The Journey of Jonah

Transcript

my brother already uh kind of gave me a hard time but we are going to start with a short before we get into our Sunday school class is an interesting development in Israel so we're going to start with a short video on the land of Israel and then we'll get into uh get into our class ancient place of pilgrimage has been sustaining life for thousands of years but recent times have seen this freshwater lake shrinking to historically low levels forcing the government to act by leveraging the country's expertise in water technology this is part of the Ashton water desalination plant one of five such plants along the coast of Israel after the seawater is pumped through the desalination process the Sweet Water is held here in this 100 000 cubic meter Reservoir the water under this tarp I'm standing on right now for decades now Israel has taken sea water from the Mediterranean and treated it with a process called reverse osmosis providing nearly all of the country's tap water from ashdud a pipeline pumps water from all the desalination plants North to Israel's main water filtration facility near Haifa from there a new 31 kilometer pipe is being laid Eastward to connect via stream with the Sea of Galilee the end is in sight the 264 million dollar project is due to be completed by next year it sounded a strange proposition from the beginning but very soon we understood the value it has to the National Market itself and also it contributes to other challenges such as global warming development of agriculture in the entire Sea of Galilee region and also with our neighbors the kingdom of Jordan here this is another part of the solution that will help us maintain the provision of water to the kingdom of Jordan as per the existing treaties this 1.6 meter wide pipe will be able to carry 120 million cubic meters of water per year but only what's needed to replenish the lake will be released at any time the uniqueness of this project is that it gives us almost infinite flexibility if you look at the system from end to end we can basically take the water where it is available be it desalinated water in the center of Israel and just divert it and transport it to wherever it is needed the desalinated water will end up here at the Sea of Galilee now this Lake used to pump out the vast majority of Israel's drinking water but now the water will be flowing in the opposite direction the need to do things radically differently was driven home to authorities by the most recent five-year-long drought which ended in 2018. they looked at what happened over five years drought conditions when the lake lab was really low they looked into the future climate change and what's going to happen in rainfall in this area and also looked at you know the increase in population in projected increase in demand of water and realized that 30 40 years from now there's going to be a serious problem in maintaining lake level in the lake and maintaining water quality as for concerns about what non-native water could do to the Lake's ecosystem research so far suggests it won't make much of a difference and may actually help the lake fight the effects of climate change by increasing the turnover rate of the water and cooling it down the risk of introducing this unaid water is a risk that is worthwhile taking as long as you know it's a certain quarantine we don't talk about huge quantities of water it's a scientifically uncomfortable and unprecedented step Dr Gaul says he wishes they didn't have to take but one the realities of climate change is forcing upon them hadass gold CNN the Sea of Galilee so interestingly enough um there's a prophecy which I'm not suggesting that this fulfills that prophecy but it's it's interesting because there's a prophecy that says when Christ returns the water is going to reverse Direction and flow from the south up to the North Springs are going to birth burst forth in the desert and that water will become plenteous and the desert will Bloom we have a hymn that we sing a rose shall Bloom and um here in the video you saw they said we've reversed the water flow they're taking it from ashdod on the Mediterranean and flowing the water North up to the Sea of Galilee so I thought that was really interesting um development in the land of Israel that they are water sufficient and they are giving water to their neighbors which is as if you listen to a lot of environmentalists they say water is going to become more and more scarce as as time goes on all right now we can get into our the meat of our class here so what I'd like to do is is set a kind of backdrop for when Jonah comes on the scene what was life like what had been happening in the nation and what was the need for uh Jonah why why did God send his prophet Jonah who was the king at the time and why would Jonah want to flee from uh preaching to the ninevites and we're going to see as we make a way through Jonah how true Jonah chapter 3 verse 9 is who knows God May yet relent and with compassion turn from his Fierce anger so that we will not perish and isn't this such an important principle for us to consider in our own lives and and with each other that that idea of compassion and that lesson is really going to be hit home uh with Jonah who changes his attitude and who goes through some trials um I guess you could say getting swallowed by a by a fish is a trial and he's going to learn what God is all about in terms of not just having salvation for just the nation of Israel but for the entirety of mankind and it's something that we should keep in our minds whatever our circumstances might be is God's compassion it will never fail us in how God instructs us to do the same uh with one another and there's a great passage in Colossians chapter 3 verse 12 and it says therefore as God's chosen people which we are grafted in through baptism holy and dearly loved clothe yourselves with compassion so this idea of being holy and how God it's not he just doesn't like yeah I love you and sometimes you know Megan will be in a room ready to go to sleep and I'll go hey love you and she'll say I love you too and I know she does love me most days but um you know God has this intense love for each one of us it's it's a dear love that he cares about each one of us in our lives and we're going to see that come through with the ninevites a wicked Nation but yet God was willing to give them an opportunity to repent so it says clothe yourselves with compassion so it's not just uh a cursory quality that we should possess we should be clothed with it uh it should it should permeate from from our being and it says have kindness humility gentleness and patience so in conjunction with compassion these qualities make perfect sense we have to be humble if we're going to show compassion we can't think that we're better than somebody else you know that would never happen to me or I would never do that we have to look at each other esteeming one another better than than ourselves to be gentle there's nothing like a a soft hand on the shoulder that says you know hey I I understand what you're going through I've been there or I can only imagine how hard this is for you do you want to talk how can I help what can I do and most of the time just just providing a listening uh ear or listening spirit in it says with patience naturally we like to solve problems really quick you know you have a situation I know I like to just you know fix something and then move on but you find out in the truth