Jonah 3 Following Jesus When You’d Rather Run AwaySample

It is by Grace that we are saved.

Jonah 3 concludes and articulates one of the great mysteries in all of the Bible–God’s patience and grace. Jonah wasn’t the first to disobey God, and yet God still radically chased after him. Jonah surely wasn’t the last for God to chase down. The story of Jonah and Nineveh is a story of man’s disobedience and God’s grace. It is THE STORY. It is the gospel!

That God would look at the world which He created and look at us in our worst moments, and say “I will do anything to have these people be with me forever.” It is why Jesus left heaven and came to earth to die on the cross while we were at our worst, not our best.

Why? For a second chance. For grace to have the final word. For “loved” to be our middle name. For God to use Jonah to bring the Ninevites to repentance, so they would finally see that God was worth it; that He is everything.

There’s Good News wrapped up in this story. Jesus is the better Jonah.

Jonah went from Israel to Nineveh; Jesus went from heaven to earth. Jonah went to Nineveh unwillingly; Jesus came to earth willingly. Jonah was spat out of a fish; Jesus was spat out of the grave. Jonah preached a few words of God; Jesus shows up as the Word of God. Jonah saw a king repent; Jesus is the King of Kings in no need of repentance. Jonah saw one nation repent; Jesus will see someone from every nation on planet earth bow their knee to Him as King of Kings.

And here we are today: with the Word of God and the power of the gospel, on a mission to see the same thing that happened in Nineveh happen here! What a purpose.

Pray: Thank Jesus today that He is the greater Jonah. Thank Him for the gospel. Thank Him for His Word. Ask Him to help you see everything today through gospel lenses. Ask for an eternal perspective and a missional mindset to seek and save the lost - to bring the message of Jesus to our Nineveh