In the book of Jonah, we find a Biblical model, and according to God's will of how to preach.
Although the book of Jonah covers more topics than the model of evangelism, in this article I will only expose the Biblical model of evangelism included in this book of the Bible, in another article I cover a study of the entire book of Jonah.
Recapitulating, in the book of Jonah, we see the existence of a Gentile people living in the city of Nineveh, with a population that lived in sin to such an extent that God decided to destroy the city.
God sends Jonah to warn the city of Nineveh that he would be destroyed because of his sin.
Jonah warns the people of Nineveh that their city would be destroyed by God, the people of Nineveh believed God, even the king of the city, ordered the people to turn from their evil ways and fast to see if God desisted to destroy the city. city.
When God sees that they have believed the message, turning from their evil ways, they change their mind and no longer destroy the city.
If Jonah was not a "preacher" who was willing to preach to Nineveh, how is it that his preaching was effective?
We could speculate that Jonah was not a "preacher" with charisma or skills, since from what we see first he did not want to go preaching, we could suppose that he preached reluctantly, wanting them not to repent and God would destroy Nineveh, because then we see that when God did not destroy Nineveh, Jonah became angry until he wanted to die.
So it is logical to think that Jonah did not do his best to preach.
However, we can appreciate that what happened in Nineveh was that regardless of whether Jonah did not have the skills to preach, he communicated a true message.
He informed the sinners of Nineveh that they were in sin against a Holy God and Judge of all the earth who would judge them and make them die for their sins.
The people of Nineveh were moved to repentance, for the truth of the message because they believed that truth and had full conviction of sin against God, and this led them to take an action, an action of repentance and leave their sins, to desperately seek mercy and salvation of God.
This was not because Jonah had been a nice preacher or with a big smile, or because Jonah said, "God loves you," "God has a plan for your life," "God wants you to be a champion and prosper in everything." .
The message and preaching of Jonah was effective because it was based on the truth that they were sinners, that God is Holy and is judge of the whole earth and would judge them and destroy the city by killing them as a just judgment and punishment for their sins.
What elements we find in this Biblical method of preaching the gospel.
We know that God commanded Jonah to tell the city that it would be destroyed because of his wickedness, the passage indicates that God would destroy the city for his sin, later we see that the king of Nineveh commands the people to turn from their evil ways to see if God changed his mind, so we can deduce that the message that God sent through Jonah explained why the destruction would come.
So the "preaching" of Jonah contained these elements:
Jonah's preaching to the people of Nineveh was basically to show the condition of the human being as a transgressor of the moral laws of God, his condition of transgressors or sinners before a Holy God, who has the power and authority to exercise justice and punishment with destruction and death.
Announcing that the punishment of God, which the inhabitants of Nineveh deserved was the destruction of the city, with the consequent death of the people who lived there.
Jonah did not carry a message of God loves you, nor does God want you to be prosperous and blessed, nor that God is the solution to your health problems and debts, nor that if you accept God you will be happy, nor did he take a message to those of Nineveh saying that discover the champion that is in you, Jonah was not going to tell them how to have "their best life now".
Nor that God will reward you and reward you in heaven.
God as judge of the whole earth did not even have the obligation to have mercy for the people of Nineveh, in his position as Creator and just judge he did not need to give prior notice to Nineveh that it would be destroyed.
However, even though God abhors the sinner, (Psalm 11: 5-7), he had mercy on that people and that is why he sent Jonah with the warning that by his evil deeds they would be destroyed.
When the people of Nineveh heard the message of God, led by Jonah, then they turned from their evil ways in the hope that God would change their minds and not destroy them.
They were worried about dying, that worry about losing their life, about the message of God, led them to believe God in their message and to leave their evil ways.
It was before the prospect of dying that God destroyed them, that they recognized that they were doing evil against God who had the power to destroy them and that is why they decided to change, hoping not to die.
It was the most important motivation, the one to live and not to die, the one that moved them, was not a motivation of material prosperity, nor the motivation of a happy life, nor the motivation that God loved them, nor the motivation to go to heaven to reign with God, nor the threat of being separated from God eternally what has moved them to fear God and their power to destroy them for their evil deeds.
What moved them to fear and fear of God, of the Creator God with the power to destroy them and kill them for their evil deeds, was what moved them to believe God and leave their evil ways with hope (not even the guarantee) that God did not kill them.
