397
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
August 1930
II. Jonah, the Petulant Prophet (4 :l-3 ). 1. Displeased with God’s ways. 2. Rebuking God for His mercy. 3. Pleading for death. III. Jehovah’s Rebuke (4:4-11). * * * A pproach to the L esson 'T'HE book o f Jonah has been very much misunderstood and maligned. It is quite customary among critics to "scof- fingly refer to it as the impossible story of a whale that swallowed Jonah. Behind this slander is undoubtedly the desire to remove all idea o f the miraculous from the book. As a matter of fact, very little is said in the book of Jonah about the incident to which objection is so often made. That is not the most important thing. Rather, the purpose o f the book seems to be to display the matchless grace of God. It contains one of the greatest missionary messages of the whole Bible, declaiming against narrow nationalism and false pa triotism and showing that all the world may receive the mercy of God. Nineveh was the great capital o f As syria, situated on the Tigris. It was a vast city (Jonah 3:3), noted for its commerce, its profligacy, and its idolatry. Jonah was charged to go to it with God’s mes sage. The story o f his failure to obey and his escape from death is familiar and need not be repeated here. The present lesson tells of his second opportunity and the results o f his preaching. * * * H eart of the L esson I. Jonah, the Missionary (3:1-5, 10). V. 1. The word o f Jehovah came. Jonah was not permitted to find or give his own message. Sinners need and must have God’s message. The V. 2. Go unto Nineveh. The terms of Jonah’s call are not repeated (cf. 1:2). He knew that he was expected to go and cry out against the iniquity of Nineveh. Preaching that I bid thee. His message would not be welcome. Jonah knew it would be likely to arouse opposition and hostility. But this time the prophet was ready to accept his appointment without questioning. V. 3. Jonah arose, and went. It was a long journey, possibly eight hundred-miles, He must have walked the whole distance. It was a difficult and fatiguing journey. His prompt obedience testified to his gen uine repentance. An exceeding great city. Literally, “a city great unto God”—an expression difficult to interpret. It may mean great in God’s sight or great through God’s blessing. O f three days’ journey. The meaning of this is doubt ful. It is generally taken to mean a city of three days’ journey in circuit. V. 4. Began to enter. Again the ex pression is uncertain. Perhaps it means simply that Jonah made one day’s journey after death. second time. Jonah had failed and run away the first time. God’s mercy gives men second chances, i n d e e d ma n y chances, after fail ures. But this does not warrant the be- 1i e f in probation
conditioned on Israel’s obedience, but they broke that law immediately. In the com ing day there will be not only a new mo tive but new power given them to obey God, 7. God was a true “husband” to Israel, but they were faithless, going after false gods. Jesus Christ is the bethrothed hus band of the Church (Eph. 5:22-32). The Church has often been a faithless wife, giving her affections to the world. 8. The natural heart is incapable of obedience to the law o f God. Through the believer’s identification with Christ in His death and by the power of the indwelling Spirit, a new ability is given to keep God’s commandments (cf. Rom. 8 :3, 4, 14-17; 2 Cor. 3:3). 9. The double promise o f forgiveness of iniquity and the forgetting of sins is full of encouragement to the believer. God, when He justifies, treats past offenses as though they had never been. 10. All will “know the Lord,” having direct access to His presence and entering fully into His joy when Christ comes again. No wonder the Bible closes with the prayer: “Even so, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” * * * G olden T ext I llustration A servant entered her master’s room with the intention o f stealing. A por trait o f her master hung on the wall, and the eyes seemed to follow her everywhere she went. In desperation, she cut the eyes out o f the picture. The action was typical of Pilate’s when he washed his hands in order to rid himself o f his guilt in con demning Jesus (Matt. 27:24). An as sumed innocence cannot justify a wrong; neither will it hinder the approach o f that day when “ every one o f us shall give ac count o f himself to God.” * * . * Jeremiah, a Man Who Would Not Give Up Jeremiah 1:1-3',. 7-10; 37:15-21 Memory Verse. —“We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Approach. —Jeremiah was a real man! He was always faithful—a hero not only in the lion’s den but in the face o f ene mies who tried to make him go back on God! The story o f his courage and obedience should inspire us to be true to God and His commands. Lesson S t o r y .—
A Missionary’ s Appreciation I write to express my appre ciation o f the paper which comes to me regularly. I cannot tell you how much it means to re ceive a paper which is not only o f Spiritual help, to he put into Chinese and passed on, but one which helps me to know what is going on in the world toward the fulfilment o f prophecy and the near coming o f our Lord .—• From Kwang Ping Hsien, Hopei Province, Chihli, North China.
old and for more than forty-one years he delivered to others the messages God spoke to his heart. At first he felt un equal to the task, but God said, even as He says to us: “I am with thee.” Read the story o f the siege o f Jerusa lem by Nebuchadnezzar, the fall of the city, the exile of the people o f Judah in Babylon, and the troubles o f Jeremiah during this tinje. Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, thought Jeremiah was a true prophet o f God, but Zedekiah was weak, easily led, and he yielded to the advice of his nobles instead of doing as Jere miah had said. These nobles accused Jeremiah of treason, and the king gave him into their hands. So the prophet was cast into prison, a dreadful place. He was now an old man, but he met these hard ships with the same loyal, triumphant faith in God that he had always shown. He never forgot that pledge o f fidelity to God, that vision of the need of others, and obedience to God’s will. To the end o f his long life he was true to his trust, faithfully rebuking the people, calling them to repentance, and living before them a life of devotion to Jehovah. The secret of it all was that Jeremiah be lieved God’s word: "I am with thee.” It was because he had God with him that Jeremiah was not afraid, and never drew back; the promise lasted all his life! If God calls you to any service, small or great, any duty, any opportunity o f standing for Him, this same promise will be yours, and you can say with the trust ful, glorious courage o f Jeremiah: “If Jesus is with me, I’ll go anywhere!” Prayer. —o— September 21, 1930 Jonah, the Narrow Nationalist, Rebuked Lesson'. The Book of Jonah. ( Lesson T ex t: Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 4:1-11). Golden Text'. “O f a truth I perceive that God is no respecter o f persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34, 35). * * * L esson in O utline I. Jonah, the Missionary (3 :1-5, 10). 1. His second commission (1). 2. His appointed field—Nineveh (2). 3. His appointed message (2 ). 4. His message delivered (3, 4). 5. The repentance of Nineveh (5). 6. Judgment averted (10).
When Jeremiah was a young man his c o u n t r y was in great need, passing t h r o u g h a dark time in its history. His father was a priest, Hilkiah, but not the same one who found the lost Word o f God. One day God called Jere
miah in such a definite way that the young man knew it was God’s voice speaking, and he listened, obeyed, and followed where God led. His eyes had “caught the vision,” and his heart “ felt the thrill,” so that like Paul, he could say, “ This one thing I do," even though it meant hard ship, suffering, trial, loneliness, danger, persecution. God called him to be a prophet when he was about twenty years I B B
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