We are studying the, well we were doing an Old Testament survey remember and we got through all the historical parts of the Old Testament. That was very fun for me. I learned a lot reading through it and then trying to share with you the basics and we learned quite a bit about the Old Testament history and so forth. And then, of course, we came to the end of that and we went into the writings, Job and Psalms and Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. And then it came time then to start taking a look at the prophets. So that's kind of what we're doing now. I've been wrestling in my mind with how to deal with this because it's a massive effort, to be honest with you. When you come to books like Isaiah and Jeremiah, my goodness, Some of the things that are in there I don't suppose we'll ever really understand until the Lord teaches us personally in heaven. I've got quite a few questions I'm going to ask Him about some of these things. But that's kind of the way the Old Testament was. Remember before Christ came it was sort of dark and shadowy and Yes, it was there, but they didn't quite know what it meant and so forth. And I think a lot of the things yet that deal with future things, we scratch our heads and say, this is too deep for me. But one of these days, it will become very evident what is going on. But I want to take a few minutes here this morning. I don't think I've got a long lesson for you, but I want to review just a little bit so that we can get back into these prophets and start assimilating these things, putting them together. And I have wrestled with how to present the prophets because you know that in our Bible, they're not in chronological order, right? They jump here and there. They're really in order in our Bible, almost of length. You see, the major prophets are first, major being the longer books. and then you've got some of the shorter books that come later and so it leaves you scratching your head what period of time did this take place. So I'm gonna basically try to do a little work on the prophets sort of in chronological order so that we can begin to understand how and when these things took place and maybe it'll make a little more sense to us. You remember that when we came to the end of the historical period of the Old Testament, you had the Kings period. God finally relented and gave them kings, you see. So there was this united kingdom period of time where you had King Saul and King David and then King Solomon. And so you only had three kings during the united period and then the kingdom broke into two, didn't it? And so you had this Northern Kingdom then that picked up, I believe the date was somewhere around 931 BC when the kingdoms broke in two. And so the Northern Kingdom carried on until about 722 BC. Wasn't that long, was it? Our country is long older than that now. And we consider ourselves a very young country at this point. But the Northern Kingdom was carried off where? Anybody remember? Assyria. Carried off into Assyria. The Southern Kingdom down there, they didn't fare a whole lot better. They fared about 100 and some odd years better. And the Babylonian captivity began to take place in about 606 BC. lasted for, the process lasted a while, maybe to about 586. At any rate, they were carried off there then into Babylon. So you have the Northern Kingdom up here and the Southern Kingdom. And the question is, when did the prophets that are in our Bible prophesy, you see? See, there's several ways to do it. I've already broken it down into where they prophesied, and we'll review that. Maybe that's a good thing to do first of all. Let's take a look at where they prophesied. You remember that, or does anyone remember the two prophets that prophesied to the north? That was Amos and Hosea. Amos and Hosea. Janine cheated by pulling out her cheat sheet there, which I gave you. And so there were only two of prophets that prophesied primarily up in the north. Now some of the others referred to the north and so forth, but only two principally to the north. There were several of them that prophesied in the south. I won't take the time to list all of those right now but Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malachi. Most of them prophesied in the southern kingdom but there were a few prophets that prophesied regarding other places. Remember? And who were they, do you remember? Ezekiel and Daniel, where did they prophesy? Babylon, they were carried away from the southern kingdom up into Babylon and that's where they wrote their prophecies. That's from where they wrote their prophecies. So let's put Babylon, we have Ezekiel and Daniel. And so they didn't, some of their writings, of course, concerned the Southern Kingdom, particularly the restoration of the Southern Kingdom, but they prophesied in Babylon. Then you had a prophet that prophesied to that enemy of Israel called Edom. Does anyone remember who that was? Obadiah, good John. So Edom, that was Obadiah. You see, God was also mad at the heathen nations around Judah and Israel and he spoke to them as well. And he sent Obadiah to Edom and said, you're gonna be judged as well. All right. And then there was another place that God sent prophets and where was that? Nineveh. Nineveh. And who did he send to Nineveh? Jonah. Now, you get an A plus tonight if you can tell me the other prophet that was sent