All Articles For Hanko Ronald H

And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. Jonah 3:10   Jonah 3:10 is one of many verses that speaks of God repenting. Others are Genesis 6:6, 7; Exodus 32:14; Deuteronomy 32:36; Judges 2:18; I Samuel 15:11, 35; II Samuel 24:16; I Chronicles 21:15; Psalm 90:13; 106:45; 135:14; Jeremiah 18:8, 10, 13; 26:3, 19; 42:10; Joel 2:13, 14; and Amos 7:3, 6. What do these verses mean? Does Jonah 3:10, with the other verses, mean...

The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. Matthew 12:41 The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. Luke 11:32 It is impossible to tell the story of Jonah without taking account of Jesus’ words concerning Himself in Matthew 12:41 where He calls Himself “a greater than Jonah.” Greater indeed than Jonah,...

So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast...

And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Jonah 2:10-3:4 The gracious miracle...

Jonah 2:1-10 One of the most remarkable things about Jonah’s prayer is that most of the prayer is quotation from the Psalms. He quotes from Psalm 120:1 (v. 2), Psalm 42:7 (v. 3), Psalm 31:22 (v. 5), Psalm 69:1 (v. 7), Psalm 142:3 (v. 8), Psalm 3:8 (v. 8) and Psalm 31:6 (v. 9). Calling God his own mercy (v. 8) is also a reference to Psalm 144:2. These quotes not only show a close acquaintance with the Psalms on Jonah’s part but also demonstrate the power of the Psalms both as the Word of God and as a divine...

Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight: yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the...

Jonah 1:17 The story of Jonah’s being swallowed by a “great fish” is often ridiculed by unbelievers. It even figured in the famous Scopes trial in 1925 in an exchange between Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. Darrow, counsel for the defense of John Scopes who was accused of teaching human evolution contrary to Tennessee law, asked Bryan: “But when you read that Jonah swallowed the whale—or that the whale swallowed Jonah…how do you literally interpret that?” To which question Bryan, the counsel for the prosecution, answered: “When I read that a big fish swallowed Jonah…I believe in a God...

Jonah 1:4-17 That God turns all things to good is evident in the salvation of the sailors who threw Jonah into the sea. We know nothing of these men, who they were and where they were from, how many of them there were, or what gods they worshiped. We know only that God used Jonah’s disobedience and flight for their salvation, and that therefore they too were among God’s chosen, among the few outside of Israel who were His in the Old Testament. When their voyage began these sailors were still heathen men. While the storm raged they still prayed...

Jonah 1:4-17 The doctrine of the perseverance or preservation of saints is beautifully illustrated in what happened to Jonah when he tried to escape his commission to Nineveh. God does not and cannot forsake His own or leave them to perish. He always rescues them from their disobedience and sin and brings them to repentance and new obedience. God, who has chosen His own from eternity, redeemed them by the blood of His Son, and sent His Spirit to work in them, cannot forsake them without being unfaithful to Himself. Abandoning them to their own sinfulness would mean that His...

But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be...