Listen closely to the heartfelt letters from listeners across the globe who found solace and transformation through this Bible study. Be it Paul from Oklahoma or Johanna from Montreal, their testimonies echo the timeless strength drawn from God’s word. Discover how Jonah’s narrative intertwines with the contemporary journey of faith, offering both a warning and a hopeful promise. Through storytelling and individual anecdotes, this conversation challenges us to reevaluate our responses to divine guidance and embrace our role in the grand story of faith.
If you’re alive, then your story is still being written. In this study on Through the Bible, we’re traveling with the prophet Jonah, witnessing his up-and-down struggle with God. Our teacher is Dr. J. Vernon McGee, and he, among other things, is really a terrific storyteller. In this study, he has us on the edge of our seats, and we begin in Jonah 1 at verse 4. So find your place in God’s Word, grab your seat on the Bible bus, and while you do that, Greg and I have a few letters to share with you.
SPEAKER 02 :
And it is just the last day or two of letter month. So if you haven’t shared your story, we’d be grateful. We love to hear from you anytime.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
But let’s go ahead and hear some great letters and responses that people have sent in.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, this first one is Paul in Oklahoma shares this. It’s been about 25 years that I’ve been on the Bible bus. The first few years as a doubter and scoffer. And since January 15th of 1997, I have been a disciple of my Lord Jesus. through the Bible was and is integral to my following of Jesus and I can never repay you for it. TTB has given me an actionable understanding of God’s instruction to man. I have been blessed to travel all around the United States in response to disasters and witness the hope that only God can give in the face of tragedy. God is powerful and I suppose he would have been able to capture this wayward and lost man in some other way. I can only testify that at 39 years of age, through the Bible, was the instrument God used to bring me to a saving knowledge of Jesus as Lord and Savior. Wow, that is such a great story, Paul. Thank you for sharing that with us.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, and earlier this month, we read a letter from an 81-year-old who said he’s on his first journey. Yeah. I don’t know whether he just came to the Lord, but it’s never too late. You’re never too old. Get into God’s Word. Like Joanna in Montreal, Quebec, who emailed us, the book of Hebrews is a tremendous testimony to me. It builds up my faith. and gives me certainty in my salvation. I am sharing the daily study with an elderly believer. He is over 90 years old and a faithful man. I was so surprised when yesterday he told me that the study blessed him in a special way. We are never too old to learn about God’s word. Thank you for these tremendous studies that bless so many people all over the world.
SPEAKER 03 :
And Johanna, that is so encouraging, especially to have a faithful saint over 90, excited about the gospel, excited about eternity. Here’s our last note. This is from Judy. She shares this. Praying for others has been a growing experience. As a World Prayer Team member, having your prayers written out has helped me speak with God. Hearing the stories of people throughout the world has made me love them. Before, I didn’t think much about them. Now many times I read their stories and pray with tears, as I did recently for a man you mentioned in Yemen. God bless each of you as you endeavor to spread the gospel throughout the world. Your program has enriched my life for many years. There is no match for Dr. McGee’s clear teaching that penetrates our hearts and minds.
SPEAKER 02 :
Such encouraging responses from a variety of people in a variety of places. And that’s why we need you to share your story with us. And it doesn’t have to be all about TTP. We want to hear how is God’s word penetrating your life and becoming real.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. And if you’re on the World Prayer Team, like this listener Judy is, share how this daily email has impacted your life and what it’s meant for you. I know it’s had a huge impact on my prayer life. Greg, why don’t you pray for us as we begin?
