The Encourager
“The Message of the Book of Jonah - by Jeff Curtis”
The Message of the Book of Jonah
By Jeff Curtis
What is the story of Jonah intended to teach us? We need to be careful about drawing conclusions from the book. In the first place, Christians shouldn’t conclude that members of other religions don’t need to be converted to Christ. God intended for His message of salvation to be extended to everyone. But we shouldn’t overlook the story of Jonah. The Gentiles who were first delivered had to repent of their sins and confess their faith in the one true God. If the book teaches us anything about the salvation of Gentiles in the Old Testament times, it shows that Gentiles had to come to faith in God to be saved.
Lesson One: The book teaches us that not all religions are legitimate. The Bible affirms that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the only way to salvation (Acts 4:12). No doubt, there are people who are capable of doing good and yet practice other religions. We might say that other religions contain elements of truth. But the question is “Can one be saved outside of Christ?” The New Testament answer is “No.”
We, as Christians, have no reason to feel superior to others. We are, after all, only sinners saved by grace. We shouldn’t refuse to love people or be unkind to those who practice other religions (or no religion). Instead, we should love everyone and do good to all, with a desire that others will come to a saving faith in Christ.
Lesson Two: The book of Jonah teaches God’s love for Gentiles as well as Jews. While other prophets declared that God held the Gentiles accountable and would punish them for their sins, Jonah made it clear that God called the Gentiles to repent. Only his book shows that God spared them (or saved them) when they obeyed.
The Jews needed understand that God’s love was for all mankind. Throughout their history they saw themselves to blessed by God., where they saw the Gentiles as unworthy of God’s blessings. They were not surprised or saddened to hear the prophets pronounce doom on the Gentiles, but they would have been shocked to discover God wanted to bless the Gentiles as He did the Jews.
Jonah’s story may have been intended to correct this attitude. Israel needed to know that, though they were indeed God’s special people, the Lord cared for the Gentiles also. The book of Jonah teaches that God has always been concerned about all mankind, not just the Jews. Also, the book teaches that the Jews needed to be like God by sharing His concern for all people.
Jonah’s experience teaches God’s people today to love, not hate, those who are outside of God’s family.
Meditate on this:
Psalm 139:7-9
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
