The Unrequiting

The term unrequited means "unanswered; not returned; not reciprocated; or not repaid," according to The American Heritage Dictionary. "The Unrequiting" are those people who choose not to return something or reciprocate in any way.

An example of this can be found in the relationship between my wife and her cat. Normally their interaction during the day is very loving. My wife feeds the cat and pets it, talks to it, and picks it up and cuddles it. However, at 4AM my wife my is very unrequitive, wanting to sleep just a bit more.

The cat tries to get beyond the closed bedroom door with clawing and mournful meowing but my wife ignores the cat,  choosing sleep over requiting. Poor kitten.

We humans can be the same way in our relationship with God, if a relationship even exists. Most who don't know God are just fine without Him, even though HE might "stand at the door and knock."

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me." - Revelation 3:20

But even those of us who believe can go through times when we ignore God. That usually doesn't end well.

"Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah, son of Amittai, saying, ²“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me.”

³Jonah, however, got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD." - Jonah 1:1-3

That didn't go so well for Jonah. He ended up on a beach in a pile of fish vomit.

People who refuse to hear the Gospel or ignore the knocking of God at their door, are destined for a fate far worse than Jonah on the Ninevah beach - eternity in Hell.

What should we do then, for the unrequiting; for those who are unwilling to return the love of God and His offer of forgiven sins and eternal life? All we can do is pray for them. If they refuse Almighty God's knocking at their door, do we think they will open up for us?

It hurts when those we love refuse to even consider a relationship with Jesus. Why? Because we know what awaits them. And that, for all eternity. How incredibly sad.

“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’" - Matthew 22:13

Jonah Did What?

Recently, I heard a different take on the story of Jonah that made me wonder. Was what I heard actually true? Let's investigate.

We catch up with Jonah as he got thrown into the sea by his shipmates. It's wasn't looking good for Jonah at this point. It gets worse.

"Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." - Jonah 1:17

Okay, this is where questions begin to arise. For example, "How could a man spend three days underwater and come out alive afterwards?"

That's a logical question. There are a few possible answers. Either God kept him alive somehow, or Jonah actually died. And THAT is the new twist I heard on this story of Jonah. 

Let's fast forward to Jesus. You know the verse.

"He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." - Matthew 12:39-40

There is no evidence, one way or another for whether Jonah was alive or dead. Just that he was "in the belly of a huge fish." Let's go back to Jonah's account.

"From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God." - Jonah 2:1

So, Jonah was alive inside the fish. He was praying. But did he STAY alive for three days? Here's some interesting verses. Keep in mind that Jonah wrote this book AFTER everything was over.

"From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry." - Jonah 2:2

Was he in Sheol (the place of the dead)? Or was this just a figure of speech?

"To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit." - Jonah 2:6

That sounds like Jonah died, but we can't be sure. I think we need to go back to Jesus when he said, "as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

Jesus died. The question then becomes did "the sign of Jonah" that Jesus spoke about include Jonah's actual death? It doesn't really say, but it would seem to line up with what actually happened to Jesus. And HE died.

If Jonah died, God IS all-powerful, and more than capable of raising someone from the dead. That's why we are all Christians afterall. But did God raise Jonah from the dead too? Or was that something that was reserved only for Jesus? Hmm.🤔

Jonah couldn't have been dead because then HE would have been the fulfillment of the Festival of "first fruits," not Jesus. Right? Jesus WAS raised from the dead during the Festival of First Fruits. But what if Jonah was spit out by the fish during the same festival?

"And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land." - Jonah 2:10

I give up. My brain is beginning to cramp. Lol! I'll just stick with the three days and three nights thing for now and ask Jonah about it when I see him.

Cetus

Today's word of the day is Cetus. Any ideas what that means? Cetus is a constellation, sometimes called "The Whale" in English. Cetus (ketos in ancient Greek) was a sea monster in Greek mythology which both Perseus and Heracles needed to slay (whoever THEY were).

A whale . . . Hmm.

"Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." - Matthew 12:38-40

Jesus was in "the belly of the whale" for three days just like Jonah. Surely Jonah's stint in that deep, dark place was a prophetic sign of Jesus crucifixion and his descending into hades for three days.

I saw this piece of artwork (pictured above) while searching for today's story picture. It is Cetus the whale! Note the stars on its side. It's the constellation Cetus! Amazing!

What else do we see? Well, it's a clock for one thing. We can tell that by the Roman numerals III, IX, VI... and Cetus is pointing at the number 3. THREE days in the belly of the whale? Interesting.

Who knows what all this means. Perhaps Jesus and His heavenly host will come to us out of the constellation Cetus. I really have no idea, but this encoursging to me. All we know for sure though is this . . . time is definitely ticking. And we do NOT want to end up in the belly of the whale.

Good Thursday?

Our pastor said something on Sunday that got my attention. He said that he believed that Jesus was actually crucified on a Thursday and NOT on a Friday. Really? Could it be true?

When someone tells us something like that, we should be "good Bereans" and do our research in God's Word.

"Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." - Acts 17:11

GotQuestions.org, my usual go-to place for Bible questions, actually said there are three beliefs for days of the crucifixion - Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Going into this examination my default belief was Friday. It's Good Friday, not Good Thursday or Wednesday, right?

