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The Harvester Podcast is brought to you by the Florida School of Preaching. Listen weekly to take a dive into biblical topics and thoughtful studies on things that matter to our eternal souls.
Welcome to the Harvester podcast, a work of the Florida School of Preaching.
I am your host, Steven Ford, and along with me today is my co-host,
Forest Antemesaris
This season, we are focusing on the minor prophets.
And we're titling this, majoring in the minors.
It's not that those messages are unimportant, it's just that the messages are relatively
shorter than the major prophets.
This is season five, episode number six, where we'll be studying the book of Jonah.
Forrest is gonna go ahead and lead us off on the book of Jonah.
Forrest, where do we start?
Yeah, so probably Jonah chapter one would be the best place but not especially Jonah is
interesting character He might be one of the most well known of the minor prophets because
it's kind of just like this compelling Narrative and I think like my you know, my little
my son is three years old knows who Jonah is He doesn't know who guy guy is, know what I
mean?
So just that idea of getting swallowed by the great fish and everything that goes on with
that It's very dramatic
But Jonah's unique because it's not really like, like him actually preaching.
We've got like one sentence, right?
The rest of the prophets, you've got all this material, but God tells them to speak and
the Oracle of the Lord and all that, you know, and Jonah really is almost like narrative
prophecy, kind of like Elijah or Elisha, where you kind of see more of their life and how
God interacts with them and stuff like that, you know?
But we know from the book of second Kings, cause Jonah is mentioned,
You know, in Jonah chapter 1 verse 1, Jonah the son of Amittai, he's also mentioned in 2
Kings 14 verse 25.
So that kind of gives us the date.
He was prophesying during the reign of Jeroboam II, and he reigned from about 782 BC to
753 BC.
And from what I could see, most scholars date Jonah's, you know, the content of Jonah
occurring around 780 to 760 BC.
And, you know, famously he is in chapter 1,
The Lord tells him the word Lord comes to him and tells him to rise and go to Nineveh that
great city and cry out against it for their wickedness has come up before me.
So Nineveh the capital city of the nation of Syria, of course, which later especially
would give Israel a lot of issues and eventually would be destroyed by God at the hands of
Nebuchadnezzar.
before that as Syria ends up later in its history, you know,
conquering the Northern Kingdom, sending the people away into captivity, bringing their
own people in, intermingling, all that every kind of stuff, turn it into, you know, the
Samaritans that we read about in the New Testament.
But they were, you know, a very godless nation, full of pride, pomp, very ruthless on the
battlefield.
That was kind of all their kind of, that's what they were known for.
But God says, tells Jonah to go and cry out against it, right?
And
And of course he doesn't do that.
Well known to us, verse three, instead he flees to Tarshish, goes down into a ship going
to Tarshish.
And it even says that he's fleeing, verse three, from the presence of the Lord, which is
kind of impossible, right?
Like you can't really like flee from God.
You can't run away from God, which of course is like the whole irony of this whole thing
is Jonah as a prophet should know better.
You can't run from God, but that's exactly what he tries to
tipped.
Yeah, and Tarshish, of course, most most books would say that that's Spain, which is like
literally the total opposite direction of where Nineveh is from from Israel.
And then, of course, you know, we're going to read all this, but, Jonah's only four
chapters in the book pretty much outlines according to the chapters.
Chapter one, you've got Jonah's running from his responsibility and the storm at sea.
Jonah, Chapter two is pretty much all just Jonah's prayer.
Jonah three.
Jonah actually preaches to the Ninevites and you see the response.
And then Jonah chapter four, you see Jonah's anger at the Lord for relenting from the
disaster.
He said he would bring up, bring on the people.
But in Jonah chapter one, after he goes in the ship, there's a storm at sea.
The men are trying to figure out, okay, who is it?
Why is it that the storm came upon us?
They cast lots and the lot falls on Jonah.
And they say, you know,
Jonah chapter one, verse eight, where are you from?
What's your country?
What's your people?
Why is this trouble come upon us?
Verse nine, I'm a Hebrew.
I fear the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.
And there's some irony there too, because if you really fear the Lord, if you respect Him
and you obey Him, why would you run away from Him?
You know, why would you do the opposite of what He told you to do?
And then so Jonah tells them, hey, throw me into the ocean.
You know, it's my fault that the storm's coming upon the ship and the ship is sinking.
