Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment

Well, thank you, Luke and Melody, for the beautiful special music, and Linda as well, not to leave out the piano player. I'm going to start my timer here so I can keep track of where things are at. My goal is to get you out on time.

Be nice if I knew how to run a phone. There we go.

I think that's what I wanted. We'll see. Maybe not. It's counting up, which I suppose that's what I wanted. Well, brethren, when it comes to the Day of Atonement, it's one of those pivotal holy days that is so rich with symbolism. Mr. Hanson alluded to this in the sermonette, that you could blind your blindfold yourself, spin around in a circle, and randomly throw a rock and hit something noteworthy. And the reality is we heard a number of noteworthy things in the sermonette this morning, kind of this concept of reconciliation of man to God, the binding of Satan, this idea that, you know, Satan is that enemy that is out there. And you could get into the Old Testament symbolism of the ancient Israelites practicing these specific rituals that went along with the day. We talk about the two goats, the high priest entering the Holy of Holies, the access that we now have with God, or to God, I should say, through that sacrifice that was given for us. There really are a lot of different concepts that you could address on a day like Atonement. There's so much, so much symbolism in this day. But today we're going to go somewhere that maybe is perhaps a bit unexpected. Could you turn with me please to the book of Jonah? Turn over to the book of Jonah.

The book of Jonah serves as one of the integral parts of the afternoon service on Yom Kippur. It's read as the haftarah on that afternoon, which is like the brief reading that follows the reading of the law. And haftarah is a very specific reading, it's a very specific reading, which always comes from the prophets. And what's unique about the reading of the book of Jonah on Yom Kippur is that it's the only haftarah all year long where it's a multi-chapter book that is read in its entirety. And what's really interesting about the book of Jonah, it's unique as a book of the minor prophets, is when you take a look at the book of Jonah, it's much less about the prophecy and much more about the prophet and the experience that he went through in this process of bringing his prophecy. Couple that with the fact that it's read on one of the days which the Jewish people referred to as the Sabbath of Sabbaths, the holiest day of the year in the Jewish faith, the day of forgiveness, the day of pardons.

As well, when you take a look at the subject matter of the book of Jonah and its connection to the overarching themes of atonement, I felt it would be fitting to spend time today in the book of Jonah analyzing the important lessons that we can glean from this short book and how they relate to the day of atonement. I want to be very clear, we're not Jewish. We're not. These are not Jewish feasts. They're God's feasts. They are God's holy days. They are His holy convocations. The Jewish people keeping Yom Kippur around the world today concurrently with us miss out on an incredible understanding of aspects of the day of atonement that are extremely important in Christ's involvement in these days. But when you take a look at the traditional Yom Kippur observance and what we recognize as the day of atonement, which originates Leviticus 23 and kind of branch in the first century, there are thematic parallels that are worth exploring. And today we're going to explore one of those. The title for the message today is Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment. Let's start in Jonah 1 and verse 1. Jonah 1 and verse 1. Jonah 1 and verse 1 says, Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amati, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. You know, Nineveh at this time was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. It was an ancient city mentioned clear back in Genesis 10 verse 11 as having been built by Asher. And a number of commentators describe that as the Assyrian people, as opposed to a single individual named Asher. Regardless of that, it was a hotbed of Assyrian activity at that point in time. And the reputation of the Assyrians preceded them. And many of you are aware of the reputation of the Assyrians. I won't get into the grisly details of the types of things that they were known for, but let's just put it this way. They were the first terrorists.

Their reputation preceded them, and the terror that preceded them from their exploits struck fear into the hearts of all of those who they marched against. And that reputation went far and wide. Biblical archaeology has uncovered a number of monuments to their exploits, which consist of carvings of some of the terrible things that they did to their enemies and their families and the cities. I guess if you were to try to make a modern-day equivalent, if you were to try to make a modern-day equivalent, Isis would be probably the closest modern-day equivalent that one could make.

