Jonah's Testimony

As I posted before, my small group is going through the book of Jonah- 4 small chapters. Everyone sees the big fish, and tons of childrens books have been written about it but Priscilla Shirer is asking us to look beyond the fish and see the God who sent it. This is what God's Holy Spirit put on my heart after the week 3 homework.

Jonah does several remarkable things in Chapter 2. He acknowledges his sins, accepts discipline, asks forgiveness and vows to follow through with sin offerings. But why?

Jonah was a prophet He knew the scriptures. That is seen in his prayer by the fact
that he is praying the pieces of the psalms. He would also have known all of the books of Moses- the first five books of our bible. These books are historical but also contain all the laws that before Christ Christians had to follow, which were so numerous I expect that the prophets sometimes had a hard time following them.

The very first account in the bible explains why the law was needed. Genesis 1:27 and 31- God creates man and is well pleased. "27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 31a God saw all that he had made, and it was very good."
Genesis 2:15-17 and 3:6- Woman eats the apple and shares it with man. This is the first time that man falls short of total obedience to God. Disobedience is sin. Genesis 2:15-17 "15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” and 3:6 "6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. "
Genesis 3:14-19 and 3:22- The consequences that are given to the serpent woman and man. Also, why the disobedience was sin... Man receives knowledge of good verse evil, may not eat from tree of everlasting life or they could live forever against God... Punishment of sin therefore is loss of everlasting life and community with God the father. 3:22 "And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

Jonah would have known the events in Genesis and other prophets help to prove it. Jeremiah 31:30 states that "everyone will die for their own sins."
The law was then put into place as a ruler to measure the depth of man's sin. Jonah would not have only studied the law, but he would have known how everything interrelated and how important it was to keep the letter of the law. If you kept the law, in Jonah's time that meant you were right with God.

We already know that Jonah knew the Psalms. Ps 66:18 states that "If I had cherished sin in my heart, surely the Lord would not have listened..." Jonah knew that with sin in ones life, God was not there. Jonah would have done everything in his power to not sin therefore because it would turn Gods ear and voice away from his life, and his "livelihood" depended on it. Jonah was the epitome of the upstanding law abiding citizen.

Then the book of Jonah begins. God spoke and everything changes. Jonah does fall into sin, and it separates him from God. It is in this time that Jonah prays. He accepts responsibility for his sin, He accepts the discipline of death- death by drowning. He cries out for forgiveness through prayer. He vows to make up for his sin with a Thanksgiving offering upon returning to Jerusalem.

At this time in biblical history, "making up" for his sins would have been the Thank giving sacrifice. Literally the grain sacrifices and the blood of pure animals would cleanse the sins from before the eyes of God. However it was never complete forgiveness, another sin would mean another sacrifice. But this is the best that Jonah could do.

Thankfully though this is not the best we can do.

Jeremiah prophesies that the old system of sacrificing animals for our sins would be done away with and that God will establish a new covenant. Jeremiah 31:31, 33b-34 states “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant... I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Because we live post Christ, the time is already past, and we know what the new covenant (promise) is.

But lets review for a minute. Adam and Eve sinned and the the sin separated them from God and eventually causes death. To "make up" with God on had to present a living sacrifice that was holy and pure. The sacrifice would be an outward sign of a restore relationship with God.

Romans 6:23 says "for the wages of sin is death."
Proverbs 20:9 says "Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin”? "
In Jonah's time the high priest was the mediator between God and His people. Hebrews 4:15
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin."

So everyone has sin except one man who is different - Jesus.
He was born in an animal stable.
The gospels record time and time again that Jesus was tempted and tried but never sins, He is pure and blameless.
Jesus never loses the connection with God.
Yet he dies. He tastes death. Death on a Roman cross. Luke 23:32-56 (too long to write out-look up if need be)

Adam and Eve + sin=death

Jesus + no sin cannot equal death.

Man's consequence for sin was death so to free man from sin's consequence God became man in the human form of Jesus and lived blameless and sinless life so that by his death the consequences of death could be fulfilled. Hebrews 2:14-15 "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death."

While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

Romans 5:18-19 - "Consequently, just as one trespass (adam) resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act (Jesus) resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man (adam) the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man (Jesus) the many will be made righteous."

In the account for Jesus' death in Luke, "the curtain was torn in two from top to bottom..." The curtain was the physical reminder that sin separates man from God. Upon Jesus' death the curtain was destroyed because He was the perfect sacrifice for all the sins, and all people who believe in Him may reenter the Holy of Hollies, God's presence.

Eph 2:4-10 "4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions(sins)—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

All we have to do is exactly what Jonah did but with a much better sacrifice. We must acknowledged that we have sinned, realize the consequences (eventual death), ask for forgiveness, and be swallowed up by the fish called GRACE.

It is a choice. You cannot be born physically as a Christian. You may be born into a Christian home, your parents might be Christians, but as Jeremiah 31:30 says, each man will die for their own sins." Unless you make your own decision to follow Christ you cannot be a Christian. There is no one who can enter into fellowship with God unless you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, the God of Heaven, who made the land and the sea." Jonah 1:9

Those who want to accept the gift that God is offering you, all you have to do is cry out to God.

Lord, I have sinned. I deserve death as my punishment but I ask your forgiveness. I believe that Jesus is the Christ, son of the living God, my Lord and Savior.
AMEN.

and then you do what Jonah did - you do that which God has commanded you to do.

Meagan