He says in verse pick me up, throw me in.
And finally they do, you know, and they end up crying out to the Lord and praying to God
ah not to let them perish.
And there's irony there too, because it's like these pagan sailors are almost more
religious than Jonah is and more dependent upon God than Jonah is.
And even in verse 16 of verse chapter one, it says, the men feared the Lord exceedingly
and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.
So we see that Jonah's presence on their ship
kind of ironically through his disobedience leads to their obedience.
They're like, wow, there is a God who made the heaven and the earth and everything and is
powerful and is real.
And they're like fearing him and making vows to him now and almost sacrificing to him and
kind of almost like converted almost, you know?
I think that's one of the great ironies of the book of Jonah.
It's like the preacher who didn't want to convert anybody, but everybody talks to
converts.
You know what I mean?
I think there's a great lesson for that.
in that, where the power is really not in us.
The power is not in the messenger.
The power is in the message.
The power is in God.
And I think you see that a lot through the book of Jonah.
There's another interesting thing I think that might bear a little bit of attention in
that calamity has purpose.
So here these men are about to die and they're like, what is going on?
Jonah identifies as you mentioned, hey look, I'm a Hebrew, I worship a guy that created
everything, which would have been probably astounding to them because they would have been
probably, you know, who's the sea god, who's the sky god, the harvest god.
He's like, no, I worship a guy that made everything.
And then as a result,
They're like, okay, we need to now sacrifice to the Lord and make these vows or promises.
Hey, if we can get out of this, basically we won't do these things, whatever.
And it just demonstrates that sometimes hardship, calamity has purpose and value.
So there's a big question all the time.
What is the purpose of evil, pain, and suffering?
Why does God allow that if he's a perfect God?
I think an example like this can demonstrate that it does have value and purpose, other
than just reminding us of the frailty of life and death.
it does make you think about there is someone or something far more powerful than me,
something that has more control than I have.
And so there's someone to whom I must give my attention and reverence and all those sorts
of things.
think this passage in chapter one, at very least, helps us to see that there is some value
in suffering.
For sure, yeah, that's a great point.
and you see in the book of Jonah when they throw him overboard, Jonah 1 verse 17 says,
Lord prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah.
And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
We'll come back to that later.
That's a significant passage.
But from the belly of the fish, you go into chapter two.
Chapter two, essentially the whole chapter, is just Jonah's prayer to the Lord.
You know, he says he cries out in his affliction.
Verse number two, he cried out out of the belly of Sheol.
Verse number two verse three.
He was cast into the deep the waves were passing over him verse four I said I was cast out
of God's sight verse five the water surrounded me even in my soul verse six I went down
even to the mooring of the mountains And this is my opinion.
I think I've read like other people believe this as well Obviously, I'm not gonna be
dogmatic about it.
But you know when you read chapter two to me I think it becomes clear that Jonah
It's not like Jonah like hit the water and then as soon as he hit the surface of the
water, then the fish like took them off the top, like skimmed them off the top of the
water.
It seems to me like Jonah actually like sunk down into the water and whether or not he
could swim.
I don't know, but even if you're a good swimmer, I mean, the storm was so bad that the
ship almost didn't make it.
So he's throwing the water in the storm.
Some of the things he says in this prayer makes me think that he actually sunk.
Like was drowning and then the fish actually isn't like punishment.
The fish is like mercy from god like hey, this is your salvation The fish is going to save
your life, you know um and and that's what scoops him up and allows him to to obviously as
we see in chapter three to get spit out Sorry chapter two verse ten gets spit out on dry
land.
Um, but he had I think he sunk a little bit before then and then obviously Once the great
fish swallows you
I mean, you're, that's probably a little claustrophobic.
You know, you're not.
Yeah, probably at least a little bit.
like even like a huge fish like a fish's stomach is still pretty like tight, you know what
I mean?
Like there's not it's not
like a baggy sleeping bag.
Yeah, no, and it's not like you know I don't know if you ever seen like the old Pinocchio
when they're in the whale's belly right yeah And it's like a living room and there's like
they've got like furniture in there and stuff like Jonah's not chilling No, and it's
something of the fish like this is it's probably tight people said Probably he started to
get digested a little bit after three days like his skin was probably bleached and like
waterlogged and he probably stunk and like But that's better than drowning you know
and dying, I guess.
Like, he still had a job to do, but...
