Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: This is just Jonah learning to be matured in the things of the Lord. He had to go through quite a thing to learn maturity: to be swallowed by a big fish, travel in a ship, and be thrown overboard. Jonah has had to do some serious stuff. But this is all God's plan to mature Jonah. Aren't you glad the Lord matures us?

Kurt: Pastor Brett Meador reminds us how and why God uses our trials. That is why Paul says, "I rejoice in tribulation." Why? Because tribulation builds hope, patience, and experience.

The story of Jonah and the big fish tells the tale of a rebellious prophet sent to preach a message of repentance to an extremely wicked nation. As Jonah tries to run from this responsibility, we see the great lengths God will go to save even the very worst of sinners, extending grace and mercy to Jonah along the way. More in today's word with Pastor Brett Meador.

Brett Meador: The book of Jonah. We looked at chapter one and all of Jonah chapter two. We have basically the call that God gave to Jonah and he rebelled against God. God said go, Jonah said no. He was told to go to Nineveh, that scary city. We cannot lose sight of the fact that Nineveh was known to be extremely violent, godless, and wicked.

God says, "I see the wickedness of Nineveh, so I need to send you there, Jonah." Jonah says, "I am not going to Nineveh." So he went the opposite direction. Twenty-five hundred miles in the opposite direction was his goal. But as it turns out, the Lord prepared a big fish to swallow him up and took him back the direction he was supposed to be going. We end where Jonah was barfed back up on the beach.

We do not really know exactly what happened between chapters two and three. Was it right after the barfing that we come to chapter three, or was there a little bit of time? It seems almost like we get a total reset about everything. One of the things I am really thankful for God in His nature is the heart to let us have a reset. He forgives us for our stubbornness and our sinfulness.

Remember when Peter denied Jesus three times and the rooster crowed? I love that Jesus gave Peter three times to say, "You know I love you, Lord." Remember that? This is the God we serve who loves us and gives us the second chance, the third chance, and the 80th chance. I am just so thankful for our patient Lord. Jonah is going to see the patience of the Lord.

You and I might even lose patience with Jonah when we watch this guy. He is frustrating, but the Lord just patiently hangs in there with Jonah in his weirdness and his insecurities. You are going to be shocked if you have not really read the book of Jonah. Most people colored the picture in Sunday school of the little man inside the big fish, but a lot of us did not really see the whole story.

So we pick it up after Jonah gets barfed out of the big fish. Now he is somewhere. We do not even know what beach Jonah was barfed on. Was it somewhere near Caesarea or Joppa, or was it somewhere a long ways away? we do not really know, but this is where we pick it up in chapter three of Jonah.

It says in verse one, chapter three, "And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time saying, 'Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.'" So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. We see here Jonah is called by the Lord a second time.

Do you sense the patience of the Lord in this? Okay, now Jonah, listen. I want you to go to Nineveh. He could have said, "Okay, go do what you already knew you were supposed to do the last time I told you what to do." He did not do that. He just goes through almost the same of verse two of chapter one. Now we have the same verse, chapter three, verse two: "Arise, go to Nineveh, go to that city."

By the way, I want you to note that God calls Nineveh a great city. Isn't that interesting? Twice we see it right here in chapter one, verse two and chapter three, verse two. Go to that great city and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. This is just Jonah learning to be matured in the things of the Lord.

He had to go through quite a thing to learn maturity: to be swallowed by a big fish, travel in a ship, and be thrown overboard. We could see some PTSD if we are not careful here. Jonah has had to do some serious stuff. But this is all God's plan to mature Jonah. Aren't you glad the Lord matures us? That is what oftentimes the trials that we go through are meant to mature you.

That is why Paul says, "I rejoice in tribulation." Why? Because tribulation builds hope, patience, and experience. It is a maturing work that God wants to do. I am thankful that God does that. I am thankful that maturity is something that happens to most people. Have you ever noticed a baby that is nine months old?

No matter where you are, if that baby is not happy, it lets you and everybody in the whole room, restaurant, know it. That baby just starts screaming. Remember when you are a new parent of your first child and you take your baby to the first time at a restaurant and you are thinking our baby is amazing and an angel?

But it is funny how the demons come out at the restaurants where they start screaming their heads off and everybody is looking at you with disgust. Anyway, there is this thing where a baby, you get it all ready and cleaned up in a fancy little dress just before you are leaving for church and all of a sudden, oh no, not the diaper.

Baby just does that right there. There is no thinking I probably better wait. A baby is not mature in those things. Can you imagine if we adults never learned those two things? Here we are in church and you are unhappy at something I say. Wouldn't that be a little embarrassing if you are an adult and you are just screaming your head off?

