Jonah Flashcards
Subtitle:
The biggest fish story of all time
Main content:
The fish of this story is man. This book reveals that God’s foreign missions program to the Gentile nations was in existence hundreds of years before the great commission. The book of Jonah reveals how the world’s worst soul winner became the world’s greatest soul winner.
Theme:
The proclamation of Israel as God’s missionary nation
Keyword:
Revival. This book contains the story of the greatest revival of all time
Author:
Jonah whose name means dove. Jonah was a prophet to the northern kingdom.
Destination:
The message in the book was for Nineveh, the capital city of the cruel and powerful Assyrian empire. The message of the book was for Israel. As prophet to the northern kingdom, Jonah wrote of this episode with Nineveh: to remind Israel of her missionary purpose. God did not choose the nation of Israel so that only Israelites would be saved, but rather that this nation would be a light of His message to the entire world. To rebuke Israel for their unbelief and lack of repentance. The pagan city repented at the word of one prophet of the Lord. The nation of Israel was ignoring the word of the many prophets God sent to her.
Purpose:
To reveal God’s great compassion and mercy for all men.
Importance and distinctives:
Jonah serves as a picture of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jonah tells the story of the greatest revival in history. Jonah pictures Israel: they are currently backslidden from there call to reach the nations. They will be miraculously preserved through the coming storm of the great tribulation and will repent during this time of darkness. They will then become missionaries to the Gentile nations, resulting in the conversion of a great multitude.
Be familiar with the fourfold command of God
Arise-this refutes the lie of so-called active church members who sit without soul winning. Go-this is the essential of soul winning. Cry-this is a rebuke of mere lifestyle evangelism without confrontational evangelism. Against-this refutes the lie of a gospel without repentance as well as the positive thinking Gospel.
Know why Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh
Fear. Hate (in this case, because of prejudice and nationalism). Assyria and Israel were bitter enemies.
What was Jonah’s field
Nineveh
Nineveh is the capital of what
The Assyrian empire (which later conquered the northern kingdom of Israel.)