That's an interesting thought about whether or not he actually sank down the water.
It was always in my mind that he's thrown overboard, he probably flails for a couple of
seconds, maybe up to a minute, and then boom, he's swallowed.
Either way, I mean, guess if you're down, if you're sinking, you've probably given up
hope.
I'm done, and then you get swallowed by this whale, you find some little remnant of oxygen
in there.
Or,
if he's at the top and gets swallowed, I mean, imagine that you're in the depths of the
sea, then before you know it, you're not anymore.
What just happened to me?
Where am I?
You're in a fish.
Yeah.
Welcome.
um But this was uh a moment for Jonah where he kind of got back.
I wouldn't say right, but he definitely changed.
He repented.
Because in verse seven, he says, my soul fainted within me.
I remember the Lord.
And my prayer went up to you and your holy temple.
Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy.
But I will sacrifice to you the voice of thanksgiving.
I will pay what I vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.
So he has this moment where comes, it kind of comes back to God, hey, I need to serve the
Lord, not my own selfish, you know, motives.
And then verse 10, the Lord spoke to the fish and then vomited Jonah onto dry land.
So now we're going to see, coming into chapter three, that he preaches to Nineveh.
But you got anything else on chapter two?
Yeah, I love that there are these various places in the Minor Prophets, and the Major as
well, that the prophets will make reference to God's location.
And I love that here in chapter one, he says, I worship the God that made heaven and
earth, uh or the sea and dry land, rather, excuse me.
And then here he says in verse seven, chapter two, verse seven, his prayer came unto thee,
he says,
into thine holy temple.
And so there's, at least it seems, this kind of reverence recognizing where God is, who he
is.
And perhaps that may indicate the change that's happening in his heart.
You know, as he's running from God, maybe he's thinking, you know, in his mind, whatever
he's thinking about God and this mission he's gonna be put on, why do I have to do this?
Why would God make me do this?
Maybe seeing God as unjust or, you know, whatever the case.
But then it's like, now I see who's in control.
It kind of reminds me of a Job scenario.
Now I'm brought low.
humbled by God.
ah And so now I recognize the holiness of God as such.
Yeah, sometimes Jonah's called the reluctant prophet or whatever, know, and I think you
see that here where there's this stubbornness and this pushback, God humbles him, he's
like, okay, whatever.
But I still, in my opinion, I almost see him rolling his eyes preaching.
He's not totally committed, right?
And you even see in chapter four that he's mad that God saves these people, right?
And God is gonna give him other kind of natural lessons to kind of humble him some more,
you know?
Which obviously he needed, but...
Jonah chapter three, so he's on dry land.
The word of the Lord comes to him a second time.
Arise, go to Nineveh.
The great city, preach to it the message that I tell you.
So Jonah goes up.
Nineveh is a great city, three days in extent.
Verse four, and I want to bring this up because, well, verse four, Jonah began to enter
the city on the first day's walk.
He cried out and said, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
That's the only thing we read Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh.
And I bring that up because I was teaching Jonah one time in a Bible class.
And before we read chapter three, said, I just asked the class, I was like, what was
Jonah's sermon?
And almost everybody said, repent.
That's what the people did.
I'm not saying Jonah didn't tell them to repent.
I'm just saying it's not recorded in the Bible that Jonah ever told them to repent.
All he says is 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
And I think that, you know, later we're going to see that the king, you know, the people
of Nineveh proclaim a fast, verse five.
As six, the king arose and he brings out, he writes this letter to everybody, which starts
in verse seven that says, neither man nor beast, herd nor flock taste anything.
Do not let them eat or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth.
Cry mightily to God.
Yes, let everyone turn from his evil ways and from the violence of his hands.
Who can tell if God will turn and relent?
and turn away from his fierce anger so that we may not perish.
So there's even almost like a sense of like, what if this works?
You know what I mean?
Like Jonah didn't prescribe them the remedy.
He just was like, Hey, 40 days and then it will be overthrown.
It's almost like, it almost like if you preach a sermon on hell without an invitation, you
know I mean?
Like you were just like, Hey, hell's hot.
It's horrible.
You're going, that's the price of sin.
And just left it at that.
There's probably some people who'd be like, okay, like
Let's fix this, you know, like let's remedy this but Jonah I think you just see more of
his reluctance.
He doesn't even tell them like I he did what God wanted to do but just like like The he's
not even like a good preacher.
