jonah

Here we are gazing upon the prophet Jonah moments after he was "vomited out" by that "great fish" seen, in the above image, swimming away in the background.  It's a fabulous painting.  Only, if I had painted it, I would have depicted Jonah much differently: I mean, he just spent three days and nights inside the belly of a huge fish--literally!  There on that nameless beach where he lay--utterly exhausted, no doubt, Jonah must have appeared in much worse condition than how he is portrayed, above.  His skin, from head to toe, as I suppose, must have been very pale-looking; his hair and beard matted with mucous; and his clothes were not merely wet with ocean water, but they were covered with the fish's own stomach contents.  In a word, Jonah must have looked horrible: like someone who just emerged from the grave.  Truly, he was such a man, as we see him lying there.

Yet, what no painting can show--but only words can reveal, is that the man we see prostrated on the beach, above, was a profoundly changed man.

Though many are familiar with the Biblical record of Jonah and his experiences, yet, there are deeper truths hidden in Jonah's story, which only the Holy Ghost can reveal.  It is my happy privilege, herein, to share some of those with you, as I have been shown them; keeping in mind that I must for the lack of space (and time) be very concise.

THE HEART OF GOD, FOR REVIVAL
We know from the Scripture record that Jonah's attitude toward the people and the city of Nineveh was not, shall we say, friendly.  We have no reason to suppose that Jonah was given to fast and pray for Nineveh--neither before, nor yet after, God called him to go and preach to the people of that city.  Neither was anyone in Nineveh praying for a move of God.  We are furthermore told that Jonah, instead of obeying God, outright objected and then refused to go to Nineveh as God had commanded him to do.

We see, then, in those circumstances thus far, that no one--including the prophet Jonah, was seeking for an outpouring of God's Spirit to the people of Nineveh.  But God Himself wanted so much to avert the impending judgment of that city and its inhabitants, that God took the initiative and appealed to a prophet of Israel.  Even there, amongst God's "chosen" people, however, God evidently could not find a willing and obedient servant.

Thus, God--according to His own desire to show mercy (Redemption) to the people of Nineveh, He first had to prepare His own servant, Jonah, for Revival.  (Readers of this blog should understand, I trust, the difference between the work of the Holy Ghost in Redemption, on the one hand--which involves bringing sinners to repentance, and, on the other hand, Revival--which brings God's people back from their backslidings, to walk with God in truth.)

But, if God wanted not to destroy Nineveh, why didn't He simply turn away His wrath from that city?  According to many modern-day preachers, not only God, but we also are somehow obliged to "forgive and forget" every possible transgression--without any regard whatsoever to the expression of repentance, that is to say the lack thereof, on the part of the transgressor.  God was angry enough at the wickedness of Nineveh's population, that He had already entered into judgment concerning the fate of that city: "Yet forty days, and I will destroy Nineveh," God decreed.  But if God wanted to spare Nineveh, why didn't He just overlook their sins?  God is sovereign; is He not?  Indeed, He is: and, according to His sovereign will, God demands that all men everywhere must repent, in order that they may then receive God's mercy and grace, for their Redemption.

God has "no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Ezekiel 33:11); but, He "delighteth in mercy" (Micah 7:18).  God asked the (rhetorical) question, in Romans 10:14:

"How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 

God wanted to show mercy to the people of Nineveh.  However, God needed an obedient man (person), to carry the message of God's judgment to Nineveh.  But, first, that man himself needed Revival.  So, God set about to help Jonah -- to seek, and so to receive, Revival.

Revival begins with seeing one's own need of true repentance.

Wonder of wonders! how that Jonah was marvelously helped to see his need of repentance, after spending just a few days kneeling in prayer at an altar -- inside the belly of a fish!
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THE MERCY OF GOD, IN REVIVAL
The Bible tells us that God "prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah" (Jonah 1:17).  Oh, my!  Do you mean to tell me that God "prepared" the very circumstances in which Jonah would soon come to find himself "swallowed up" in?

Yep.

But Jonah could have died in that fish's belly!  (I believe, in fact, he did die.)

Nevertheless, somehow--through those very horrific circumstances, Jonah became willing to do whatever God commanded.  But couldn't Jonah have avoided those awful circumstances, if he had only been willing to obey God in the first place?

Yep.

But where Jonah was, in "the first place"--that is, in Israel (sitting in his padded church pew), he was in desperate need of Revival.  And God knew that.  And God cared--not only for Jonah, but (remember?) God cared for Nineveh.  And God is merciful.

