The Pursuing Love and Grace of God
An in-depth exegetical study of the book of Jonah which transports the reader into history and then brings the truth of God's pursuing love and grace into the readers own life. Jonah was a minor prophet with a major message. However, his message came in a different form than most of the prophets. His was the story of God's Pursuing love and grace toward himself, the nation of Israel, and to the entire human race. Jonah's prophetic words were few; but, his message profound. It is the story of a rebellious, runaway prophet who not only find God's grace but brought it to his people and to the evilest nation of his time. Most of all, the book of Jonah is the story of God-His Sovereignty, His Grace, and His Loving Pursuit of every man, woman and child.
So, what happened to Jonah? The recording of the story ends there. However, despite it making him look a fool, he did write the story and presented it to the stubborn Israelites. He ultimately did stand as one of the prophets, for his people, urging them to repentance at the risk of his own humiliation. His story is read every year at Yom Kippur, symbolizing the truth that true worship comes from a humble, repentant heart of love and gratitude. Jonah exemplified the opposite; however, in doing so pointed to the truth of God’s pursuing Grace and Glory.
Jonah’s writing of this book stands out as an example of ultimate surrender to God’s will; otherwise, he would have never written the humiliating truth. Never could the proud and arrogant Jonah tell this embarrassing story of himself, unless he had come to the end of himself, where God’s victory can be found.
READ MOREIt also demonstrates God’s relentless pursuit of Jonah’s heart. God’s grace pursued Jonah, his mercy engulfed him, and ultimately His Love transformed him into one man surrendered fully to God’s will. That was when this “minor prophet” became the prophet for all the ages. Not only to his people, but to the whole world, even today.
Jesus even spoke of Jonah by name. God’s grace toward Jonah had been longsuffering through the time of his own unrepentance. Perhaps, God also had seen his ignorance of the truth, as He did the Ninevites.
Ah, but the truth is: Jonah is the story of God’s relentless pursuit of the sinner, while at the same time displaying His Grace, His mercy and His Sovereignty.
We are all so much like Jonah, wanting to follow God on our terms, placing Him in a box of our own making. I thank God, He did not give up on Jonah, nor did He give up on me. My question to you is: “Have you come to the end of yourself and surrendered yourself to the only way of salvation? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as Your Lord and Savior, leaving all else in pursuit of Him?”
God is longsuffering, merciful and gracious; but, He is also righteous and just. He paid the price that we might be saved. He bids you to come; but, just as the later generations of the Ninevites were destroyed when they returned to their evil ways, judgment will come one day. That it has not yet come, is because God’s grace is waiting still for one more sinner to come to Him. But judgment will come suddenly in an instant when God’s trumpets sound.
As God wrote in Deuteronomy 32:34
To me belongeth vengeance and recompence: (the unrepentant sinner who failed to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior by faith in Him), their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
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