I guess is the point that I'm trying to make you know what I mean?
Like, yeah
I've okay.
So let me throw this at you.
Yeah.
When I think about Jonah, there's two things that I think about his, his preaching and
then the reception of it.
So it's like, okay, what did the people have in their minds when they heard the message?
What did Jonah have in his mind when he's preaching the message?
So there's a, there's already a treasury of history for them to be able to comb through in
their minds.
So is Nineveh thinking of Egypt?
Man, I don't want to be Egypt.
And
ah Or is it's potentially Jonah thinking of Egypt maybe let's say he's like, yeah God is
gonna plagues destruction.
Absolutely.
It's coming.
Canaanite is coming Yeah, total raising of the land.
Yeah Could they be thinking rehab?
Mm-hmm Because both of those are still Jehovah.
Yeah, but which aspect of his
personality are you expecting to see?
Jonah was absolutely looking forward to fighting.
I cannot wait.
so when I see him preaching this message, I see him almost preaching it with glee.
That yes, because there was a history with the Syria.
They were a horrible, cruel people.
And most of, if not all of their contributions to
world history and society is cruelty.
What they did on the battlefield, how they treat their prisoners.
mean, when you walked into an Assyrian temple or a palace, it would have been just filled
with reliefs of completely destroying people.
So maybe he's thinking, they're finally going to get their comeuppance.
And I can't wait to sit here and watch it.
And then maybe none of us thinking like, oh, the God that created everything is on our
case now.
we better get it together.
So they're both envisioning aspects of God that are true and real.
And both were, I guess could have been expected, but just depends on the heart.
And so they had the right heart to respond the right way, even though like you pointed
out, Jonah never gave them the recipe to fix their issue.
Well, I guess we'll just fast and pray and repent and stop doing wicked and maybe it'll
work, you
So could they have already heard that at some point before?
Yeah, I wonder.
I wonder.
It almost seems like they have, you know, and but again, like Jonah and she was a great, I
think, point here for preachers, like the power really is in the message, not the message.
know, like he's so he's soggy, wet and stinky and just like preaching this message that
nobody wants to hear.
But like the whole city saved, you know, so really just like, are you willing to just say
what God says?
almost is like you know what I mean?
Like if you're the preacher, like that's really your job.
Like that's extent of your job.
The gospel does the heavy lifting.
It never matters about the person.
I do understand that people, like some people's presentations, probably more captivating
or, you know, and that sort of thing.
But if there's a lost soul, it does not matter how captivating or boring or dry a person
is.
If you just stand there and read in a monotone voice the scriptures for a person, know the
answer.
If they are a hungry soul looking for the truth, they can be saved by the gospel, no
matter how captivating you are.
amen to that.
You are.
And the honest thing about Paul is that some people are preaching the gospel, they're
trying to add misery to me.
But he's like, hey, look, at least the gospel is being preached and souls could be saved
even though their motivation was not right, which shows the power is always in the
message.
Absolutely.
Amen to that and we see that like verse 10 of Jonah 3 God saw their works that they turned
from their evil way God relented from the disaster that he said he would bring upon them
and he did not do it So there you go.
So they you know, they repent the king kind of makes that decree They all repent and
they're saved from this disaster now Verse 4, know chapter 4 is the last chapter here We
see Jonah's anger that it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he became angry imagine that
dude like imagine
You know, we're both preachers.
imagine like preaching a gospel, you know, preaching a sermon and somebody responds and
wants to get baptized and you're mad about it.
man, not this guy.
This is an ideal gospel meeting.
Yeah.
shortest sermon that you can preach and the entire city from the king down.
Could you imagine like you go out to the city here, city square, and you're like, look
man, these people, they're ridiculous.
They're pushing all this with a weird ungodly agenda.
Look guys, know, repent or else.
And the Sunday morning following the entire city is lined up.
to repent and be baptized in the Christ.
And you're like, see, I'm tired of this.
That would be like the craziest thing to be like angry at all these people.
And that's what I really like Jonah's I think Jonah's heart you see is not in good place
because You're mad that people got saved.
You know what I mean?
Like that's that's pretty That's that's some bitterness And he prays and says Lord was
this not what I said when I was still in my country Therefore I fled to Tarshish for I
know that you were a gracious and merciful God Slow to anger and abundant and
loving-kindness one who relents from doing harm Those are the attributes we like about God
and that's the attributes of a God that made Jonah mad
And he says in verse three, please take my life from me.