to Nineveh. Did you even know that there was another prophet sent to Nineveh? It is Nahum, Nahum prophesied to Nineveh. He went sometime after Jonah. Jonah actually went and they repented, remember, so God spared them for a period of time. Later on, Nahum went back to Nineveh and told them, all right, your time's up and God's going to judge you. So you see you can break, then you had all these that prophesied in the south. So you can see that you can break it down that way, but the way we're really gonna study this over the next year or so probably is that we're gonna try to take them in chronological order. Does anybody know who would have been the first prophet, prophet that's in the scriptures, who would be the first one in terms of chronology? Amos, almost, Amos was very early, but there's one just before that. Pardon? Malachi was near the end, but it was Jonah, believe it or not. Jonah was about 781. So Jonah prophesied up here while the northern kingdom was still intact. And of course, Jonah went to Nineveh to prophesy to them. So we're going to take Jonah first. I've already done, before I was out for a while, I already did Amos. But we're going to backtrack now and catch the one just before Amos, and that was Jonah, the one just before in terms of time. Okay? I'm going to start with Jonah tonight and give you a little bit of background on him. There are a few reasons why the book of Jonah is a little bit unique and we'll talk about that. Let me just say that the book of Jonah sits right in the middle of the prophetical books of scripture. You have quite a few books that are ahead of it in the order that they're in our Bible. And then you have quite a few that are after Jonah. So it sits kind of right in the middle there. But let's share why Jonah is a little bit unique. Jonah is unique for several reasons. First, Jonah, as we said, was a message directed to a heathen city. Most of the prophets prophesied to Israel and or Judah, you see. But Jonah was not sent to Israel, nor was he sent to the southern kingdom, but he was sent up into Nineveh. Now, does everyone know where Nineveh is? What country is Nineveh in? Well, today. But then, what was it? And I'm assuming you're right. I'm not for sure. Assyria. Assyria. Nineveh was up in Assyria. So, here's the way I always draw the Bible lands. If you make a backward C like that, this is the Mediterranean Sea out here. This is Africa or Egypt down here in Africa. The southern kingdom was called what? Judah. And the northern kingdom was called what? Israel. What country was just above Israel to the north? Syria. So it occupied a position up here, Syria. And then what was just above Syria? Assyria. Which is what is now Turkey today, I believe. Turkey extends on over there, if I'm not mistaken. At any rate, so you see that Assyria was way up here to the north, and Nineveh was a city up here in Assyria. And so Jonah is a unique prophet because he was sent up to this heathen nation to prophesy in one of their great, great cities. Now Nineveh, by the way, was a very great city, the Bible says, of Assyria during the time of Jonah. It was a very fierce power and at that particular time It was a great threat to everyone. It was a threat to Syria. It was a threat to Babylonia, which was a little to the east. It was a threat to all the countries surrounding Israel and Judah, and it was a threat to Israel and Judah. Everyone was afraid of Assyria, and rightfully so, because Assyria was looking to expand and to gobble up more territory. We learn from our Bible that Nineveh was initially built by a man, I believe by the name of Asher, who was probably sent out by Nimrod. You remember Nimrod back in Genesis chapter 11? Nimrod was a great hunter, probably a great builder, but he sent a man out by the name of Asher and founded this city of Nineveh. If you flip to Jonah, if you will, if you can find it, it's a very small book. Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. And you will see that Nineveh was called a very great city. Jonah 4.11, the last verse in Jonah. And says, and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle. So the Bible itself calls it a great city. It says there were six score thousand persons. How many is that by the way? Anybody know? 120,000. A score is 20 times six is 120. So it says six score thousand persons. Now the way it describes these six, 120,000 persons They can't discern between their right hand and their left hand. Most people think that means infants. People that are not aware yet of their left and right hand. So if there were that many infants in Assyria, that means there were a whole lot of people. Pardon? That's a bunch of folks. Probably a million or more. And what is the population of Memphis? If you consider the outlying parts of Memphis, it's a million or slightly better. So you can see that it was a very great city at that time with many, many people. Also, the book of Nahum, remember that prophet Nahum that later went to Nineveh? He says that it was a city of great wealth, and so that tells us a little bit about Nineveh. Now, let's stop there and consider. No matter how great a city or a nation gets, it is yet under God's government, isn't it? And it's under God's judgment. God will do with them whatever he so desires. It doesn't matter how great they get. It doesn't matter how big, how wealthy, how