Well Shabbat shalom everyone God bless you welcome to the Shabbat a saturday meeting of the holy Scriptures in Israel and we are enjoying a song to sing about the God of Abraham who is the living God who is a saving God and we will praise him he provided for us abundant righteousness the righteousness of God through the person and the work of our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah well we want to pray right now we will continue with the message on the prophecy of Yonah Hanavi Jonah the prophet so if you have your Bibles please make sure to open it to the book of Jonah Yonah in Hebrew and chapter one so Abba our father bless your word we pray for we ask it in Yeshua's name Amen Amen so beloved friends and dear brothers and sisters we are going to continue with the study with the ministry of the word of God as we are looking into this very interesting a prophet the life of the prophet yonah and the lesson that we can learn from Jonah.

And the purposes of God for Jonah in his own life and also for the whole world because after all as the apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 9 that God is also the God of the nations of the Gentiles and how wonderful it is to see that in our study together of the book of Jonah so turn with me into John chapter one and we are looking into verses four to the end of the chapter. We have covered in our previous meeting together in the introduction, we have covered the first three verses, we presented an introduction to the prophet itself and we want to see what lessons we are learning here from the chapter 1 from verse 4 to the end of the chapter.

Jonah chapter 1 and verse 4. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea and there was a mighty tempest storm 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 ship master came to him and said unto him what meanest thou o sleeper arise call upon thy God if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not and they said everyone to his fellow come and let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us so they cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah then said they unto him tell us we pray thee for whose cause this evil is upon us what is thine occupation and whence comest thou what is thy country and of what people are thou and he said unto them i am in Hebrew and i fear the Lord the God of heaven which has made the sea and the dry land then were the men exceedingly afraid and said unto him why has thou done this for the man knew that he fled.

From the presence of the Lord because he had told them then said they unto him what shall we do unto thee that the sea may be calm unto us for the sea wrought and was tempestuous stormy and he said unto them take me up and cast me forth into the sea so shall the sea be calm unto you for i know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you nevertheless the men rode hard to bring it to the land but they could not for the sea rot and was a stormy tempestuous against them wherefore they cried unto the Lord and said we beseech thee o Lord we beseech thee let us not perish for this man's life lay not upon us innocent blood for thou o Lord has done as it please thee so they took up Jonah and they cast him forth into the sea and the sea ceased form her raging then the man feared the Lord exceedingly and offered the sacrifice unto the.

Lord and made vows now the Lord has prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the fish's belly or in the belly of the fish three days and three nights and so we read together Jonah chapter 1 from verse 4 to verse 17. Beloved brothers and sisters if you remember when we have spoken together we have taken together these first three verses of our of our chapter in the book of Jonah and we have learned some of the reason as to why Jonah was fleeing from the land of Israel from the presence of the Lord you remember we have covered the first three verses where we read that the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of amittai saying arise go to nineveh that great city and cry against it for the wickedness have come up before me and verse 3 we did read but Jonah rose up to flee unto tarshish from the presence of the Lord and he went down to yaffo and he found the ship going to tarshish so he paid the feather off.

And he went down into it to go with them into tarshish from the presence of the Lord and we have already looked at the fact that to go to Nineveh was a journey of about 550 miles and Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria. From Jaffo in the land of Israel all the way northeast to go to Nineveh it was only about 550 miles. Long journey but far shorter from the journey that Jonah intended to do when he went to Jaffo and he went west with the mariners in the ship about the plan was to go about 2500 miles all the way to the west the other side into Tarshish which is in the area of Spain today imagine instead of going east he was getting ready to go west and we find out beloved brothers and sisters that when God have called to Yonah in chapter 1 and verses 1 and 2 he says you go to Nineveh and you cry against that city of Nineveh.

Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria and Assyria is not Syria. Syria in Hebrew is. Surya. Assyria in Hebrew is Ashur. It's far greater than Syria. It's including Iran and Iraq and Syria and Lebanon and many other areas that are far greater than present-day Syria. It's another nation that was the kingdom of Assyria and the capital city of Assyria ashur was nineveh and you notice that that God said to to yonah cry against that city Nineveh why for the wickedness is come up before me but Yonah instead of going northeast he went according to verse 3 he rose up to flee and to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and what does he do notice in disobedience he go down to the city of Jaffo remember he was from Gat Hefer he had to come down from the north of Israel go to the central of Israel to the city called Jaffo in English and in Jaffo there is a port and that port is where many ships would come into the land of Israel and the ships of Tarshish often time came to the area that is called Yafo and he's going there notice that how interesting.

