is next in the line as a type
of Christ in our studies. And most of what I have to say
I'll take from the book of Jonah, which you'll find nestled between
the book of Obadiah and Micah. The minor prophets are confusing
sometimes to people. I get confused by them. I know there's little little
things that they abbreviate each book and you can memorize that
and you can go through and do those things. But if you don't
read from these books very often you forget where they are. The minor prophets begin at the
book of Ezekiel and then they run in succession all the way
to the last book of the Old Testament. Now the story of Jonah, if you
read it, seems almost like a fictitious book. It seems almost like reading
Moby Dick or something. You're reading something that
just don't seem to be real. But I assure you that it is,
and not only did God put his blessings on the ministry of
Jonah, by the salvation of Nineveh, but he also uses that reference
of Jonah in the New Testament. He was a prophet of God. He was
sent to an evil city, doomed to destruction, and God's messenger,
seeking to disobey God's command, is thrown into the sea. He couldn't
escape, going where the Lord sent him. There was no mistaking
it. There was no getting away from
it. And then after they threw him into the sea, he was swallowed
up by a great fish, which he later tells us is a whale prepared
of God just for Jonah. The whole purpose in that whale
was to swallow God's prophet and take him to Nineveh. And then he was spit out right
before his destination And then he goes to see God's power work
in Nineveh to the salvation of the whole city. Now there's several
things concerning God's prophet that bear a striking similarity
to me of that of the Savior. And that's what I want to talk
to you about this morning. First of all, Jonah was sent
to a place and a people condemned of God. Condemned of God. In Jonah chapter one, verse two,
he tells Jonah, he said, arise and go to Nineveh, that great
city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up
before me. And Nineveh, like many of the
Gentile cities, they were gross idolaters there. evil men, immoral,
ungodly, left in the darkness of their own nature as the wrath
of God abided on them. But if you think about it, Nineveh
is but a picture of the whole of humanity. We don't see ourselves
that way, neither did Nineveh. Nineveh just compared themselves
with one another and thought they were normal. Russell, this
was normal behavior. This was allowed, their behavior
was allowed under the law. I mean, they might occasionally
step over the line, but most of the time it was, prostitution
was legal there. Lots of things were legal. Nineveh
is just a picture of the whole of humanity. None righteous. None that understandeth. Nobody
in Nineveh understood anything about God. None that seeketh after God.
They all bowed down before idols. They all worshipped idols. Scripture
said there's none good talking about all humanity, all gone
astray, together become unprofitable. No fear of God before their eyes,
destruction and misery in their ways. poison of asp under their
lips. Job said this about God, he said,
God put us no trust in his saints, how much more abominable and
filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water. So Nineveh
here is just a picture of all humanity, of all humanity. David said, man, every time you
read in the scripture and he's referring to man, he's talking
about mankind. He's talking about all men. And David said, man, at his best
state, at his best state, at the top of his game, at the top
of his success, at the top of his morality, He's aged now and
he has a family and he pays his bills and man at his best state
is altogether vanity. And Isaiah said, we are together
as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rats. Brethren, men, this is something
that religion has put over on humanity, but man is not the
innocent victim of evil men and seducers being led astray from
their innocence. They came forth from the womb,
speaking lies. They were born in darkness. They
were born under the condemnation of God. By the offense of one judgment
came upon all men to condemnation. By Adam's disobedience, the many
were made sinners, and by this one man's offense, death reigned. Who did it reign over? Everybody.
Everybody. His whole world being under the
judgment and wrath of God was the recipient of God's supreme
prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ. and jonah the prophet of god
now i can't even tell you uh... this morning how rare a prophet
of god wall in the days of john the world was not full of profits
dot had a handful and john was one of and he said he said this
How rare is it today? Look on Free Grace Radio. They have a map on there, and
you can go look at that map, and it'll show you every known
grace church in the world. You can put them on two hands.
I know God has a number out there that he's reserved, and just
like Elijah down in the cave, we'd probably be shocked to know
just how many people God has on this earth. But I'm just saying,
those who communicate and those who have professed their faith
publicly and have gotten to know people who are there, you count
them up. Now you think about the population of this world
and then you think about having 25 or 30 preachers. How rare is the gospel being
taken out to men? And then you think about Jonah.
