THE SON OF JONAH

MF Blume
March 20, 2016

John 1:42  And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

Matthew 16:17-19  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.  (18)  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  (19)  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

PETER THE SON OF JONAH
 
Peter was the first to get the revelation of who Jesus was.
•    Jesus then explained the CHURCH would be built on the rock.
•    The CHURCH was not something Jews were not familiar with.

It’s the ASSEMBLY or CONGREGATION OF GOD.

Exo 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

That’s why we read:

Acts 7:38  This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

The Greek Old Testament is called the SEPTUAGINT.
•    And the same Greek word for CONGREGATION was also translated as CHURCH in the in New Testament of other versions.
•    So Jesus said He would take the OLD COVENANT ASSEMBLY AND PUT THEM ON A ROCK and bring them into the NEW COVENANT.

Peter got the message to take the gospel to the nations.
•    He was given keys.

Acts 1:8  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

TO JEWS:

Acts 2:14  But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

Acts 2:38-39  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  (39)  For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

TO SAMARITANS:

Acts 8:14-16  Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:  (15)  Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:  (16)  (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)

TO GENTILES:

Acts 10:44-48  While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.  (45)  And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.  (46)  For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,  (47)  Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?  (48)  And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

When Peter went to the Jews, he had no problem.
•    Neither with Samaritans because they were HALF ISRAELI.
•    But when it came to the GENTILES, Peter had a problem.

Acts 10:28  And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

Earlier, a GENTILE named Cornelius was praying and an angel told him to get a man called PETER and he’d tell him what to do.

Acts 10:1-6  There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,  (2)  A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.  (3)  He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.  (4)  And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.  (5)  And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter:  (6)  He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.

Peter was IN JOPPA, BY THE SEASIDE.

Who else was at Joppa by the seaside?

Jonah 1:1-3  Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,  (2)  Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.  (3)  But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

That’s where Jonah went to get a ship and run when God told him to PREACH TO GENTILES in NINEVAH!

God tells a GENTILE to send men to PETER WHO IS AT JOPPA, the same city where Jonah fetched a ship to run, to come and PREACH TO THEM WHAT HE SHOULD DO.

Jonah was in Joppa and had a problem preaching to Gentiles.
•    He went to Joppa to get on a ship and not preach to gentiles in Ninevah.
•    So, God send a whale that eventually swallowed Jonah for three days and nights, before Jonah snapped out of it and obeyed God to preach to GENTILES.
•    And we learn later why Jonah refused to preach to them and he fled.

Jonah 3:6-10  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.  (7)  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:  (8)  But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.  (9)  Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?  (10)  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.

Ninevah REPENTS and God forgives them and doesn’t destroy them.

Jonah 4:2  And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
JONAH DID NOT WANT GOD TO SAVE GENTILES!

Peter being a good Jew had God give him a vision of UNCLEAN, animals that he refused to eat, presented to him to eat by GOD.
•    Peter resisted.

Acts 10:11-17  And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:  (12)  Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.  (13)  And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.  (14)  But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.  (15)  And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.  (16)  This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.  (17)  Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate,

When Peter goes with these men, they take him to an Italian’s house.

Look how we see Peter resisted GENTILES at first.

Acts 10:28  And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

Remember that when Jesus gave Peter the keys, read what Jesus called Him.

Matthew 16:17  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

•    Barjona is SON OF JONAH.
•    Peter was called the SON OF JONAH.

John 1:42  And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

It seems Peter was SON OF JONAH in more than one way!
•    He was LIKE JONAH the disobedient prophet.
•    Resistant to the thought of GOD SAVING GENTILES.

Matthew 12:40  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

In a sense Peter went through the three days and three nights with Jesus, like Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale.
•    Peter was buried with Jesus who was buried for three days and nights SO JEWS AND GENTILES COULD BE SAVED!
•    The EKKLESIA built on the rock was for ISRAEL, JUDAH, and Gentiles were grafted into the Olive Tree of Israel with them!


SERMONS