Jonah and Amos

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Jonah and Amos
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Chronology
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Jonah

• Prophet to the enemy
• Go to Nineveh, that great city, and speak out
  against it I am aware of how wicked its people
  are. Jonah, however, set out in the opposite
  direction in order to get away from the LORD.
  (Jonah 12,3 GN)

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Jonah

• I am a Hebrew, Jonah answered. I worship the
  LORD, the God of heaven, who made land and sea.
  Jonah went on to tell them that he was running
  away from the LORD. The sailors were terrified,
  and said to him, That was an awful thing to do!
  The storm was getting worse all the time, so the
  sailors asked him, What should we do to you to
  stop the storm? Jonah answered, Throw me into
  the sea, and it will calm down. I know it is my
  fault that you are caught in this violent
  storm. (Jonah 19-12 GN)
• What should God do?

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Jonah

• At the LORDs command a large fish swallowed
  Jonah, and he was inside the fish for three days
  and three nights. (Jonah 117 GN)
• In the same way that Jonah spent three days and
  nights in the big fish, so will the Son of Man
  spend three days and nights in the depths of the
  earth. (Matthew 1240 GN)
• Then the LORD ordered the fish to spit Jonah up
  on the beach, and it did. (Jonah 210 GN)
• Once again the LORD spoke to Jonah. He said, Go
  to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to the
  people the message I have given you. So Jonah
  obeyed the LORD and went to Nineveh, a city so
  large that it took three days to walk through it.
  Jonah started through the city, and after walking
  a whole day, he proclaimed, In forty days
  Nineveh will be destroyed! The people of Nineveh
  believed Gods message. So they decided that
  everyone should fast, and all the people, from
  the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth to
  show that they had repented. (Jonah 31-4 GN)

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Jonah

• When the king of Nineveh heard about it, he got
  up from his throne, took off his robe, put on
  sackcloth, and sat down in ashes. He sent out a
  proclamation to the people of Nineveh This is
  an order from the king and his officials No one
  is to eat anything all persons, cattle, and
  sheep are forbidden to eat or drink. All persons
  and animals must wear sackcloth. Everyone must
  pray earnestly to God and must give up their
  wicked behavior and their evil actions. Perhaps
  God will change his mind perhaps he will stop
  being angry, and we will not die! God saw what
  they did he saw that they had given up their
  wicked behavior. So he changed his mind and did
  not punish them as he had said he would. (Jonah
  36-10 GN)

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God changes his mind?

• God is not like people, who lie He is not a
  human who changes his mind. Whatever he promises,
  he does He speaks, and it is done. (Numbers
  2319 GN)
• Israels majestic God does not lie or change
  his mind. He is not a human being---he does not
  change his mind. (1 Samuel 1529 GN)
• Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and
  forever (Hebrews 138 GN)
• All generous giving and every perfect gift is
  from above, coming down from the Father of
  lights, with whom there is no variation or the
  slightest hint of change. (James 117 NET)
• For I am the LORD, I change not (Malachi 36
  KJV)

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God changes his mind?

• God doesnt know everything?
• Adam and Eve where are you?
• The rainbow
• Towel of Babel
• Sodom and Gomorrah
• Child sacrifice it did not even enter my mind
  (Jeremiah 731 GN)
• He changes his mind?
• Worship of the golden calf So the LORD changed
  his mind and did not bring on his people the
  disaster he had threatened (Exodus 3214 GN)
• Jonah So he changed his mind
• Is this a contradiction?

9
God changes his mind?

• Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and
  forever (Hebrews 138 GN)
• All generous giving and every perfect gift is
  from above, coming down from the Father of
  lights, with whom there is no variation or the
  slightest hint of change. (James 117 NET)
• For I am the LORD, I change not (Malachi 36
  KJV)
• Gods character is a constant that never changes
• Gods love and attitude toward sinners never
  changes
• who told you that you were naked?
• I do not condemn you

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God changes his mind?

• Adam and Eve where are you?
• The rainbow
• Towel of Babel
• Sodom and Gomorrah
• Worship of the golden calf So the LORD changed
  his mind and did not bring on his people the
  disaster he had threatened (Exodus 3214 GN)
• Child sacrifice it did not even enter my mind
  (Jeremiah 731 GN)
• Jonah So he changed his mind

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Jonah

• Jonah was furious. He lost his temper. He yelled
  at God, God! I knew itwhen I was back home, I
  knew this was going to happen! Thats why I ran
  off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and
  mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and
  ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of
  punishment into a program of forgiveness! So,
  God, if you wont kill them, kill me! Im better
  off dead! (Jonah 41-3 The Message)

12
Jonah

• The LORD answered, What right do you have to be
  angry? Jonah went out east of the city and sat
  down. He made a shelter for himself and sat in
  its shade, waiting to see what would happen to
  Nineveh. Then the LORD God made a plant grow up
  over Jonah to give him some shade, so that he
  would be more comfortable. Jonah was extremely
  pleased with the plant. But at dawn the next day,
  at Gods command, a worm attacked the plant, and
  it died. After the sun had risen, God sent a hot
  east wind, and Jonah was about to faint from the
  heat of the sun beating down on his head. So he
  wished he were dead. I am better off dead than
  alive, he said.

