalm 77:9-16,19.)

What Jonah was going through is important for all of us when we go through turbulent times in our lives. We can go up and down in our thinking and feelings, from one moment to the next, as Jonah did. We can have times of great discouragement and depression, but remembering the Lord and His Word and His mercy and care can pull us up to hope again. (See Psalm 42, where the psalmist’s soul is “cast down and in turmoil” until he remembers God and His house and His steadfast love and mercy. See especially verses 4-8, where he is lifted up by His Lord and His hope, and yet needs to keep remembering His Lord, for he can slip back into discouragement. He mentions this in Psalm 42:11, again, and in Psalm 43:3-5.) Doesn’t that sound like Jonah’s thoughts, while in the belly of the great fish? Does that sound like you and me, too, at times in our lives?

We all need to keep “remembering the Lord” and what He really wants to give us all - His steadfast love and mercy and forgiveness, as we listen to His Word and trust in Him. (See another psalm of David, Psalm 103:1-13.) That’s why we need to keep studying His Word, as we are doing right now and as we do in worship, as we hear of the mercy and forgiveness of God. Dr. Roehrs, in his comments on Jonah 2, also points us to how often God told His Old Testament people (and us) to keep remembering Him and what He has done for us, in His rescue of His people from slavery in Egypt, (and His rescue of us all now through Jesus our Savior, above all). See Deuteronomy 7:18, 8:2, 8:18, 11:2-3, 24:9,18, and 22, 15:15, and 16:12, for example.

Finally, this message also got through to Jonah. He knew that “those who pay attention to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love” from God. (Jonah 2:8). (See the warning God gave to His own people in Hosea 4:1-3, when they did not know and remember and listen to Him. Does verse 2 sound like our own country, at times?)

In contrast, Jonah was finally trusting that the Lord was going to spare him, and he was already thanking the Lord for His mercy and making plans to sacrifice to the Lord and make promises and vows to Him that he would carry out in the future, when he was rescued (Jonah 2:9). (See parallels in Psalm 50:14-15 and 56:12-13 and 61:8.)

Jonah was also quoting from Psalm 3:8, another psalm of David, when he finally said, “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” And on the third day that Jonah was in the great fish, “The Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land” (Jonah 2:10). He was saved by His Lord, who who still cared about him. And we are saved by our Lord Jesus, as we keep trusting Him, too.

We will see, as we continue the story of Jonah, how well he does with his vows and promises and thanksgiving to His Lord. There is such a thing that is called “jailhouse religion” or “foxhole religion.” When people are in big trouble or danger, they sometimes get serious and call upon the Lord and make promises to Him, if He will only help them out. But as soon as they are out of danger, they forget all about their vows and good intentions and leave the Lord behind again. May the Lord help us to keep trusting in Him, staying faithful to Him. It is always the best for us and is our way of thanking Him for His mercy to us. And as God is merciful to us, we are called to merciful and caring to others, even those who treat us badly. See Luke 6:27-36. That is a message that Jonah still needs to learn, as we shall see.

Preparing for Worship - February 20, 2022

The Old Testament lesson for this Sunday is from Genesis 45:3-15 and tells us how forgiving Joseph was toward his brothers, though they had treated him so badly and finally sold him to be carried away as a slave to Egypt. He suffered much, but was also greatly blessed by God and knew that God allowed and guided all this to “preserve life” for many, including his own Israelite family, from whom eventually the Savior of the whole world would come.

Psalm 103:1-13, a psalm of David, emphasizes  the forgiving love of God and how He does not judge us on the basis of our many sins, but removes our sins and shows us mercy and compassion, as we seek to fear, love, and trust in Him. He is a compassionate heavenly Father who dearly loves His children.

In the Gospel lesson, Luke 6:27-38, another part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain, Jesus call us to have love and mercy toward others, including those who are enemies and treat us very badly. This is a very hard message, until we remember that God has already been very loving and merciful to us, in Christ our Savior. He now wishes us, as His children, to be merciful to others, even “the ungrateful and the evil,” as He has not condemned us, but forgiven us, in what Jesus has done for us.

The Epistle lesson is 1 Corinthians 15:21-26, 30-42 - the last of six readings from 1 Corinthians 12-15. We hear again of the certainty of our eternal future in Christ, and His return on the last day to do away with sin and Satan and death, and to raise and change  our bodies into glorified, imperishable, heavenly bodies. In the meantime, we are reminded that “bad company ruins good morals,” and to keep battling sin in our own lives, as we await His return.