Some of the tamer things that the Assyrians were historically known to do, Isis committed in recent years. And for that, they had the world's attention. So you can imagine, Assyria had the world's attention at that point in time, too. They were a big kid on the block, and they did some terrible things. These were the men whom God called Jonah to go out and cry against their wickedness. That their wickedness had come before God. This was the capital city of the people whom Jonah was sent to. We see Jonah's response in 1 verse 3. But Jonah rose to flee the Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare, and he went down into it to go with him to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Now, it's hard to recognize when we look at this exactly what Jonah did here, but he didn't veer slightly off course. This wasn't like, oops, I was going here and we're off by a couple of minutes. You know, this was complete and total. If you take a look at maps, they're not 100% sure where Tarshish is. There were a lot of cities named Tarshish along the coast. The word itself means to smelt, and so there were a lot of cities that smelted, and so they were known as Tarshish. But most of the commentators agree that it was the one that was on the tip of the Iberian Peninsula. So if you look at Nineveh, Nineveh's here, Joppa's here, the Iberian Peninsula's all the way over here. He sailed across most of the Mediterranean to try to escape God, which we recognize as he tried to put distance between himself and God, is foolhardy at best. But I think in that too we can also recognize that at times we've been Jonah. At times we've been Jonah in our own lives, as we've tried to hide from difficulties and from challenges and from the things in our life that are tough. We hide. There's jokes all over the internet that adulting is hard. You just want to pull the covers back over your head and go back to sleep, right?

Jonah 1, verse 4, says, But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea that the ship was about to be broken up. The mariners were afraid, and every man cried out to his God. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.

I can't sleep on a plane. I don't know how he did this. But the captain came to him and said to him, What do you mean, sleeper? Arise. Call on your God, and perhaps your God will consider us so that we will not perish. So the man at this point is throwing everything overboard that is not nailed down.

Cargo. You know, parts of the ship that weren't necessary. Anything that was absolutely non-essential went overboard in hopes of lightening the ship to get it up on top of the surface a little bit. They start to get down to find Jonah, and sure enough, Jonah's passed out below the deck. You know, the sailors at that point had tried everything they could think of. They cried out to every God they could think of.

They tried all of their own. Perhaps this man, this man who's down in the hold asleep, could get somewhere with his. Maybe if he called out to him, perhaps he would think favorably on the ship and would spare everyone their lives. Verse 7, and they said to one another, Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

And they said to him, Please tell us for whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation and where do you come from? What is your country and of what people are you? And so he said to them, I am Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. There was an ancient belief in localized nation-specific gods that essentially Canaan had their pantheon of gods that had power over the land of Canaan. Egypt had their pantheon that had power over the land of Egypt.

And there really wasn't a lot of crossover between power in those areas. Kind of like the old shows that you see, like where the bandit flies across the state line and the smoky has to screech his brakes before he gets to the state line, because, well, I don't have jurisdiction. I can't cross over here and go after this guy. And in many ways it was like that with regards to the gods of these particular countries. They only had jurisdiction.

They only had power inside of their countries. They were powerless outside, which is why the God of Israel was such a feared god, because he was a god who was noted for working outside of his boundaries. He told Abraham to leave his country and assured him he'd still be there when he did. He acted in Egypt. He acted in Canaan. He had power over land and sea in both of those places. Expositor's Bible commentary states on page 370 of book 7, says, For the ancient near east the gods had established order by defeating the powers of chaos.

But these had been tamed, not abolished, so they remained a constant threat. The embodiment of these lawless and chaotic forces was the sea, which none could control or tame. So all of these gods in all of these places had no control over the sea itself. The sea was viewed as capricious and unconquerable, even for a god. However, when Jonah states that he's a Hebrew and that he serves the Lord, who made the sea and the dry land, note the crew's reaction.

Verse 10, Then the men were exceedingly afraid. And they said to him, Why have you done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he told them. So when he got on the boat, he said, I'm running from my God. He told them. And now they realize, Oh, you're running from the God of the Hebrews.