My soul, there wasn't probably five prophets or four prophets
in the whole world. And God gonna send Jonah down
to Nineveh. You think about that. And then
think about this. There was only one Christ. Only
one Christ. And he came into this wicked
world. He came into the world, John
says. And the world was made by him
and the world knew him not. You think about how rare that
is. Jesus Christ was sent by divine command into the camp
of His enemies. Listen to this, God commendeth
His love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. When we were enemies, the scripture
said, we were reconciled by the death of His Son. And Paul said,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And you, he said to the Colossians,
who were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled." So salvation, not being left
to chance and circumstance, nor even to the will and decisions
of men. This world is described as being
hateful and hating one another, and their minds are enmity against
God. But God loves the people he chose
in Christ. And loving those people, he has
appointed the means to recover his banished. So we see this in Jonah, that
Jonah's a type of Christ being sent into the camp of his enemies
to reconcile them to God. Jonah knew that and he didn't
want to do it. He didn't want to go there. Secondly,
Jonah's a type of Christ having a strange providence to make
his ministry effectual. Jonah was cast out into the sea
where for three days and three nights he experienced the wrath
of God. Out of the belly of hell, he
said, I cried. You think about that. Certain of the scribes and Pharisees,
they said to our Lord, Master, they didn't believe he was their
master. They believed him to be an imposter. And they were
going to make a point. They were going to make him look
foolish. And so these learned men said,
Master, we would see a sign of thee. He said, a wicked and adulterous
generation seeketh after a sign. And there shall no sign be given
it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three
days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son
of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
And the men of Nineveh, he said, shall rise in judgment against
this generation. For they repented at the preaching
of Jonah. But you have not repented. And he said, I'm telling you
a greater than Jonah is here, preaching to you. Jesus Christ,
by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, died on
that cross. Was turned over to the will of
the people who cast him out, who hated and despised him, nailed
him to a cross, mocked him, and laughed at him while he died.
He went into the camp of his enemies. And when they did what they did,
they did what God's hand and God's counsel determined before
to be done. I tell you, this is not what
his disciples expected. When they called him master and
they followed him, even though he told them over and over and
over, that he was going to that cross, that he was going to die.
They still didn't get it. This is not the way they thought
redemption would go. They kept waiting for God to
intervene and overthrow the enemies while all along he had already
intervened with the life and death of a substitute. The death of Christ makes no
sense except as we see it accomplishing the redemption of his people. It just don't make sense, Russell.
It just don't make sense. Christ's death was according
to God's own purpose and grace. There were times of preaching
prior to the death of the cross, but not like it was after the
death of Christ. Not like it was after. I can almost imagine old Jonah
had he not fleed from this command of God. I can almost imagine
him and his prophet's attire going up before that great city.
They say that you could put four chariots with four horses in
front of them, put four of them side to side on top of the wall
of Nineveh. This was a great city. Big iron
gate out there, fortified with towers. And here comes the prophet
of God and he's got his little prophet's attire on and he comes
up there and said, God sent me here. And I can almost picture
those men of Nineveh laughing at him and mocking him. But isn't it funny how God's
providence goes right along with God's eternal purpose of grace.
And when that whale, it says it vomited out Jonah on the beach. And here's this man covered with
whale puke, and he comes up before that city, and he's preaching
when he comes to the city. He's not asking for access. He
knows God's gonna open that door. God delivered him out of the
belly of that whale, and his ministry is sure and effectual,
and he knows it, and he goes up there preaching, and he was
a day's journey into the city before he actually stopped. Now
you think about it, when God sends man, it's different than
just, well, we've got a pulpit committee and we're going down
here to seminary, same thing, and we're gonna pick out a man
and we're gonna vote on him and we're gonna get him over here
to pastor this church. And then we're gonna see how
much he produces and if he don't produce our quotas, well, we're
gonna go back to the cemetery and get somebody else. That's not how God does it. He'll
let you sit and be hungry for a little while. When you get
hungry enough, he might send you somebody. He might. And if he does, I guarantee you,
when he gets there, his ministry will be effectual. It'll be effectual. In the providence of God, death
sped our Lord. He sped him out right where he
was commanded to go. And now by virtue of His sufficiency
and his death, his message has become effectual. He gathered
that few out there on the brow of the hill before he ascended
into heaven. He said, I'm gonna tell you something.
All power in heaven and earth been given unto me. Do what? All power in heaven
and earth given unto me. All the magistrates of this earth
are under my power, under my authority. All the policemen,
all the navies, anything having to do with power, even the husband
over the family and so on. All authority, all power is given
unto me in heaven and earth. Power over the winds and the
waves and power over all things, it's given to me. Power to give understanding and
power to withhold it. It's all given unto me. Now,
you go preach. You go pray. You think their
preaching was different than before the resurrection? Oh,
my soul. My soul. Look where Paul went.