it doesn't work that way and in families and in relationships it takes a lot of patience and so you have to be willing to weight you have to be willing to let things work themselves out and you have to be willing to deal with all the bumps around along the road while still trying to maintain that cheerful disposition and uh we'll see we'll see Jonah in in these qualities as we as we work through our class here so we we're going to back up um to jeroboam one because there are two Jero bombs jeroboam II is King when Jonah is on the scene but we have jeroboam one who was about 120 years before Jonah uh gives his prophecy and at this time it's one nation undivided but unto jeroboam 1 we see that there's this terminal in the land and in First Kings 11 verse 9 it says and the Lord was angry with Solomon so we're back to the time of Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord the god of Israel who had appeared to him twice he had commanded him concerning this thing that he should not go after other gods but he did not keep what the Lord commanded therefore the Lord said to Solomon since this has been your mind or your attitude and that really that caught my attention when when um I saw that because so many things in life are about attitude having a positive uh bright attitude about a situation no matter how how bad it might seem and as I've gotten older I used to look at different things whether it be work or a situation that would come up like you know uh got to deal with this now I look at it because I've seen God work in my life as we all have now I look at it and say what opportunity is God going to give me through this situation that's before me what opportunities are there for me to show forth a certain character to maybe get a a better situation for myself or for my family or whatever it might be so I don't I try not to look at it as a problem so much as an opportunity for success and for an opportunity for growth in the Lord and there's a saying that there are no bad days there are character building days and it's a little cliche and when you're in the middle of maybe a situation that's not so great you we tend not to want to think that way but there's always great opportunities to grow and to help one another but Solomon's attitude was in a different place his mind was thinking in a different way in the nation so it's a good it's good instruction for us to maybe check our attitude maybe check uh the way we're thinking when I got into health care I was working at New England Medical Center I was 19 years old so I was like a little baby in in the hospital I was working with all these doctors who I was just like wow this is this is impressive and when I got this job I just thought wow how cool is this like I have this great job but after I was there for about a year I started like nitpicking a little bit like oh how come this guy's a little bit late to work and you know there's a problem here and oh there's a problem there one of my co-workers pulled me aside and he and he put his arm around me and he said hey Jason you know a year ago when you got this job you you loved it you were the happiest guy in the lab you you were such a bright person that we loved having here but I noticed now you you kind of develop in a little bit of a bad attitude and he was right and I had to kind of look at myself and say you know what yeah this job is still great and a lot of these little things that I'm focusing on I need to have a better attitude I need to have my mind in a different place when I walk into work and be that person I was a year ago so it that's what this verse reminded me of since this has been your mind to your attitude God was like listen you're you know your your attitude stinks and you have not kept my Covenant and my statutes which I have commanded you I will surely tear the Kingdom from you and will give it to your servant so now this is becoming a matter of Prophecy because God is telling Solomon it's no longer going to be your kingdom but I'm giving it and it's going to be to you a servant and Solomon at his level he was he was except for Christ he was one of the wisest people on Earth he had everything and we look at Solomon's wisdom and Ecclesiastes and he there was nothing that this man didn't have and now he's going to give his his kingdom to his servant and that was actually one of the things that Solomon worried about um he writes about that and says you know I've worked for all this all these things and once I'm dead someone's going to come after me and they're going to take everything that I work for so God basically says yeah he unlocked that that mentally for Solomon said hey one of your servants which is gonna is gonna take all take the kingdom over but it does say yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days but I will tear it out of the hand of your son however I will not tear away all the kingdom but will give One Tribe to your son for the sake of David my servant for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen Jerusalem will remain with David's family so Solomon has to process this because of his attitude and because of his behavior taking all these additional wives that he shouldn't have worshiping all the gods from um all the foreign Gods to keep peace treaties or whatever his reasoning was God says enough is enough I'm going to be taking the Kingdom from you but I'm not going to take the whole thing because of your father David who actually did the right thing and Jerusalem is going to is going to remain so now we have this prophecy that says the kingdom is going to be in some way changed in in uh for in First Kings 11 verse 26 it says also jeroboam son of nebat rebelled against the king he was one of Solomon's officials in Edomite so he jeroboam Rebels against Solomon in ephraimite from zareda and his mother was a widow named zeroa here is the account of how he rebelled against the king of Solomon and built the terrorists and had filled the Gap in the wall of the city of David his father now jeroboam was a man of standing and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the tribes of Joseph so here we have this servant comes on the scene and Solomon you know he's not considering one of his servants is going to take his kingdom we won't turn it up but jeroboam was told by ahija the prophet that he would take the ten pieces of the Kingdom for himself so now we we get an insight into what's going to happen the kingdom is going to be divided he was told God was going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand God also says he will be with jeroboam in verse 38 of that same chapter if you do whatsoever I command you and walk in obedience to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands I will be with you so jeroboam sees that Solomon's losing the kingdom because he was disobedient jeroboam is going to come on the scene and be disobedient and we can read this and think boy these guys aren't that bright until we recognize The Human Condition and we see ourselves for what we really are where we have been given the same commission the same opportunity but yet we fail we fail on a regular basis just like these kingsfield they set a lifestyle around sin and that's what God wants us to guess against not to have a lifestyle that is centered on sin we need we need to have a lifestyle that is centered on the word of God so that when we fall we have that strong Foundation that's going to pull us back to the things that are Eternal and these