You're running from the God whom did all these incredible miracles, like part of the Red Sea, which is notably out of his jurisdiction. And they started to worry. Verse 10, They were exceedingly afraid. Verse 11, Then they said to him, What shall we do? What should we do to you, that the sea may be calm for us, for the sea was growing more tempestuous. And he said to them, Pick me up and throw me into the sea, and the sea will become calm for you. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to return to land. So they didn't like that plan. They didn't like the idea of throwing him overboard. They rode hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. Therefore, they cried out to the Lord, and they said, We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man's life as they may be, or holding him up in their hands, ready to throw him overboard. Do not count this against us. We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not charge us with innocent blood for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you. Please don't put this against us. We don't want to do this. Because they're thinking, You know, nothing really sets a god against you like killing a servant. These men were concerned about retribution. They were concerned about what might happen to them because of what they were going to do. Verse 15, so they took up Jonah, and they picked him up, and they threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord, and took vows. You ever heard the phrase, made a believer out of me?

Made a believer out of them. They threw Jonah over the side of that boat, and the sea just...

I don't know if it was his glass, but it went from tempestuous to not tempestuous, which was good enough for them. It made an impression on them, and it gave them a new respect for the Lord God. Verse 17, the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. So in goes Jonah into the tempestuous sea, and we realize he didn't suddenly become a great swimmer. He didn't, you know, learn to walk on water, or was able to walk on water like Christ, and Peter was able later, God instead prepared a great fish to teach Jonah a very important lesson, that mercy triumphs over judgment. God could have judged Jonah on the spot and said, you ran, you disobeyed, goodbye.

But he didn't. He continued to work with Jonah. He sheltered him safely in the belly of the fish, keeping him alive and delivering him to where he ultimately needed him to go, which was an interesting connection when later Christ gave that as the sign of who he was. Chapter two, we get into Jonah praying in the belly of the fish. And then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish's belly, and he said, I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and he answered me, out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice, for you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me. All of your billows and your waves passed over me, and then I said I've been cast out of your sight. Yet I will look again towards your holy temple. The water surrounded me, even to my soul, the deep closed around me, weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the moorings of the mountains, the earth with its bars closed behind me forever. Yet you have brought me or brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God. And he says, I went down into the pit, I was swallowed by the deeps into the belly, of Sheol, yet you heard me. You heard my voice, and you prepared me for salvation.

How long had Jonah bobbed on the waters before the fish came up and got him?

Had he nearly drowned? Had he struggled against the water? Did he think he was dead, almost?

Was he unconscious? And he woke up inside the belly of the fish. That's disorienting. I don't know if you ever, you ever, when you have kids, you know, they go to sleep in one place and wake up in another, and they kind of have that moment of like, where am I? You know, did Jonah have that sort of a situation where he was unconscious of some, in some way, went into this fish, and the next thing that he knew, he was in the belly of a fish. You know, it's hard to know for certain. You know, did he think he was dead at first? It's hard to know. But the fish that had been prepared for Jonah saved Jonah's life. With the sea, the way that it was, and that storm that was bad enough to frighten an entire ship full of Phoenician, Phoenician sailors, you know, that's a bad storm. Those guys sail since they were like knee-high to a grasshopper. They're on boats. They were sea people. If it scared them, that was a bad storm. It was a really bad storm.

I had this thing, I think I've mentioned this before, I don't get really nervous in situations until the person who's controlling the situation gets nervous. It's like, if I'm riding in a car with somebody, and they're cool and calm and collect, and it's a little dicey, I'm generally okay with it. If they're white-knuckling the wheel and their eyes are wide, I start to get nervous.

I don't know about you guys, but that's kind of the way that it works for me. We had a trip, a fishing trip at Bowie 10 one year, where this massive wave went over the back of our boat. I mean, there was probably six inches of water in the bottom of the boat, bilge pumps screaming, trying to get it all out. I was great until I looked at the guy running the tiller, and his eyes were the size of dinner plates, as white as white could be, and that made me a little nervous. So, you know, when you've got a ship full of Phoenician sailors that are crying out for deliverance, you know you've got a storm on your hands. You know you've got a good-sized storm. Jonah would have died without the fish coming up that God had prepared for him to keep him alive. God was merciful to Jonah. Verse 7, verse 7, When my soul fainted within me, this is Jonah 2, verse 7, I remembered the Lord and my prayer went up to you into your holy temple. Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. And through this process, this whole entire situation of being thrown overboard and swallowed by this fish, Jonah was convicted of the importance of the Lord and of his salvation. The example on the boat of the men who had called out to their worthless gods in vain, Jonah remembers that as he hits his moment of despair, and instead he says, I will sacrifice with the voice of thanksgiving. Pay what I have vowed for salvation is of God. Jonah 2, verse 10, The Lord spoke to the fish, and vomited Jonah onto dry land, which I'm sure is an experience in and of itself.