Look what he suffered. The gospel of Jonah, according
to his own confession in the whale's belly, is that salvation
is of the Lord. And it's a strange providence
that attended the prophet Jonah, but as a result of death spitting
him out in their presence, everybody in that place repented in sackcloth
and ashes, including the king. God has an elect people and his
long-suffering toward them, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. You know how many are gonna come
to repentance? All. All. And by virtue of Christ's
life and death and resurrection, all God's chosen shall hear his
messenger and shall believe and shall repent. There's no doubt
in my mind. No doubt in my mind. He said to that church at Antioch,
he said, as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. How many? All of them. All of
them. Well, if God has an elect people
for whom Christ lived and died and rose from the dead and sits
in glory interceding for, and they shall all hear and repent
and believe, why preach? Because God said to preach. That's why. God said to do it. That's why. See, Jonah was trying
to reason in his mind, these are not Jews, I don't know what's
going on. He's reasoning in his mind what
to do and where to go. God said, go to Nineveh. Where you gonna go? You better
go to Nineveh. Well, let me put it another way. You're going
to Nineveh. Nineveh's north and you may go
south, but you're gonna go to Nineveh. You see what I'm saying? God,
this whole thing is God's determinant counsel and his foreknowledge,
his sovereign will that this come to pass. And it's gonna
come to pass. It's gonna come to pass. And
you can't explain it anymore than you can explain how he made
everything that you see out of nothing. But we just know it's
so. We just know it's so. Why preach? Because it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. That's why. Because God
commanded us to preach and commanded them to believe. God purposed that the Ninevites
hear and believe and repent. And so his messenger was sent
And his providence was fixed, and they were all likewise called
by his gospel. And then thirdly, Jonah's a type
of Christ in that after his resurrection, the Gentiles were manifested
to be the elect of God. Never in Jonah's mind could he
get it straight that the Gentiles would be sons of God. He just
could not swallow any more than the Jews could swallow in the
New Testament. They just could not. After thousands and thousands
and thousands of years, all of a sudden, God's going to save
Gentiles? He's God. He can raise up children out
of them stones. Let me read you a few verses
from Ephesians chapter 3. In verse one he said, for this
cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles,
if you've heard of the dispensation or the stewardship of the grace
of God which is given me to you, how that by revelation he made
known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in a few words,
whereby when you read you might understand my knowledge in the
mystery of Christ. which in other ages was not made
known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy
apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should
be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise
in Christ by the gospel." Now watch this, Ephesians 3 says, I was made a minister according
to the gift of the grace of God which is given unto me by the
effectual working of his power unto me who am less than the
least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. After God spared that city, Jonah
said, I knew he was going to die. I knew he was going to die.
He still couldn't get it in his head that these Gentiles were
going to be the same as he was, a child of God. After God spared that city, after
they heard the gospel and were led to repentance, after they
believed and God withheld his wrath, then God manifested his
purpose of grace toward the Gentiles. And all of this was beautifully
pictured by Jonah and his journey to Nineveh 862 years before Christ
came into this world. You think about that. And even
to this day, even after the preaching of the apostles and the inspired
writing of the writers of the Bible under the powerful influence
of the Holy Spirit, yet for the most part, the world is still
ignorant of the purpose behind the nation of Israel, and they
still think that Israel alone is the elect of God. God separated to himself a people
which he called Israel after Jacob, whose person in office
revealed the election of God. Then he revealed the mystery
of the Gentiles. When did he do that? After he
rose from the dead. Then he plainly revealed and
plainly sent his message that he was going to have a people
out of every nation, tribe, kindred, and tongue under heaven. And
according to the revelation of Jesus Christ, chapter seven,
verses four through nine, God's elect are pictured as the 12
tribes of Israel, numbering 144,000, and by those taken from every nation,
kindred, people, and tongue under heaven, as a numberless congregation,
as all being the same, all being the same, both Jews and Gentiles. The Jewish nation was nothing
more than a picture of God's elect. The reason for this is because
we are all the children of God, Paul said, by faith in Christ
Jesus. We're all one in Christ and therefore
Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. He plainly tells
us they are not all Israel, which are of Jacob, Neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in
Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God. But the children
of God are accounted for the promises that were in Isaac. What reveals whether or not we
are true Jews is our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was
the same with the Ninevites. They couldn't trace their heritage
back to Abraham. They didn't have to. They didn't
have to. And then think about this. Jonah
was first raised, and then the Ninevites. Then the Gentiles. And you and I don't have a clue
who God's people are. We don't know where they are.
We don't know who they are. We don't know when God's going
to call them. We don't know who's going to call. We don't know
who His messengers are going to be that He sends. We know only by the providence
of God that delivers us there and the faith of God's elect
as it is given by God to His people. And that's exactly what
he shows us in the book of Jonah. So I hope that's been some help
to you when you think about Jonah and think about him being a picture
of Christ.