It is sometime in the life of God's people when they are disobeying the Lord everything seems to work fine he goes down to Yafo no problem he found a ship to go into the ship no problem he's paying the fair and he is beginning his journey to flee from the presence of the Lord. Now, to remind you, I don't think it is necessarily correct. Oftentimes people say that Jonah did not want to go to Darshish because he hated the Gentiles. Now beloved brothers and sisters, even though there was always conflict between the Jewish people and the Gentiles but i don't think the Scripture tells us that he hated as the prophet of God he hated the Gentile nation there were more than one reason as to why yonah hanavi Jonah the prophet have have not obeyed the Lord and have gone towards tarshish rather than to go to Nineveh and he must have known much more than just one reason as to why he should have not gone to Tarshish because he already knew from the word of God that God is intending to use the Assyrian in order to destroy the Jewish people or the people of Israel because of the disobedience of the nation of Israel if you would please turn with me to Isaiah chapter 10 for a moment and you notice that the Jonah knew that God will raise the assyrian as a as a rod in the hand of in his hand in order to punish the people of the northern kingdom of Israel listen to Isaiah.

Chapter 10 and verses 5 and 6 we read all Assyrians the rod of mine anger and the staff in their hand is mine indignation I will send him this is the Assyrian against a hypocritical nation and against the people of my wrath i will give him a charge to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread them down like them like the mire of the street God already through the prophets Amos and Isaiah are already declared because the 10 tribes of Israel in the northern kingdom disobeyed God and they turned away from God and the judgment of God was going to come and Jonah knew that the Assyrian would be used by the hand of God and he didn't want in a sense to take part of it though he was supposed to obey the Lord.

The second reason that is very easy to understand why because the Assyrian was a furious and a brutal nation who showed no mercy to those to whom they conquered they were a thorn in the side of. Israel and have come many times into the into the land of Israel and have caused havoc already earlier beginning from the year 733 BC until 721 when they ultimately carried away the 10 tribes of the people of Israel into captivity, what we call diaspora, the dispersion, and Yonah knew that. He knew the kind of behavior that the brutal nation of the Assyrians were and that they did not have any mercy over those nations whom they conquered.

Perhaps that would be the second reason as to why Jonah did not want to go there there's another reason that we have to reckon and consider is that Jonah knew that God is gracious according to Exodus chapter 34 and verses 7 and 8 he knew that because God is being gracious he's ready to forgive anyone who will repent of his or her sins on any nation so although he was called to preach the method of judgment he knew that God is a merciful God in fact i want to read Exodus chapter 34 and if you will notice what we read the Lord declaring concerning himself and of course Jonah was wrong in disobeying God but you can see what it must have gone through his mind in Exodus chapter 34 we read in verses seven and eight we read and the Lord notice that verse seven and the Lord descended verse five the Lord descended in a.

Cloud and he stood with him there and he proclaimed the name of the Lord and the Lord passed before him verse 6 and proclaim the Lord the Lord God is merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands and forgiving iniquities and transgressions and sins this is actually Exodus chapter 34 verses 5 6 and the first part of verse 7 and as we read Jonah chapter 2 Jonah will tell it to the Lord later on in chapter 4 and verse 2 he says for I knew I knew that you are a gracious God I knew he would say that concerning a God and Jonah did not obey the Lord and he did not go to the city of Nineveh in his first call to the land and then fourth reason may very well be because Jonah simply was not in a healthy spiritual state in his own life the prophets are not always where they should be as we are all are not always where.

We should be but the fifth reason that we have already mentioned that is very important to bear in mind that usually it was not the norm to go out of the land of Israel and to preach the message from the from God to the other nations normally speaking the opposite was true other nation would come to Jerusalem in the land of Israel as we read in the book of Kings in first Kings 4 that many nations came to see to speak to Solomon and they came to the land of Israel as the queen of sheba came back it came to the land of Israel to hear of the wisdom of Solomon and to behold the temple and the glory of the temple in the city of Jerusalem and as it will be in the future day after the church age will come to an end and the church will be taken to heaven where Isaiah said when many people will say come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of.