fortified. You see, men think that they can save themselves by fortifications, by their money, their wealth, their arms, you see. And they can to some extent defend themselves against surrounding people, but there's nothing that they can do against the judgment of God. God judges great cities and great nations all the time. But it appears that this great city was also a wicked city. It was a heathen city for sure and we know that if people don't know God ultimately it gets more wicked and more wicked, doesn't it? Depravity, darkness sets in and that's what happened in the city of Nineveh. The people of course had no knowledge of the true God. They had their own gods. Each man had their own supposed God but they did not know the true God. And though they were great in the eyes of the world, they were not great in the eyes of the true God. So Nineveh was a city of, it was a great city, a city of great wealth, and yet under God's, certainly under God's supervision. And look at Jonah 1, 2. Nineveh was a city of great wickedness. It says, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come up. before me. You know, whenever you gather many sinners together, as in a great city, you have many what? Many sins. Wickedness just flourishes, doesn't it? When you gather a bunch of sinners together in a hub somewhere, sin is rampant. Sin begets sin, it seems, and things get worse and worse. Everyone sinned and everyone encouraged each other to sin and it says that their wickedness came up before God. I think there's probably a couple of meanings to that when it says that it came up before God. Probably means in one sense that it got worse and worse before God. It intensified. Their wickedness arose and grew day by day. Finally it reached its highest pitch. It was full to the brim, you might say, and the stench of it came up into the nostrils of God. You see, God is a patient God. God endures for a time, but there does come a time when sin fills up, and God takes one final sniff of this awful stench, and he says, that's enough. We're gonna do something about this. So this was the situation in Nineveh that led God to speak to the prophet Jonah. Now, let me say that Assyria was not Jonah's favorite nation, was it, to say the least. Jonah lived down here in Judah. Why, they hated Assyria. They were afraid of them, and they were doing all that they could to fortify themselves against them, including aligning themselves with other nations which probably was not the best thing to do either but at any rate Assyria certainly was not Jonah's favorite nation nor I should say Assyria wasn't his favorite nation and Nineveh wasn't his favorite city. So Jonah was somewhat unique in that he was asked to prophesy to this heathen nation up there and particularly to the city of Nineveh. The book of Jonah is also unique in that it, as we've already said, it was the earliest of the prophetical writings. Now, not that there were not prophetical writings before 781, there were, they just weren't a part of the canon of Scripture. So what we're talking about are the prophetical writings that we find in our Bible. And Jonah was the earliest of those, apparently. The events that Jonah wrote about were about 15 years before Amos, who Brother Mark mentioned, and Hosea, who assisted Amos in prophesying to Israel. It was about 20 years before Isaiah began to prophesy down in Judah. So all of these prophets are going to be confined into a very short period of time. three or four hundred years they all prophesied within that short period of time but Jonah was one of or at least one of and probably the first chronologically. Jonah is also unique among the prophets because there's very little prophecy in his book. It is more a book of history than it is prophecy. It's an account of something historical that happened, but there is a little bit of prophecy in it. The one prophecy in the book was that Nineveh would be destroyed in how many days? Anybody remember? 40 days. Look at Jonah 3.4. Jonah 3.4 says, and Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, And he cried and said, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Well, there's the prophecy that's in the book of Jonah. As far as I know, there's no other prophecy in there. So Jonah prophesied that Nineveh would be destroyed in 40 days if they didn't repent. So the rest of the book is about this interesting story of Jonah and the events which ultimately brought him to Nineveh. Jonah is also unique in that his providential circumstances landed him where? Where did he ultimately end up? In the belly of the whale. And he was there for how long? Three days and three nights. And of course that is repeated in the New Testament as being a type of Christ, right? Now, that always brings up the question, was Christ in the grave three days and three nights? Well, no. He went in apparently Friday night, rose Sunday morning, but the way the Jews counted things, if it was a part of any day, they counted it as a day and night. I think that's how they got that. But at any rate, Jonah, is unique because he's a great type of Christ. He was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights and this is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ who was in the earth. Similarly, so you see there's some uniqueness to the book of Jonah. Now The book of Jonah does not reveal who wrote the