H2O Church
In this talk, we're going to look at Jonah, a subversive story about a rebellious prophet who despises his God for loving his enemies.
Background: Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian Empire, enemy of Israel, modern day Iraq.Not nice people. Known for wickedness/brutalities. They tortured their victims with slow, cruel means of death. Known for building monuments of mutilated human remains.
Graham Scroggie—“These people ruled with hideous tyranny and violence…The Assyrian kings literally tormented the world. They flung away the bodies of soldiers…they made pyramids of humans heads; they sacrificed holocausts of sons and daughters of their enemies…they impaled heaps of men on stakes…they cut off the hands of kings and nailed them on walls…they covered pillars with flayed skins of rival monarchs…”
Big Idea #1—We all run from the God who loves us.
Jonah 1:1-2 ESV
Jonah 1:3-16 ESV
Big Idea #2—God is really good at saving people.
Jonah 1:17 ESV
Big Idea #3—When all hope is lost, God’s steadfast love remains.
Jonah 3:1-5 ESV
Big Idea #4—No one is beyond God’s reach.
Jonah 4:1-5 ESV
Historical note: The ruins of Ninevah were excavated in the mid 1800’s. There is a mound, 100 feet high, which is sacred to the people of that area, such that they would not allow any excavation to be done there. On this mound is a Muslim shrine dedicated to the prophet Yunas, the native word for Jonah, and it supposedly contains his tomb. A whale bone hung inside the mosque/shrine on Nebi Yunus, recalling this story. In 2014, Isis blew up Jonah’s tomb. Archaeologists began to dig around, found tunnels, led to an ancient palace with inscription from King Esarhaddon.
Jonah 4:6-9 ESV
Big Idea #5-You can be a child of God and miss the heart of God.