Will the real Jonah please stand up! Jonah is one of the most perplexing personalities we find in the Bible. It is hard to determine just what kind of man he was. At first, he revealed himself as a rebellious prophet, not willing to put God’s will before his own. Then, when he was forced […]
If the story of Jonah took place in the era of the printed press, the headlines would have read, “THE NINEVITES REPENT!!! Who saw this coming? More times than not, wicked people reject the Word of God, but the people of Nineveh believed and repented. Without repentance, salvation cannot be attained. Jesus once said, “…except […]
In Jonah 3:4 we finally see the will of God being put into action by Jonah. The Bible says, “Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown’” (Jonah 3:4). The message was not positive, but it was the truth. We […]
There are many different conditions of spiritually vision. Let us look at a few of them. Spiritual Blindness When an individual espouses a doctrine that is from man, and then begins to teach or practice it, he is demonstrating spiritual blindness. Jesus said of some, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart […]
There is much confusion in the religious world over the gift of tongues. Much of the confusion is caused by a misunderstanding of what the gift of tongues is and its purpose. Many believe that tongue-speaking involves an ecstatic language that no one can understand except God. It is said that tongue-speaking is a sign […]
Paul once said, “For there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:10). Some people think that God loves the Jews more than everyone else because He separated them from the rest of the world, making them His chosen people (Exodus 19:3-4). That is not the case. All that God did with man, after […]
Jonah made a mess of his life. Instead of trusting the wisdom of God and obeying His Word, he ran from God. His self-righteousness only served to land him in a Sheol-like place inside the belly of a great fish (Jonah 1:1-17). On the positive side, Jonah did not lose faith in God. At a […]
Jonah’s attempt to run from God was futile. On a ship amid the Mediterranean Sea, while attempting to escape the command to preach to the Ninevites, he was forced to answer to God for his transgression. God brought forth a storm that put the ship he was on in a dire situation (Jonah 1:4). The […]
Do you think you can escape the consequences of disobeying God? It appears that Jonah thought he could. After boarding a ship taking him to his own destination, rather than God’s destination for him, he went to the lower part of the ship and took a nap. He thought he was getting away with his […]
Jonah was a servant of God (2 Kings 14:25), he just was not a very good one. It is a tribute to the authenticity of the Bible that the prophets of God are described very honestly, even when their character is less than stellar. Some of the prophets were brave and heroic, while others were […]