book. So it's widely assumed that Jonah wrote the book. He would be the one that had the knowledge of these things. Jonah apparently before God called him as a prophet had been a scribe and influential in the king's court. And so he certainly was capable of writing. And I think most everyone believes that Jonah wrote this book. Does anyone know where Jonah hailed from? Where was he from? What part of the land was he from? Anybody remember? Well Jonah was from a place called Gath Heifer and it was just south of the Sea of Galilee so it was up in Galilee and of course we know that what comes out of Galilee Nothing good comes out of Galilee, right? So Jonah was from a remote corner of the land of Israel, which goes to show you that sometimes, well, God takes his prophets both from Jerusalem and from the most remote corners of the earth. God's not limited. And Isaiah, just for your information, hailed from Jerusalem. But Jonah hailed from this little rural place up there by the Sea of Galilee, which probably no one gave any respect to, and that's where he came to. It shows us that the Spirit of God blows wherever he wants to, doesn't it? We can't pigeonhole the Holy Spirit. He will move wherever he wants to. Also, take a look at 2 Kings chapter 14. 2 Kings chapter 14. and this is where we have a reference to Jonah. 2 Kings chapter 14 and verse 25 says, speaking of Jeroboam who was Jeroboam II who was king at this time in Israel, it says, he restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath under the sea of the plain according to the word of the Lord God of Israel which he spake by the hand of his servant, Jonah so apparently Jonah had been a prophet sometime before God came to him and told him to go to Nineveh and from this verse it seems that Jonah was a very comfortable prophet in other words he brought good news up to Jeroboam the second and so it was a comfortable easy ministry for Jonah apparently prophesied good things for Israel that their coasts would be restored. And but then so you can see that up until this point his ministry was nothing like that of Isaiah and Jeremiah a few years later who brought much bad news to the people. Alright so we assume that Jonah was written by this man Jonah who hailed from a place in Galilee and who was previously a prophet in Israel. Now let's take a look, let's go back to the book, Jonah, back to Jonah chapter one. And let's take a look at the honor bestowed on Jonah. Take a look at verse one. Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah. You know, it's a great honor when God comes to you, isn't it? Now, if some high official came and knocked on our door, we would consider it a high honor. But when God comes knocking on your heart's door, it is an awesome, awesome honor. And this happened to Jonah. God came to him and he not only came, but what did the Lord do unto Jonah? Well, it appears that he spoke to him because it says the word of the Lord came unto Jonah. Not only did God come to Jonah, but he spoke to him. And that is in itself a high honor as well. When God comes and speaks to us, it's incumbent on us to listen, to pay attention, to give it the honor and respect that is due. Because God is not compelled to speak to anyone. And when he does, we need to pay strict attention Let's take a look at the command to Jonah. In verse two it says, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it. Sometimes God comes to us where we are comfortably sitting and he tells us to get up. And apparently this is what happened to Jonah. Jonah was very comfortable. He was prophesying good news And God came and told Jonah to get up. Sometimes we are comfortable in our homes and in our familiar cities and God comes and says, get up. I was thinking about this and this is probably why it's best for us not to lay deep roots in this world. Who's to say that God wants us in this one place forever? And many of us, make that mistake by laying our roots too deep making our foundations here when they're not really supposed to be here but he came to Jonah and told Jonah to get up and he said arise but not only did he say arise but what's the second verb that he used in verse 2 arise and go yeah go Arise and go. Don't just get off your easy chair, but start walking, you see. So he told Jonah, I want you to go somewhere. I have somewhere for you to go. And in Jonah's case, God said, go to Nineveh. And the third verb that is used in verse two is what, Miss Bernice? Cry. Arise, go, And cry, now he doesn't mean to weep tears, but he means to speak loudly. That's what cry is. Shout it from the rooftops. Go boldly into the city of Nineveh and tell them this message. So Jonah was to go into hostile territory and boldly proclaim God's message. Now, when Jonah was to go into this hostile territory, he was to tell them a hostile message as well, right? It wasn't going to be a friendly message. He wasn't going to go wrap his arms around their shoulders and says, oh, y'all are doing so well. But he was to go and tell them that they are sinners and that God is going to destroy you in 40 days. So God said, go cry against Nineveh. Cry against their wickedness. So this was a very uncomfortable job now for Jonah. Sinners don't like it when you tell them to stop sinning. And they don't like it when you point out their sins. They would rather you stay home. And if you do come