The Greatest Gift From the Greatest Giver

By Elene Rodgers

“Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.” Jonah 1:1,2

            Ninevah was a wicked city.  So wicked, that her wickedness had come up before the Lord.  In fact in Nahum 3:1, Nineveh was called a “bloody city, full of lies and robbery.”  In Nahum 3:4 furthered the description of Nineveh as a city against God “because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.”

            It was to this wicked city that Jonah was commissioned by God to go preach.  But Jonah did not want to go to Ninevah.  Jonah realized how wicked the people of Ninevah were and all the evil they were doing so he did not even want to preach to them.  In fact, when the Lord said, “Arise, go to Nineveh ”, Jonah headed in the direct opposite direction towards Tarshish in direct opposition to the express will of God.

            You may have heard the story of how Jonah goes to Joppa to buy a ticket for a boat headed to Tarshish and there was a storm - they draw straws and Jonah goes overboard.  But what does that have to do with the greatest gift? Everything!!!  See, up to this point, Jonah did not understand SALVATION and how far God would go to SAVE people - even those who have gone in direct opposition to His expressed will.     It was in the belly of a fish at the bottom of the sea that Jonah began to really understand the precious gift of SALVATION.  Jonah cried out to God who heard him.            

Let’s read Jonah’s prayer in Jonah Chapter 2…

  2:1   Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly, 

  2:2   And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, [and] thou heardest my voice. 

  2:3   For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. 

  2:4   Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. 

  2:5   The waters compassed me about, [even] to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.  

  2:6   I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars [was] about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. 

  2:7   When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. 

  2:8   They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. 

  2:9   But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay [that] that I have vowed. Salvation [is] of the LORD. 

  2:10    And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry [land].

           It was in the belly of a fish at the bottom of the sea that Jonah learned what the Psalmist says in Psalms 3:8 that SALVATION belongs unto the Lord.  Salvation is the Greatest Gift from the Greatest Giver. Matthew 1:21 says “Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall SAVE his people FROM their sins.  Matthew 18:11 says, “The Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to SAVE.”  Acts 4:12 says “Neither is there SALVATION in any other, for there is none other name whereby we must be SAVED.  1 Timothy 1:15 clearly tells us the mission of Jesus, “Jesus Christ is come into the world to SAVE sinners.”

              Jonah realized the depth of God’s salvation when he hit the bottom.  With the water compassed about him and the depth closed around him, Jonah realized that EVEN NOW God could save him.  When his soul fainted within him, he REMEMBERED the Lord and began to PRAY.  As soon as Jonah repented and recognized God’s grace, as indicated in verse 9 when Jonah says “...Salvation is of the Lord.” Jonah was delivered.  Look at Jonah 2:10    “And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry [land].”  This time when God told Jonah to go to Ninevah, Jonah 3:3 says “so Jonah arose and went to Ninevah.”  Jonah was so thankful that he was saved that he immediately obeyed God. 

            Jonah believed in God and said in Jonah 2:8 that those who do not believe in God but believe in “lying vanities forsake their own mercy.” Jonah repented of his sin, received forgiveness, and obeyed God.

            This is basically the same process that the people of  Ninevah did in order to be saved.  Jonah preached.  The people of Ninevah learned of God and believed in God and as a result repented or hated their sins.  Then they fasted and prayed and put on sackcloth.  The people of Ninevah realized the depth of their sin.  In Jonah 3:8 the King says “let them turn every one FROM his evil way.”  Jonah 3:10 says “And God saw their works, that they turned FROM their evil way.” God forgave them and they were saved. 

            In reference to Jonah, Jesus during his earthly mission was asked a question to show a sign or a miracle proving His divinity.  Matthew 12:38-41 says “Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas [is] here. 

            The people of Ninevah represented the worst of the worst sinners and when Jesus Christ died on the cross to offer salvation, He was saying that even the vilest offenders are offered salvation just like the Ninevites.  And as a sign of the divinity of Jesus He can transform the vilest criminal into one who truly loves and obeys God.

            I invite you to respond to the invitation of mercy as did the inhabitants of Ninevah.  God stretches out His loving arms to you…no matter where you are or what you’ve done, even if you have reached the bottom, God hears, He forgives, He delivers and He saves.  Will you accept this gift?  THE GREATEST GIFT!!!  Jesus came to give us the greatest gift of all – SALVATION.  THE GREATEST GIFT FROM THE GREATEST GIVER.