____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ July 17, 1994 ____________________________________________________ Jonah and the City of Nineveh by Tom Edwards Though the book of Jonah has been cited by some modern theologians as simply being a ``myth,'' ``an allegory,'' or a type of ``parable,'' let us not forget that Jesus Himself spoke of it as an actual event when He compared His own death, burial, and resurrection to that of Jonah's experience with the sea monster (Matt. 12:39,40): ''...For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.'' Furthermore, according to Luke 11:29-32, the Lord speaks of Jonah as having been a ``sign.'' It's difficult to conceive a fictitious myth as being a ``sign'' to anyone--especially a ``sign'' of great significance--for in the Bible, the term ``sign'' is often used in connection with a real miraculous demonstration. Cf. Isaiah 7:14; John 2:11; 3:2; 4:54; 6:14; Acts 2:22; Heb. 2:4. The fact that Jonah spent three days and three nights in the stomach of a great fish and survived is just one of the miracles the book of Jonah records. In addition, Jesus speaks of the story of Jonah in Luke 11:29-32 as being a historical fact: the Ninevites, whom God commanded Jonah to preach to, were real people who needed to repent of real sins so that they could be forgiven by a real God. Located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, across from modern-day Mosul, and about 225-250 miles north of Babylon, Nineveh was far from being a mere fictitious city. Its history dates back to just a few generations after Noah, when it was first built by Nimrod (Gen. 10:8-11); and it has also been spoken of in ancient writings, such as in the cuneiform records during the reign of Gudea (21st century B.C.) and Hammurabi (c. 1700 B.C.). After the 12th century B. C., Nineveh had been ``one of the royal residences of Assyria'' (Unger); and it was Sargon II (722-702 B.C.) who made it the capital of the Assyrian empire, which had been a world-ruling empire for about 300 years (900-607 B.C.). Sennacherib (704-681 B.C.) is attributed with having greatly enhanced the beauty of this capital city. But though a place of great splendor, Nineveh was also noted for its wickedness and cruelty toward even its own people. The Assyrians in general were infamous for their barbarous nature. In Jonah's day, Nineveh was the greatest city on earth. A wall surrounded it that was one hundred feet tall, and broad enough for four chariots to ride abreast. Traveling through the city took about three days (Jonah 3:3); and for Jonah, as he traversed this enormous place, his greatest joy was probably in thinking of Nineveh's soon destruction. For Nineveh (as well as all Assyria) had been an enemy toward Israel, and this is why Jonah was so reluctant toward going to preach to them in the first place. His desire was to see them all perish--rather than being spared. It was near the beginning of Israel's ``Divided Kingdom'' that Assyria began making its climb to world domination and gradually absorbed and destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 B.C.; and since Jonah preached during the reign of Israel's thirteenth king, Jeroboam II (793-753 B.C.), the book of Jonah was probably written about 60 years before the downfall of the northern kingdom of Israel. Later in 612 B.C., this ancient city was destroyed just as the prophet Nahum had foretold; it was ``laid waste'' (Nahum 3:7). Also, Zephaniah prophesied that Nineveh would become ``a desolation, as dry as the wilderness'' (Zeph. 2:13); and its annihilation was so thorough that for hundreds of centuries many people viewed this city as being nothing more than a myth, for not even a vestige of it could be found. But then in 1847, Sir Austen Layard made the first successful excavation that exposed part of Nineveh. In 1849-1851, he discovered the ``splendid royal residence of Sennacherib...'' and ''...unearthed the 71-room palace with walls lined with sculptured slabs'' (Unger)--thus putting to silence the skeptics and disbelievers. Nineveh that ``great city''--the greatest on earth during Jonah's day--became a ruin covered with the dust of time. Its former glory gone. Its life extinguished. Its activities ceased. Its very ruins eventually hidden. Similarly, as in a song we sing: ``The kingdoms of earth pass away one by one, but the kingdom of heaven remains.'' Where is Nineveh's greatness now? Now even the least town on earth has more glory than it, but one day all cities on earth will cease to be. For no earthly city can match up to the indestructible nature of God's perfect and eternal kingdom. Perhaps if Nineveh continued to seek God's favor as it did when repenting at the preaching of Jonah, it would still be around today--and with a new and improved splendor. But a little more than one hundred years after God spared this city in Jonah's day, Nineveh was later utterly destroyed because of its impenitent ungodliness. What will your outcome be in the Judgment Day? Remember Nineveh. When they sought God's mercy, they received it--a mercy received, not because they were a ``great city,'' but because they became penitent after hearing the preaching of Jonah and met God's conditions. If you obey God's word and keep faithful to it, you also will be saved; but if you reject His word, you'll end up in eternal ruin, just like the Ninevites who rejected God's goodness a little more than a hundred years after their ancestors had been spared by it. Receiving God's mercy or receiving His wrath depends on the choice that you make. Why head for His wrath when you can be walking toward His eternal kingdom? If you believe in the deity of Christ (Jn. 8:24), then repent of your sins (Acts 2:38), acknowledge your faith in Jesus (Rom. 10:9,10; Acts 8:36,37), be baptized in water for the remission of your sins (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3,4; Gal. 3:26,27; 1 Pet. 3:21), and strive to be faithful until that day when you can enter the Lord's eternal city that has been made by God Himself (Rev. 2:10; Heb. 10:36-39; 2 Pet. 2:20-22)--a city that will never fall into ruin. ___________________________________________ WEIGHTIER MATTERS by Chuck Bartlett ``Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye have done, and not leave the other undone'' (Matt. 23:23). Jesus, the master teacher, always made the truth perfectly clear. Telling things like it is, is exactly what Christians need to do today. The lesson to learn from Christ is that all truth is to be made known. It seems easier to tolerate sinfulness in others as long as they dress nice, never miss assembly and be friendly towards you. Is it possible to find ourselves setting our own standard of faithfulness? Could Christians be found stressing the need to adhere to certain doctrines of Christ, yet omit other requirements of Christ's law? Not only is this possible, but probable. In the first century, saints succumbed to leniency in certain areas of the Lord's commands, and at the same time placed importance in keeping other laws. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul rebuked the church of tolerating immorality (vv. 1,2). Even though the brethren at Corinth did not cease assembling themselves together (vv. 4,7), overlooking a sin was unacceptable. It is not only easy to consider certain laws more important than others, it is also dangerous. That line of thinking may find churches wanting preaching that is ``positive,'' and think that lessons which ``warn'' are unnecessary. Not only that, preachers may find themselves harping on certain topics, over and over, and not deal with other important issues. When Paul exhorted Timothy to preach the word (II Tim. 4:2), all the word was implied. What is common among almost every religious group, past, present and future, is having some truths emphasized. The consequences of omitting any of the gospel of Christ puts every person and group in the same spiritual state. Subjects like faith, repentance, confession, baptism, love, and attendance are just as important as topics like divorce and remarriage, immodest apparel, fornication, fellowship, and authority, etc. When it comes to the weightier matters of the law of Christ, John wrote, ``Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, hath both the Father and the Son'' (II Jn. 9). This means that we are to abide in ``all'' of the teachings of Christ. Let us learn from the rebuke Christ gave to the scribes and Pharisees. May we resist the urge to set our own standards and teach some things while overlooking other things. -- Via The Jordan Journal ________________________________________ Tri-State CHURCH OF CHRIST 1314 Montgomery Avenue, Ashland, Kentucky 41101 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 10:50 A.M. Worship 6:30 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:30 P.M. Bible study evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (606) 325-9742 e-mail: tedwards@zoomnet.net Gospel Observer web site: http://www.zoomnet.net/~tedwards/go ________________________________________