(Text and Audio)
Title: Plants Vs. People Part Three:
3 Final Observations from the Book of Jonah
I promise, I promise, I promise…this is the final sermon in Jonah. I have greatly enjoyed walking through this book with you over the last 7 1/2 months, and I think today we will go out on a high note.
I’m very excited about the Word that God gave me in preparation this week and I think this will be a fun, insightful, and convicting conclusion to this wonderful book we’ve been working through, so let’s get started!
(read/pray)
OBSERVATION ONE: “More than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left…”
What are the various English translations in the congregation today?
What do you think this phrase means?
What if I told you there was another possible meaning?
From the Commentary of Jamieson, Fausett, and Brown
yada’ yamiyn semo’ wl
This Hebrew phrase can also translate as “young children (under four)”
This causes TWO huge implications:
- God is condemning Jonah for caring more about the plant than the souls of 120,000 children who are not yet old enough to even fully understands what it means to be an enemy of God, or an enemy of Isreal.
- The TOTAL number of people in Nineveh then would be much closer to 600,000 (if the children made up 120,000 by themselves.)
OBSERVATION TWO: “and much livestock…”
- What are you various English translations?
- What do you think this means?
3. I think it’s two-fold:
1. God loves his creation
2. God PROVIDES for his people
Why were cattle valuable? As pets? Because the people of Nineveh loved them? NO! They were food, sustenance, security!
OBSERVATION THREE: Do not forget who wrote this book.
- Who wrote Jonah?
- Why is this so noteworthy?
- What can we reasonably conclude about the version of Jonah that we see at the end of the book?
Key Point: The book of Jonah is Jonah’s…
TESTIMONY
- A Warning against selfish and foolish behavior from someone who witnessed the lengths God will go to remind us of the difference between HIM and US.
- A Reminder of God’s sovereignty over all things: people, salvation, creatures, and plants.
- A Prophecy that “God’s People” are not only “Israel” but any who keep God’s commandments. As Jesus would later say in John’s Gospel: Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”