Jonah survives the encounter. He's provided a second opportunity, kind of that moment of like, okay, now I would like you to go to Nineveh, and I really, you know, now that we've done all of this, would you please carry through on what you were asked to do first? But now he has God's mercy on his mind. He has this idea of God's loving kindness in his head, realizing that he had run from God.

He essentially had a sin of a mission, committed a sin of a mission, against his maker. Jonah 3, in verse 1, The Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you, do what I ask you to do. Obey, please. Don't run. Obey. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the Word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. So Nineveh's big city. It's huge. Three days journey, wall to wall, full of Assyrians, full of Gentiles, men of foreign gods, who were noted for doing horrible, horrible things to other people. And God told Jonah that their wickedness had come to him, and he should go, and he should preach this against them. Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk, and he cried out, and he said, yet forty days, and Nineveh will be overthrown. Well, that'll get your attention. One guy in the sea of a bunch saying, forty days, the city's going down. The people of Nineveh believed God. Verse 5, proclaimed a fast, put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Do not let them eat or drink water. But let them be covered, or let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God, yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

Wait a second, what? Jonah walked into a city full of Gentiles, Assyrians, and he said, forty days from now this place is going to be destroyed by the Lord. And they said, oh, okay, what can we do? How can we fix this? How can we repent? We need to repent. And they went through the process to do exactly that. Now you contrast that with Jonah's own people, who up to that point in time had largely rejected Ezekiel, Elisha, Amos, Obadiah, Joel, had breathed threats and murder against the prophets that had been sent to them to correct them. And here this Gentile nation said, okay, God, we repent. All the way from the smallest to the greatest, turning from their wickedness, declaring a fast, clothing themselves in sackcloth, and crying out mightily to God. Verse 9 of Jonah 3, who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger so that we may not perish? It wasn't certain. It wasn't guaranteed.

Then God saw their works, that they had turned from their evil way, and God relented from the disaster that he had said he would bring on them, and he did not do it. God heard them, saw what they had done, and changed his mind. He chose not to destroy them at that time. He had mercy on them because of their humility and their attitude of repentance. He wasn't ignoring them. He saw them. He saw their wickedness.

But he also saw the sincerity of their repentance, and he chose to be merciful.

You know, brethren, repenting of our sins should be an everyday occurrence.

But even more so on this High Holy Day. In ancient Israel, sins of the people were placed upon the head of the goat for the Lord or for the New Covenant fulfillment upon Jesus Christ. You know, those sins in the Old Testament were covered in the Old Covenant fulfillment.

They were covered. They were covered over. But it required a yearly sacrifice to cover them again and again and again in subsequent years. And they talk about that a little bit in Hebrews 9.

While in the New Covenant, we see that Christ entered the Most Holy Place once and for all. Talks about how the blood of bulls and goats wasn't sufficient, but Christ's blood was.

Nineveh repented in sackcloth and ashes for their sins. They saw what was wrong with them, and they wholeheartedly repented. Jonah 4 and verse 1, Jonah should be happy. He should be excited.

The thing that God had asked him to go and do, they had done. They did it!

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord, and he said, Ah, Lord, was this not what I said when I was still in my country? Was this not what I said while I was still in my country? Therefore, I fled previously to Tarshish. For I know that you are gracious and merciful God. Slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, one who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me than to die or to die than to live. Then the Lord said, Is it right for you to be angry? You know, suddenly Jonah's actions at the beginning of the account make sense.

He didn't flee to Tarshish because he was afraid of his life at the hands of the Assyrians.