Bible Study - Book of Jonah Part 3 - Jonah 1:4-17

We begin our study this week with Jonah on board a ship, trying to escape from the Lord and His will that he go to the Gentile, pagan city of Nineveh and share God’s message with the people there. God quickly interfered with Jonah’s plans by “hurling a great wind” and “tempest” on the Mediterranean Sea, so that the ship is in danger of breaking apart (Jonah 1:4).

The mariners, from a number of places and backgrounds, were very frightened by the storm and began to pray to their gods for help. This was a merchant ship, and so they also began to throw their cargo into the sea to lighten the load and keep the ship more stable. Jonah, though, went below deck and had fallen into a deep sleep.

It is not said how much he knew about the storm or why he was sleeping as he was. Some think he was exhausted from trying to run from God and just fell asleep. Others think he finally had some peace, having escaped God, and could more easily fall asleep. Still others think that he was feeling so bad about what he had done that his sleep was an escape from guilt and sorrow. (Jonah 1:5). (See how Luke said in Luke 22:45-46 that the disciples of Jesus were “sleeping for sorrow” in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus wanted and needed them to stay awake and watch and pray with Him.)

The captain of the ship needed the help of everyone, though, and woke up Jonah so that he could at least pray to his own god, too, for help. Maybe someone’s god would help them, so that they would not perish (Jonah 1:6). The sailors also decided that they should “cast lots” to see if they could tell who was responsible for their trouble. (This was a common practice in the ancient world, where people drew out stones or sticks or something else, to see who was the guilty person or the chosen person for a certain responsibility. God even allowed this at times or worked through such a process. See the story of Saul and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 14:41-45 and Proverbs 16:33 and even the choosing of the apostle to take the place of Judas in Acts 1:21-26. The Acts passage is the last time that “casting lots” is mentioned in the Bible. That is not the recommended way to make choices, as the Scriptures go on. We pray that God will guide us and then make the best choices we can, using our minds and the advice of others and being guided by the Word of God, above all.) In Jonah 1:7, though, God brought the truth and “the lot fell on Jonah.”

The sailors then began throwing all sorts of question at Jonah. You can read what they were asking in Jonah 1:8. They wanted to know how Jonah was related to this great evil storm that had come upon them. Jonah answered them very honestly and accurately: “I am a Hebrew” (a name going all the way back to Abram in Genesis 14:13, and his descendants, sometimes in a disparaging way, as in Genesis 39:14,16).

Jonah also said, “I fear the Lord (Yahweh) the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land,” and also admitted that “he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord.” This made the sailors “exceedingly afraid.” Most ancient people thought their gods only had power in certain places and ways, but Jonah described a God who had control everywhere - in the heavens and on land and even the sea that was giving them so much trouble. They wanted to know what they could do to Jonah, so that the sea would calm down, as it was becoming even “more and more tempestuous” (Jonah 1:9-11).

The ancients often thought they needed to appease their gods by making some sort of sacrifice to them. What would it take to get this god to make things calm down? Jonah answered, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea… for I know that it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” Only then, he thought, “the sea would quiet down” (Jonah 1:12).

Nevertheless, surprisingly, the sailors did not immediately throw Jonah overboard. They tried again to save themselves and Jonah by rowing even harder to get the ship back to dry land. The Hebrew says that they tried to “dig” their way through the sea, but it did not work, for the sea became even more and more stormy “against them” (Jonah 1:13). The next verse, Jonah 1:14, seems to indicate that they did not want to feel responsible for killing Jonah, even if all this trouble was his fault. They called upon Jonah’s God not to hold them accountable for helping take Jonah’s life, for, they said, “You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.” Jonah’s God was ultimately responsible for all this, they wished to say.

Finally, “they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea” and immediately, it seems, “the sea ceased from its raging” (Jonah 1:15) and  “then the men feared God exceedingly.” They were likely very afraid of this amazing, powerful God and what he could do. They also seemed to have awe and respect for this great God. “They offered a sacrifice to the Lord,” this God of Jonah, and even “made vows,” promises of some sort to Him (Jonah 1:16).