Kings just didn't do that they they fell away at certain times to devastating effects and they affected the people around them in very negative ways it goes on to say that after Solomon um starts thinking about this prophecy he hears about ahija he set out to kill jeroboam so jeroboam fled to Egypt and we pick up the story there in First Kings 12 verse 1. it says rehoboam went to shechem for all Solomon dies in rehoboam goes to shechem for all Israel had gone there to make him King when jeroboam son of nebat heard this because he had fled to Egypt he was still there he returned from Egypt so they sent fajeroboam and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to rehoboam and said to him your father put a heavy yoke on us but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us and we will serve you and this is one of those famous situations in the Bible where there's there's this problem that's put forward to two different individuals and they have they have to make a decision and we know that taxes were dramatically increased for the building of the temple and the people were tired of it they they were getting uh overly taxed overly burdened and maybe we feel that way they the nickname for Massachusetts is Texas you know there's always there's always a new tax that's coming up you know whether whether it's you know the gas tax or the this tax or the you know whatever it is you get your bill in the mail and it's like where did this come from so the people were fed up with it they they wanted to change and they but they were willing to have jeroboam rule over them so long as taxes they got the relief from from taxes so it says the young men who had grown up with him replied these people have said to you your father put a heavy yoke on us but make I yoke lighter now tell them my little finger is thicker than my father's waist my father laid on you a heavy yoke I will make it even heavier my father scored you with whips I will scored you with scorpions wow I mean what a what a response to a problem is that actually we're going to make taxes worse it's it's um you have to imagine that there's a a very healthy ego at work here and perhaps with rehoboam and just the advice of the old men to the younger men because we know the older men said yeah give in to the people lighten their load and everybody will serve you you'll be you'll be a hero but he didn't listen to that he said actually it's going to be even worse he said you know my father's weight was like a little Pinky and and mine is going to be like a thigh the taxes that I'm gonna that I'm gonna put on you I just and I think there's just really some uh some wonderful advice here for us as we look at humility it's it's never good to and we're told this in scripture to make a rash response you know jeroboam here gets the advice on both sides but he he got bad advice and then he and then he took that advice which maybe we've been in that situation maybe we've gone to a few different people with an issue we've had and we um we don't take the right advice and then we look back and we think yeah I I should have done things differently I know in my own life I can do that and we can have regrets about decisions we've made or advice that we maybe wish we had but we didn't because we didn't seek out advice we thought maybe we had all the answers but Proverbs 15 tells us a gentle answer turns away Wrath but a hash word stirs up anger and I think jeroboam's words here were were it was harsh it was it was a harsh way to take the the nation this is how we're gonna this is how we're gonna run things um so it it goes on to say here the tongue of the wise adorns knowledge but the mouth of the fool gushes folly the eyes of the Lura everywhere keeping watch on the wicked in the good and this this is really a blessing that we have that you know God is Is Watching Over Us he's bringing people into our lives to help us to provide us with with good advice and good guidance we just need to have the wisdom to take it it says the soothing tongue is a tree of life but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit this idea of building one another up and it's been said many times how well Stoughton does that how well the brothers and sisters here do that the very soothing welcoming spirit that it helps people it helps people live the truth it helps people feel at home and it helps people leave here with a built up spirit and not and not a crushed Spirit it says if fool spurns a parent's discipline but whoever heeds correction shows prudence so we'd be wise brothers and sisters to listen to advice and not just any advice we do have to think about it but verse 22 in that same chapter says refuse good advice and watch your plans feel Take Good Counsel and watch them succeed I used to work with a guy who he would if he didn't like somebody or if he wanted to create a better work situation for himself he would give bad advice to people around him to get them to maybe leave the company or to take a different job he was very good at it but if you looked at these people two three years down the road it never worked out for them they were unhappy or they lost that job so we need to make sure we surround ourselves with people that care about us people that are giving us advice who have our best interest at heart and you know who who is that it's our brothers and sisters it's it's our parents it's the people in the Ecclesia who want to see us succeed and number one it's the word of God that really provides us guidance for every situation that we might find ourselves in um and it says wisdom's instruction is to fear the lord in humility comes before honor so that idea of you know the beginning of knowledge is the fear of God if that's a attitude if that's our mind then we're going to be setting a straight path for our feet and in Proverbs 12 15 it says the way of a fool is right in his own eyes but a wise man is he who listens to counsel and when I was growing up my dad he started out in housekeeping in a hospital and then there was a there was a brother there that worked in the respiratory department and my he got my dad a job in respiratory Department my dad showed himself to be conscientious and a hard worker and then he got promoted and started working in the cardiac cath lab and he became the manager of the cardiac cath lab and when I was growing up I saw this example he was out of the house at 5am he was home late sitting in traffic and he was doing it to provide for his family and what I saw more than just words of advice you know some people give you advice but then that you can see that they're not living it they're not taking their own advice it doesn't mean the advice is bad but some of the best advice we can give people is the way that we live the things that we do and how that comes through in the way in the way that we act Chris did you have something epitomize Solomon he you know he certainly said a very bad example for rehoboam but he was full of very wise uh sayings but he he didn't live it he so he said a very bad example right yeah great point um but yeah my dad told me you know get get a college degree go he's go through this program do this then you can uh get into working in the cath lab and my dad took me to work with him one day I think did were you there too rich yeah I think you were there it was we thought about bringing you at the last minute you know but you know what foreign so you know my dad brought us in and showed us what he did and he gave us advice