He didn't flee because he was concerned. He fled because he was afraid that they would repent, and that God would ultimately have mercy on them and not exact the justice that Jonah felt that they deserved. Jonah wanted God to judge Assyria, to destroy them for all of the bad things that they had done, all the terror they had inflicted on people, all the horrible things that they were known for. He didn't want them to repent. He wanted them to receive judgment. He wanted justice, not mercy. And so he fled from his mission because he knew that God was merciful. He says it right there in verse 2 of Jonah 4, I fled previously to Tarshish, for I know that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, one who relents from doing harm.

If Assyria repented, he would pray that God would relent, and the thought of that angered Jonah greatly. So leave your finger or a bookmark here in Jonah. We'll come back to it, but we're going to kick over to Matthew 18. Matthew 18, and we'll pick it up in verse 21. Because this attitude and desire for justice for other people, but mercy for ourselves, is very common. I think if we're honest with ourselves, we've experienced it ourselves as well. When somebody does something to us, we want justice as opposed to mercy, but when we do something to others, we desire mercy as opposed to justice. So this attitude is something that's prevalent, one that we need to be on watch for in our own lives. Matthew 18 and verse 21 in the parable of the unforgiving servant says, Then Peter came to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive him. Up to seven times, Jesus said to him, I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And so we see in that first couple of passages, Peter hoped that maybe Christ would put a limit on it. That there would be a certain point in time where you could say, you know, after 490 times, man, look out, 491, I'm coming after you. You know, I'm, that is it. No, this is this idea that we should have a heart of forgiveness and a heart that shows mercy. And he then digs into this parable that contrasts mercy and justice. Matthew 18 and verse 23, Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold with his wife and his children and all that he had and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell before him saying, master, have patience with me and I'll pay you all. I'll pay it all back. All 10,000 talents I'll pay back. Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt. So this man owed an incredible sum of money to his Lord. Honestly, a sum that that servant would never be capable of paying. In his lifetime, even in a debtor's prison, and that was written off, forgiven in its entirety. Verse 28 of Matthew 18 says, but that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 denarii. So here he goes out to collect the money so he can get his master paid back, right? And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying, pay me what you owe. Right? Pay me what you owe! Getting right in his face.

I came across an analysis of this online that I found really interesting. I wanted to share it with you just to illustrate in modern terms what this particular parable is talking about. So Matthew 18, 23 to 25, records a parable of two debtors, one that owes a king 10,000 talents and one that owed his fellow servant 100 denarii. NIV footnotes usually say this is equivalent to several million dollars versus a few dollars is usually how it's described in the footnotes. But a more accurate comparison is based on how much time it would take to earn these respective amounts of money. Let us begin with 10 or with 100 denarii. Based on Matthew 20, verse 2, and some other sources, the denarius was one day's wage for a typical day laborer. That's Matthew 20, verse 2. They agree to go and work in the field for a day for a denarius. Or some translations say a penny.

A typical day laborer who worked six days a week with a Sabbath day of rest, allowing for a couple of weeks for various Jewish holidays, such as the Feast of Tabernacles and Days of Lemon Bread travel, things like that. The typical laborer would have worked probably 50 weeks out of the year and earned an annual wage of 300 denarii. That's 50 weeks times six days at a denarii a day. Okay, so 300 denarii for an annual wage. So therefore, 100 denarii was about one-third of a year's salary, or four months' wages. Now, suppose you continued to work as a day laborer earning 300 denarii each year. After 20 years of such labor, you will have earned 6,000 denarii. At this point, the king would say to his debtor, congratulations, you have worked for 20 years and you have now earned 6,000 denarii. That's enough to pay back one talent. Only 9,999 more to go after 20 years of labor.

From this, we can see that if it takes 20 years to earn one talent, repaying 10,000 talents would require working for 200,000 years. How absurd for the servant to beg for mercy and tell the king that he would pay back everything. As a day laborer, he had no hope. Literally, not in a million years, or almost literally, not in a million years of repaying that debt. So, what does that look like in today's dollars? Currently, Oregon's minimum wage is $10.25 per hour. We know from Matthew 20 that they work 12 hours per day, which is 72 hours per week. Under Oregon law, they'd be paid 40 hours a week at $10.25 an hour, 32 hours of overtime per week at $15.38 an hour. I did the math for you to make life easy. Comes out to a weekly wage of $902. Thus, their annual wage, assuming they work 50 weeks as above, would be 902 times 50, or $45,100 per year. So, if 100 denarii is a third of a year's salary, or four months' wages, it would be equivalent to approximately $15,033, which is significantly more substantial than the NIV footnote of a few dollars.