Jacob and we will learn they will teach us there of the of the law of the Lord for out of Jerusalem come forth at the law of the Lord in this present day beloved brothers and sisters in the church age the people of God we are called to go out to preach the message of the gospel to all the nations of the world and to lead with the help of the Spirit of God to lead others to the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah during these days but in days of old and in a future day nations will come to the land of Israel and be blessed by the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob as the Scripture is clearly present this before us and so this may be some of the reason and maybe all of them together but we must realize that it was for Jonah he disobeyed God a servant to disobey God and instead of going east to to Nineveh he went west and he went to Jaffa and west towards.

The city of Tarshish and here we are in verses four onward and you notice from verse four to the end of the chapter we see God is intervening in the life of his disobedient servant so from verses four to the end of the chapter we have the trouble in the sea verses four five and six we have the one that was the cause of this trouble verse seven we have the confession of Jonah who he is and where did he come from and which nation he is belonging to verses eight to 10 and we have the answer to the call of the mariners to God, the answer to the trouble that happened in the sea by God himself, how he responded to the call of the mariners who turned to him in prayer and so first of all notice the trouble in the sea we read in verses 4 5 and 6 but the Lord sent a great wind into the sea and there was a mighty tempest this is a storm in the sea so that.

The ship was like to be broken then the mariners were afraid and they cried every man unto his God and they cast forced the the whales that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them but notice what we read in verse 5b and 6 but Jonah was gone down to the sides of the ship and he laid and he laid there and was fast asleep so the shipmaster came unto him and he said unto him what meanest thou or sleeper arise and call upon thy God if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not now beloved brothers and sisters see a disobedient servants of God turning away from the call of God to go to share God's word with the people in the city of Nineveh in Assyria is going away turning away from the will of the Lord and you can see it is very important to bear in mind that there is a difference between storms that come upon God's people life.

There's a difference that the normal storms and challenges that we all experience as believers naturally because it is we are part of this world there's a difference between storms that come naturally that all of us are experiencing than a storm that was directly sent by God against his own servant. Sometimes, beloved brothers and sisters, God have allowed his own people to experience storms in their lives because of disobedience and because of unbelief. Remember what we do read in Romans chapter 8 for we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose all things work out for the good of those that belong to the Lord because God has a purpose in the life of each and every one of his people and here he is his servant if violating God's command although you can understand him the assyrian already caused a lot of havoc among our people the assyrian will be used by God to judge the people of Israel and send them to the dispersion in 721 bc the assyrian were the ones that have have been so ruthless in their behavior i'm not going to go there but God told him to go and instead of going northeast he went west in disobedience so you know what God is in control God is sovereign and God is a God of the of providence everything is really under his charge he is in control of all things there is nothing that is hid from him.

And there is nothing that is limited to do and notice what we read in verse 4 the Lord sent and the word for sent come from the Hebrew word lehatil it means much more than just to send but really the word lehatil is to cast down a heavy load a fast and heavy long in fact beloved brothers and sisters in Hebrew the word till a racket come from the very same word it is a a lehatil is to cast is to send here is the Lord who is a sovereign and whose providence is over this world he's in control over everything and notice that what does he do he's sending he's casting out a great wind upon the sea and there was a mighty storm in the sea that so the that the ship was like to be broken you can just imagine beloved brothers and sisters i don't know if you have been in a stormy a sea.

My wife and I had this experience I think once or twice in Europe and we were traveling. To get somewhere and I'll never forget it. It is a scary thing to experience a storm on the sea. It is a terrible experience. People are throwing up and puking and their stomach is turned over and they are in a terrible shape and here God is sending he's actually casting down as it says here in verse 4 a great wind and there is a trouble now in the sea Jonah of course was disobedient so God is in charge and he's sending this a wind that brings about the storm in the sea The lesson is tremendous because sometime when we are in a state of disobedience, the Lord allows his servants to experience some trials.