13
Jonah

• But God said to him, What right do you have to
  be angry about the plant? Jonah replied, I have
  every right to be angry---angry enough to die!
  The LORD said to him, This plant grew up in one
  night and disappeared the next you didnt do
  anything for it and you didnt make it grow---yet
  you feel sorry for it! How much more, then,
  should I have pity on Nineveh, that great city.
  After all, it has more than 120,000 innocent
  children in it, as well as many animals! (Jonah
  44-11 GN)

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Jonah

• Large city, 120,000 children, animals
• had it been destroyed
• Great happiness for Jonah
• Small shade plant
• It was destroyed
• Great anger and depression for Jonah

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Amos

• These are the words of Amos, a shepherd from the
  town of Tekoa. Two years before the earthquake,
  when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of
  Jehoash was king of Israel, God revealed to Amos
  all these things about Israel. (Amos 11)

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Chronology
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Amos

• Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, then sent a
  report to King Jeroboam of Israel Amos is
  plotting against you among the people. His
  speeches will destroy the country. This is what
  he says Jeroboam will die in battle, and the
  people of Israel will be taken away from their
  land into exile. Amaziah then said to Amos,
  Thats enough, prophet! Go on back to Judah and
  do your preaching there. Let them pay you for it.
  Dont prophesy here at Bethel any more. This is
  the kings place of worship, the national
  temple. Amos answered, I am not the kind of
  prophet who prophesies for pay. I am a herdsman,
  and I take care of fig trees. But the LORD took
  me from my work as a shepherd and ordered me to
  come and prophesy to his people Israel. So now
  listen to what the LORD says. You tell me to stop
  prophesying, to stop raving against the people of
  Israel. And so, Amaziah, the LORD says to you,
  Your wife will become a prostitute in the city,
  and your children will be killed in war. Your
  land will be divided up and given to others, and
  you yourself will die in a heathen country. And
  the people of Israel will certainly be taken away
  from their own land into exile. (Amos 710-17
  GN)

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Amos

• I cant stand your religious meetings. Im fed
  up with your conferences and conventions. I want
  nothing to do with your religion projects, your
  pretentious slogans and goals. Im sick of your
  fund-raising schemes, your public relations and
  image making. Ive had all I can take of your
  noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang
  to me? Do you know what I want? I want
  justiceoceans of it. I want fairnessrivers of
  it. Thats what I want. Thats all I want. (Amos
  521-24 The Message)

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Amos 1

• Syria I will send fire upon the palace
• Philistia I will send fire upon the city
  walls
• Tyre I will send fire upon the city walls
• Edom I will send fire upon the city
• Ammon I will send fire upon the city walls
• Moab I will send fire upon the land
• Judah So I will send fire upon Judah and burn
  down the fortresses of Jerusalem
• Does disaster strike a city unless the LORD
  sends it? (Amos 36 GN)

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Fearsome language

• I was the one who brought famine to all your
  cities, yet you did not come back to me. I kept
  it from raining when your crops needed it most. I
  sent rain on one city, but not on another. Rain
  fell on one field, but another field dried up.
  Weak with thirst, the people of several cities
  went to a city where they hoped to find water,
  but there was not enough to drink. Still you did
  not come back to me. I sent a scorching wind to
  dry up your crops. The locusts ate up all your
  gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and olive
  trees. Still you did not come back to me. I sent
  a plague on you like the one I sent on Egypt. I
  killed your young men in battle and took your
  horses away. I filled your nostrils with the
  stink of dead bodies in your camps. Still you did
  not come back to me. I destroyed some of you as I
  destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Those of you who
  survived were like a burning stick saved from a
  fire. Still you did not come back to me, says
  the LORD. So then, people of Israel, I am going
  to punish you. And because I am going to do this,
  get ready to face my judgment! (Amos 46-12
  GN)