Earning $45,100 per year at minimum wage with substantial overtime, how much would you earn in 200,000 years to be equal to 10,000 talents? $35,200 times 200,000 equals $9.02 billion, which is the equivalent. For perspective, $9.02 billion is approximately one-ninth of the total wealth of Bill Gates. He's the richest man in the United States at $86 billion as of 2017. If you had $9.02 billion available to repay a debt, you would be 140th in the 2017 Forbes list of billionaires. That's the kind of time and money we're talking about here. That this man was forgiven $9.02 billion, and he's going to go rough up his buddy for 15 grand. That's what we're talking about here. Verse 29, so his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, have patience with me, I will pay you all. And he would not, but went and threw him into a prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servant saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and they came and they told their master all that had been done. And then his master, after he had called him, said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not have also had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you? And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him, which we now know was a life sentence. He's not getting out of that debtors' prison any time soon. So my Heavenly Father also will do to you, each of you, from his heart, if you do not forgive your brother, trespasses. So we see the overall moral of this particular parable is that we should have a heart of forgiveness and mercy towards others. And if we don't, that we shouldn't expect a heart of mercy and forgiveness from our Heavenly Father. Forgiving you shall be forgiven. We can't demand justice and expect mercy. Let's go back to Jonah's story. Let's go back to Jonah's story. Jonah 4 and verse 5, we see kind of the wrap-up. Jonah 4 and verse 5, so Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city, and there he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord prepared a gourd, and it came over a plant, and it came up over Jonah that it might be shade to his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. So once again, Jonah appreciates God's loving kindness and his mercy. Here comes his plant that gave him some shade from the intense heat of the day, prevented him from cooking in the midday sun.

Shade was cool, and the plant was greatly appreciated. But we see in verse 7, that as morning dawned the next day, God prepared a worm. And so that worm damaged the plant such that it withered. And it happened when the sun arose that God prepared of a hem in an east wind, and the sun beat on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself and said, it's better for me to die than to live. And then God said to Jonah, is it right for you to be angry about the plant? And he said, yes, it's right for me to be angry, even unto death. Yes, I have every right to be mad, even to the point that I am so mad. Jonah appreciated the plant, very much apparently. He really appreciated the plant. But he also appreciated the mercy and the kindness that God showed him by providing it. He didn't plant it. God made it grow. It was his grace that Jonah would have any shade at all. And Jonah was upset that that shade had gone away. And God goes on in verse 10. But the Lord said, you have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor have you made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city in which are more than 120,000 people who cannot discern between their right hand and their left. Youth, children, 120,000, and much livestock. You're mad about the plant, which he didn't plant. You didn't water it. By my grace, God tells him, you've shaded you. By my mercy and grace, you receive shade. And you're angry when it dies. But you have no regard whatsoever for a city full of people who, yes, had sinned greatly, but when faced with their wickedness, turned and repented. Am I just to destroy such a large city with a population of 120,000 children?

It's a rhetorical question that God asks Jonah, so to speak. And it remains rhetorical. We don't have an answer. We don't have Jonah's answer. It ends there. And we as readers are left to then ponder Jonah's response. Jonah desired justice. He desired judgment. After all, the Ninevites deserved to be wiped off the face of the Mount. They were a terrible people. Terrible people.

They were Gentiles. They had no love for God. They were idolaters. They absolutely deserved destruction. Verse 5 seems to indicate that he wanted to witness the destruction of the city personally as he sat up on the hillside to see what might happen to the city. Maybe God would change his mind after all. Jonah wanted justice so bad he could taste it. But God's lesson to Jonah was that mercy triumphs were judgment. The people of Nineveh were sinners. They absolutely were.

