GOSPEL NUGGET #410

JNH 4:6 So the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.

Let me share to you a Gospel Nugget here. Look at the verse again please: “…the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him…”

Let me introduce you to God’s saving plant. Go to Isaiah 53:2: “For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground…”

ISA 53:4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.

ISA 53:5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.

Listen, like Jonah exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, we are also exposed to the blazing heat of God’s judgment and wrath.

And just as God made a plant to grow from the earth to give Jonah a comforting shade to deliver him from his misery, so God caused the Lord Jesus Christ to grow here on earth as our Savior.

He took the heat of God’s wrath and judgment that was scorching hot against us. He was burned for us, so to speak. He took the piercing heat for us. He bore it all. He suffered.

And now, anyone who comes under His shade, anyone who trusts in Him, will be delivered from eternal discomfort in the lake of fire.

And just as Jonah was extremely happy about the plant, our joy and delight should be in Christ our Savior, not in the world and in the things it offers