It's better for me to die than to live.
Like you're so mad that the Ninevites got saved that you just want God to like take you
out of your misery.
That's wild.
So, looking at this, and I was just about to write this down.
You have him, Jonah is on the mission of God to go and preach.
He preaches the message that God told him to preach, but he does not possess the mercy
that God has.
Here's these people who are made in God's image.
Though they were cruel people, I can understand where he could be coming from.
My people have been suffering at the hands of these people who've been cruel to the whole
world for
generations.
And now all of a sudden, God, you're gonna just spare them?
But that's what mercy and grace are all about.
It's not a fair sort of balance.
not, well, you gotta work out, do it this way, do it this It's like, no, if you repent,
God forgives.
That's it.
Exactly.
And if it was fair, nobody would have a shot.
Not even Jonah here.
Oh, exactly, not even Jonah, not even the message.
Yeah, for sure.
That's a great point.
um So Jonah goes out of the city.
He meets a little shelter a little booth for himself He sits in the shade notice verse 5
to see what might become of the city So he's even like hoping like maybe Maybe he'll slip
up and they will get the son of a Gamora treatment, know, so he's got his popcorn He's got
his little seat.
He's waiting to see if the city gets destroyed And then God teaches him another lesson
here chapter 4 verse 6.
He prepares a plant
to give Jonah shade.
Jonah was grateful for the plant, but then the morning came, God sent a worm, the plant
withered, and then the sun rose, God sent a wind, the sun beat on Jonah's head, he grew
faint, he wished he would die, the Bible says he wished death for himself and said, is
better for me to die than to live.
So Jonah is like, oh, like he's just kind of like moping and.
He says, just put me out of my misery.
If you're not going to give me shade, if you're going to let the worm eat the plant and
then send the wind, just kill me.
And God says, verse 9, is it right for you to be angry about the plant?
Said it is right for me to be angry, even to death.
But the Lord said, you have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made
it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.
And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city in which are more than 120,000 persons who
cannot discern between their right hand and their left?
and much livestock.
And I love that the Book of Jonah ends with a question from God, and you don't get Jonah's
response.
It's almost like a mic drop moment, right?
Because there's nothing, the conversation's over.
Like, it really just shows the foolishness of Jonah that he's more upset about a plant
dying because it served him than he is about 120,000 plus people being saved whom he did
not like.
And I think it just demonstrates the of just the selfishness and the lack of
perspective.
Oh, absolutely.
One of the things that Jonah was not aloof to mercy at all because he seemed to have at
least a measure of it with the mariners.
Hey guys, throw me overboard so that you guys can live.
And so he understood self-sacrifice.
He understood mercy for those guys.
You guys should live.
It's not fair that you should die on my behalf.
But then later on, after he sees God was merciful with the mariners, they survived.
He experiences God's mercy with him.
and that he's vomited back up on land, he didn't die in the sea.
Now, seeing those two episodes of mercy, he still doesn't get it.
Like God is not a respecter of persons.
He was kind of these mariners.
They weren't God's people.
And though Jonah was, he literally ran from God.
He was still merciful to him.
And it at least to me demonstrates that any one of us can
claim to be God's people and have a completely backwards view of God and ourselves.
Jonah was like completely mixed up on God.
He was hoping that God was gonna be an Israel only sort of a God.
know, yeah, God get us and he would be some sort of bigoted God.
Destroy all those people, whoever those people could be in our minds, but save us, because
we're good, they're bad.
And really the idea is none of us and none of ourselves are good people.
We can be good if we do what God says.
And so could they for that matter.
And anybody, no matter if you're God's people or not, if you disobey God, then you're
putting yourself at enmity with God, period.
Yeah, and I think that's really the Christian mindset is different because I think a lot
of people they want mercy from God But they don't want that same mercy for their enemies
or for the people that don't like or whatever and the Christian mindset Hey, we pray for
we pray for our enemies.
We want our enemies to be saved Jesus on the cross father forgive them.
They don't know what they're doing, know, Stephen when he's getting martyred, know God
don't hold us against them, know Where it's easy to kind of get personal and get
vindictive and get petty But it's a wait a second
I am in no better, like you said, I'm not better than these people.
I'm saved by grace and the same grace could save them.
And that's our goal, right?