Many ancient people believed that there were many gods and goddesses, soo it would not be unusual to take in one more god that they respected. However, this was the one True God, the Lord, at work here, and maybe some of these pagan sailors actually came to faith in Him, by His grace, through what Jonah said and God did. Jonah did not want to witness to pagans, but God worked it out that Jonah was beginning to do just that, on this ship. God was going to get His will carried out, even if it was sometimes in spite of Jonah and his rebellious ways. (See Isaiah 65:1, where God had predicted that He would be seeking and finding people who were not seeking Him, including people of other nations. His plan, His desire was to be the Savior for all nations.)

Note also how the Lord’s care for people on the sea was a way of describing His concern, as the Creator of all, for people in other circumstances, as well.

• See Psalm 107:23-32, as part of a whole psalm about God’s steadfast love in a variety of situations.
• Think about how Jesus, in His ministry, more than once calmed the Sea of Galilee and rescued His disciples.
• See Mark 4:35-41. The disciples asked, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Clearly, Jesus was the Savior, God become man to rescue people.
• See also Mark 6:45-51, etc.

Finally, the Lord spared Jonah in a miraculous way, by “appointing a great fish to swallow up Jonah.” The sailors did not have to fear that they had killed Jonah. God still had work for Jonah to do in Nineveh, and so He rescued him from certain death in the sea, by having the great fish swallow him (Jonah 1:17).

Note that the Hebrew does not say “a whale” but “a great fish,” whatever kind God chose. Some have argued that whales cannot swallow people, and that there are very few whales in the Mediterranean Sea. Some whales can swallow people, though, and there are cases of this happening in the last few centuries. Large sharks can swallow people, too. People have survived this sort of thing, also. I can give you sources, if you want to read about such cases.

Also note that in Hebrew, three days and three nights can simply mean parts of three days. There is a story in Esther 4, in the Old Testament, where Queen Esther asks Jewish people to fast and “not eat or drink for three days, night or day.” On the third day, then, Esther approaches the King and is helped by him and fellow Jews are spared, though he could have killed her, for not waiting for him to call her, first. She does not wait three days and three nights. (See especially Esther 4:15-5:1.)

Jesus also refers to the story of Jonah as paralleling His own story. Jesus was only in the grave parts of three days. We will look at this more closely in another lesson. Finally, if God is God, as He is, the only one true God, He can do all things. He could and did provide the right “great fish” to swallow Jonah and kept Jonah safe and well for whatever time he was in the belly of that fish. Could God also provide for us, too, in difficult situations in our lives? He certainly can, if that is His plan and will.

Next week, we will hear what Jonah was thinking and praying about while in the great fish, and the way that God changed his attitude, at least to some degree. As you read Chapter 2, think also about what part of the Scripture his prayer sounds like.

Preparing for Worship - February 13, 2022

The Psalm and the Old Testament Lesson for this Sunday are very similar to each other. Psalm 1 pictures a person who delights in the Lord and in His Law, His Word, and is like a tree planted by streams of water, which prospers and bears fruit and does not wither away. In contrast, the wicked walk and stand and sit in the way of evil and sin and scoff at the Lord and His will for them. They will be like chaff, like straw that blows away with the wind in God’s judgment against them.

Jeremiah 17:5-8, the Old Testament Lesson, also pictures the one “whose trust is in the Lord” as like a tree planted by water, who does well and bears fruit in good times and even in times of heat and drought. The Lord is his Fountain of Living Water (see v. 15 and John 7:37-38), and he is blessed. In contrast, the one who turns away from the Lord and trusts in himself and other human beings and human accomplishments will be like a parched and dying shrub in the wilderness. He is under a curse, because “all flesh is like withering grass” (Isaiah 40:6-8) on its own, and the human heart, by itself, is “deceitful” and “desperately sick.” Only the Lord can “save” and “heal” (Jeremiah 17:9,14).

The Gospel Lesson, Luke 6:17-26, is a part of Jesus’ sermon on a “level place,” a plain, in contrast with His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), though both are similar in some of the content. Jesus helped and healed many, and He taught that those who are spiritually “poor” and “hungry” and “sorrowful,” who know that they need Him, and who are “hated” and “reviled,” because of their trust in Him, will have heavenly blessings. In contrast, there will ultimately be woes and trouble for those who are “rich” and “full” and “laugh” and are “spoken well of,” only in terms of this sinful human world and its desires.

The Epistle, 1 Corinthians 15:(1-11)12-20, continues a series of readings from this later part of 1 Corinthians. Paul speaks of the certainty of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, because hundreds of people saw Jesus alive after He rose from the dead. Without the resurrection of Jesus, forgiveness and new life and hope for the future for us and our loved ones who have died would be gone. But, “in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, as the Firstfruits,” guaranteeing our resurrection and eternal future in Him. Paul knows this because he himself also saw the risen Lord and knows His promises. (See also Paul’s own words in Romans 10:9-11.)

