God: “Jonah, your mission should you choose to accept it, is to go to Nineveh, give them My word so that they can be saved, because they are wicked and are going to be judged otherwise.”
If the book of Jonah were an episode of Charlie’s Angels, or Mission Impossible, God’s call to this prophet may have sounded something like that. As we live in a real live action adventure, that’s not how God sends his people. He says, “Arise and go!” The problem is, like Jonah, we are fine with doing whatever God wants us to do, until it’s something our flesh is uncomfortable with, it then stands up and says BUT, “Please don’t send me to Africa!” I think of this song every time I read the story of Jonah, because his story is our story in many ways.
Jonah didn’t just dislike the Ninevites, he despised them. Assyria was a nation that was wicked and violent. Israel knew what it was to feel the affliction of Assyria, so when God said, “Go!”, Jonah said “No!“, and ran away. What does an ever loving parent do when their child is disobedient and acting up? They do what God did to Jonah, He put his wayward child in time out.
God wanted to do something great, something that without a doubt show that He was who He said He was. He wanted to reveal Himself to an enemy of Israel and see them come to repentance. Jonah’s mission was one that God has given everyone of His children. He has called us to take His word to the lost. As the Bible does not use the word missionary anywhere in the scriptures themselves, we must start at the word itself and work backwards. Missionary is from the Latin word “missionem”, meaning “ACT OF SENDING”, and was translated from the Greek word “Apostolos”. From Strong’s Concordance, Apostolos means: A delegate, specially, an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ (“Apostle”) (With miraculous powers) – apostle, messenger, HE THAT IS SENT. We see this is what happened after Jesus’ ascension upon giving the Great Commission when He told His disciples, But you will receive power when the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) comes upon you; you will be my witnesses both in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) and in all Y’hudah (Judah) and Shomron (Samaria), indeed to the ends of the earth!” Acts 1:8 We are still able to take this further back and look at it in the Hebrew. In Hebrew, “TO BE SENT” is the word shalach. The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon gives this definition: To cause to go; to direct, order, or request to go. All three languages convey the same idea; the driving force behind the missionary is being sent somewhere outside of oneself, to bring forth the Gospel.
I would like to pose a question at this point. Think about the politician in Washington or your state that you dislike the most. It does not matter the party, because that is not the point of exercise. If God were to call you to go to that person and tell them about Jesus, to pray with them, and to lead them to the Lord, would you go? Would you arise and answer the call of being sent? Would you do so with gladness in your heart? Or would you be like Jonah and say, “I don’t think so! Do you know who they are? Do you know what they have voted for? Do you know…….” He wants to be the Great Missionary in us, just like He wanted to be with Jonah, and while He may not use a great fish to put us in time out, He certainly will have something prepared for us. Not to mention, He will also find someone who is willing to say, “Here I am Lord, send me!” (Isaiah 6:8) After the fish spit Jonah up onto the shore, he went and fulfilled what God had sent him to do, but he was not happy about it. He wanted God to destroy them, not save them. In his anger, he prayed and said “Now, Adonai, didn’t I say this would happen, when I was still in my own country? That’s why I tried to get away to Tarshish ahead of time! I knew you were a God who is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in grace, and that you would relent from inflicting punishment.” Jonah 4:2. God’s mission, which should be our mission as well, is to see the lost saved, no matter who they are. Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors, and the religious people of His day condemned Him for it. We must guard our hearts so that we do not become modern day Pharisees and decide who is or isn't worthy of the Lord’s gift of salvation. It is for all of us, even those we dislike the most.
When each one of us arise and say, “Here I am Lord, send me!”, we enable God to operate as a missionary within us. Where I can go, may not be where you are able to. Where well known ministers like Johnathan Cahn can reach larger amounts of people than a small church on the corner of a town in nowhere Oklahoma, not everyone in nowhere Oklahoma will have ever heard of Johnathan Cahn. It takes each one of us, doing what He has called us to do, and not being like Jonah, to see His Great Commission fulfilled. We get to be a part of the greatest story on earth, we just have to come to the end of ourselves before we can be cast in the role He has designed for us.
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