and fortunately we followed it rich and I followed it we got an education and we we uh you know it doesn't necessarily have to be through college to get a skill that you can have but the best advice was we watched him do it we watched him live it in that's really a great way for us to show forth the love of God the love of Christ and to help one another being here today it's a great example um to see everybody's smiling face and and it builds us up just to be here anyone else yeah so I always I always found this um this story both fascinating and frustrating because there's you know so I have a lot of unanswered questions about how everything took place but jeroboam when we're talking about taxes in this regard we're not necessarily talking about money we're actually talking about time and and work so if you remember that verse that you uh that you quoted from uh from First Kings it said that jeroboam was over the workers of Ephraim and so every tribe had an obligation to go to work for the House of David to go to work for Solomon and then rehoboam saying yeah I'm going to continue this even on a grander scale I'm going to be building stuff for Jerusalem he was going to build up Jerusalem what does that mean it means that he's becoming pop more powerful on the backs of uh the ephraimites oh the backs of you know the the tribe of Manasseh every month they had to send you know their work crew so the northern tribes are like we're done with this and so I think that's one of the reasons why rehoboam goes up to she she come to get uh crowned as king it was almost like him going up into Ephraim like the center of power in North uh in Northern Israel and saying hey I'm getting Crown King in your land like I'm in charge here it's just another layer of belligerence I think on rehoboam's pod and jeremon's like no and he has been down in Egypt too all this time because Solomon wants to kill him and he's eating with uh you know the Pharaoh he's he's in the politics of Egypt and then I'm sure Egypt had you know a vested interest in splitting up Israel from becoming a very powerful kind of buffer between them and Syria now you break them up and now you have more power and you can control the northern part so a lot of politics going on and you know cultural stuff so thank you yeah great Point thanks for that it's um and you could you could imagine the children of Israel saying instead of working nine to five now I'm you know seven to eight and I don't have any I don't have any time here and you're you're away from your family you know you know for for months on on end building things for other people yeah that you have no place in yeah it's just like no I'm not I'm not doing it no thank you anybody else all right so it that's a great Point rich and and on that you know things kind of go from bad to worse now we're going to have the splitting up of of uh the nation we're going to have Judah the two tribes and then we're going to have the ten tribes in uh in verse 26 of that same chapter it says jeroboam you know now he's taken bad advice and perhaps you know down in Egypt that influence sent him in a direction that didn't work out very well for the nation um it says jeroboam thought to himself the kingdom will now likely revert to the House of David if these people go up to off a sacrifice at the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem so now he's got the tribes that he's over heading down to Jerusalem and he's thinking I'm never going to be able to hold on to my kingship here if these people go to office sacrifices at the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem they will again give their allegiance to their lord rehoboam king of Judah they will kill me in return to the king of rehoboam so he must have sensed obviously how much distaste the people had for his idea of continuing the building to not having it be about the people but having it be about the government and it says after seeking advice the king made two golden calves he said to the people it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem here are your Gods Israel who brought you up out of Egypt so here we go right back to this again with golden calf when they came out of Egypt in worshiping false gods you don't have to go to Jerusalem you can do it right here we can create out our own new worship setup he set up when he set up in Bethel and the other in Dan and this thing became a sin the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other and these ruins are still here today where they set up these altars and so it seems as if jeroboam was acting out of a fee out of fear he didn't have that trust in God that he should have uh he should have asked God what to do rather than the young men and the old men it's okay to get that advice but our first petition should be to God to seek wisdom to seek understanding to seek Direction um but this resulted in the whole split of the nation and it was based on leaders not seeking uh God's advice so we'll we're we're at time here um we'll finish with this verse here in Philippians as it relates to the nation as it relates to these Kings as it relates to having a certain mind in in a certain attitude when we come across difficulties in our lives and it's a it's a well-known passage in Philippians 4. be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus so when we have a situation in our life or even if it's just a great sunny day like today let's seek God In Prayer with Thanksgiving he wants to know what our requests are he wants us to communicate with him and let the peace enter us that we know that God is in control of all things to our ultimate salvation

Transcript

last week we were talking about uh jeroboam and rehoboam and how the kingdom became split about 120 years before Jonah came on the scene so there was a drastic change in the nation of Israel they went for What from one United Nation to a divided nation ten tribes to two tribes in jeroboam uh two was on the scene and continued to do evil as the the people before him we saw that Solomon um did not take kindly to following all the commands of God that he strayed from that and go he was told that the kingdom would be taken from his hand in the admonition from Colossians that we see there in in chapter three therefore as God's chosen people holy and dearly loved clothe yourselves with compassion kindness humility gentleness and patience and that was the admonition to Solomon and the children of Israel at that time to jeroboam in to us as well in our lives but it we're told that Solomon's attitude and heart were not inclined to serve God and he was told the kingdom would be taken from him and given to a servant we talked about having a positive attitude amongst ourselves and how important having a positive attitude is in living the truth in supporting each other as we go through uh trials so jeroboam becomes king over the ten tribes after conflict with rehoboam jeroboam took bad advice and we talked about how the best advice we can give is how we live our lives in Christ in you might remember last week we had a video that we showed talking about how Israel was taking water from the Mediterranean and bringing it into the Sea of Galilee and we had some trouble with that video loading so I I want to uh I had sent the video to Phil I'm going to give Phil a little plug here and he gave me some advice when I sent it to him he got the video already perfect took out the ads everything and he said please download it onto your computer