Wednesday, July 19, 2006
SOMETHING GREATER
Vv 41-42. "The men of Nineveh shall stand up with this generation at the judgment, and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
We have seen that Jonah was a Jew who cared little for the Ninevites because they were pagan Gentiles in the proud Jewish eyes. Jonah prayed for help (ch.2) while inside the fish and God then had him placed within a 3 day walk from Nineveh: Jon. 3:3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days' walk. At this God repeats His initial instruction for Jonah to go into the wicked city of Nineveh and proclaim His Word to them. Jonah now complies and preaches: "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown." (Jon. 3:4) At this truth of God the whole city, including the king, repented for their evil deeds so God spared them, much to Jonah’s dismay. Jon. 3:10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
In parabolic juxtaposition we compare the men of Nineveh with this generation of Israelitish administrators. The Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah but this generation has something greater than Jonah preaching to them; the very Son of God. Jonah was a pathetic prophet (see Jonah ch.4) and yet respected by a foreign people compared to the sinless Jesus who was rejected by His own people. Jonah preached doom and Jesus was preaching salvation. Jonah had no miracles to authenticate his message and Jesus had all the supernatural miracles attesting to Him and His message. The people that Jesus addressed had all the benefits of being God’s chosen and the Law and prophets whereas the Ninevites had nothing of the sort and yet they repented. Hendriksen aptly states, “Less enlightened people obeyed less enlightened preaching, but more enlightened people refuse to obey the Light of the world.”
http://booksandparchments.blogspot.com/
We have seen that Jonah was a Jew who cared little for the Ninevites because they were pagan Gentiles in the proud Jewish eyes. Jonah prayed for help (ch.2) while inside the fish and God then had him placed within a 3 day walk from Nineveh: Jon. 3:3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days' walk. At this God repeats His initial instruction for Jonah to go into the wicked city of Nineveh and proclaim His Word to them. Jonah now complies and preaches: "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown." (Jon. 3:4) At this truth of God the whole city, including the king, repented for their evil deeds so God spared them, much to Jonah’s dismay. Jon. 3:10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
In parabolic juxtaposition we compare the men of Nineveh with this generation of Israelitish administrators. The Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah but this generation has something greater than Jonah preaching to them; the very Son of God. Jonah was a pathetic prophet (see Jonah ch.4) and yet respected by a foreign people compared to the sinless Jesus who was rejected by His own people. Jonah preached doom and Jesus was preaching salvation. Jonah had no miracles to authenticate his message and Jesus had all the supernatural miracles attesting to Him and His message. The people that Jesus addressed had all the benefits of being God’s chosen and the Law and prophets whereas the Ninevites had nothing of the sort and yet they repented. Hendriksen aptly states, “Less enlightened people obeyed less enlightened preaching, but more enlightened people refuse to obey the Light of the world.”
http://booksandparchments.blogspot.com/
# posted by Castusfumus : 3:08 PM