I have never in all my life, yet, personally witnessed a great move of God in Revival.  But I have been a very serious student of Revival, for quite a few years.  And what I have learned in my studies, is, that Revival never comes easily.  The fruit of Revival is by far the most precious, important, powerful and holy--and, therefore, desirable thing anyone could ever hope for (outside of going on to Heaven).  The "fruit of Revival," just mentioned, I must clarify, is nothing else but the manifest Presence of God, moving and working in extraordinary ways.  With what depth of desire; with what purity of purpose; with what earnestness of entreaty, then, ought we to pray and seek God for Revival?  How do we esteem that "fruit of Revival" (as though it were something we can pick up at Walmart anytime we please), by our evident lack of anything like real pleading with God!

And what about the devil?  Do we suppose (or do we even think) that the devil may have an interest in whether or not any Christian is truly seeking God for Revival?  And do we further suppose that the devil will be content to stand by while we, like Jacob of old, wrestle with God, to receive such great blessing--as Revival?  Especially, since that blessing--that answered prayer--happens to entail devastating consequences to the kingdom of darkness.

Oh, but we, the Church, don't need Revival; or, Revival is a thing of the past; or, Revival is a bunch of hyped-up emotionalism; or, Revival is too costly; or, Revival comes only if and when God may so choose; or, I'm just one person: what can I do?; or . . . any of a million other lying excuses the devil will tempt you to believe -- ALL of which are meant to keep you still bound up in your circumstances -- similarly as Jonah found himself, in the fish's belly, saying: "The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head" (Jonah 2:5).

Revival is not man's will, but God's.  It only becomes agreeable to man's will in order as God seeks to bring us to receive what He wants to give, to us, and through us.  Our praying for Revival is not as though we must somehow talk God into doing something good for us, which God otherwise, without our pleading, were uninterested or unwilling to do!  God forbid that we should think God so debased, and ourselves so exalted!  Do you still wonder whether God is willing to pour out of His Spirit in Revival?  Or, do you not, rather, wonder where you are? with respect to doing God's will.
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WHEN REVIVAL COMES
When true repentance comes, Revival thus comes.  True repentance is the first evidence that Revival, in fact, has already sprung forth; as well as it evidences that more of God's goodness is sure to come after.

Following upon Jonah's thorough and heartfelt repenting, we read in Scripture that "the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land" (Jonah 2:10).  God "spoke" to the fish (representing Jonah's hard and grievous circumstances, which Jonah was utterly incapable to resolve); whereupon God's command, that fish (Jonah's difficulties) promptly "vomited out Jonah upon the dry land".  When Jonah repented, he did not then have to wrestle, anymore, trying to discover or to create a way out of the awful mess which he had gotten himself into.  No.  But God spoke to Jonah's circumstances (which God himself had before "prepared" the same); and Jonah was freed.

When Jonah found himself -- alive -- and safe on dry ground, no longer in the belly (in the midst of) his fleshly grave: he knew that Revival -- in every sense of that word, had come to him from God.  Now, Jonah was willing not only to go and preach at Nineveh.  But Jonah was now ready, without a doubt, to obey the voice of God in every case.

But that is not all.  God not only freed Jonah from his troubles, yea, from death itself, importantly, even, from his own self-will; but, when God "spake" to that fish, He must also have commanded that fish where to go to deposit Jonah.  Recall, if you will, that Jonah had been sailing somewhere en route to Tarshish -- in a direction opposite of, and far removed from, Nineveh, where Jonah was there and then swallowed by that fish.  But not to the nearest seashore did that fish swim, to regurgitate its now-unsavory meal.  Do you recall, in Scripture, when Jesus's disciples were on the Sea of Galilee during a violent storm, and as soon as Jesus (who had come to them, walking on the water) entered into their boat, "immediately," the Bible says, "the ship was at the land whither they went" (John 6:21)?  I believe it must also have happened just like that, for Jonah.

Yet, there is still more.  For, what did that vacant seashore -- the nearest possible to Nineveh, represent?  It was not merely the "place" where God wanted Jonah to be.  But God provided, moreover, that Jonah was "deposited" right at the threshold, as it were, of the ministry which God had called him to.  Bless God!

I see the same principles at work in the life of every godly person in the Bible, who endured great trials; especially, involving those who were faithful in the midst of their affliction.  That is to say, that God's will is Salvation, and blessing.  But the Church has a real, and a profoundly important, responsibility to God: to be and to do all that God purposed the Church to be, and to do.  And, right now, I am certain that God is moving every Christian with "ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches," to seek God with the whole heart: first, for personal Revival; as well then for Revival beginning within--and emanating widely from--one's own family, to touch as many others as God may enable us, through and by His own Spirit, to touch, for Jesus Christ.