<TITLE>09. Par 89-102</TITLE>L-89 Jonah wasn't out of the will of the Lord. Jonah was in the will of the Lord. He was a prophet. He was referred to, and called in the Bible, "The prophet, Jonah." And he was not out of the will of the Lord. I read a little, some comments on it, like a history, some time ago.

L-90   And now, Jonah truly was told by the Lord to go down to Nineveh, a city four or five times the size of this city here. And it was, there, the great commercial city of the world. Nineveh was, in that day, very much backslidden. And--and they fished at the sea. And they had got away from the true and living Word of God, and begin to worship animals and--and sea monsters, and so forth. They were in a polluted and awful condition. God told him, "Go down to Nineveh."

L-91 And we find out that he came down to the seashore and took a ship to Tarshish. Now, someone would believe there that he did just what God told him not to do.

L-92 Let's find out if the footsteps of the righteous isn't ordered of the Lord. And if we're trusting Him with all our heart, though we make a mistake, God will make it work around to His glory.

L-93   Jonah! We find out, out on the sea, that the storms begin to rage, and the ship begin to toss back and forth, and all hopes that they could be saved was gone. And Jonah probably been preaching, a few nights before that, and was tired. And he was down in the hull of the ship, taking a little siesta, kind of napping a little bit. And they come down and told him, "Wake, O sluggard, and call upon your God."

L-94 And Jonah said, "Now, I'll tell you what I want you to do. I want you to tie my hands behind me, and my feet, and throw me out of the ship." And said, "Then the ship will cease the tossing, the waves, the ship; will quit tossing the ship, in otherwise, if you'll just throw me out."

L-95 So, you see, when they did that, and throwed him out, God had a great fish prepared, that we believe to be a whale.

L-96   And now that's disputed by science. Here, a few years ago, I was in Louisville, Kentucky, just across from my home city of Jeffersonville, Indiana. Just the Ohio River separates the two cities. And they had a whale, the skeleton of a whale, on a--on a flat car. And there was a man standing there, who was giving a lecture on this whale. And he said... Now, he come up. I thought, "Wonder if he... What's he going to say?"

L-97 He was talking about the size of its mouth, how that a man could walk into its mouth easy, and said, "You know that Bible story they tell," and a great big opossum grin over his face. And he said, "You know, they said about the whale swallowing Jonah." Said, "I want you to know that that could not be so." He said, "Because, if you'll notice the whale's throat," said, "even... it could not even pass no more than a--a four-inch ball through its esophagus, down through its throat." Said, "That was not so. That's just a mythical story."

L-98   That was too much for my Irish temper, to stand that. I said, "I beg your pardon. It is so."

L-99 He said, "Sir," he said. "Here is a whale," he said, "and it's a large type of whale." He called what it was. Said, "Go back there, if you want to satisfy yourself, and measure the swallow that he would have to go through, and tell me if a grown man could go through that swallow."

L-100 I said, "It's just because you're an unbeliever." I said, "This was a special-made whale. God said 'He prepared a fish.' He was a special, prepared. He could prepare one to throw the whole flat car in, if He wanted to. He is God." Uh-huh. So, that's right. God does what He wants to. And I believe that--that--that the whale swallowed Jonah.

L-101   As the little girl was coming one day from the tabernacle...

L-102 She was a little, about like this little snickle-fritz last night, or tonight, with her hair combed back here, you know. Her little... I thought she was cute. The little singer, I don't guess... She is bound to hear. I hope I don't hurt her feeling.


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