As Christians is to spread that message.
So, but obviously we see here Jonah missing that and learning the lesson.
um So I guess just some lessons that came into my mind.
We already talked about these, some of these, but you know, what do we really see in the
book of Jonah and how does it apply and stuff?
So one I think is you see God's sovereignty, that God's in control, you know,
At the beginning Jonah said, you know, the God who created the heavens and the earth,
everything, you know.
um But in the text, it's very clear that you see God like controlling things.
In chapter one, verse four and verse 15, God sends the storm.
The storm is not just like coincidence or happenstance.
God sends it.
And then the lot falls on Jonah, which is kind of a theme throughout the Old Testament,
that even something that seems like like a game of chance or something, God, like in his
providence, is able to
let it result in what actually it should fall on, right?
So Jonah's identified.
He controls the fish.
Chapter one, verse 17, he prepared the fish.
So like he had it ready.
That fish, obviously about this, that fish hatched from an egg, like 50 years maybe before
Jonah was like in the ocean or however long it took.
You know what I mean?
Like God from however long was.
He had this fish prepared.
Like this is like talk about providence and sovereignty.
just, it blows the mind.
And then chapter two, verse 10, he spoke to the fish and told them to spit Jonah out.
Jonah chapter four, verse number six, the Lord prepared a plant and made it come up and
grow.
Jonah chapter four, verse seven, the Lord God prepared a worm that damaged the plant.
verse, eight of Jonah chapter four,
God prepared a wind, right?
So God is like in his providence and his sovereignty, he is showing that he's in control.
He's in charge.
All these different things are happening.
And you know, run it.
You could try your best to run away from this God, but it's literally impossible.
And some, you know, Psalm 139 talks about that.
If I go to heaven, you're there.
If I go to Sheol, you're there.
If I'm awake, you're there.
If I'm asleep, you're there.
If I go to the bottom of the ocean, you're there.
Like you cannot flee from, where can I flee from your spirit?
So you see God's sovereignty, you see that God's in control.
You also see God's love for all people.
Like you said, God's love wasn't just for Israel, right?
He showed compassion on all nations, even the corrupt and godless Assyrians, and uh that
He loved them so much, He sent them a messenger, right?
So that they could be saved.
And not only that, He was willing that if they repented, He would relent.
And so you see, you know, God's love that He's not a respecter of persons.
He shows no partiality.
And I think that's a huge thing.
um And I think something that we need to remind ourselves, because it's easy, you know,
even as Christians, it's easy for us to show partiality, but we're not supposed to show
any partiality either.
absolutely, we should be balancing fear in the way we see things.
And I wonder if we're not like Jonah sometimes where we're kind of like picking and
choosing who we want to share the gospel with and we're kind of picking and choosing who
we think would be a good candidate for eternal life and you know like not though not them
not those people over there not that group whatever it could be easy to get into but it's
like Jonah syndrome you know is sinful really and it's ridiculous as Christians.
Yeah, it's very easy to slip into this sort of a mindset.
As you were talking, I was thinking about how we get this way, especially in, I can't
speak to the years prior to my ability to remember them, but I would say over the last
like 15 or 20 years politically, there seems like a kind of a void in the more moderate
kind of middle of the line sort of people with the way we think politically and socially.
And people can get really out of whack when it comes to judgment and certain things, when
it comes to our political leanings and the teaching and preaching the gospel.
You put up a group of whoever it is, the opposite of what you believe, politically,
socially, economically, and we are almost like hateful toward these people.
No, these are people who are made in the image of God, that God loves and wants to be
saved.
He wants a fellowship with them for all eternity.
And so I should look at a person and see only your political leanings, know, what side of
the line you're on, what are your economic policies, what are your social goals, what is,
what team do you root for, you all this kind of stuff.
Jades are thinking when in reality, what God is needing Jonah to see is these are souls.
It doesn't matter what they were doing prior to you coming here to preach.
they could have their knives dripping with the blood of enemies in their hands.
And God says, yeah, I want those people to be saved.
I want them to be saved.
so.
That's a point.
Yeah, Jonah represents the worst in us.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
We can be sometimes.
So I can be Jonah sometimes.
It's a time, for sure.
I love to be the Ninevites in this story.
Oh, look at me and my wickedness.
I repented.
Yeah.