Or the adult crying uncontrollably, or there you are in that big board meeting around the fancy table and when somebody says something you do not like, you cry and then you poop your diapers as well. I am so thankful that you and I tend to mature. By the way, have you ever noticed some parents do not help their children to mature in this thing of the crying thing?

If you are a mom who just does not ever want to see your child learn to cry and stuff like that, and your husband is saying, "Honey, we should probably just not immediately..." I think sometimes we as parents come to rescue just a little too early at times. Spiritually, people need to be matured and grow, and so the Lord allows us to go through difficult times.

Sometimes the Lord is the one who sends the difficulty. What are the two things, quiz time, that God has already sent and prepared in the story? The storm is number one, and then of course the fish. God sent those. The Bible says that. It doesn't say there was a fish; God prepared a big fish. God sent the storm.

Why did He do that? He is growing this guy, Jonah, to become hopefully more mature. We will see how that goes, but as it turns out, that is the challenge. So verse three: "Jonah arose and went to Nineveh." Now, that is maturity. We are seeing growth in Jonah's life. Last time he said no and he ran. This time he goes to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.

I love that. Now let's talk about that great city Nineveh. It is an interesting city. We have talked about the Ninevites and how they were a bloodthirsty, scary people. But we really didn't talk about the archaeology. Did you know that before 1847, so-called scholars declared, all the skeptics, that there was no place called Nineveh?

They were saying that is just the Bible invention and blah, blah, blah. Archaeological people need to just go with the Bible because every single time they are proven wrong. On this one, they were proved wrong back in 1847 when they dug up the giant city of Nineveh and its greater Nineveh metro area. It is an interesting thing.

The huge walls and the perimeter of the main city of Nineveh were all dug up and found, interestingly enough. But what is sad, I have got some good news and some bad news. The bad news first: Did you know the ISIS war, the ISIS people went and totally blew up huge regions of Nineveh? One of the things ISIS loves to do is destroy anything historical that is not linked to Islam.

If it is even linked to the wrong kind of Islam, they will destroy it. But you can bet if it is a biblical Jewish history from the Hebrew Bible like the book of Jonah, the ISIS guys are not going to let that stand. Interestingly, in a Haaretz article from Nineveh to Jonah's tomb, ISIS war on history.

If you are wondering where Nineveh is on the map, just a quick point of reference, it is that fertile crescent in what is modern-day Mosul. Some of you might even have been to Mosul if you are in our military or armed services. I know some people that have been to Mosul and there was some real battle going on there.

All that to say, the ancient city, they found these walls that were the fortified area of the city. Some people say that is a small little town. You have to remember Bible cities were small, but Nineveh was not small. We will talk about that in a second. Islamic State rampage through the whole region deliberately destroying anything un-Islamic.

The biblical Jonah was believed to have been buried in Mosul, as it turns out, Iraq, which has been part of the ancient city of Nineveh. Over the eons of time, because they thought Jonah was there, just like in Jerusalem and Israel they always build temples over stuff that they think are holy, they converted this ancient city part where Jonah was buried and they built big Christian churches.

Then in the 14th century, they turned it into a large Sunni mosque which remained dedicated to Nabi Yunis, the prophet Jonah in Arabic. So it was a place whose sanctity was honored by believers in the great religions, as they call it in the Haaretz article. It was all there and there was even a big library that was there to show the ancient history and document the whole history of Jonah and the region and the Ninevites.

ISIS destroyed the whole thing: the tomb and the library and the whole region back in July of 2014. Reportedly it only took ISIS one hour with their explosives that blew away the monument whose roots go back thousands of years. The ruins of this ancient city that they had were about 12 kilometers in circumference.

ISIS has destroyed many cities in that whole region in much of the Middle East with their explosives. But then there is another article that you could look if you want, Christian Today: ISIS destruction of Jonah's tomb leads to discovery of biblical King's ancient palace. This is great to me. They are trying to destroy history, but they actually confirm history.

One of the things that is largely lacking in history is the message of Sennacherib in the Bible. It is really more like Sanharib is the way you say his name. This ancient king, when they blew up that part of the city and blew up Jonah's tomb, guess what? Underneath the tomb of Jonah was another strata of history and they found all kinds of records about Sanharib, which is just more proving the Bible.

When the Bible calls Nineveh an exceeding great city, it was for so many reasons. By the way, so when it says exceeding great, some people say that is supposed to be size. If it was only 12 kilometers in circumference around the ancient city, that is no big deal. True, but in Bible times that is still a huge city.

Most scholars believe that Nineveh, there were really three walled cities: there was Nineveh proper, Calah, and Khorsabad. Nineveh became the capital of these three major areas. There were the walled areas for fortification, but the city ran together outside of those walls. When there was an enemy attack, everybody would go within the walls, but much of the city lived outside of the walls.