He allows us to experience. He allows us because why? Because he wants to drive his servants, his people to be turning back to him in repentance and then serving him in obedience. So he sent that storm by the way the word sent here or to cast down is mentioned here in chapter 1 a full time in chapter 1 verse 4 in chapter 1 verse 5 they cast down their wares in verse 12 a little on where we read and he laid them and he said to them take me and cast me forth the same word and then later on also in the next verse verse 15 so they took up Jonah and they cast him for the same Hebrew word to cast down immediately and just away from from oneself that is exactly what God have done here according to verse four now beloved brothers and sisters just to make an application storms in the life of God's people are allowed for purpose for reason and here we learn this truth that sometime God's people will experience storm in their lives the apostle Paul said to the Corinthians in first Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13 he said there has no testing take you but such as is common unto men but God is faithful who will not.

Suffer you to be tempted or tested above what you are able but will with their testing also make a way to escape that he may be able to bear it there are certain trials that the believers experience in their life for one reason or another but sometimes God is sending these storms into the life of God's people I don't know where you are today but you might have trials in your life even today as we are sharing the word of God together today the psalmist of Israel said in Psalm 119 he said in verse 67 before i was afflicted i went astray but now have i kept thy word he continued he said in verse 71 of Psalm 119 it is good for me that i have been afflicted that i might learn thy statues a little bit later on in Psalm 119 we read in the next verse beloved brothers and sisters verse 75 i know all Lord that thy judgments are right and that thou in thy faithfulness has afflicted me and the Lord have allowed this affliction or with these storms.

To come into the life of Jonah but you see beloved brothers and sisters Jonah yonah he his conscience was seared was hardened and we will see it in the next verses immediately he did not want to submit to the Lord so he disobeyed the Lord went to Yafo went down to Yafo paid the fare had enough money to pay the fare to travel all the way towards the place called Tarshish and everything seems to be okay and it seemed to be that his conscience was seared and hardened he didn't want to hear as if it were what God is going to tell him and so we read listen to this in the next verses very interesting because there we see in verses five and six that there was a reaction of all those that were in the ship here come a man by the name of Yonah he come he pays the fare he gets on the ship he's going in and he's stranger to all of the.

Mariners there of the the the people who are on that ship and what does he do the mariners the malachim in Hebrew they were the the one that was serving there on that ship we read in verse 5 the mariners were afraid and they cried every man unto his God and you notice they were so afraid they cast forth they knew something about that storm that was something unusual they knew much more they knew that this storm was much more than an ordinary storm but as sailors they knew the sea and so what did they do naturally speaking verse 5 They cried, first of all, because they did not know the true and living God of Jonah.

Each one of them began to cry to his own God. You know, it is always fascinating, isn't it? That when trouble comes into our life, one way or another, all of a sudden we need God or a God. As long as there is no trouble in one's life, we are okay. Man in general is. This is the natural heart of man. But when trouble comes our way, we realize that we need God. Now, because these mariners, these sailors, didn't know the true and living God of Yonah, they prayed everyone to his own God with a small g. And you know very well, beloved friend, that the gods of the nations of the world cannot help anyone in fact the psalmist said in Psalm 115 but our God is in the heavens he has done whatsoever he has pleased Psalm 115 and verse 3 and then the psalmist of Israel turned and he said but their God he's speaking about the gods of the nations who did not know the true and living God their Other gods are of silver and gold, the work of man's hands.

They have mouths, but they speak not. They have eyes, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not. They have noses, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not. They have feet, but they cannot walk. Neither speak they through their throat. In fact, he says in verse 8, "They that made them are like unto them. So is everyone that trusts in these idols." But imagine, in all day, each one began to pray to his own small g, God. Trouble came their way. Did not know yet the true and living God it is so interesting how God in the midst of the rebellion of his own servant he's still using this time of correction for his servant to lead others to find out the true and living God and so we find out that they began notice that in verse 5 we read every one of them first of all cried to his own God small g then they cast forth their wares you see they were a mariners they were sailors they knew the sea if they are going to have a the they didn't want to have any the sea to sink so they lightened this the the ship so they were casting force all that they have as much as they could so they were in the ship into the sea to lighten it off them but then notice on the other hand while those from among the nations who did not know the true and living God the disobedient servant of God what does Jonah do his conscience.