But sometimes I'm the one who is uh resentful toward other people, hesitant to go and
preach to other people because I have these leanings that jade my ability to just see
God's unyielding, fervent, burning love for someone.
That's a great point.
And I think you brought the political thing up.
Sometimes I think we put the cart before the horse.
absolutely.
Like my goal is not to convert people from Democrat party to Republican party.
You know what I mean?
Like as a preacher, as a Christian, like that's not my, that's not my goal.
My goal is to convert sinners into saints, right?
By exposing them to the gospel and allow them to be saved.
Now, I think you, maybe you could argue, oh, well, when you do that, your political views
on things might change.
Sure.
But that comes after.
Right?
Like you gotta, you gotta know God, you gotta know the gospel.
You need to be saved.
Like that's the priority.
You know what I mean?
And I think sometimes we get into these wars, you know, sometimes they're called the
culture war, other things where it's like, okay, we're kind of fighting over the wrong
stuff.
No, like, cause you could, you could go from Democrat Republicans to go to hell.
Like you could, you could be on the right side or what we think is the right side
politically or any other thing that doesn't necessarily mean you're saved.
So
Just the priority, you know, you know, whether it's politics, race, ethnicity, ah you
know, socioeconomic status, whatever, we can't just sit and pick and choose and say, okay,
these people deserve the gospel, these people don't deserve the gospel, you know, I'm
willing to preach to these people, but not these people.
And preach the word, like, don't preach, you know, Jonah's not trying to turn them, God's
not trying to turn these people into Israelites, he's trying to let them be faithful to
him, you know.
That's it.
and we need that's what we need to do as well.
Preach the Word.
That's it, a changed heart will change everything.
So it'll change how you parent.
It'll change how you spend and save money.
It'll change how you interact with your parents.
So it's like, well no, no, no, I gotta make you a good husband first.
Then you can become a Christian.
No, you make that person a Christian.
You it be before the horse.
Exactly.
Unfortunately, those things can become front of mind just because we expose ourselves to
it so much.
I watch the news 24-7.
That's what's gonna be in my mind.
That's a worldly way to look at things, you know?
Because the world, you have all these other, you know, like you are white or black first,
or you're Republican and Democrat first, or you're American or not American first, or
whatever.
It's like, no, I'm a Christian first, right?
And I still have my identity.
Like, it's not like you became a Christian, you weren't black anymore.
You know what I mean?
Like, I became a Christian, I wasn't white anymore.
Like, you still have your identity, but that's not your chief identity.
That's not what gives you value and defines your life.
You know what I mean?
And that's the thing I think sometimes we, like you said, we let the world tell us how to
view other people.
Paul says, regard nobody according to the flesh, right?
In 2 Corinthians 5, because the flesh veils to nothing.
What matters is a new creation in Christ, right?
And that's what he's offering.
That's what we have, and we should be walking in and extending to other people.
Escalations three, there's no more human, gentile, body, male or female.
Though those roles still literally exist, I mean you have the Book of Philemon, there is
still such a thing as a slave.
There's still such a thing as women, he gives rules for men and women, husband and wife,
but it means that we don't live as though that is our primary and chief identity.
For myself, and I can't look at you that way, I can't say, well, he's a tall, white,
southern.
You know, all this stuff.
No, man, you're a Christian.
And all the other stuff is true, it's real.
It may shape how you live your life in various ways, but like the main thing is like,
you're a soul, you know, either saved or lost.
And if you're lost, my priority is I need to make you save.
If you're saved, my priority is to love you like Jesus loves you and encourage you in your
Christian walk.
Those are my priorities.
It's not to, well, you know, I need to make Forrest a Michigan fan.
I need to make him eat the food that black people eat or whatever.
No, man, who cares about all that stuff?
We can have all that stuff.
You can root for Michigan, eat with food I eat, and we'll both be in hell.
So what value is it?
I would love to the food part, the Michigan part.
That's a little harder.
That's a little.
Yeah, no, but you're right.
You know, and I think and there's I think there's we're like we're like way off like we're
we are just vibing right now.
We're a little bit off topic.
But, you know, I think, too, like there's elements of every culture, white, black,
American, whatever.
There's elements of every culture that are not aligned with God's word.
Right?
And we kind of talked about this when we had a whole season on culture and stuff, like
every culture has aspects to it that, you know, maybe are sinful or not aligned with God's
word.
And I think sometimes it's easy for us to look at other people's cultures.