and I thought I don't really know how to do that so but I didn't ask him and I thought yeah it'll be fine the internet at the hall works pretty good well sure enough it it wouldn't run Phil had a re-download the IDI the video put it on his computer and and play it for us right but there were a couple things and I didn't take the advice that I should have but Phil also you know when when it wasn't playing he didn't say hey knucklehead uh I told you to download it no he uh Jim did but um you know Phil said oh we're almost there we're almost there and sure enough then he played the video you know and I appreciated that and afterwards I thanked him and he said next time please download the video right he in private he didn't he didn't take the opportunity to say like what happened I told her to download it I just thought it was a wonderful example not only we all know how much Phil does but that spirit that we need to have one to another um you know what's going to be better received if Phil calls me out in front of everyone and says well I told you this what's going to happen and take that hot approach no he took a very soft graceful approach even when it was just the two of us and he could have been more harsh and it's just a wonderful example of that kindness gentleness compassion and patience that we need to have one for another and I'll never forget that lesson and I'm gonna TR I'm gonna work to show that same character trait to somebody else when I have the opportunity so thank you Phil um Proverbs tells us chapter 15 refuse good advice and watch your plans fail Take Good Counsel and watch them succeed and we've probably all been in a situation where we've wished that we could backtrack and um and redo a situation in our life and the other point that we touched on was this idea of praying to God jeroboam seems like he just took the bull by the horns to do everything him his way Psalms 118 Verse 6 tells us when Hyde pressed I cried to the Lord he brought me into a spacious place the Lord is with me I will not be afraid what can me and Mortals do to me the Lord is with me he is my helper I look in Triumph on my enemies it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes and jeroboam would have been wise to heed this advice rather than listening to his young friends who maybe didn't have all that much experience about taxing a nation and being King and we talked about how jeroboams um situation after he takes the bad advice his situation goes from bad to worse in in taking bad advice can do that once we head down a path we could make some more poor decisions those poor decisions then start to catch up with us and he sets up Golden calves in Bethel and Dan and he acted out of fear he was afraid that his kingdom would be lost that of all the people would say well what are we doing up here we got to go to Jerusalem to worship that's what God told us to do so he thought he'd circumvent that problem by setting up Golden calves which is exactly what they did when they came out of Egypt and they got right back into false worship so it's pretty much a summary of of what we spoke about uh last week so we're gonna we're gonna fast forward about 120 years the nation continues on like that the tribes of Judah and then the ten tribes and jeroboam II comes on the scene and we read about that in second Kings chapter 14 and it's interesting because there's a a separate prophecy of Jonah you know we know the prophecy of Jonah prophesying to Nineveh but if we look in Second Kings it says in the 15th year of amaziah son of joash King of Judah jeroboam son of Jehovah king of Israel became king in Samaria and he reigned 41 years and he did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of jeroboam son of nibat so it brings us right back to the first jeroboam which he had caused Israel to commit he was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Libo hamath to the Dead Sea in accordance with the word of the Lord the god of Israel spoken through his servant Jonah son of amitai the Prophet from gath heifer so this was Jonah's first prophecy was that the land of Israel would be restored unto jeroboam from Libo hamath to the Dead Sea and we'll have a map of that so that you can see it and this happened and so Jonah makes a prophecy he's validated as a prophet it came to pass so the land is is enlarged and it goes on in verse 26 to say in Second Kings the Lord hath seen how bitterly everyone in Israel whether slaves are free was suffering there was no one to help them and since the Lord had not said he would blot out the name of Israel from unto Heaven he saved them by the hand of jeroboam son of jehoiah so at this time that Joan is on the scene you have jeroboam military campaigns the people is suffering God sees it the land is expanded and they have relative peace there even though they have the ninevites up to the north and I think there's a there's a wonderful principle there for us that shows God's mercy to his people they were Wayward at the time but God still showed Mercy to them and compassion and this idea that God understands The Human Condition he understands the struggles that we face every day and he's looking for opportunities to direct us to care for us just like he did here with the children of Israel he saw that they were under Affliction and so he drove out the enemies and expanded the land and they had relative peace Psalms 103 verse 14 says as a father hath compassion on his children so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him so there's a there's a tie in there we can't just go through our lives you know 100 miles an hour and forget about God no we have to have this reverence this respect for God that causes us to follow his Commandments to the best of our ability and in turn we get this compassion for he knows how we are formed he remembers that we are dust God made us you know Adam formed Out of the Dust God knows how short our lifespan is as it says in verse 15 the life of Mortals is like grass they flourish like a flower of the field I sometimes at home I wax you know eloquent about this and you know gentle say to Megan oh here goes dad again he's talking about us being like grass but that's the analogy that God gives us that we're we're like grass they flourish like the flower of the field the wind blows over it and it's gone and its place remembers it no more but from Everlasting to Everlasting is the Lord's love with those who fear Him and his righteousness with the with their children's children with those who keep his Covenant and remember to obey his precepts so it's this Walk In Christ it's this walk before God that shows a fear a reverence for keeping his Commandments and for for exhibiting those characteristics one end to another now jeroboam didn't do this but God still was looking out for his people he was working with them he was waiting for the result of the children of Israel to turn back to him so as we we read in the days of jeroboam the kingdom was expanded so we can see prior to his Reign then we have that first prophecy of Jonah so the land is expanded and Joan is validated as a prophet so it becomes a matter of Prophecy and Jonah would have been very aware of the prophets before him you know there was false prophets and the people would wait to see hey is what Jonah's saying is it is it coming to pass um and jeroboam while he was reigning over Samaria for 40 years they had relative um calm they had trade it was a peaceful time for the most part they they had that