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Fearsome language

• If there are ten men left in a family, they will
  die. The dead mans relative, the one in charge
  of the funeral, will take the body out of the
  house. The relative will call to whoever is still
  left in the house, Is anyone else there with
  you? The person will answer, No! Then the
  relative will say, Be quiet! We must be careful
  not even to mention the LORDs name. (Amos
  69-10 GN)

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Amos 1

• Syria I will send fire upon the palace
• Philistia I will send fire upon the city
  walls
• Tyre I will send fire upon the city walls
• Edom I will send fire upon the city
• Ammon I will send fire upon the city walls
• Moab I will send fire upon the land
• Judah So I will send fire upon Judah and burn
  down the fortresses of Jerusalem

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Gods warning to Judah

• The LORD says, The people of Judah have sinned
  again and again, and for this I will certainly
  punish them. They have despised my teachings and
  have not kept my commands. They have been led
  astray by the same false gods that their
  ancestors served. So I will send fire upon Judah
  and burn down the fortresses of Jerusalem. The
  LORD says, The people of Israel have sinned
  again and again, and for this I will certainly
  punish them. They sell into slavery honest people
  who cannot pay their debts, the poor who cannot
  repay even the price of a pair of sandals.
  (Amos 24-6 GN)

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Gods warning to Judah

• I looked for someone who could build a wall, who
  could stand in the places where the walls have
  crumbled and defend the land when my anger is
  about to destroy it, but I could find no one. So
  I will turn my anger loose on them, and like a
  fire I will destroy them for what they have
  done. The Sovereign Lord has spoken. (Ezekiel
  2230,31 GN).

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Gods warning to Judah

• Write down todays date, because this is the day
  that the king of Babylonia is beginning the siege
  of Jerusalem.This is what the Sovereign Lord is
  saying The city of murderers is doomed! I
  myself will pile up the firewood. Bring more
  wood! Fan the flames! Cook the meat! Boil away
  the broth! Burn up the bones! Now set the empty
  bronze pot on the coals and let it get red-hot.
  Then the pot will be ritually pure again after
  the corrosion is burned off, although all that
  corrosion will not disappear in the
  flames. Jerusalem, your immoral actions have
  defiled you. Although I tried to purify you, you
  remained defiled. You will not be pure again
  until you have felt the full force of my
  anger. I, the Lord, have spoken. The time has
  come for me to act. I will not ignore your sins
  or show pity or be merciful. You will be punished
  for what you have done. The Sovereign Lord has
  spoken (Ezekiel 242,9-14 GN).

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Amos 1

• Syria I will send fire upon the palace
• Philistia I will send fire upon the city
  walls
• Tyre I will send fire upon the city walls
• Edom I will send fire upon the city
• Ammon I will send fire upon the city walls
• Moab I will send fire upon the land
• Judah So I will send fire upon Judah and burn
  down the fortresses of Jerusalem
• What actually happened?

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Gods warning to Judah

• I will abandon the people who survive, and will
  hand them over to their enemies, who will conquer
  them and plunder their land. I will do this to my
  people because they have sinned against me and
  have stirred up my anger from the time their
  ancestors came out of Egypt to this day (2 Kings
  2114,15).
• You will feel my anger when I turn it loose on
  you like a blazing firewhat actually
  happened?And I will hand you over to brutal
  men, experts at destruction (Ezekiel 2131).
• I will hand you over to other nations who will
  rob you and plunder you. I will destroy you so
  completely that you will not be a nation any more
  or have a country of your own. (Ezekiel 257)

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What actually happened to Judah?

• On the seventh day of the fifth month of the
  nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of
  Babylonia, Nebuzaradan, adviser to the king and
  commander of his army, entered Jerusalem. He
  burned down the Temple, the palace, and the
  houses of all the important people in
  Jerusalem, and his soldiers tore down the city
  walls (2 Kings 258-10).
• Meanwhile, the Babylonians burned down the royal
  palace and the houses of the people and tore down
  the walls of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 398).
• So the Lord brought the king of Babylonia to
  attack them. The king killed the young men of
  Judah even in the Temple. He had no mercy on
  anyone, young or old, man or woman, sick or
  healthy. God handed them all over to him (2
  Chronicles 3617).

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Gods anger

• Gods anger is revealed from heaven against all
  the sin and evil of the people whose evil ways
  prevent the truth from being known. God punishes
  them, because what can be known about God is
  plain to them, for God himself made it plain
  (Romans 118,19 GN).
• They say they are wise, but they are
  fools instead of worshiping the immortal God,
  they worship images made to look like mortals or
  birds or animals or reptiles. And so God has
  given those people over to do the filthy things
  their hearts desire, and they do shameful things
  with each other. They exchange the truth about
  God for a lie they worship and serve what God
  has created instead of the Creator himself, who
  is to be praised forever! Amen. Because they do
  this, God has given them over to shameful
  passions.Because those people refuse to keep in
  mind the true knowledge about God, he has given
  them over to corrupted minds, so that they do the
  things that they should not do (Romans
  122-26,28 GN).