Oh, this needs to change.
That needs to change.
That needs to be fixed.
The only way to do that though, is to come to Christ first.
Then I can identify, okay, what are the parts of how I grew up or what I was taught or how
I was raised that don't align with Christ and God's word?
And now I can reform.
for me in my household, right?
I'm gonna change what we do.
I'm gonna serve God.
But until that point, you are just arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, right?
Like you're sinking, you're going down, and the changes you make without Christ don't
really matter a whole lot, which I think is the point we're getting to.
Like we have to prioritize eternal salvation.
We have to prioritize souls.
We have to prioritize really what's most important.
Keep the main thing the main and don't major in the minors.
there we go, that's good.
Let me throw this too, man.
Looking at chapter four, Jonah has this, he's angry at the real attributes of God when he
says, uh when he's like, I fled before you to go to Tarshish for I knew that you are a
gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, great in kindness and repentance of the evil.
And he's like, God, I am angry that the things that,
benefit mankind are beneficial for these people.
I know who you are, but I'm mad that you are who you are, two of them.
And so he wanted God to be those things for him.
But then he wanted God to be wrathful, vengeful, poor, and got his cup of anger and all
that kind of stuff.
I just think it's wild that he literally pronounced with his own mouth all these beautiful
attributes of God as though, yeah, these are bad.
God, I'm mad about this.
Because you're so kind and good to these people, I'm angry.
And it really shows a really twisted, warped way of thinking.
I don't think Jonah was unique in terms of his perspective, and that nobody else could
develop that.
I think that that's just something that could be common to all people.
think it's still around today, like even among Christians if we're not careful, you know,
and the irony is like that really you turn God into an idol because God is like God has
all the attributes I like and none of the ones I don't like.
You know what I mean?
Okay, so what is that?
That's not the true God.
That's one you made up, you know, like, and that's the thing about God at some at the same
time.
He is extremely attractive and incredibly frightening.
Absolutely
there's ever time where that's not true, it's probably a God you made up.
You know what I mean?
And that's like the proof that no man made up the God we read about in the Bible.
Nobody would like give them this mix of attributes.
Like he, that's really who he is.
And the good news is we can respond to him in such a way so as to receive grace, mercy,
love and kindness, et cetera, and not wrath, know, fury, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera,
which I think
you know, we'll leave it there.
But I think it shows too, just the importance of repentance where, and people say, that's
not fair.
Like you were a murderer for 50 years and then you repented.
God, just going to save you.
Yeah.
That's how works.
That's the message of book.
It's like yeah, it is like all that is it's not it's not there at all and the fact that
Jesus would die for that person
for that person.
And for the others, but that one.
Yeah, like it's like that's not fair.
It's like you're right.
That's grace um Lastly one last thing and then we'll wrap this up Jonah's experience in
the belly of the fish does foreshadow Jesus's death bearer and resurrection Which I think
is worth mentioning, you know and Matthew 12 38 through 41 Jesus says it's a wicked
generation that seeks a sign only one sign will be given to that generation and that is
the sign of Jonah the same way that Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly
of the fish the Son of Man will spend three days and three nights in the belly of the
earth
And then course his resurrection.
And that is like the exclamation point on Jesus's ministry.
It totally vindicates everything he did, everything he taught, everything he said that he
was God's son, is God's son.
And the funny thing is Jesus says, that is the ultimate sign.
And the Pharisees won't even accept that.
like, no, no, the disciples stole the body, whatever.
ah But that sign, Jonah is a type of Christ in that this death, burial and resurrection is
prefigured in Jonah.
And then what Jonah was unwilling to do, Jesus was willing to do.
Jonah was unwilling to go and preach this message of salvation to the Gentile nations, but
Jesus died for the whole world, to be the propitiation for the whole world, and then told
his disciples to go to all nations and preach the gospel to every creature.
So you kind of just see it fulfilled and wrapped up in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Absolutely, that's a great episode.
Only four short chapters in the book of Jonah, but man we could have gone on for like
another hour.
real, easily.
Jonah's one of those books that is just rich with narrative which makes it very attractive
to our young people as they grow up learning about Jonah and the whale.
And so for those of you who join us today, we appreciate your time and attention.
We're hoping that you come back and join us again on the episodes of the Harvester
podcast.
This has been Stephen Ford and Forrest Animasaris.
in season five, episode six, majoring in the minors.