Was seared and hardened what does he do Jonah went he's gone down into the side of the ship and he laid there and he was fast asleep can you imagine everybody shouting and crying to their own God but the one who knew the living God of Israel rebelled against him turning away from the commandment of the Lord and entering into that ship and going down into the lower part of the ship and falling fast asleep that tells us beloved brothers and sisters and dear friends how our hearts can be so hardened, how our conscience can be seared when we are in rebellion against the true and living God.

He knew very well that he was disobedient. He knew very well that he was supposed to go to Nineveh on the east northeast and he was rebelling and going away from the Lord and although he might have a right you might say around right reason to why he didn't want to go to the city of Nineveh because knowing that they will become the nation that will judge his own people and that they were a very cruel nation and that normally speaking he was not supposed to go out in general he was only supposed to speak to the nation the normal the normal manner whereby people were presented before the true God of Israel they were coming to the land and yet God said to Noah to Jonah to do to go to Nineveh and he disobeyed God and you can see what he does he going down into the side of the ship he lay there and he was fast asleep by the way I do not know if you took a note here.

But why is the word down is mentioned here in the first five verses verse three but Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and he went down to Yafo and here the second time we read in verse 5b but Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship and he laid down there and of course he was fast asleep you know that spiritually speaking when God's people turning away from the Lord it is always a downward course you remember the man that went down from Jerusalem on the way to jericho down from the city of God the city of Yerushalayim to the city of Curse Yericho it is always a downward course but also it is a downward course spiritually we know very well in our own life when we turn away from the Lord is always a downward course it's always a sign of rebellion which will ultimately bring about the disciplinary action of a loving God and so you're now according to verse five in the second half of that verse went.

Down all the way to the bottom of the sheep and he was fast asleep you know there are two verses that are found in the epistles that were written to believers turn with me to the book of Romans for a moment in Romans chapter 13 and verse 11 the apostle Shaul Paul wrote to the Roman believers that they ought to be careful not to be sleeping spiritually because they were sleeping spiritually although they were believers we read in verse 11 and that knowing the time that now it is a time not that it's a high time to wake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed you see spiritually speaking today in the present day dispensation where we live in we also are capable to be in a state of disobedience and like Jonah turn away from God and flee away from him and not be submissive to him if we are not in a right spiritual state to the Ephesians he says.

In Ephesians chapter 5 the same apostle Paul in verse 14 he says therefore he says awake thou that sleepeth and arise from the dead and Christ Mashiach shall give you light he's quoting of course the Hebrew Scriptures wake up he's saying wake up don't go to sleep and we know how it is easily can happen in the life of each and every one of us and so the reaction in the uh in the boat in a ship during the storm number one the mariners they they cried to their own God that's what they did they cast out of the ship all the thing all the wares that they had in order to lighten the ship so they can avoid the sinking of the ship that was the mariners the sailors but Yonah what he did the reaction of Yonah was he's going down to the side of the ship he's laying down there and he's fast asleep in Hebrew it says he lay down and he fell asleep.

Could you sleep in a time like that? Can you fall asleep when there. Is such a storm that the mariners who are professional sailors they knew very well that that was an unusual storm? Can you go down and fall asleep? It only shows us the hardness of the heart of Yonah and the self-will that because he was so determined not to go to Nineveh that he could go down down to Yafo down to the ship and down into the lowest part of the ship and he's fast asleep what a condition happened in the life there of Yonah but notice that there is another reaction there.

The third reaction was the reaction of the captain. The captain of this ship that was on its way was leading that ship to sail that ship on the way to Tarshish. He, in verse 6, coming down to Yonah, and the shipmaster came to him and he said unto him, you see he had to go all the way down to the lower part of the ship to go to speak to the servant of. God to the prophet of God who were in a state of disobedience to speak to him to cry to his own God he said to him in verse 6 the shipmaster came unto him and said unto him what manner are thou oh sleeper what are you doing arise call upon thy God if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not you know there's also an amazing lesson sometimes the unbelieving world are being used by God and even in their own mind they are used to show the believers, the people of God, that they are wrong.

What are you doing? Where are you going? Why are you sleeping? Imagine, my dear brothers and sisters, you know it is amazing. There are many stories that are being told when a child of God goes astray from the Lord and goes to the world and living there in the world and still say you know I'm a Christian, I'm a believer in Jesus, in Yeshua. Their behavior does not you might say rise up to the measure of standard that God called them to be. It's so easy to see and to tell them, hey listen, to tell us, is that the way that you as a believer, you claim that you belong to the Lord, is that the way to behave?

