Listening to a sermon, I realized that Jonah was sent to a rising superpower (Assyria-Nineveh), rattling its sabres in Israel's direction. This sheds new light on Jonah's reluctance to go (not excusing it, of course).
China is a rising political power, occasionally rattling sabres with the USA (remember the downed pilots they wouldn't release?). If you knew that in 50 years the Chinese were going to successfully conquer America, would your patriotism get in the way of God sending you to China now? Apparently, Jonah's did.
But the relevance continues: Nineveh repented and experienced widescale revival. China appears to be doing the same. So here's a little mental experiment to test your Kingdom v. kingdoms priorities:
Which would you rather have:
1. A successfully expansionistic China which was becoming increasingly Christian by the decade.
2. A militarily strong USA with political freedom (maybe even spreading democracy), but getting increasingly ungodly and less Christian by the decade.
I'm not saying this is happening or going to happen. I'm checking your desires for earthly kingdoms versus the advance of Christ's Kingdom.
Are you Jonah?
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