Words of Comfort & Hope in the Loss of a Loved One

Words of Comfort and Hope in the Loss of a Loved One

John 11

Matthew 28:20

Hebrews 13:5

Philippians 4:4,13-14

Preparing for Worship - February 6, 2022

The Old Testament lesson for this Sunday is Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13). Isaiah sees a vision of God Himself in heaven in great glory, with angels singing of His holiness. Isaiah knows that he is in big trouble, as a poor miserable sinner in the presence of the King, the Lord of hosts. An angel comes and touches his lips with a burning coal, bringing God’s forgiveness for his sin and guilt. Only then can he respond to God’s call: “Here am I. Send me."

The Gospel lesson, Luke 5:1-11, is the parallel to the Old Testament lesson. Simon (Peter) is a fisherman, and Jesus borrows his boat and teaches from there. Then Jesus enables Peter to catch a huge number of fish. Peter can only think of how sinful and unworthy he is to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus. Jesus takes away Peter’s fears and calls him to be “catching men,” and Peter is now able to follow Jesus.

The Psalm is Psalm 138, a psalm of David. David praises God for helping him again in a difficult situation. His whole heart is full of thanks, and there is no room for false gods - only God’s Name and Word. David humbly knows that the Lord will somehow carry out His purposes for him; and one day (with the coming of the Messiah) other kings who hear the Words of God’s mouth will give Him thanks and praise, as well.

The Epistle continues readings from 1 Corinthians 12-15, from chapter 14:12b-20. Paul talks about worship and how important it is to focus not on what makes us feel good as individuals, but what builds up the body of believers and helps instruct even “outsiders” in Christ and the faith, using our spirits and minds in prophecy (sharing the Word of God.) Then we can all pray and sing praise and say “Amen” to our Lord together, in thanksgiving.

Bible Study - Book of Jonah Part 2 - Jonah 1:1-4; 4:2

We begin our study with a little more background on the Book of Jonah. As you read through it, notice that most of it is a narrative, a story of what happens with Jonah and God and the people of Nineveh. It is like the stories of earlier prophets like Elijah and Elisha. There are prophecies, but most of them come through the events in the lives of these real and true prophets, like Jonah. Contrast that with later prophetic books like Isaiah, where there are many direct prophetic passages and fewer stories of events. This ties Jonah in more with earlier prophets and their true stories.

I mention this because many modern commentators say that Jonah was written very late in Old Testament times and is not a true story, but only a parable to make a point, sort of like Aesop’s Fables. Such thinking is entirely wrong and comes because too many people today deny that there can be miracles or anything that cannot be proven in a scientific way. These people reject many other things in the Bible, too, on the same faulty basis.

As Christians we believe that God is God and with Him, nothing is impossible, including the miracles in the story of Jonah and in the rest of the Scriptures. It is very important that our Lord Jesus also speaks of Jonah as a real person who experienced what is said of him in the Book of Jonah. In fact, as we will see in a later lesson, Jesus spoke of Jonah’s experience as prophetic of His own in a very special way.  

Every Word of Scripture is important, and that is evident as the Book of Jonah begins, as well. Turn again to Jonah, Chapter 1. In the original Hebrew language, the first word is one that is usually translated, “Now.” Unfortunately, that word is omitted in the NIV and other modern translations. It is in the ESV translation of Jonah 1:1 : “Now the Word of the Lord came to Jonah…” But the ESV is not consistent in translating this word, either. The only translation that seems to include it regularly, from the Hebrew, is the old King James translation from hundreds of years ago. If you looked at a King James Bible, you would find the word “Now” in Joshua 1:1, Judges 1:1, Ruth 1:1, 1 Samuel 1:1, and others places.

One commentator (Keil) says, “This was the standing formula with which historical events were linked on to one another.” The historical events of the five books of Moses are given, “and now” the historical book of Joshua follows, and so forth. The fact that Jonah starts with this same Hebrew word indicates that it is also one of the same “historical books,” following those of earlier days. It is not a fable or parable, but true history.

Jonah 1:1 continues: “the Word of the Lord came to Jonah.” This is a phrase used 100 times or more in the Old Testament when God had something to say to one of the prophets. His Words are recorded in verse 2, as He communicates with Jonah, the son of Amittai. This is clearly the same Jonah we heard about last week in 2 Kings 14:25, who had the same father. Jonah is called to “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city.”

