It is not every mouthpiece of God who, having delivered a faithful heavenly message, can remain in the social circle without in some measure undoing the effect of the work just done. So the Lord was faithful to Jonah here and revealed to him the greatness and seriousness of the work. So the man began to do something impossible when he got up to flee from the presence of the Lord.
But the Ninevehs of the Bible exist, and they exist in the form of families, communities, and even generations that come to the tomb before Jonah comes. The evangelist, who had received the above-mentioned blessing, and had a great deal of public confidence, came to a large city to hold a meeting. The text was, "The Lord is my Shepherd." There was no doubt in the congregation of worshipers about this fact of divine care.
To the writer, one of the most pathetic features of Jonah's history at that time was his sleeping in the hold of the storm-tossed ship in which he attempted to fly away from God. The Savior is said to have found His disciples "sleeping for sorrow" on the night of the betrayal. According to the second chapter of the book of Jonah, the commencement exercises and services were of a very high standard.
All are equipped and directed with a view to the education and improvement of the soul. To the human eye it seemed that the sea monster was sick of the man and was glad to save him. But Jonah went beyond this service and ministry in that he became a true type of the Savior.
Such cases are very rare in the Bible and generally represent in their life a single point or feature of the life and mission of the Messiah. Christ himself said: "Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." His treasure is housed in earthen vessels, that the excellent power may be seen to be of God and not of men.
The storm was terrible; rising through the scattered air down into the waves of the sea was an even more terrifying experience, and burrowing into the whale's body was the most terrifying of all. And he didn't just pray a lot, but he prayed thoroughly, for according to the sacred narrative, he began to shout and praise God in the body of a whale. There is something exciting about a tone of voice that schools may imitate but can never grasp and possess.
Conscience went to sleep in the midst of songs, incense and worship of the Temple.
ON THE ROOST
And yet it is clear that the man possesses the same spirit as the messenger sent to Nineveh, and it clearly comes to the completeness and fullness of this original captain of the Buzzard Brigade. The ambassador was behind the destruction of the people, while heaven represented deliverance and salvation. The unfortunate and discontented condition of the prophet embedded its taproot in the rank soil of.
A woman, during an early pastorate of the writer, lost her husband, two sons and her property. It is a fearful revelation of the infernal ruthlessness and cruelty to be found in the heart of man, and still more deeply that rock-hardness and grinding crushing nature which belongs to the carnal mind or the Elder. Apparently, God would preach to us through the green, spreading branches of the bow that overshadowed Jonah.
And we are no less so if we dwell under anything but the shadow of the Tree of Life and the shadow of the Great Rock in the weary land of Time. A worm from the dust has sometimes done us more good than a shining angel from heaven. Great are the dangers of the soul from without, and great are the dangers from within.
All these changing features are but signs of the rapid alternations which took place in that inner and outer state. To those who think, therefore, the striking features and incidents of the Jews' wilderness march, mean much more than the cold historical facts of the past of a vanished nation. Here is a labyrinth of the strangest character; a problem that mere human wisdom cannot fathom.
So we drop the man where God leaves him and won't even speculate about the abrupt ending of the biography. So we suddenly leave the man and his story, just as the Bible cinema did, and put the matter in the hands of our readers' jury. They have their ideas about the creation, the resurrection, and all eschatological events, regardless of any statements in Revelation.
Let the reader take to heart the salutary lesson, for this is true of the individual, the nation and the world itself -- God will have the last word in every case. There are a number of applications of the truth mentioned above that are profitable and comfortable.