The GotQuestions.org answer (link below) provided scripture for each position. One verse got my attention, however. Matthew 28:1. Most Bible translations read similar to this:

"After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb." - Matthew 28:1

But some other translations, like the Berean Literal Translation for example, had the same verse translated this way:

"And after the Sabbaths, it being dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb." - Matthew 28:1

'Sabbaths' is plural!?! So, I kept digging and found an article called The Case for A Thursday Crucifixion (link below). Interesting read.

The picture above is from a Greek/English Interlinear On-Line Bible. Note the word "Sabbaths" that I underlined. It's plural, meaning more than one sabbath.

The key to all of this is knowing that there are TWO kinds of Sabbath days. There is a weekly day Sabbath, which occurs every Saturday, and then there is a HIGH day or special holy day, like Passover, which occurs on different days of the week but always on Nissan 10 according to scripture.

"The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month (Nisan) of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household." - Exodus 12:1-3

Jesus came into town riding on a donkey. On Palm Sunday. The Passover.

Read the article. Perhaps your Good Friday will turn into a Good THURSDAY as a result.

On What Day Was Jesus Crucified?

The Case for A Thursday Crucifixion

A Fish Story?

Everyone has heard about Jonah and how he got swallowed by a giant fish. We've also heard about the mission that God gave Jonah: to go to Nineveh. But did you know this? The following is from my study Bible:

The name Nineveh is thought to derive from "ninus," i.e., Nimrod, and means the residence of Nimrod or "nunu" (Akkadian for "fish).

Are you kidding me? Nineveh means fish?

Here's more from the study Bible:

The people worshipped the fish goddess Nanshe (the daughter of Ea, the goddess of fresh water) and Dagon the fish god, who was represented as half man and half fish,

So, Ninevah was named after a fish, and they worshipped fish gods. Interesting. Here's a question for you: Do you think the people of this fish town who worshipped their fish gods, would pay any attention to the words of a man who was vomited out of a giant fish's mouth onto their beach? Effectively "half-man and half-fish"? I'm guessing, yes. Yes, they would!

"And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land." - Jonah 2:10

Then this happened:

"The Ninevites believed God." - Jonah 3:5

Here's something else that's interesting. Look at these two verses. See any similarities?

"Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." - Jonah 1:7

"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." - Matthew 12:40

The 'three days and three nights' phrases are identical. How about the location? Jonah was 'in the belly of a large fish' while Jesus was 'in the heart (the belly) of the earth.' Very similar.

If these two passages are so similar, what about these similarities?

1. Before Jesus died, He prayed.

"Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” - Luke 23:46

So did Jonah.

2. "From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God, 2saying, “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice." - Jonah 2:1-2

I believe that Jonah died inside the fish! Why?

"The sign of Jonah" that Jesus gave in Matthew's verse above and the crucifixion of Christ are basically the same! Jesus died and was buried right? He descended into hell, right? The "belly" of the earth? If Jonah was foretaste of Jesus and His death and resurrection, shouldn't Jonah have died and been resurrected as well? The Bible doesn't say so.

Both prayed. That's for sure. Jesus died and was resurrected. We don't know if Jonah died or not. Perhaps being swallowed by a fish and vomited onto the beach was only symbolic, but I don't know.

What do YOU think?

Decision America

This past Wednesday, Franklin Graham came to our state capital in Madison. He is touring the country, appearing at all 50 state capitals, appealing to all Christians to pray and to get involved in local government. Basically, he was telling us that we need to make a "decision, America." A decision about our future. It's time to take back this once-great country in the name of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ.

Mr. Graham spoke about this country's past, present and future - and how we have lost our direction and our focus. I wonder . . . are his hopes of taking back our country too late? Sadly, I cannot answer that question positively with any confidence. But at least he is doing something. At least he is trying.

The day after his speech I was reflecting on Mr. Graham's message, I began to look at just what he was doing - this act of his touring the country, reminding people what God's Word says. Mr. Graham was warning us to repent and change our wicked ways or face the wrath of Almighty God. Where have we heard that message before?

Before God unleashed punishment on the Israelites, He often sent them a warning through the prophets or through a king. The Israelites always seemed to refuse to yield to God's recommendations. God always seemed to punished them for their transgressions.

Have you ever read the Book of Jonah? Most people remember the story about Jonah being swallowed by a whale or a large fish. The big story in the book though is really about a city that repented after hearing someone preach to them - just like Franklin Graham is speaking to our country. The big question for us is, will we listen to such preaching? Only a few of us will listen I fear. But what woul happen if we DID listen . . . if we DID repent as a nation and turn from our wicked way like Nineveh did?

"10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it." - Jonah 3:10

What if Franklin Graham is acting in the role of a prophet? He IS speaking words of warning about our need for repentance? Sadly, we as a people, for the most part, are choosing to ignore those warnings. I fear this nation is headed for punishment in the near future. Unless God has mercy and forgives our wicked ways (not likely) we will surely feel the wrath of God across this great land.

God is loving, merciful and patient but He is not tolerance of disobedience.

Jonah: The World's Greatest Fish Story

The Book of Jonah