But when they heard their sins and they saw how those sins displeased God and that those sins were going to bring them into judgment, everybody from the top down immediately declared a fast, prayed and clothed themselves in sackcloth and ashes. Not just them, their livestock as well. Even God's own people, Israel, didn't respond with that degree of repentance when they were notified of their sins. By and large they've rejected the messages of the prophets, attacking them, sometimes even killing them when their shortcomings were shown.

You know, our sins before God are equally as egregious. When we become aware of them, do we respond like Israel? Or do we respond like Nineveh? How do we respond when we are made aware of the things that we have as shortcomings in our own lives? Do we go on the offensive?

Or do we humble ourselves and repent? You know, the reality is all of us deserve death. All of us deserve death. Romans 6, 23, that's what we've earned is the death penalty. But the gift of God is forgiveness and reconciliation through Christ's sacrifice. Let's go to Romans 3.

We'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 21. We'll go ahead and read 21 through 26. Romans 3.

Romans 3 verse 21, But now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. We have all sinned against God's holy, righteous, and perfect law. By all intents and purposes, we're dead men walking.

But because of the grace of God, because of His mercy towards us and the atoning sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ, who you'll remember His death tore the veil in two, granting us access to God and to His mercy seat 24-7, not just one day a year on the Day of Atonement, but we can come before Him in repentance and receive that mercy and that forgiveness at any time. The Day of Atonement ultimately symbolizes reconciliation with God. Let's go over to 2 Corinthians 5.

2 Corinthians 5. And we'll read the Apostle Paul's words here.

2 Corinthians 5. And we'll pick it up in verse 17.

It says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

Old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. God the Father reconciled us to Himself through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And because of that, we were given this ministry, this service of reconciliation, a ministry of service, a restoration of divine favor or atonement, the responsibility to restore and to reconcile ourselves to God and to one another. And we are ultimately ambassadors on behalf of Christ in that process at this time. And we need to be living it, valuing mercy over judgment. Looking forward on this day to a time in the future where mankind's relationship with His Creator will be restored, where the two estranged parties that are so separated will be reunited. You know, on a smaller scale, that process has already begun through Christ's sacrifice and through the acceptance of that sacrifice in our lives.

His sacrifice is the bridge that spans over that chasm. We have been and are being reconciled to God through Christ's sacrifice. When the day of atonement comes in its full fulfillment, this will happen on a worldwide scale. When Satan is put away and his influence is gone, when he can no longer tempt people, when he can no longer help people to cause sin, that gulf between man and God that is created by his influence and the resulting sin that comes from that relationship can be healed. Mankind can be fully reconciled, not just experiencing a yearly covering of those sins as ancient Israel went through the processes that they went through, but a complete forgiveness of those sins and a healing of the gulf. You know, that is what this day represents. It represents God's mercy on mankind. Because of this, because mankind will all have an opportunity and because the gentile Ninevites set a better example than the Israelites when it came to repentance in this life, we can't afford to be partial. We can't afford to be partial. Let's go over to James 2. James 2. James 2 will pick it up in verse 1.

James 2 in verse 1 says, My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, You sit here, you sit in this good place, and you say to the poor man, You stand there, or sit here at my footstool. Sorry, can't get the page turned. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? You know, we become partial. Do we not judge? When we become partial, do we not judge? We make value judgments all the time. People do this constantly. And it's usually as a result of internal biases or whatever, whatever else, but we make value judgments. We begin to place people in a hierarchy when we see people or when we interact with people, whether it's based on socioeconomic status, whether it's based on race, political party, lots of other things. We have ways of kind of, we humans, we naturally categorize things. It's kind of what we do. We put them in boxes, and we kind of move our boxes, and we have our boxes, and we like our boxes, and we categorize, and we make value judgments to hierarchy certain things. James 2 and verse 5, Listen, my beloved brethren, has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him. You know, God has offered the kingdom to the world.

