Jim's Jots and Tittles. . .

God Always Has the Last Word

As a child you may remember being taught about Noah and Jonah. The main thing you may remember is that Noah built a giant boat and Jonah was inside a giant fish for three days. But do you remember being taught a lesson contrasting these two people when it comes to God having the last word?

Both were given a command by God. In response to the corruption of all flesh on the earth, God said to Noah, "Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch." (Genesis 6:13-14)

To Jonah God said, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it' for their wickedness has come up before me." (Jonah 1:2)

Notice that both commands required them to deal with the rise of sin. The tasks God gave them were not impossible. It was a test of their "faith" and "conviction" in response to God's will. From Adam and Eve, one must be convinced in order to have a reason to obey God. When one loses that reason, one will establish one's own will as more important than God's will. That is what happened to Jonah and he forgot that God always has the last word. (Jonah 3:1-2)

Noah did not question god's will when in came to God's dealing with sin. The Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." (Genesis 6:7) "But this is the genealogy of Noah. Noah as a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God." (Genesis 6:9)

But, not so much with Jonah. God's dealing with the great sin of a Gentile city totally disagreed with Jonah. Can Jonah lower himself, a Hebrew, to preach to a Gentile city? Look what it took to convince him that God's will should be his. Spending three days in a large fish were necessary to move him to accept God's will. And when Nineveh repented, Jonah's true character was in contradiction to God's character. "But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry." (Jonah 4:1) He surely failed to see that God always has the list word.

Which example do we apply to our Christian lives? the principle of God having the last word has never been removed from God's word. Adam and Eve failed to see this and had to suffer the consequence.

The Hebrew writer gives us this warning: "For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was spoken through the Lord, is was confirmed by those who heard." (Hebrews 2:1-3) Surely, the Lord has the last word for us.

"And now little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming." (1 John 2:28)

Remember, God always has the last word! Read it, study it, and obey it! "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." (2 Corinthians 5:10)

You can count on this!

—Jim Hunt