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Gods anger

• My anger will flame up like fire and burn
  everything on earth. It will reach to the world
  below and consume the roots of the mountains. I
  will bring on them endless disasters and use all
  my arrows against them. (Deuteronomy 3222,23
  GN)
• What happens when God shoots all his arrows at
  his children?
• They fail to see why they were defeated they
  cannot understand what happened. Why were a
  thousand defeated by one, and ten thousand by
  only two? The Lord, their God, had abandoned
  them their mighty God had given them up
  (Deuteronomy 3229,30 GN)

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Gods anger

• The LORD said to Moses, You will soon die, and
  after your death the people will become
  unfaithful to me and break the covenant that I
  made with them. They will abandon me and worship
  the pagan gods of the land they are about to
  enter. When that happens, I will become angry
  with them I will abandon them, and they will be
  destroyed. Many terrible disasters will come upon
  them, and then they will realize that these
  things are happening to them because I, their
  God, am no longer with them. (Deuteronomy
  3116-17 - GN)

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Gods anger

• I will attack the people of Israel and Judah
  like a lion. I myself will tear them to pieces
  and then leave them. When I drag them off, no one
  will be able to save them. I will abandon my
  people until they have suffered enough for their
  sins and come looking for me. Perhaps in their
  suffering they will try to find me (Hosea
  514,15 GN)
• My people sacrificed to Baal they burned
  incense to idols It will destroy my people
  because they do what they themselves think best.
  They insist on turning away from me. They will
  cry out because of the yoke that is on them, but
  no one will lift it from them. How can I give
  you up, Israel? How can I abandon you? (Hosea
  11 1-8 GN)
• When I abandon these people, terrible things
  will happen to them (Hosea 912 GN)

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Gods anger

• Gods anger is equated in the Bible with his
  abandoning, handing over, giving up his
  rebellious children when he can do no more to
  help them.
• How easily does God get angry?
• I, the LORD, am a God who is full of compassion
  and pity, who is not easily angered and who shows
  great love and faithfulness (Exodus 346 GN)
• But why would God ever abandon his children?
• Its all about freedom!
• Love forgiveness discipline/harsh language
  fear
• He is always like the Father in the story of the
  prodigal son
• Very well, then, I will give you freedom the
  freedom to die by war, disease, and starvation
  (Jeremiah 3417 GN)

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Gods fearsome language

• It is meant to get our attention
• Jonah
• So I will not rescue you anymore. Go and cry out
  to the gods you have chosen! Let them rescue you
  in your hour of distress!
• But the Israelites pleaded with the Lord and
  said, We have sinned. Punish us as you see fit,
  only rescue us today from our enemies. Then the
  Israelites put aside their foreign gods and
  served the Lord. And he was grieved by their
  misery (Judges 106-16 NLT)
• Parent of a rebellious child

35
Gods fearsome language

• Come to me, and you will liveGo to the LORD,
  and you will live. (Amos 54,6 GN)
• A day is coming when I will restore the kingdom
  of David, which is like a house fallen into
  ruins. (Amos 911 GN)

36
Why so much attention to other nations?

• The LORD says, People of Israel, I think as
  much of the people of Ethiopia as I do of you. I
  brought the Philistines from Crete and the
  Syrians from Kir, just as I brought you from
  Egypt. (Amos 97 GN)

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We are all Gods children

• The Gentiles do not have the Law but whenever
  they do by instinct what the Law commands, they
  are their own law, even though they do not have
  the Law. Their conduct shows that what the Law
  commands is written in their hearts. Their
  consciences also show that this is true, since
  their thoughts sometimes accuse them and
  sometimes defend them.
• And so, according to the Good News I preach, this
  is how it will be on that Day when God through
  Jesus Christ will judge the secret thoughts of
  all. (Romans 214-16 GN)

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We are all Gods children

• Rahab
• Ruth
• Naaman
• Nebuchadnezzar
• Cyrus
• Roman officer
• I tell you, I have never found anyone in Israel
  with faith like this. I assure you that many will
  come from the east and the west and sit down with
  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the
  Kingdom of heaven. But those who should be in the
  Kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness,
  where they will cry and gnash their teeth.
  (Matthew 810-12 GN)
• Canaanite woman
• You are a woman of great faith! (Matthew 1528
  GN)