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JOY IN HEAVEN How
wonderful it is when we see someone accept Jesus Christ as their Lord
and Saviour. How amazing to
know that, by God’s mercy and grace, they have stepped out of the
kingdom of darkness and into His kingdom of light.
Doesn’t it make you want to tell more people about this free
gift? The Bible says, “Jesus is the One of whom the scripture says, 'The stone that
you the builders despised turned out to be the most important of all.'
Salvation is to be found through Him alone; in all the
world there is no one else whom God has given who can save us" (Acts 4:11-12, GNB). The world is full of ideas,
theologies and doctrines when it comes to religion.
Man would have us believe there are many pathways that lead to
eternal life. So, who or
what are we to believe? This
is a question pondered by millions of people as they seek to pursue
truth. Jonah was called by God to
preach the Word of the Lord, the truth, to all the heathen people in
Nineveh. At first he
didn’t obey; in fact he even got angry with God – Jonah 4:2 records
(after the event) why he got so unnecessarily riled up. “GOD!
I knew it – when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen!
That’s why I ran off to
Tarshish! I knew You were
sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at
the drop of a hat to turn Your plans of punishment into a program of
forgiveness!” (Jonah 4:2, The Message). Jonah
mistakenly thought that if the people took heed to his word, and God
didn’t destroy the city, then he would be made to look like a false
prophet. But
when (after having fled to Tarshish, being swallowed by a great fish,
then vomited out of its belly) he did obey, turn back and go to Nineveh,
he
declared to them that if they didn’t repent, God would destroy their
city. But instead of having
a positive attitude toward his prophetic word, sadly he had a very
negative, narrow-minded opinion of the word he came to deliver.
But God, in His great mercy, overlooked the weakness of the human
vessel that came to deliver His word. The
good news is that the people of Nineveh DID take heed to his prophetic
word. The good news is that
they DID repent from their evil ways.
The bad news is that Jonah got into a big sulk because he put his
own feelings before the salvation of a whole city, and Jonah had to
learn that his personal feelings and moods swings didn’t influence God
in any way. Yes, there is JOY in heaven when one sinner
repents and turns to God. Yes,
there is JOY in heaven when one sinner discovers the
wonderful truth that “in all the world
there is no one else whom God has given who can save us.” His
name is JESUS – the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Can
you imagine the joy there was in heaven when the whole city of Nineveh
repented! -
Joan Emery
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