This post is the first in a series of studies about “Jonah”.

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Jonah – Day 1

Jonah features in many books about the Bible. It is an easy story to illustrate, but it is not just a story, it is truth! Jesus confirmed that for us in Matthew 12:40 when He used Jonah inside the fish to illustrate His own future 3 days in the tomb.

Jonah 1:1-2

The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

The Thought

The story of Jonah features in many children’s books about the Bible. It is an easy story to illustrate, but it is not just a story, it is truth! Jesus confirmed that for us in Matthew 12:40 when He used Jonah’s 3 days inside the fish to illustrate His own future 3 days in the tomb.

There is no introduction to this story, just straight in. Jonah was a prophet of God, also briefly mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25.

The four short chapters of the book of Jonah tell us that God sent him on a mission to preach against the sin in the capital city of Babylon. Naturally this prophet was reluctant to go there, and came up with several excuses as to why he shouldn’t be obedient.

In our day, many in the church are seeking the gift of prophecy, and we are encouraged in 1 Corinthians 14:1 to do that. Many Christians want to be instruments of the Lord in blessing people, seeing visions, and in telling others that the Lord has answered their prayers. But do we realise that God also sends his prophets with “not nice” messages?

Sin is still sin in the eyes of the Lord. He is still looking for a holy people, just as He did in Old Testament times. And He is calling prophets today to speak out the truth, the whole truth. His Truth.

Action

Read through the four short chapters of Jonah today.

Pray for modern day prophets to speak out God’s whole truth.

Praise God for those people who do not compromise His truth.

Praise Him that He is The Truth. (John 14:6)

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