little inkling in the back of their head that they had um the ninevites to the north but the King was guilty of continually sinning against God and he became wicked wicked in worshiping idols and he caused Misfortune for the children of Israel and Josephus says now one Jonah a prophet foretold to him that he should make war with the syrians and Conquer their army and enlarge the bounds of his kingdom on the Northern parts of the city hamath on the southern of the lake of the Dead Sea for the bounds of the Canaanites originally were these as Joshua their General had determined them so jeroboam made an expedition against the syrians and ovary in all their country as Jonah had foretold Amos prophesied at the same time as Jonah as well and says this is what the Lord says for three sins of Israel even for four I will not relent they sell the innocent for silver in the needy for a pair of sandals they trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny Justice to the oppressed so here's God showing Justice and trying to be kind to his people but yet in the land they're not being just just one to another they're oppressing those that are rich or oppressing the poor those that have means are oppressing those that don't and while this is going on God is being patient he's trying to to work with his people and it says I brought you up out of Egypt this is God's response and led you 40 years in the wilderness to give you the land of the amorites I also raised up prophets among your children in nazarites from among your youths is this not true people of Israel so God's imploring them change your ways didn't I do all these things for you and that's what we're instructed to do in our lives as well we're told seek good not evil that you may live then the Lord God Almighty will be with you just as he says he is hate evil love good maintain Justice in the courts perhaps the Lord Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph and we do we see this around the world inequity whether it be in this country we have you know plenty of food and other parts of the world they don't have food in certain areas of the world there's war and oppression and no rights for anybody and in other parts there there is peace and Harmony to an extent and and Christ tells us when he returns he's going to equalize all of these things that there will be Justice will reign uh throughout the Earth Earth and this is a little bit of a microcosm of um what we can expect when Christ returns that these you know if was to have a commentary right now and he does about the household the faith and about the world in general some of these same things would be said about today's uh Modern Age and it's interesting to note in Revelations chapter 3 when Christ talks about uh you know we have the commentary on the nation of Israel at this time in Revelations chapter 3 it talks about the final Ecclesia before the return of Christ and it says in the angel of the Ecclesia and laodicea right these are the words of the amen the faithful and true witness the ruler of God's creation I know your Deeds that you were neither cold nor hot I wish you were either one or the other so you know hot cup of tea nice cold drink after Butch watches his kids you know rake the yard that's refreshing but God's saying you know the way that you're acting it's it's nothing like that um and he says I'm about to spit you out of my mouth you say I am rich I have a quiet wealth and do not need a thing but you do not realize that you are wretched pitiful poor blind and naked I counsel you to buy from the gold refined and the fire or tried Faith so that you can become rich and clothe yourself with white clothes so you can cover your shame and SOB to put on your eyes so that you can see so this idea of you know like when Paul Saul put the mud on his eyes and the scales fell Christ is telling us you're living in the last days it's very easy to become complacent particularly like at the time of Jonah when the nation was living in peace we live in a peaceful country we have excess and so we can very easily settle in to a routine maybe where we need to put that eye SOB of God's word on our eyes to be soaking in the word every day just to make sure just to check in with ourselves because we know that we can become easily influenced by the humanism that's around us and Christ says here I am I stand at the door so that idea of Christ he's just getting ready to knock so he's saying just take an inventory of your life make sure that you're you're up to speed with following my Commandments with having a life that is disciplined with having a life that is rich in the things that cannot be taken away those things that are rich in Christ so Nineveh was the oldest and most populous city in the ancient Assyrian Empire and it was situated near the Tigris River it was a large Pagan City uh and it symbolized enmity with God or as we know Babylon it was it was a uh nation that only worshiped uh pagan gods didn't recognize the the Creator uh of the world the the Assyrian Empire was a constant threat uh to Israel both before and after Jonah's time in the Assyrians were a fearsome Society so they weren't like this tiptoe you know we're just going to leave you alone you do your thing we'll do our thing Nineveh was known for violence and is singled out for that in Jonah 3 verse 9 it says but let people and animals be covered with sackcloth let everyone call urgently on God let them give up their evil ways and their violence and we see similar things today and I and when you turn on the news violence and it's a very sad to see that in a in a life that's not governed by Godly principles well anything's possible because there's nothing to hold it in check there's nothing to say well I I shouldn't do that because that's going to lead to this result and that's not the the type of individual that Christ requires of us Assyria had a very efficient army with chariots uh the records depict that there they had four men on each Chariot so they would have been very intimidating to the Israelites who didn't have a ton of weapons and once they defeated a city they were known to torture its captives so if Joan is on the scene with this he knows Nineveh to the north he's got Israel relative peace their borders have been expanded and but he but he knows that they're not listening to the call that God has has put before them and the ninevites would use torture as a political tactic to warn countries who might want to start a war against them so from Jonah's standpoint in any Israelite the Assyrians at Nineveh were to be hated because of what they had previously done to the Israelites it would be um it would be like you know we we see Joan is going to flee and be told to go go preach to Nineveh or be like telling you know Jim boyko to wear a Toronto Maple Leafs uh t-shirt to a Bruins game right I'm not going to do that and this is how Jonah viewed the ninevites he he didn't want anything to do with them let alone preach to them so that they would repent he wanted them to be destroyed um so Israel had fortified their cities with this expansion and it was near the Assyrian border and Israel was probably thinking hey God's gonna just uh show Grace to us look what he's done for us and he's gonna probably bring judgment upon the ninevites and it's it's reminiscent of what we read in the New Testament right the nation of Israel they believe that hey we're the chosen people and they are but they thought that could save them just being the