SPEAKER 02 :
Father, what a privilege to have your word. What a privilege to study it under such a great teacher like Dr. McGee who worked so hard to understand it. And we pray that as we open your word today and study it, that it would become a reality in our life and that we would be transformed more and more into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s in his name we pray. Amen.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now here’s Dr. J. Vernon McGee with more of our study in Jonah on Through the Bible.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now, friends, we’re back in the little book of Jonah, and we’re in the first chapter here, and we’re going to put in it verse 4. But to tie the strings together, you will remember this man Jonah had a call from God to go to Nineveh and to give a warning to that city because the wickedness was great in the city. And this man Jonah… He rose up and he did a very strange thing. He headed in the opposite direction. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare, went down into it and to go with them into Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Now, as we saw last time that everything seemed to be propitious for a very pleasant journey. because everything had worked out so well. When he got down to Joppa, that was the ship there. He got a ticket. He had the money. I guess he could say, as many of us say today, the Lord provided the money for me, and I bought the ticket, and I got on board. And someone has called this the fortuitous concurrence of circumstances. And a lot of people interpret this as always being the will of God. Now, apparently from this record, favorable circumstances are not always a harbinger that God’s in them and that this is the way God wants you to go. We know for Jonah, he’s going the wrong direction and he’ll have to be turned around. But God will put him through a fish to turn him around. Now, we note here that God’s men down through the centuries, both in the Bible and out of the Bible, have been men who have not found the going so easy. It hasn’t been so propitious. Things have been difficult. I’ve always thrilled at the story of David Livingston. That man really suffered. It would have been very easy if I’d been penetrating dark Africa as he did. I tell you, after a few of the rough experiences he had, I would have probably said in a very pious voice, I think it’s the will of God for us to turn around and go home. And John G. Payton in the New Hebrides, he met disappointment on every hand. And he had to overcome handicaps daily. But this is the way that God leads. And it was we’ve seen before that others had trial of cruel mockings and scourging. Yea, moreover, bonds and imprisonment, they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword, wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. of whom the world is not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.” And that’s in Hebrews 11, 36 and 38. We’ve seen that before. And we have also seen in Hebrews that it says, “…some escaped the edge of the sword by faith, but others by faith were slain with the sword.” So that you can’t always interpret the good circumstances as being God’s will and the unfavorable circumstances as not being God’s will. Well, he’s on shipboard now and the ship pulls out. And I imagine that Jonah stood on the top deck smiling as he saw the land fade away in the distance. He said to himself, my, what a beautiful journey this is going to be. Now, we’re going to find out that this man is not going to have it quite that easy. And I read in verse 4, “…but the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea.” Now, God was back of this storm. And I call your attention here at the very beginning to this. This storm is supernatural. It’s not a natural storm. “…the storm on the Sea of Galilee, in which our Lord was asleep in the boat.” These men knew that they were going to perish. They’d been on that sea before, and they knew this was a storm they couldn’t overcome, and they would soon be at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee, because it was a supernatural one. Only that time, Satan was back of that one to destroy the Lord Jesus.” And that’s the reason Peter came to him and said, carest thou not that we perish? And that’s what they would have done. Now, here God is using a storm and he’s using it for a good purpose. He’s going to save a city with this storm. He’s going to turn a prophet around that’s been going the wrong way, and he’s going to start him going the right way. Now, will you notice, the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea. There was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was in danger of being broken. Now, these mariners, they were sailors accustomed to the Mediterranean, but they detected that this was no natural storm at all. And we read in verse 5, Then the mariners were afraid and cried every man unto his God and cast forth the wares that were in the ship under the sea to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship and he lay and was fast asleep. Now, may I say that I’ve come to another place in the book of Jonah that contradicts My former viewpoint, because I entertain the popular viewpoint that people generally have. I’ve heard it said that if a man gets out of the will of God and gets into sin, he’ll be tormented with a conscience that will bother him and he will just be in misery. Well, was that true of Jonah? Jonah’s definitely