Now, this master of the ship did not know about Jonah as yet. But one thing he did know. Each one of the mariners were crying to his own God, and this man is going down to the lowest part of the ship, and he's fast asleep. And he was used to wake him up. What manner what meanest thou o sleeper get up arise upon call upon thy God if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not so the the amazing thing is how God is using unbelievers who pray to their own God with small g to speak to the servant of God who was in a state of disobedience call upon your God it may be that he will think upon us that we perish not So notice that in verse 7.

In verse 7, it is the third portion of this division of Jonah chapter 1. In verse 7, it's actually the second division of Jonah chapter 1. We have the one that was really accused to be the one that was the reason for the storm had been found out. And so we read, notice that they said everyone to his fellow, come and let us cast lots. The Hebrew word is goralot, goral, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. And notice it says in verse 7 at the end, so they cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah. Now, it's interesting that the word for lot come in the Hebrew word goral.

In fact, if you turn back for a moment to the book of Proverbs, in the book of Proverbs, you notice what we read in Proverbs chapter 16. In Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 33, we read, The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposition thereof is of the Lord. Let me repeat it. The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing of it, I should say, is of the Lord. In other words, the way they have cast lots, we really don't know. There are many ways in which we hear about casting lots, they do it in various ways, some maybe have a group of matches and the shorter matches is the one that whoever takes the shorter matches they find out who is the one that is guilty and so on.

But the manner whereby lots were practiced in days of old was known in biblical days because the Lord established this already in the temple, in the city, in the tabernacle and in the temple. Notice in Leviticus chapter 16, just turn for a moment to Leviticus chapter 16, you notice that even instruction were given to aaron concerning the lot that will fall upon the two goats you remember that in Leviticus chapter 16 and verse 8 9 and 10 we read and aaron God gave instruction to Moses for aaron to do and everyone shall cast lots upon the two goats verse 8 and one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat and Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell and offer him for a sin offering verse 10 but the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to make an atonement for him with him and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

It's interesting to see that in days of old God gave instruction to Moses for Aaron to cast lots concerning these goats. One of them was to be for the Lord, the Lord's portion. Another one was to be the one that the sin offering will. That he will become the sin offering will be cast and sent away into the wilderness now we don't know how it had been done but it was done in biblical days and it was instructed by the Lord himself he instructed Aaron concerning these lots now of course the the the mariners were casting lot it was not the way that God have instructed the his people Israel but nevertheless you see they are casting lots and they are seeking to find out who is that one that is guilty because they knew somehow that the storm did not come upon them in a normal way it was an unusual storm that really was a judgment of God that came upon his servant to awaken him and to restore him to himself i want to just read two more verses if you please turn to Psalm 22 Psalm 22 and there we read brothers and sisters in Psalm 22 concerning the Lord Jesus the Messiah himself and i want to read this verse a Psalm.

22 concerning the lot that we see here in the seventh verse here of our chapter we do read concerning the suffering of the Lord concerning the fact that he suffered and what happened they cast lots upon him i just read some of the verses we do read in Psalm 22 my God my God why has thou forsaken me why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring and he was the cry of the Messiah of course it was David crying but prophetically it's speaking about the Lord Jesus the Messiah himself they said in verse 8 he trusted in the Lord that he would deliver them and let him deliver him seeing he delights in him and as you read and you continue to read the the passage here that he said before us we find out that dogs have come past me the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me they pierce my hand and my feet and and the psalmist is speaking.

Here about the fact that the Messiah was the one that ultimately they cast lots upon his vesture as we read here towards the end of the chapter and this person this portion is also written and quoted in Matthew chapter 27 so also go to Matthew chapter 27 and you notice what we read there in Matthew chapter 27 specifically in verse 35 where we do read a quoting Psalm 22 and there we read they crucified him they parted his garment casting lots notice then casting lots that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet they parted my garments among them and upon my vesture did they cast lots Psalm 22 and verse 18 so lots were cast even during the time of the of the life of our Lord Jesus the Messiah when the Romans cast lots upon his vesture and just one more verse in the book of Acts in act chapter one i want to read and there you notice brothers and sisters in act chapter 1 and verse 26 when they wanted to know who will replace yehuda.