into their city, they would rather you shut up. and they would just as soon kill you as to have you tell them about their sins. But Jonah was told to get up, go to Nineveh, and shout out to them about their wickedness. And he was to tell them that judgment from God was coming in 40 days. Now, we all know that Jonah didn't want to go, right? Now, there probably were several reasons why Jonah didn't want to go. Commentators speculate on this. First of all, Jonah may not have wanted to engage in the dangerous trip to Nineveh. It would have been very dangerous to set out. Remember, they didn't have public transportation or that kind of thing. Yes, sir? According to the map, I don't think it would have been 900. It certainly would have been a long way by foot. Let's see, I've got a scale here. It's about, that's 20 miles. What? 500, that's still a long way. You can imagine traveling 500 miles by foot on dusty roads through dangerous territory where robbers would threaten you all along the way. So Jonah did not probably want to engage in the dangerous trip. He certainly didn't want to risk his life by witnessing in Nineveh why he must have thought the moment I open my mouth up there I'm gonna be threatened and harassed and maybe killed. Thirdly Jonah may not have wanted to share that divine revelation with a heathen nation that he hated. In Jonah's mind, God's word was for Israel and it was not for the heathen. So you see that perhaps there were various reasons why Jonah did not want to go. Fourthly, he did not want Nineveh to repent and to be spared, you see. He wanted them annihilated if possible. not spared. So you see that there must have been a good deal of turmoil in the heart of Jonah when God told Jonah to arise go and cry out to Nineveh. So we saw the honor that God bestowed on Jonah but let's take a look at the dishonor that Jonah showed toward God. Now did Jonah arise Yes. Yes. Yeah. God set a rise and Jonah did, you see. He arose and the moment that he stood up, I wonder if Jonah thought that he was tricking God, you see. All right, I'll get up. But you know what, I'm gonna go the other way. And what Jonah should have considered was that God knows the intents of the heart, doesn't he? He knew when Jonah stood up which direction he was going to go. So, but at any rate, Jonah did stand up, so he did that part correctly, but he arose with deceit in his heart. He had no intent to obey God. His intent was to disobey God. Now, his intent was to flee in verse three. Take a look. But Jonah rose up to flee. unto Tarshish. And so Jonah got up with the very intent to flee from God. But as we said, God knows the heart. God knew exactly where Jonah was going all along. It's interesting that Jonah, it says that he was going to Tarshish. Now we don't know exactly where Tarshish was at that time. There are various thoughts on the matter. Some people say it was down in Africa. Some people say it was up in Spain. Some people say it was an indefinite sea place. At any rate, we know a specific place that Jonah went. Does anyone know where Jonah went first? What city did he go to? Joppa. Now Joppa was down here on the coast. Joppa was a seaport down here on the coast. Where was Assyria? It was the other way. So Jonah headed out exactly the opposite way from Assyria. And he came down here to this seaport called Joppa and he found him a ship. Now some people think Jonah didn't care where he went just so long as he was going away from Assyria. And maybe the ship was headed somewhere to a place called Tarshish. And that's why perhaps Jonah was headed toward this place called Tarshish. So Jonah hopped a boat there in Joppa and that's where we find him then headed on this boat. I want you to notice here how the very best of men. Now Jonah was a prophet of God. He was used of God. God spoke to him. Jonah obeyed God. Jonah was a just man. Jonah was a righteous because of God's imputation of righteousness to him. But I want you to see that even the best of men, even God's prophets are susceptible to sin and disobedience, aren't they? All men are susceptible to sin and disobedience. There's no one that's immune from it and even Jonah was. When men are left to themselves without the control of the Spirit of God, the best of men become the worst of men. So we better pray and we better always seek to have God controlling us with his Spirit, shouldn't we? Preachers need to know this, you see, because they're not above falling. Teachers, deacons, everyone in here is subject to falling, and Jonah was subject to falling. So we should learn not to be too confident in ourselves, especially in a time of trial, because we may fall. and we are likely to fall and we probably will fall in our own power. The Bible says, let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he what? Fall. So let none of us ever think that we're so good that we can't fall. We depend on God every day. We depend on his spirit every day to keep us from falling and if we fall We depend on his spirit to bring us back because we are not able, you see. And Jonah, the prophet of God, got up to flee from the presence of God. Well, I'm going to stop there. What I want to do, I've got about five minutes here. If you don't mind, we've got four chapters in Jonah. I want to read it to you. Let's get this story embedded in our mind and I'll spend two or three weeks finishing