Jonah Introduction Part2

The Assyria God made:      

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. The city was built by Asshur the son of Shem, the son of Noah. (Genesis 10:11-12, 22) Asshur left the land of Shinar to build this city, called great in Genesis 10:12. Abraham also came from the line of Shem. Israel and Assyria are tied together through Shem.

       The first time Assyria is seen is in 2Kings 15:19 when Assyria came against Israel. Before 2Kings 15:19 Nineveh would have had become a great wicked city and repented. The LORD used Assyria to chasten His people, but as other nations they went too far (Isaiah 47:6). When Israel aligned with Syria to come against Jerusalem during the reign of Ahaz in Judah, Assyria was hired by Ahaz to come to Jerusalem’s defense. Assyria defeated Syria and Israel.

       They demanded tribute be paid of Judah several times. Assyria eventually carried all the northern kingdom of Israel and most of Judah into captivity leaving only the land of Judah around the city of Jerusalem. Hezekiah sought the LORD and the LORD delivered Judah and Jerusalem from Assyria. The angel of the LORD slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in their sleep. Assyria left Judah.

     Josiah, king of Judah [last good king], had become friends to Assyria and Assyria allowed him to remove all the high places and other idolatry from all the land of promise. Nahum prophesies of the destruction of Nineveh again.  

In 2Kings 25:29 Egypt came against Assyria and Josiah fought against Egypt and was killed. Egypt defeated Assyria after the death of Josiah. Babylon defeats Egypt before entering Jerusalem at the start of the 70 year Babylonian captivity. 

     The Lord will use Assyria during the tribulation period to protect Israel.                                                                      

(See Isaiah 19:23-25). The highway will go along the east of the river Jordan River and Dead Sea, continuing through the land of Ammon and Moab and into Egypt. This highway will allow Jews to escape to fives cities in the midst of Egypt that speak their language and an altar to the LORD.

     The men of Nineveh once repented through the preaching of Jonah and Assyria will be a blessing to Israel during the tribulation and they will enter the 1000 year reign of Christ.

Matthew 16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

Jonah was a sign to the evil generation and the men of Nineveh

*To the evil generation Matthew 12:37-41

·      They did not repent when they saw Jesus after he rose from the dead. Could they have said, he wasn’t really dead when they put him in the tomb and his friends stole him away from the guards?

·      Matthew 28:11-15 They should have remembered the sign of Jonah.

*Jonah’s sign to the men of Nineveh: Luke 11:29-32

·      "The LORD has a message for me to deliver to you that I did not want to deliver to you so I fled from him. The importance of this message can be seen in the fact that the LORD saved me out of the sea. I was in the belly of a great fish three days and three nights and was brought back to the dry land. Pay attention to this sign and heed what I have to say." The men of Nineveh heeded the sign and repented.

Jesus pointed to the fact that He was in the heart of the earth three days and three nights and returned as a sign that He had a message the evil generation needed to head. The resurrection of Jesus Christ proved His shed blood and death upon the cross were not in vain and must be heeded.

The evil generation denied His resurrection and rejected His message. The men of Nineveh saw the fact of Jonah being the belly of the whale and than vomited on to the dry land as reason to heed the message of Jonah.

They will rise up in judgment with the evil generation of Jews who reject the message of Jesus Christ. Those gentile men of Nineveh believed Jonah the Jews chose to reject the greatest of all.

*Why Send Jonah to Nineveh? The Assyria God made;

Isaiah 45:11 ¶ Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.

·      “my sons” are the Jews (Genesis 4:22)

·      Who is “the work of my hands”?

·      In Isaiah 19:25   Assyria is “the work of my hands”.

·      Jonah was sent to Nineveh to set right "the work of His hand".

·      God has a special purpose for Assyria. Assyria was used in Judgment of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Assyria was used to protect Jerusalem from Syria and the Israel from destroying the southern kingdom of Judah (the line of Christ)

·      God is going to use Assyria and to Egypt during the tribulation to offer Israel a safe passage to Egypt.

·      Somehow the men of Nineveh  will be rise at the great white throne judgment and condemn the evil generation.     

Isaiah 60:21 21 Thy people also (Isaiah 19:25 Israel His inheritance)

In the new heavens and new earth (eternity with the Lord God Almighty and the [Lamb Rev 21]) all Israel will be righteous (so will be all Gentiles who escape Satan’s little season [Revelation 20:3])  

·      They will inherit the land for ever. The Jews will have the land of promise during the 1000 year reign of Christ, they will loose it again during Satan’s little season and than regain it forever.

·      The land will be called “the branch of His planting” the work of his hands – Assyria is tied to the land and inheritance of Israel.