Iskariot judas iskariot we do read in act chapter 1 and verse 26 this is already in the just before the church was born in act chapter 1 and verse 26 they gave notice and they gave forth their lots and the lot fell upon matityahu and he you notice that he was numbered with the 11 apostles so you see what we learned beloved brothers and sisters how the apostles in the early days have cast lots and a lot fell upon Matityahu and he took the place of Judas who killed himself and the one that was the one that betrayed the Lord and sold him for 30 pieces of silver so you can see that the word the lots were used in biblical days now we today we don't cast lots we have the holy Spirit of God in dwelling every believer we have the complete canon of Scripture before us we have the glorified Christ the glorified Messiah at the right hand of God we do not need to cast lots today but you can see that it was a inactivity during the time.

Of eron in the in the wilderness it was during the time of Israel during the days when Israel were in the land you notice that that that the Romans cast lots to fulfill Psalm 22 18 and even the apostles before the church was born in act chapter one they cast lots and the Lord was the one that gave the answer who is the one that was chosen so i'm repeating once again Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 33 and i'm reading this verse again the lot is cast into the lap but the whole this disposing thereof is of the Lord the judgment come ultimately from the Lord and so apparently the Lord directed all these mariners to find out who is the person that was guilty and for whose cause that storm came and so they said to one another verse 7 of yonah chapter 1 come let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us so they cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah in other words God is able to direct even the unbelievers.

The mariners he is able to direct them one way or another casting lot in their own ways it was not the way of God as it was done in the in the history of Israel in the tabernacle when aaron had to do it but nevertheless beloved brothers and sisters God is able to bring about to reveal who is the one that is the one that was guilty and the Lord fell upon Jonah i just a verse that come to my mind um that um that we read in the book of Numbers and i i wanted to find this verse we read in the book of Numbers that that God said to Israel be sure your sins will find you out and the evil or the wrongdoing of Jonah was revealed because God wanted to reveal to the sailors that the reason that they received that storm that this storm came into their life is because there was a disobedient servant of God who have gone astray and instead of going to Nineveh Jonah have gone on the way to Tarshish and began his journey.

To Tarshish inside the ship now because of time I think it is a good place to break here in this meeting because we are we are going to go to the next section from verse 8 to the end of the chapter where we have Jonah's confession who he is and then ultimately we have the answer to the trouble that the mariners had on the sea that will happen in the second half of the first chapter of the book of Jonah and so beloved brothers and sisters and dear friend what a challenge it is for us to learn today a servant of God disobeyed him a child of God disobeyed God gone astray gone away thinking perhaps that he will avoid all the problems that comes along with disobedience to God everything seems to be easy all is going fine he went to Yafo he had the money to buy the fare it happened to be the ship was available going the other way around but no one.

Can escape from the Lord and so we read beloved brothers and sisters here and I'm going to close with these verses in Psalm 139 i just want to close with these verses verse 7 to verse 12 139 verse 7 to verse 12. Notice what we read whither shall i go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light unto me yeah the psalmist says the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day and the darkness and the light are both alike unto thee we can't escape God even though Yonah wanted to escape the local presence of God in the land where the Shekhinah the Shekhinah glory rested in Jerusalem but he could not escape the presence of the Lord because the Lord is everywhere he's omniscient he's omnipotent and His omnipresence is everywhere.

And thank God that we can always turn to Him when we go astray, when we have anyone have gone astray, we can always turn back to Him in confession, in repentance, and He's always ready to restore His people. And that is the lesson that we will learn beloved brothers and sisters from the prophet yonah doing our study together on the prophecy of Jonah may the Lord encourage our hearts and and help us to drawn to be drawn. Closer to the Lord Jesus our Messiah and so our God and our father thank you for the time that you you have given us around your word we realize that we are no different than yona and that we are when we are away from thee we are even though our conscience is hardened we know that we are not pleasing thee and so Abba our father always speak to us remind us of your love and care for us and restore us when we are going astray we give you thanks pray for one another bless your word today we pray for we ask it in the precious name of Yeshua, Jesus, our Messiah and our Lord.

Amen. Amen. Well, God bless you, my dear friend. Until the next time, we say Shalom, Shalom, Shabbat, Shalom. Bye-bye.