out of the will of God. going the opposite way, actually running away from the presence of the Lord. He wanted to get as far from Nineveh as he possibly could, and he’s headed for Tarshish. And now he gets on board. He feels everything is all right. He goes down and goes to sleep. And he can sleep in that storm. And even the sailors were frightened. And they were a bunch of pagans worshiping all kinds of gods. And so finally, the shipmaster, the captain, the captain came to him and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper, while you sleep ahead you? You mean you can sleep in a storm like this? Well, Jonah could. In fact, he’s the only one that could sleep on board. He says, now arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not. And so here comes this man Jonah now up on deck. That is, if he could make it up on deck, And he sees this great storm that they’re in now. And the boat is apt to go to the bottom. Now, let me read verse 7. And they said, every one to his fellow, come and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Now, I’ve already had several letters in on the book of Jonah and actually a couple that disagree with me very severely. And one of them feels like that I approve of this matter of casting lots, of gambling. Well, I hope the individual that feels that way will listen to me very carefully at this time because I think gambling is an awful curse. And I think today that that method that’s being used to raise taxes in our nation will ultimately corrupt our people and corrupt the nation. And in the end, why, it will be more destructive than it could possibly be helpful. Now, somebody else is going to say, is this person? Why, this was a superstitious thing that they were doing to cast lots. to see this evil has come upon us. And they cast lots and it fell on Jonah. Well, apparently God was in that and used that. But that doesn’t mean that God approved that at all. I do not believe that Samuel was called back from the dead. I don’t believe that old witch could do it. I don’t think Satan himself could have done it. Only God can raise up the dead. Only God has the power over death and of the grave. Remember, the Lord Jesus said he had the keys there. And I don’t think he’s ever turned them over to Satan. Now, what we have here is the fact that they cast lots. And can God use that? Well… May I give you an experience I had in my first pastorate? The very wonderful pastor that I followed there, he’d so prepared the way for me. He told me about a family that had gone into spiritualism. And I’m not going to develop that particular feature today, but it was marvelous how God used that to bring these people back to themselves. But also he told me about another family where the little girl was attending the church, but he had not been able to reach the father at all, the head of the house. The wife attended, and she was a believer. The little girl was a beautiful little redheaded girl. And so at Christmas time, he came to church. And so I, you know, whispered to several people to be friendly with him and We all shook hands with him. And his criticism was that we overdid it, that we were too friendly. And so at Easter time, he came back to the church. And I told the folk, I said, he doesn’t want us to shake hands with him, be friendly. So we didn’t. I did at the door, but just barely did. And he said his criticism of the church was we were too cold. Now, that was a fellow you couldn’t please at all. I went to visit him, and he just practically ordered me out of the house. He didn’t want me to talk to him about the Lord. Well, it was about, I suppose, six months after that that I was getting ready for bed. In fact, I had already put on my pajamas. And the doorbell rang. And I went to the door. And there stood this man. And he had a frightened look on his face. He said, could I talk with you? And I said, yes. And he said, I want to tell you the background. Now, he ran a dry cleaning place. He had a woman that worked for him at the desk, a cashier. And so she said to him one morning, she said, you know, I went to a fortune teller last night. And the fortune teller told me that I’m going to die suddenly. And both of them laughed about it. And then she said, and the fortune teller said that the man I’m working for, my employer, he’s going to die suddenly. And they laughed again because they thought that was preposterous and ridiculous. But about two days after that, that woman, she stepped off of the streetcar. That is back in the days of the streetcars. And she was hit by a car that didn’t stop. And she was killed almost instantly. Well, I want to tell you, when that man found that out, he really became excited. And that very night is when he came and knocked on the door. He said, I must be next. And I said to him, I said, well, I think that I can relieve your fear there. I said that the fortune teller had nothing in the world to do with it and had no prior knowledge. That’s just one of those strange circumstances of life. We call it a coincidence. And I think that’s what it was. And I don’t think it means you’ll die. He says, well, I want to be prepared. He said, would you explain to me the plan of salvation? And I got a piece of wrapping paper and I got down on the floor in my pajamas and I took a piece of crayon and I outlined the plan of salvation there for him and how God had sent Christ in the world to die for our sins. And that man was ready that night. He accepted Christ as his Savior. And you know, I always, after that, have thought that the devil pushed that fellow a little too far because he was responsible for the man getting saved. And very frankly, God can use things like that. He does. He says he’ll make the wrath of man to praise him. And he can make the superstition of man. Now, these were superstitious fellows. God is going to use that. And they cast lots. Lot falls on Jonah. The X marks the spot where he stands. Now, will you notice what happens? Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us. What’s thine occupation? And from where comest thou? What is thy country? And of what people art thou? Now, this man Jonah may not have had much of a time to talk to these sailors. He apparently had had some time, but maybe not too much. But do you notice? What he’s silent on, he certainly is no witness for God. And a man out of the will of God can never be an effective witness for God. I think that’s something very important for us to keep before us. Now, notice what it is that he did not tell them. They say to him, first of all, we want to ask you some questions. Since this evil has fallen on us, what is thine occupation? Well, he hadn’t told anybody he was a prophet, you see. He kept quiet on that. And from where comest thou? And he didn’t tell them he was from the northern kingdom of Israel and from Gath Hefer. He said nothing about his hometown. And what is thy country? He didn’t say that I’m a citizen of Israel. and of what people art thou. And he didn’t say that I belong to the Israelite nation and the Israelite people. And we have a revelation of the living and true God. And I’m a prophet that’s been called to go to Nineveh to bring a message of hope and salvation. And I represent the living God. Now, he hadn’t said that. Why? He’s entirely out of the will of God. Now, will you notice, he says in verse 9, and he said unto them, I’m a Hebrew. That meant a whole lot. They were known as being monotheistic. That is, they worshiped one God and never an idol. They had no other gods before them. They worship the God who is the Creator. And he says here now, “…and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who hath made the sea and the dry land.” This ocean right out here that you’re seeing so stirred up by this storm, the God that I worship made that. And he made the sea, he made the dry land also. Well, these men, I think, knew about Israel, but they were pagan. They had no knowledge of the living and true God. And we are told here, “…and then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this?” For the man knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, he had told him. Now, this man, he had a bad conscience, no question about that, although he could sleep with it very nicely. But this man Jonah had told him, well, he says, the reason I’m taking this trip It’s a pleasure trip, really. Actually, I had business over in Nineveh, but I decided not to go over there. And I’m getting away from my God, I know, in making this trip. But he hadn’t divulged to them very much information, you see. Now, they say to him, why hast thou done this? And may I say to you, that is the good question that the unbeliever asks of the believer sometimes, and it’s an embarrassing one. I had a man that came to me when I was pastor in Los Angeles, and he had visited the church. He was an unsaved man. I’d met him in a business in downtown Los Angeles and invited him to come to church. And he said to me that morning, he says, is so-and-so a member of your church? I said, yes. He said, well, I didn’t know he was a church member. Well, I said, he’s an officer in this church. I said to him, why? Well, he said, you know, I’ve known that man for several years. I’ve done business with him. I never would have dreamed that he was a Christian. Now, he said, if I were a Christian, I would not do the things that that man does. You know, it’s embarrassing when an unbeliever comes and says to a Christian, why are you doing this? I thought you were a child of God. It’s rather embarrassing, is it not? And I think Jonah turned about three or four different colors of red at this particular time. Now they are going to ask him a very pertinent question. And that question is going to be, what shall we do for thee that the sea may be calm unto us? What can we do with you that the sea might be calm? And that’s going to be their question. And Jonah’s going to give them a straightforward answer now. But we’ll have to wait till next time to find out about that. So until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, it’s true. As hard as it is to admit, none of us live up to the name Christian. But the Lord can use even our failures for good in the lives of unbelievers. And we’ll hear how God did just that as we continue our study of Jonah. Until then, if you’d like to know more about how you can support this ministry in prayer and through your financial gifts, or if we can help you find a Bible study resource by Dr. McGee, call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE or visit ttb.org.
SPEAKER 04 :
Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left the prince unsaved. He washed it white as snow.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, ride the Bible bus for five years and you’ll be amazed at what God teaches you from his word about what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. It’s a blessing that keeps on going. That’s what we believe at Through the Bible.