God will destroy the city
Reason why God would destroy the city
Time or period in which the destruction would come (40 days).
Jonah's preaching to the people of Nineveh was basically to show the condition of the human being as a transgressor of the moral laws of God, his condition of transgressors or sinners before a Holy God, who has the power and authority to exercise justice and punishment with destruction and death.
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1 The person must be shown to be a transgressor of the moral laws of God.
He must be shown to be a sinner. It is enough that the person has committed a single transgression a single sin to be found guilty before God.
2 He must be shown that God is a perfect and righteous God.
That God created the human being with free will and that he will judge every person for his transgressions to the laws established by God.
3 That God, as a just judge, must exercise justice and punish those who transgress the laws that God established.
4 That the justice and punishment that God applies against the sinful human being, that has transgressed the moral laws established by God, is the eternal torture and punishment of the immortal soul of the sinner for having transgressed the laws of the highest authority it is a punishment and torture that never ends.
Only when the sinner is shown that he is facing a severe problem of fatal and eternal consequences, it makes sense to tell him about the good news of salvation, so that he can understand salvation from what or from whom. It is about salvation of the deserved and just endless punishment exercised by God for the human to transgress his moral laws.
Note that in the preaching that God commanded Jonah, it is understood that he only spoke of destruction and not how to avoid it.
Surely the preaching that God sent to Jonah did not include how to avoid destruction and death, in the passage the king orders that the people turn from their evil ways thinking to see if this way God changes his mind, that is, with that hope, but not how something Jonah had informed them was the preventative remedy to destruction.
Announcing that the punishment of God, which the inhabitants of Nineveh deserved was the destruction of the city, with the consequent death of the people who lived there.
Jonah did not carry a message of God loves you, nor does God want you to be prosperous and blessed, nor that God is the solution to your health problems and debts, nor that if you accept God you will be happy, nor did he take a message to those of Nineveh saying that discover the champion that is in you, Jonah was not going to tell them how to have "their best life now".
Nor that God will reward you and reward you in heaven.
God as judge of the whole earth did not even have the obligation to have mercy for the people of Nineveh, in his position as Creator and just judge he did not need to give prior notice to Nineveh that it would be destroyed.
However, even though God abhors the sinner, (Psalm 11: 5-7), he had mercy on that people and that is why he sent Jonah with the warning that by his evil deeds they would be destroyed.
When the people of Nineveh heard the message of God, led by Jonah, then they turned from their evil ways in the hope that God would change their minds and not destroy them.
They were worried about dying, that worry about losing their life, about the message of God, led them to believe God in their message and to leave their evil ways.
It was before the prospect of dying that God destroyed them, that they recognized that they were doing evil against God who had the power to destroy them and that is why they decided to change, hoping not to die.
It was the most important motivation, the one to live and not to die, the one that moved them, was not a motivation of material prosperity, nor the motivation of a happy life, nor the motivation that God loved them, nor the motivation to go to heaven to reign with God, nor the threat of being separated from God eternally what has moved them to fear God and their power to destroy them for their evil deeds.
What moved them to fear and fear of God, of the Creator God with the power to destroy them and kill them for their evil deeds, was what moved them to believe God and leave their evil ways with hope (not even the guarantee) that God did not kill them.
In summary
The sinner, because he has transgressed the moral laws of God, deserves the eternal punishment and torture of God, but every sinner who believes in Jesus can be saved from this eternal punishment and torture, that is, he can have salvation from the lake of fire and brimstone where he would receive the punishment and torture of God, as a just sentence to his sins.
This salvation is available to all who believe in Jesus, there is no predestination there is no way people who are born before predestined to serve their sentence in the lake of fire and sulfur and there are no people who are predestined before birth to be saved from the eternal just punishment that their sins deserve.
Jesus has said:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost, but may have eternal life." John 3:16
Good
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I really liked your post, although I differ a bit with the fact that I call it a method, it seems to me that the important thing is to have the help of the Holy Spirit when we carry the gospel message. Some perspective on Jonah that is reflected in your post are accurate and I had not seen it from that point of view. I really liked your post (one of the best of the day). Greeting brother, colleague Mechanic and countryman.
thanks you, :)