SESSION 2: The God of Order
Opening Considerations:
❖ If the genre of Jonah helps us wrestle with God and this disoriented experience, the story helps
reorient us to understand who God truly is.
❖ At God’s core, he will not do anything unjust.
THEME
- God and Creation
❖ Almost every chapter of Jonah has _______________ verses. There are a total of _____________ verses that directly pertain to God interacting with creation.
❖ Theology - God ordered the heavens, the sea, and the dry land (1:9)
➢ Sky/Heavens: ____________________________________
➢ Sea: ____________________________________________
➢ Dry Land: ________________________________________
❖ Particulars (Big Fish)
➢ There are three reasons it does not seem to be just a big fish:
i. When early Jewish people read Jonah and they came across the phrase “great fish” instead of translating it into the common word for
fish (ichthus), they translated it __________, which means sea creature.
ii. When ketos is used in other places of the Greek Old Testament, it is used as a translation for words like: violence, ______________, serpent,
_______ ______________, and__________________
iii. The creature lives in chaos. Jonah says while he is in the belly of this creature that he was in the belly of the ____________________
and taken down to the ____________________
❖ God brings ____________________ to his creation.
- God and Covenant
❖ All throughout Jonah, there is an interchange between two terms used to talk about God: ____________________ and ____________________
❖ ____________________ is the covenant name of God the Israelites know him by.
____________________ simply means divine being or deity.
❖ Why the interchanges? The reason why is because the story demonstrates that God is not the Lord of just _______ nation, but he is the Lord of
_______nations.
❖ In the same way, God is above all creation and can tame the great sea creature from the depths of the ocean, God desires to make all things right in humanity.
❖ ____________________ and ____________________ are not opposites. God is the God of justice and all things. He seeks to bring goodness to all things.
Discussion Questions for Reflection:
1.What connections do you see between God being over creation and his desire for the nations?
2.What are ways that Christians can remind ourselves that God is over creation?
3.How can the church demonstrate that it worships a God of all nations?
- If God shows mercy to sinful people, can we say that God is just? Why