Nineveh was truly a “great city,” about 500 miles to the East of Jerusalem and the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and the largest city of the known Western world of that time, according to ancient historians. Three other cities were very close and were often considered part of Nineveh. Together, the length of the city was about 25 miles and the breadth about 15 miles.

Jonah was to “call out against it, for their evil has come up before Me,” the Lord said. We are not told in this book what the nature of their evil was, but other Biblical prophets tell us much. The prophet Nahum speaks of the Assyrians “plotting evil against the Lord,” great cruelty and plundering in the way they treated conquered people, prostitution and forms of witchcraft, commercial exploitation, and of course, false gods and idols that they worshipped. There was much evil to warn against.

Jonah did “arise,” but to flee “away from the presence of the Lord,” to Tarshis (Jonah 1:3). It is possible that Jonah was trying to go to the city of Tarsus, to the Northwest, the city where much later Saul (Paul) was born. More likely, Jonah was trying to go as far to the West as one could go in the ancient Western world, to Tartessus, a port in Spain, at the other end of the Mediterranean Sea.

As a prophet, he stood before the Lord to do His will. (See what Elijah said in 1 Kings 18:15. He had to obey the Lord, “before whom he stood,” and go to see King Ahab, who wanted to kill him.) Maybe Jonah imagined that if he was far away from God’s presence, he would no longer be obligated to do what God wanted.

That was foolish thinking, of course. Jonah surely knew of the Psalms of David, already written and used for a long time among God’s people. In Psalm 139, David had spoken of how the Lord knew all about him and that there was no place he could go to get away from Him. See Psalm 139:2-5 and 7-10. Jonah was determined to get away from God, no matter what, though. So, he went to Joppa, along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and paid for a fare to go by boat to Tarshish. (This was likely a cargo ship, not a passenger ship, as we will hear, but Jonah takes this opportunity to get far away from God.)

Why was Jonah so unwilling to go to Nineveh? Look ahead to Jonah 4:2. The Assyrians were the most dangerous enemies of Israel, even though in Jonah’s time they were preoccupied with other things and were not such trouble. The Jews greatly feared them, though, and they were obviously not part of God’s chosen, special people. Jonah did know the truth about the Lord’s love and mercy for people, but seemed to want it just for the Jews. He did not want to help the Assyrians, just in case they would listen and repent of their evils and receive mercy if he went to them as God wanted. Some think that he was even fearful that if God paid too much attention to Gentiles, to non-Jews, He might forget about His own people.

God would not do that, but He did give and would continue to give strong warnings to His chosen people that if they kept resisting Him and His will, judgment could come for them, too. See, for example, God’s Word of warning through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 18:7-11, to the people of Judea, See also their evil response, which would eventually lead to the Babylonian Captivity for the Jews.

Already this early in the Book of Jonah, we can begin to see, from a New Testament perspective, what the prophesy of this Book of Jonah was about. God did care about all people, and if the Jews, like Jonah, kept resisting and rejecting God’s plans, there would only be more trouble for them, but more blessings for the Gentiles, many of whom would listen to the Lord.

This is seen in a New Testament story in Acts 10:5ff. The early Christian leader, Peter, was in Joppa, the same city from which Jonah fled so long before. Peter is a Jew who is now following Christ the Savior, but even he is having trouble reaching out to non-Jews. God gives him a vision of many animals that Jews considered unclean and would never eat.  God tells him to kill and eat some of this food, because He has made all foods clean. About this time, people come from a Gentile, non-Jewish, Roman centurion, who wants Peter to come and talk with him. Peter goes, though it is very hard for him, because it had been “unlawful for a Jew to associate with or visit anyone of another nation.” Peter said, “God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean” (Acts 10:27-28). Peter preaches the Good News of Jesus to these non-Jews and many came to faith and were baptized. The Good News really was for everyone of every nation, not just for the Jews.

God was teaching this message to the Jew, Peter, even as He had been trying to teach it to Jonah, so long before. If you look back to Jonah 1:4, then, God had not given up on the Jews or Jonah. He is not going to let Jonah get away, but “hurls a great wind“ that stops the ship that Jonah is on from making progress.

We will pick up with the story next week. The Lord “is a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,” even for rebellious Jonah (Jonah 4:2). That means there is hope for us, too, even in our struggles and for others we are concerned about.