“Take God's Word Seriously”

Sunday, August 27, 2023

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

(Jonah 1.1-3)

Thus begins one of the most beloved children’s stories in the Bible. A silly man named Jonah tries to run from God, and for his efforts he gets eaten by a great big fish. So, don’t any of you kids disobey God, or you might get similar treatment!

Except, that’s not the point of the book, and while it certainly contains lessons for children, it’s far more meaningful, and instructive, for adults. The book of Jonah is about the prophet’s hatred toward Gentiles, and God’s love and plans for them. In the middle, it contains several nested analogies for the New Testament. Jonah’s three days and nights in the belly of the fish predict Jesus’ time in the belly of the earth. At the same time, this is an analogy for man’s struggle against sin and death, and God’s willingness to rescue him from it, by an unexpected means. This, in turn, highlights that Jesus, in his physical death, burial, and resurrection, modeled what each of us needs to undergo spiritually. Finally, God’s chosen means of symbolizing this deliverance mirrors Jonah’s description of his own salvation:

For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me…

        The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me…yet you brought up my life from the pit,

O Lord my God.

(Jonah 2.3-6)

Jonah is certainly not the only book of the Bible with this sort of layered meaning and impact—nor is it the only example whose weight is too often ignored by followers of Christ. Consider Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” as we call it. We remember several tidbits, like “Blessed are the poor” (Mt 5.3), “You are the light of the world” (5.14), “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,” (6.19), and “Judge not” (7.1). But seldom do we consider what the introduction and epilogue indicate:

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”

(Matthew 5.1-3)

When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.

(Matthew 8.1)

Matthew wasn’t sharing a sample of Jesus’ greatest hits. This was a coherent sermon, intended to drive a specific point, articulated just after the introduction, in the thesis statement, which Jesus proceeds to unfold as the carefully crafted speech continues:

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

(Matthew 5.20)

We’ve seen one example from the Old Testament and one from the New, both in basically narrative format; but even the poetry of the Bible should be given similar attention. Consider Psalm 19:

The heavens declare the glory of God,

        and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech,

        and night to night reveals knowledge.

…In them he has set a tent for the sun,

        which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,

        and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

(Psalm 19.1-5)

What a nice little observation: creation’s majesty cries out that it was designed and made by a divine mind and hand; does David then change the subject as he continues?

The law of the Lord is perfect,

        reviving the soul;

the testimony of the Lord is sure,

        making wise the simple…

More to be desired are they than gold,

        even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey

        and drippings of the honeycomb.

(Psalm 19.7-10)

No, this follows David’s reflections about inanimate heavenly bodies—that they obey God’s design and degree, and consequently they transcend whatever brief and minor glory we humans may achieve, before we succumb to death and are quickly forgotten. His point is that God also established a design and a decree for us, and if we’d follow the example of the sun, moon, planets, and stars, and simply obey him, we’d find ourselves part of an intricate, elegant, and beautiful display of God’s wisdom and might.

We’ve given brief consideration to just three passages whose broad impact is often lost on Christians today, because we generally treat the Bible as a goldmine with an occasional nugget to extract, or vein to follow, amid a mountain of valueless waste. That’s not an accurate vision of God’s word.

The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.

(Psalm 12.6)

It’s all like this, to a greater or a lesser degree. It all deserves our attention and respect. It all deserves to be taken seriously. So, when Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (Jn 14.15), consider the quiet dignity with which the moon tirelessly runs the course God mapped for it. When he says, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Le 19.18), consider the wide array of specific examples Jesus provides in the Sermon on the Mount of this genuinely righteous behavior. When he says, “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name” (Ac 22.16), consider Jonah’s plight, drowning and destined for hell, because of his own sin; and how God was willing to intervene and rescue him from his watery grave.

Jeremy Nettles

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