John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
For the next week or so we’ll be looking closely at the life of Jonah the prophet. Jonah was told to “preach against the city of Nineveh”, that was in the ancient kingdom of Assyria. Nineveh was a major city on the banks of the Tigris River about 500 miles north and east of where Jonah was; located on a contemporary map in modern Iraq, about 300 miles north of Baghdad. Archaeologists have found the ruins of ancient Nineveh right outside the Iraqi city of Mosul.
When God said Nineveh was wicked, he wasn’t kidding. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the most powerful empire in the world in that day. The Assyrians had a reputation for cruelty that is hard for us to fathom. Their specialty was brutality of a gross and disgusting kind. When their armies captured a city or country, unspeakable atrocities would occur. Things like skinning people alive, decapitation, mutilation, ripping out the tongues, making a pyramid of human heads, piercing the chin with a rope and forcing prisoners to live in kennels like dogs. Ancient records from Assyria boast of this kind of cruelty as a badge of courage and power. Sad to say, the saying – “History repeats itself”, truly fits in this case!
So we ought to remember this context when we consider God’s command to Jonah, and the prophet’s response. Suppose God spoke to you today, “Go and preach the gospel to the Islamic State! Or go and preach to the Taliban!” Think you might respond, “Ahem God – they’re terrorists! Let’s nuke ’em; send ’em right where they belong!” But the heart of God is merciful. He wants to bring people to repentance so He can forgive, rather than bring judgment. He desires to save…even the most wicked and hardened individuals!
So here’s what I think: There’s a little Jonah in all of us and a whole lot of Jonah in most of us. We’re praying for the Christians fleeing Syria, Iraq, and Turkey – but what about the wicked terrorists who are killing, torturing, and persecuting them? Do you have an “Assyrian” in your life? Is someone truly worthy of your hatred? Rather than pray for him, you’d be glad for him to meet God face to face today? Our Heavenly Father rebuked Jonah the prophet for his own hardness of heart and lack of compassion. So the story of Jonah is about the heart of God, who desires all men to be saved. He wants us to have the same heart.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]D.L. Moody has been influential in my personal life as I study and read about his life and ministry in the 1800’s. I remember reading a story about how D.L. Moody was preparing to lead a revival throughout England to which an elderly pastor protested and said, “Why do we need this ‘Mr. Moody’? He’s uneducated, inexperienced, etc. Who does he think he is anyway? Does he think he has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit?”
If these really are the “Days of Noah,” we would expect to see a world filled with increasing violence. The Hebrew for “violence” is , by coincidence, the name of the terrorist organization Israel has been fighting for decades. And simply perusing my news briefs in recent years gives abundant evidence for the conclusion that this terrible season is well underway. Noah’s day was filled with violence and also false witness, which is a second meaning for the word “Hamas” [e.g., ; ]; violence and lies, then and now…
As Israel braces for retaliation from Iran, Hezbollah, and its terrorist proxies following the assassinations of two terrorist leaders in Tehran and Beirut last week, many are praying through these tense times as Tisha B’Av begins tonight (Monday night).
Tonight, Jewish people around the world will mourn through Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the fifth month on the Hebrew calendar. This day has been marked by numerous tragic events throughout history. It began with the spies returned with an evil report of Canaan, the Promised Land, as recounted in Numbers 13 and 14. This day marks the destruction of both the First and Second Temples, which occurred on the same date, separated by hundreds of years. The Crusades were launched on Tisha B’Av in 1095. In 1290, Jews were expelled from England, and in 1492, they were expelled again from Spain and Portugal on this very day. In the modern era, World War I began on the 9th of Av, and the call for the “Final Solution,” which led to the Holocaust, was announced on this date. To say that Tisha B’Av commemorates a series of horrific events is an understatement.
The Bible tells us that the last days would be like the days of Noah. As the mass of humanity witnesses the signs of increasing violence and evil manifesting in ways that seemed incomprehensible even just a decade ago, we are focusing on the peace that faith brings through the present storm. Though the ark he built for the flood was perhaps not the most luxurious boat ever made, Noah and his family were able to abide in God’s rest through the most terrible weather in human history.
Continuing from yesterday concerning storms; not sure we can place Noah’s flood, a worldwide conflagration, in that category, but if there really is such a thing as a “Perfect Storm”, that was…and Noah and his family were, anyway, prepared. And it’s been said that we are in the recapitulated, “Days of Noah”; [Matthew 24:37].
Our relationship with the Lord is repeatedly expressed as a marriage. And human marriage has been expressed as a type of the Divine union of Messiah and His Bride. When a man and a woman are joined together in a marital union, the two together acquire a new level of strength according to this word. In that context, here in Israel and elsewhere, it is also said that, “A threefold cord is not easily broken.” But where is the third cord?
People often ask me why I so enjoy Shabbat and the rest it affords and why I preach on it so often. Some people think it’s a “legalistic” attitude, but actually, I’m simply being relational. They need to remember that our relationship with the Lord Yeshua is bridal; it’s a marital relationship. [; ; ]