fact that they were of the Seed of Abraham and and John 8 verse 9 tells us what did the Jews say to Christ they say we don't we don't need you they answered him we are Abraham's descendants in Christ says I know you are Abraham's descendants yet you are looking for a way to kill me right I mean where's the irony there like yeah we're we're Believers we're we're in Christ we're we're looking for the Messiah and we're going to act this way but yeah we're trying to kill you and it says because you are thinking this way you have no room for my word but they answer back Abraham is our father and Christ says if you were Abraham's children said Jesus then you would do what Abraham did as it is yeah looking for a way to kill me a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God Abraham did not do such things right so and in many respects we we run into this in our workplace because people are can be very sensitive to watching us in what we do particularly where we profess being a Christadelphian where we're a follower of Christ well okay well why did you speak like that how come you didn't speak up when when you were supposed to do this and so we need to be we need to be mindful of that and just like Christ says here well hey Abraham didn't do such things and that just got them more frustrated but as we go on in this story one lesson we're going to see is that God seeks the repentance of even the most wicked like the Assyrians in isn't that wonderful for us isn't that wonderful for this creation that even a nation that had been Wicked and cruel to God's people God still wants to save them he's going to send one of his prophets to them so that they can be saved and Luke 9 verse 54 talks about this it says and it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up or Christ was going to ascend to Heaven he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and sent Messengers before his face and they went and entered into the village of the Samaritans to make ready for him and they did not receive him because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem so they simply didn't receive Christ when he came and it says and when his disciples James and John saw this they said Lord wilt thou that we command fighter come down from heaven and consume them as Elias did just like the Israelites hey destroy the ninevites only save us but Christ says it's he turned to them and rebuked them and said ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of for the son of man has not come to destroy men's lives but to save them right isn't that why Christ was put into the Earth to save not just us but the whole entire world to save Sinners and that was God's intention here too not just to save the nation of Israel but to also save the ninevites if they would repent and Jim turned me on to the series um The Chosen I've watched certain clips of it and they have a clip of this scene and they you know put a little bit of color into it and basically Christ says to his disciples you want to kill them because they were mean to me like that doesn't make any sense and it was just to drive that point home that that's not the character of God yes there will be a time when this judgment brought on this Earth but God as he waited in the days of Noah which our time is compared to so that more people can be saved and we see that that God is still calling out a people for his name and his purpose and his patience and his love for his uh creation So In Jonah chapter 1 we are told in verse 1 the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of amitai so second time Joan is going to prophesy here his first prophecy was fulfilled it says go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because it's wickedness has come up before me he was had Jonah was happy to go preach the first time when it meant good things for Israel right expand the land things are going to be good but when it came to doing a prophecy that related to something where the ninevites might repent and leave them around even though they were hated people from for the children of Israel's perspective Jonah says I don't think so and in verse 3 it says but Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed to Tasha so he's intending to go 2500 miles as far as he can get away from the situation he went down to Joppa where he found a ship Bound for that port and after paying the fear he went aboard and sailed fatacious to flee from the Lord anybody here had that experience in life where you have a decision to make in making that right decision that we know is the right decision that God wants us to make but it's just too hard to make it it's it's it's painful and it's a struggle within us it's that struggle between the mind of the spirit and the mind of the flesh and I've had as you probably have many times in life that we have that struggle and we're told we're going to have that struggle with with the nature that we have but one one time that it really um stood out for me was when I was 17 years old I was a senior in high school and I was captain of the wrestling team I had friends I was I was living the high school dream so to speak um going out uh playing ball with people doing what I wanted to do I had a I had a motorcycle I had a car and life was good and I thought hey this is great and I was just kind of mapping out everything that I wanted to do with my life and it started to bother me you're not baptized and you know you should get baptized and I let it sit there and I tried to push it out of my head push it out of my head and I thought well I don't want to get baptized I want to do what I want to do I want to keep living my life the way I want to live it and it became such a struggle within me that it just it was almost paralyzing and I knew I had to make a decision because I couldn't go on every day having the struggle and I made the wrong choice it didn't get baptized I thought you know what I'll I'll wait I have too much other stuff going on right now so I'm going to wait to get baptized and not long after that I made that decision God put Jen into my life and it was like okay just made it a whole lot easier for me to get baptized and my whole perspective on it changed and I ended up getting baptized soon after we got married so if you're having a struggle whether you're baptized or you're not baptized or you're thinking about it or you walk might not be the way it should because you're having this struggle within yourself turn to God he'll deliver you from the struggle he'll provide a way out and you know I also thought well I'm not going to be able to enjoy my life if I get baptized but my life was so much more enriched once I got baptized and you have forgiveness God knows you're going to make mistakes you don't have to be perfect so if you're putting off baptism because you think you need to get to a certain spot you need to you know experience all this before you do I'd give you some advice that says don't do that and so doesn't God's word he's saying commit yourself to me and I'll take care of you so it was It was a it was a um it was a big struggle that I had and fortunately God God delivered me through it and he'll deliver all of us through our struggles if we turn to him and we can't hide from God you know Jonah here he's going to run he's going to get as far away from Nineveh which you know he's he can't get on a face time and preach the nine of us so he's going to get get as far away as possible and the Psalms tells us in 139 verse 7 where