Jesus Christ died for the entire world, not just for those with money, not just for Americans, not just for people of one skin color, not just for the people in the church of God, not only for the people in united. The ultimate fulfillment of this day and God's plan that this day is a part of is the salvation of the world itself, the reconciliation of the world itself with their Creator. James 2 and verse 6, James 2 and verse 6, But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Did they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You do well. And verse 9, But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. Being partial, having respect of persons, is sin. It is. Jonah, wishing for the demise of an entire group of people in a gigantic walled city called Nineveh, because they were Assyrian, with no respect for their lives, for their children, for their town, is transgression. It doesn't show love for neighbor, and it doesn't ultimately show love for God. It shows partiality. Brethren, do we show partiality? Do we show partiality in our lives and in our interactions with others? Do we shy away from some because of maybe the vibe that they give off? Do we interact with only certain people? James 2, verse 10. James 2 and verse 10. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. Now, if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you become a transgressor of the law. And so he's referencing back to this concept of partiality. So speak, and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. Knowing that we're going to be judged by the law of liberty, by God's holy, righteous, and perfect law, we must ensure that we are not partial to others. That we do not refuse to show mercy to certain groups of people while demanding justice and consequences to others. If you've ever said something along the lines of, I can't wait until so-and-so gets theirs. They can't get away with this. I'll show them. I'll have my revenge. Nobody says that anymore. That's like an old movie villain, I'll have my revenge. No one says that. But if you've ever found yourself saying that, you might be doing it wrong. We're ambassadors of Jesus Christ with a ministry of reconciliation. We are here to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in the coming kingdom to the world, not just to those who agree with us, not just to those who treat us well. We must forgive. We must show mercy to all. James 2, verse 13, for judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy, mercy triumphs against judgment. Much like the parable of the wicked servant, we see that those that show no mercy receive no mercy. God is a God of mercy. He desires mercy over judgment. He doesn't want that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Sadly, Scripture shows that's not going to be the case, but that doesn't change His desire. You know, as we come out of this day with all of its symbolism and its ritual, let's not forget God's desire for mankind, that all should come to repentance. Ninevites, Israelites alike, those of us in the church, those of us in the world, in hopes that they would all turn from their wickedness. You know, God desires that they would fast and they would humble themselves and that they would live His way of life. We must remember that He has reconciled them too, to Himself, through the blood of Jesus Christ, and that because of this fact we cannot show partiality.

Leviticus 23, verses 8 through 13, if you jot it down, Leviticus 23, 8 through 13, we won't turn there, discusses the Jubilee concept. This idea that every seven-sevenths, every forty-nine years on the Day of Atonement, the trumpet was sounded and on that fiftieth year, people were given a fresh start. Their slates were wiped clean, the debts were erased completely. Brethren, we owe a debt that we simply cannot pay. We owe a debt that we simply cannot pay. And Christ's sacrifice for us wiped that debt clean. And because of the mercy that was shown to us, we must then show mercy and forgive others as well, not demanding justice for those that wrong us. Let's go over to Isaiah 58 in order to draw things to a close. Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58. We'll take a look at words that God inspired the prophet Isaiah to write with regards to fasting. And keeping in mind that we don't fast to try to twist God's arm and force him to go to our position. We fast because we want to learn what God has in store for us. We want to seek his will in a situation. Isaiah 58. And we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 6. It says, Is this not the fast that I have chosen? Is this not the fast that I have chosen to lose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out, when you see the naked that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? Verse 8. Then shall the light break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard, and then you shall call, and the Lord will answer. You shall cry, and he will say, Here I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking of wickedness, if you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul and drought, and strengthen your bones. You shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. The mercy, shown to others, is a parallel of the mercy that God shows to us. If we do these things, God will honor our fasts, will honor our prayers, and he shall answer us when we cry out to him. The day of atonement is a day of forgiveness, it's a day of pardons, it's a day which symbolizes the final reconciliation of mankind to their Creator, symbolizes the removal of the cause of sin, and ultimately from us the separation of sin as far as east is from west. Not just a yearly covering, not just you'll covering it up, but removing it from us, washing us clean with the blood of Jesus Christ. God's mercy will be poured out upon those who are left. As you look at the plan of God, see the judgment that occurs on trumpets, and now God's mercy will be poured out upon his people, those who are left, those that have lived through those judgments lead up to the day of trumpets, and that mercy will pave the way for the incredible kingdom of God. Mercy triumphs over judgment.