It was a huge area. When the Bible talks about Jonah going to Nineveh, it is probably referring to this whole greater Nineveh area. It is quite interesting when you go back to even the book of Genesis. Let me give you a little scripture here you can jot down in your notes: Genesis 10 verses 11 and 12. "Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city."

Even way back in Genesis and the table of nations in Genesis 10, Nineveh is called a great city. It is interesting that all throughout the Bible Nineveh is constantly called a great city, but it was never great because of its integrity, morality, or godliness. It was always great in the sense of size and also perhaps technology and beauty. So the Bible constantly calls it that.

There is an interesting ancient writer, he was a Greek physician and historian named Ctesias. He describes Nineveh as a city whose circuit was 480 stadia, which was a measurement of their time, which would mean that the circumference of the greater Nineveh area was over 27 miles if you went around the perimeter. So it was a huge, huge city with hundreds of thousands of people living there.

The reason why I mention all this is not just for our health. It actually goes on. In verse three, it says, "So Jonah arose, went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey." You say, "Okay, so Jonah barfed out and then it took him three days."

There is no place Jonah could have been barfed out from the sea and have a three days' journey unless he had an airplane or a car. Even a chariot would be tough to make that journey in three days. But most scholars believe that what Jonah did was a three days' journey around the circumference of the city of Nineveh.

There is some evidence of that in other places and when you read the original text. A lot of scholars believe he was doing the circumference of Nineveh, a three days' walk, which would be more like the 27 miles that we just talked about. Jonah obeys God, goes to this great, beautiful city that is full of a bunch of wicked, violent, horrible people. That is the situation.

Verse four: "And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey." So he walked a whole day's journey into the center of the city. He cried and said, here is his whole message, his whole sermon: "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Interesting cry from Jonah, just a short message. It is sort of a fire and brimstone sermon. "You have got 40 days and you are all toast," is basically what he is saying.

I love that Jonah is finally doing what God called him to do. One thing I want to point out is I believe God cares just as much about Jonah as He does care about the Ninevites. Don't forget that. God is using Jonah to be the voice to speak the word of God to the Ninevites, but He also cares about Jonah. We will see that as we get further into this.

I wonder if Jonah felt like, "Thanks a lot, Lord, for making me the victim. I am the one who has to go to this city that is probably going to chop my head off and put my skull on top of all the other skulls outside of their cities and stuff like that. Maybe they will skin me alive and fly my skin as a flag like they did all those other people." Jonah could have been thinking, "What is the Lord trying to do with me here?"

But I love that the Lord has a plan and a purpose for His people, even Jonah. I am reminded of Jeremiah 29:11-13: "'For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,' saith the Lord, 'thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray to me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.'"

A lot of people love to quote the first part of this. "I know the thoughts I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, not of evil, to give you a future and a hope," as one of the translations says, or an expected end. But there is also another thing that we are supposed to do there: call upon the Lord, pray, seek, find. Then the Lord says, "When you search for me with all your heart, you'll find me."

This is what the Lord wants from us, but He has thoughts of peace and not of evil for Jonah. I think He also has thoughts of peace and not of evil for you. You might feel like, "Why does the Lord have me in this situation? Why am I having the job that I have now, or the boss that I have, or why do I have to live where I live or do what I do?" But the Lord, He has got a plan for you: thoughts of peace, not of evil.

When you were kids, your parents would not let you do stuff. They made things harder on you from your perspective. But then you get older and you realize my parents cared enough for me to not do those things or not allow me to go those places. As you grew out of that immaturity, you realized mom and dad actually were thoughtful and caring.

I remember watching this. It is harder to see sometimes on yourself, but I watched this with my parents and my sisters, especially when it came to my sisters getting to that age where they started to date young men. It was hilarious because my sister is just a little older than I was. It was always a blessing for me because when I got to high school, a lot of freshman young boys, everybody hassles the new freshmen.

When I got to high school, all the seniors and juniors said, "Hey Brett, whatever you need, you just let me know." Why? Because I had these beautiful sisters and these guys are like, "Yeah, Brett, you are my bro." Wow, this really worked out nicely for me. But what is funny about that was I would watch boys come and see my dad.

My dad is very old-fashioned. When a guy wanted to take my sister out, he had to go in and meet my father and they would sit down and talk. My mom was part of that discussion too. My mom and dad would sit down with the young man. I saw several young men come and go in different ways. One guy came in, true story, he came in with a Porsche.

He was just out of high school, driving this nice Porsche, and this guy wanted to go out with my sister Tammy. Jenny and I, we were watching from upstairs out the window. We saw the guy, total clean-cut, short haircut, which in the eighties was unheard of. A guy with clean-cut hairdo and fancy clothes and his Porsche.