can I go from your spirit where can I flee from your presence if I go up to the heavens you are there if I make my bed in the depths you are there if I rise on the wings of the Dawn if I settle on the far side of the sea even there your hand will guide me your right hand will hold me fast so Jonah is having this struggle within himself should I preach or should I not preach I don't want the ninevites to be saved they're the enemy of Israel if God Saves them what does that mean about Israel who's who's being Wicked in uh Jonah would have recalled the message in First Kings chapter 13 where it says you know what's going to happen to a prophet that doesn't listen to what God tells him to do it says when the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard this he said it is the man of God who disobeyed the command of the Lord therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion and it has mauled him and killed him according to the word that the Lord had spoken to him this Prophet was told not to turn back not to eat bread or drink water with this in mind Jonah he he didn't care he was willing to turn from God and run even though though that he had remembered that previous prophets had a had a quick demise when they did that and brother Mansfield comments on this it says God had further work for Jonah to do he was told to go to Nineveh and won the people of Assyria that if they did not repent within 40 days their City would be completely overthrown this was exciting news for Jonah the Assyrians were Israel's greatest enemy and Jonah knew his people were not safe while they existed here was the possibility of them being destroyed if they did not heed this message the only problem was that his preaching might cause them to repent and thereby they would be saved and then their threat to Israel would continue but what if the prophet avoided going to Nineveh for God would remain true to his word but did he disobey the command of God Jonah knew the consequences of doing that but was prepared to sacrifice even his own life to save his people so Jonah thinks he's got a better plan and he's going to do it his way he's going to set out to escape from the situation and how true is that in our lives that sometimes we think we know better well I think we can just do it this way it'll turn out okay and we can be like Jonah and forget um the important message that's brought out in First Corinthians chapter one verse 26 where it says brothers and sisters think of what you were when you were called right Joan is being reminded in this situation you know to save anybody I'm going to use you and you're going to preach my message and I'm going to save the ninevites I'm going to save Israel it says not many of you were Wise by human Spirits not many were influential not many were of noble birth but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are and why does God do this it tells us so that no one may boast before him it is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus who has become for us wisdom from God that is our righteousness Christ has become our righteousness and Jim Sullivan says this many times you know I can do nothing of myself it's it's Christ that works in me therefore as it is written let the one who boasts boasts in the Lord so that's where our boast comes in that that as Sinners God loved us and we know that sins creation humans have been trying to exalt themselves against God choosing to do things their own way and we know through experience there's only one way that works eternally and ultimately we're told every knee will buy to bow to Christ every human being on this Earth will learn to see through experience that they are weak and God is strong and it's through his grace that we're saved so it goes on in that chapter God's response to Jonah so Jonah takes off and immediately it says then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea in such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up all of the sealers were afraid and each cried out to his own God and they threw cargo into the sea to lighten the ship he cast it forth or hurled it so this storm would have come it's almost like a javelin like God threw a javelin the Storm shows up in even the sailors who were very accustomed to this type of weather this is a storm like they've never seen before in it it reminds me in our own life sometimes there's an immediate response to the way we're living our life and sometimes situations are left to work themselves out and sometimes prayers aren't audience it and things happen that we think why in the world is that happening right now why is this brother going through this why did this happen to my family and this is where we have to have patience we have to do as it says in Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13. now all has been heard here is the conclusion of the matter and as hard as it is to do in difficult situations fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the duty of all mankind for God will bring every deed into judgment people who have wronged us bad situations that have happened including every hidden thing whether it be good or whether it be evil the character of God is so just it's so kind to the extent that he is going to be accountable to the things that he says and I don't say that in a disrespectful way but God is always accountable to his word when he says something he brings it to pass in whatever situation we may have had to deal with in our life or a situation that we're watching we know that we can count on the judge of the earth to right every wrong when Christ comes to establish his kingdom that's the character of God he's just so we can have that that expectation it tells us but Jonah had gone below deck where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep and this word deep sleep here is the same sort of sleep that Adam was in it's the same word when God took a rib so I guess that's a pretty deep sleep to have a rib removed so he was fast asleep in the middle of one of the biggest storms of his life and probably emotional exhaustion and we've probably all been there you know you go through a really trying time and you know what you go to sleep it's a it's you're not thinking of anything you're you're able to rejuvenate your body you're able to just cut everything out and that's that's what Jonah did here you know Jonah was a man of passion he was he was driven by his feelings at time he was deeply engaged in the nation in it led him to make a poor decision to get on this boat and to to run from God and God understood that and he ultimately will deliver Jonah uh from from his own poor choices all right well we'll conclude there with thinking about the advice that we take thinking about the choices that we make thinking about the care of God in our lives that he will deliver us he's working in our lives and just like he wanted to deliver the ninevites who were a evil people he wants to deliver this this world and he wants to use us to do that and he particularly wants to deliver each one of us in our own lives from from suffering from trial and that's why he sent his son and as Jonah is delivered here and ultimately the ninevites do repent that's the expectation that we have for this Earth is that when Christ returns it's going to be a glorious creation where every tear shall be wiped where um every person will have their own plot and it will be glory to God in the highest and uh it's it's the wonderful hope of the Gospel