Soap - Don't Want to be Condemned

S: An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

Matthew 12:39-42

O: Ninevah was a city that God was going to destroy because of the atrocities its people were committing against Him. And the message that Jonah gave was clear and direct-Ninevah will perish in 40 days, as the Lord told Him to proclaim. The entire people went into mourning and repentance-the king himself set aside his robes, put on a sack cloth and ordered that not a living thing will eat nor drink water and cry out earnestly to God. The people of Ninevah truly repented of their ways. I believe the sign of Jonah was definitely repentance-but I don't understand the correlation between Jonah being the belly of the fish and Christ in the heart of the earth...What is the heart of the earth?

For You had cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas
Jonah 2:3
As Jonah referred to himself being underwater...
Christ is referring to being in the heart of the earth-in the pits of the underground...basically saying he'd be dead.

Jonah was in the beast for 3 days because he refused to go where God was sending him. But when Jonah finally decided to obey God, He made the fish vomit Jonah back out and sent him out again to warn the people of Ninevah of their impending doom due to their sinfulness.

Christ was crucified upon a cross, laid dead and rose again to life on the 3rd day...

The verses that really struck me were the latter half of the verses, though - Is Christ referring to the generation that was going on then? I feel like it stretches to this generation today, that I feel like demands a sign from God. Here, Jesus refers to people who only listened to Jonah and Solomon and yet here is the SON OF GOD and no one seems to want to repent or listen to Him. Here is something that is so great-Jesus Christ, the manifestation of the Word and no one realizes that He is the greatest. People from previous generations who never even met Christ will rise up and condemn those who have had Jesus right before their eyes.

This generation has Jesus right in front of us-we have every opportunity to study the Word, pray, and praise God without any hindrance and yet we're lazy and apathetic-Replacing real genuine time that could be spent with the Infinite with finite things. I feel like I'm a part of a generation that's like Ninevah-but just without the earnest desire to turn from our ways. Here is Jesus, and yet I will willingly put Him aside for other things. I desire peace and joy and yet I seem to forget that I find it in spending it deliberately with Him and I look for it in people and activities.

A: Every time I stray from the refreshment of real time spent with God, I always forget to go back-and so my spiritual food is taken randomly and at jumbled times. This needs to be the time I take the most seriously and most frequently and most consistently. So to go with my easy-going and spontaneous nature, I'm going to set times when I'm going to do my LJs-not to restrict myself, but to remind myself that time spent with God may be a blessing, but that it's exactly that. A blessing for myself, not for Him or others-I could spend so much more time being blessed by getting to know God and yet I only hurt myself by refusing it. I want to be different from a condemned generation and really repent of this behaviour. I want to apply repentance for my bad habits.

P: God, You are merciful. Your patience for Ninevah was encouraging and uplifting-it reminds me that a sinner like myself can never be saved by prayers or readings-but only by faith in Christ, which was even brought by You. Thank You for this piece of Scripture that you have blessed me with. I have brought to you transparently the sins I hold and I have laid them before you-but, Lord my flesh continues to bring me down-but I will strengthen myself in You and I know that the Spirit will put to death the sins in my life, daily, as I strive to fight with the Word you have armed me with. Would you teach me to be diligent in this fight-that I wouldn't let up even for a second. I want to press on with the fervor of that person whom you make passionate and joyful in You-Would you give me that very passion and joy that which only derives from knowing and loving You? I want to live in such a way that glorifies You, Lord-and I know that a passionless and joyless life is not what you have intended for me. All these things in Christ, amen.

Soli Deo Gloria