He walked in and sat down with my parents and we were like, "Yeah, he is going to go out with my sister tonight on a date." We were thinking, "Wow, this is a slam dunk. He's got a Porsche!" That is what I was thinking. But after about 20 minutes of talking to my dad, I saw the young man walk with his head down and he walked out and went in his Porsche and left.

We ran downstairs. "What is going on?" My dad would just say, "We didn't really have a peace about him." Tammy was not happy about the whole situation, understandably. The Porsche! I remember about a year or so after that, there was another guy that stumbled into our driveway and he had one of those, I forget, it was like a Datsun B210.

Remember those B210s? Ugliest car that ever was made. Some of you guys like them still and you rebuild them and all that, but he drove into this it was an old beat-up bucket of rust. He comes driving in and he steps out and he has got hair down to his waist. He just struts in wearing some raggedy clothes.

Tammy and I are watching this time because this is Jenny's date, my sister Jenny. Tammy and I are watching from the window and we are like, "No way." Tammy and I, we did, I am not kidding, we said, "Is he stoned? I think he is wasted. I think he is high." That is what we thought, I am not kidding.

He comes walking in and then about 10 minutes later, Jenny and this guy walk out hand in hand and he gets her in, opens the door for her in his old jalopy B210 and they drive off. Tammy and I are like, "What? What happened?" That guy is my brother-in-law now. Truly one of the greatest guys I know.

It really is hilarious how one of the best guys I know, and he got saved. I am not saying I am condoning missionary dating. I am not saying that. But I do know that when Tammy and I ran downstairs, "Dad, what is going on?" he said, "I had a peace about that guy." We were like, "No way." I didn't tell you this: the first guy ended up in prison.

Yeah, he ended up in prison. It is amazing when you let the Lord lead and guide. But what I am saying is parents, fathers, father really does know best, especially when you are talking about the Father which is in heaven. So Jonah has got this thing, "I have got to go to Nineveh and talk to these crazy, violent people," but the Father knows best and He knows what He is doing. It is better to obey the Lord than to whine and whimper or run like Jonah ran. But the Lord, He is merciful and gracious and He knows what is good for you.

Kurt: Pastor Brett Meador pausing with a fitting illustration for the love and mercy the heavenly Father has for all His children. He will be continuing this verse-by-verse study in the book of Jonah from today's word next time. I invite you to stay right there as Pastor Brett will join me here in a moment.

Brett Meador is the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church in the Portland suburb of West Linn, Oregon. If you have missed any portion of our time today, you will find his messages online at todayswordradio.com. That is todayswordradio.com. All right, Pastor Brett is with me now.

Brett, sometimes I hear folks who claim to be Christians but don't attend church, and they might say something like, "Well, I don't need to attend church and still follow Jesus," or, "The beauty of the outdoors is my church, and that's where I spend my time instead of being in a church building." What does the Bible say about Christians being together in church?

Brett Meador: That is a great question, Kurt. I hear people say, "I'm not into organized religion," and I always say, "Then our church is for you because we are not organized." But no, truly, the Bible says very clearly, Hebrews 10:24 and 25, "Let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, and exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching."

In other words, the closer we get to the second coming of Christ, we should be exhorting people, "Get to church! You've got to be plugged in." As you mentioned, Kurt, the church is not a building, it is the people. So when people say, "My church is out in the woods," the fallacy of that is there are no people out there.

How convenient. It is so much easier out in the... I love being in the woods, and I don't have to deal with problems of people and personalities and weird relationships, but that is the point. We need each other in fellowship and we need to encourage one another and we need the correction and accountability and support.

People that are saying, "We're just going to be out in the wilderness and enjoy the creation," you can go out in the wilderness and enjoy creation, that can inspire you to worship God, but it is not really what the Bible talks about. It says the early church continued steadfastly going from house to house and also in the temple daily: prayer, teaching, breaking of bread, and the apostles' doctrine, which was teaching the word. This is something we are not supposed to forsake and the Bible is pretty clear on that one.

Kurt: Thank you, Pastor Brett, for that clarification from scripture and encouragement of how important it really is to be in church together with other Christians. I want to mention that if you are in the Portland, Oregon area and don't have a church home of your own, we would like to invite you to the main Athey Creek campus in West Linn or our two other locations in Hillsboro or McMinnville.

For more information, go to todayswordradio.com and click on the link "Locations". Again, todayswordradio.com and click the link "Locations". Well, that is all the time we have. Next time, Pastor Brett will explore how Jonah finally seemed to be on the right track as he arrived in Nineveh, only to see God needing to deal with more attitude issues with him first. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.