up this book of Jonah. It says, Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa. And he found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare thereof. and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea. You see, the Lord wasn't deceived, was he? The Lord wasn't confused. He knew exactly where he was. So the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea and there was a mighty tempest in the sea so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid and cried every man unto his God. and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship and he lay and was fast asleep." Who does that remind you of? There was a case a couple of times when Jesus was asleep in the boat when a storm came along, you remember? So the ship master came to him and said unto him, what meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call unto thy God. Apparently they were saying, our gods aren't helping that much. Call unto your God, see if your God will help. If so, be that God will think upon us that we perish not. And they said, everyone to his fellow, come and let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us. What is thine occupation? And whence comest thou? What is thy country? And of what people art thou? And he said unto them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven. Notice that he says, which God is it? It's the God that made the sea and the dry land. That's really the definition of our God. Ours is the one, as Brother Mark has pointed out several occasions, our God is the one that made it all. That makes him unique. That makes him the only one. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea. So shall the sea be calm unto you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Sin gets us into all kinds of trouble, doesn't it? us into irreversible situations. Nevertheless the men rode hard to bring it to the land but they could not for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord and said, We beseech Thee O Lord, we beseech Thee let us not perish for this man's life and lay not upon us innocent blood for Thou Lord has done as it please Thee. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea and the sea ceased from her raging then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah by the way I don't it doesn't say a whale does it but it says a great fish swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me out of the belly of hell, cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hast cast me into the deep, into the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about. All thy billows and thy waves passed over me, and Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul. The depth closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. when my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord and my prayer came in unto thee into thine holy temple they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving I will pay that that I have vowed salvation is of the Lord and the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the 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 unto Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey, and Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God. Now that's an amazing thing there, that the heathen, wicked people believed God. And they proclaimed a fast. That, by the way, shows the power of the word of God. And so they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and he laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes, and he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing. Let them not feed nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent? and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not. And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly. Jonah's still a little bit peeved here, isn't he? It displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Lord, take I beseech thee my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. Then said the Lord, Dost thou will to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city and there made him a booth and sat under it in the shadow till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a gourd and made it to come up over Jonah that it might be a shadow over his head to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass when the sun did arise prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, Dost thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow, which came up in a night, and perished in a night. and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and also much cattle. Well, there's some interesting things in there and we'll talk about those on the next couple of Wednesday nights and then we'll move on to another prophet. Any questions about the word of God this evening? All right, well thanks for your attention. Let's go ahead and stand and we'll be dismissed here. Our Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you for these Old Testament scriptures. Help us to understand them, we ask. Give us wisdom. Open up our hearts. Help us to understand their meanings. Help us to see examples and illustrations for us. help us to see when they refer us to Christ and increase our faith, increase our strength by our study of these things. Be with us now as we go to our homes. We thank you for Jesus and we pray in His name.