In our Bible study last night we looked again at the role of prophets and prophecy, both in the Old Testament, New Testament and present-day life. Paul told the Thessalonians not to treat prophecies with contempt but to test them (1 Thess 5:20-21). This often causes Christians problems because they feel that this involves judging them and remember Jesus’s words not to judge (Matt 7:15-19). The truth is that we must learn to judge correctly (see John 7:21-24); we may not be able to judge the heart and motives of people (1 Cor 4:1-5), but we can clearly judge whether an action is Scriptural or not (see 1 Cor 5:12-13). What is more difficult with prophecy is the timescales involved; we may not always know when a prophecy is fulfilled and we also need much wisdom and discernment, judging prophecy in line with Scripture and what we know of the nature and character of God.
Jonah was commanded by God to go to Nineveh – far from Israel and probably the largest city in the world at the time. This reminds us that God cares about the whole world, not simply a chosen few. It reminds us also that God chooses people for specific tasks: Jonah here, but think also of Jeremiah (Jer 1:1-5) and Paul (Acts 9:10-16). We have all been chosen by God (Eph 1:11, Eph 2:10), but Jonah demonstrates that we can choose how we respond to God’s calling. Jonah ran away from the call. Even in his disobedience, however, we see that God persisted in the call. We are reassured that even our rebellion and disobedience do not thwart God’s purposes. Jonah may not be a typical prophet (most embraced His call!), but ultimately we see that anyone can be chosen and used by God.
