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Dp you think a prophet should always be willing to do as God asks him to do, and go where God sends him? Now God asked Jonah to go to ar city by the name of Nineveh, a very wicked city, and tell the people of that great city, that unless they became sorry for their sins and turned to God, they would be destroyed. I wonder why Jonah did not want to take God’s message so they could be saved. Jonah was a Jew, and the people who lived in Nineveh were Gentiles or foreigners, and had been very cruel to Israel, God’s people, for many years. The wicked kings of that country not only killed the Jews but tortured them and made them suffer great pain; they had done this for many years. Now we know it is hard to help people who are our enemies and want to hurt us, but boys and girls, did these wicked people have souls to save, and did Jesus die to save them? Yes, He did, and that is just why God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to them, for God loved them and wanted to save them. Of course God did. not love the awful wicked things these people did, but He loved them and wanted them to be saved. He hated the things they did, and He hates the wrong people are doing today. Now Jonah did not want to go on this errand, and so he got on a boat going in the opposite direction. Now Jonah was trying to run away from God, and Earl, do you think he got very far? No, indeed he did not, but he got into a lot of trouble, just what everybody gets into who disobeys God. He would have been drowned in the sea if God had not saved him by having a great fish to swallow him. How good God was to His disobedient prophet. (Tell the story in detail, how Jonah prayed while in the fish, confessed his sin, said it was his (Jonah’s) fault that he was in trouble, promised God he would obey and go to Nineveh. Pic ture his deliverance and journey to the city, and how he faithfully preached to
What result did one man’s obedience have upon a great city? Why did God change His mind and save the city? Is God changeable? Does man’s attitude toward God af fect God’s attitude toward man? Would God have been just to destroy the city in forty days when they all re pented and changed their attitude to ward sin and toward God? Does God love a wicked city? Is it God speaking through men who give harsh warnings of judgment? Ought we not to be thankful for mes sages of warning although we do not enjoy them? Should a church criticize a speaker because he preaches on the judgment and punishment of sin? Do the cities of our time need warn ings of judgment? How do you think Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles would take such a warning? God Sends Jonah on an Errand. Jonah 3:1-4:11. Memory Verse.— “ God is love.” 1 Jno. 4:8. Approach.—What do different people say about foreigners in your neighbor hood? Do you know any nicknames given to them? Do you know any of them real well, or BEGINNERS any of their family, AND PRIMARY or things that hap- Mabel L. Merrill pened among them? How do they differ from you and why? Do you think it right to call these people nicknames? —Arnold’s Practical Commentary. Lesson Story.— Charles, will you tell us about the prophet Elisha and why he was not afraid of a great army of men and chariots who had come to kill him? Our story today tells us about another prophet of God whose name was Jonah.
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