Daily Lesson for Monday 23rd of June 2025
Jonah had a very distinct message for the people of Nineveh. “And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’ ” (Jonah 3:4, NKJV). It seems pretty clear: the place was doomed. After all, was that not a word directly from a prophet of the Lord?
Yet, what happened to Nineveh?
Read Jonah 3:5-10. Why was this prophecy not fulfilled?
Image © Providence Collection from GoodSalt.com
Yes, the whole city repented, and the prophesied doom was averted, at least for a time. “Their doom was averted, the God of Israel was exalted and honored throughout the heathen world, and His law was revered. Not until many years later was Nineveh to fall a prey to the surrounding nations through forgetfulness of God and through boastful pride.”—Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 271.
Can we expect something like this in the last days, with the final message to the fallen world? Yes—and no. That is, there will be, all over the world, many people who heed the call, “ ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues’ ” (Revelation 18:4, NKJV). All over the world, people will take their stand and, in defiance of the beast, will “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). These people, like those in Nineveh, will be spared the judgment that falls upon the lost.
Some prophecies, such as God’s announcement that Nineveh would be destroyed, are conditional. (Ninevah would be destroyed unless the people turned away from their evil [see Jeremiah 18:7-10].) Yet, some prophecies don’t come with these conditions. They are going to be fulfilled, no matter the human response. The Messianic prophecies of Christ’s first and second comings, the mark of the beast, the outpouring of the plagues, end-time persecution—these are not conditional; they will take place regardless of what humans do. What humans do, and the choices they make, will determine instead what side they will be on as final events, foretold by the prophets, unfold.
|
What choices are you making now that could help determine what choices you will make when the issue of worshiping God or the image breaks upon the world? |
(1)
