Royal Repentance

In verse five we saw the response of Nineveh to Jonah’s preaching. Verses 6-10 flesh that response out. Specifically, they show us how the King of Nineveh responded to Jonah’s preaching.

v. 6 “The word reached the King of Nineveh”

The King of Assyria

This could have gone a different way. When the King heard what Jonah was saying he could have responded differently than he did:

Put Jonah in jail.

Killed Jonah.

We think of Kings who have done things like that to prophets:

Nebuchadnezzar

Herod

Zedekiah

The fact that the message “reached” the King proves that Jeremiah did not begin his preaching with the King. He did not do as Moses did. Moses went first to the Pharaoh. Jonah began preaching in the streets.

The message eventually reached the King. This showed how fast his message was spreading. People were not overlooking Jonah. His words were being taken seriously.

Couple of things I’d like to mention:

1) The preacher does not need the permission or approval of any political leader to preach the Word of God. This is God’s world. God’s man has the freedom to preach God’s Word in it.

2) The preacher should preach without respect of persons. There is no caste system in Christianity. The King’s soul is no more precious than any other soul.

We see great humility in the King of Nineveh. God, through the preaching of Jonah, broke his heart.

He arose from his throne.

The symbol of his power and authority.

A place reserved for him alone.

He was saying there is a throne greater than mine. There is one who sits upon that throne. He has commanded us to repent.

He removed his robe.

This would be a beautifully made garment reserved only for the king. In removing it he identified himself as a common person.

He covered himself in sackcloth. He put on a new garment in place of his robe. His robe represented pride while the sackcloth represented humility.

He sat in ashes. Instead of sitting on his beautiful throne he sat in a pile of ashes. This was another custom that represented humility. Most likely no one had ever seen the king look like this. He is truly broken and desires he and his city to be spared.

Let me interject something. This story reminds us that we do not need the help of politicians to bring about a work of God. It’s true that the King issued a decree. That’s a wonderful thing. The work started on the streets, not the palace. There was already a great work of God going on before the King even realized it.

If we want to get the attention of political leaders there needs to be a revival among the people first. If you are waiting for a certain president, governor, senator, or congressman to turn our country to God you are going to be waiting a long time.

v. 7-8 The King issues a proclamation for Nineveh. Let’s look at it:

A fast for man and beast.

A dressing in sackcloth

A calling out to God in repentance.

Let’s address the obvious question first: Why are the animals required to fast?

To be clear, Jonah didn’t say they should. The King did. Why would he do that?

1) If the people died then the animals would as well. These are domesticated animals. They depend on the people to live. There are many verses in the Bible that show God cares for animals. Notice the last verse of this book:

And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

In including the animals in the fast the King is showing that these animals need God’s mercy as well. They do not need forgiveness, but they need mercy to live.

2) The animals would add to the misery of the situation. Hungry animals cry out.

Imagine animals that have not eaten or drank water for some time. Soon the cattle and oxen begin to cry out. Soon the sheep and goats are crying out. It would be a very noticeable and heartbreaking thing to see and hear. We serve a God who cares for even the animals. The fasting of the animals would cause them to cry out and be heard by God. God’s heart is moved when He sees His creation call out in desperation to Him.

Let’s go back to humans.

Fasting- no food or water.

Sackcloth- a very uncomfortable garment made of goat’s hair.

Ashes- perhaps this was a reminder that we came from dust and will return to dust.

When a people voluntarily do these things to themselves, they are saying:

I don’t deserve to eat.

I don’t deserve any comfort.

I don’t deserve any honor.

These things are meant to show a repentant heart. They also are meant to encourage us to call out to God even more.

The hungrier we are, the more we pray.

The more uncomfortable we are, the more we pray.

The more we are aware of our unworthiness, the more we pray.

Finally, we see that the people were to repent.

“Let every man turn from his evil way and the violence that is in his hands.”

In an earlier message I spoke about how cruel the Assyrians were. They were violent people with no regard for human life or suffering. Instead of rehashing that let’s focus on another phrase.

“his evil way” Sin is personal. Repentance must be as well. This was not merely a national revival. It was a personal revival. It was not based on decrees made by the King or laws passed. The people in Nineveh turned from their own sin, not just the sins of the nation.

It’s likely we all wrestle with the same sins. But usually there is a particular sin that binds each of us.

Mine was drunkenness, intoxication. I had plenty of other sins too. But that was the big one. That one sin determined the direction of my life.

We must be willing to look at our own heart and identify our own evil ways. Whatever they are we must turn from them.

Our country will not see a revival until the people in it turn from their own sin. It’s easy to point out the sins of the nation. There is not much we can do about them. The only sin we can do anything about is our own.

v. 9 The King hoped the repentance of the people would turn the wrath of God away from the city.

“Who knows?”

What the king did know is:

He and the people were sinners.

God was going to destroy the city.

Their only hope was mercy from God.

It appears he did not know if God would forgive them or not. They were pagans. They did not have the Scriptures. Their only prophet was Jonah. His message was one of judgment.

But it would logically follow that if the Lord was warning them of judgment, then perhaps there was a possibility of forgiveness. That seems to be what the King is saying here.

This King, without the certainty of forgiveness is still willing to repent!

We have the certainty of forgiveness! We have the New Covenant. We have the promises of Christ. We have the proof of those promises in the resurrection of Christ.

It is heartbreaking that many who have promises of forgiveness will not repent!

The King did not know, yet he repented.

We do know! Yet many do not repent. This is what Jesus meant when He said:

The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. Matthew 12:41

v. 10 The people did indeed turn from “their evil way”.

God responded to their repentance. He “relented of the disaster”.

Some critics of the Bible have said God lied. God said He was going to destroy the city and He didn’t. God’s promise to destroy the city was conditional. If the city did not repent He would have destroyed it. Someone has said God did destroy that evil city. He destroyed it by saving the people. The city was now a new creation. The old city was gone. What was new could not be compared to what had been before.

“God saw” What did he see? He saw the proof of repentance. He saw the people had changed. God is looking for life change. The proof of repentance is a release of the sins of the past. It is a new way of living.

Kings are accustomed to compliments. No one wants to tell them when they are wrong. The King of Nineveh was told he was wrong. Jonah preached a word of judgment upon his city. By God’s grace he repented.

It was royal repentance. Not because of his position. It was royal because of what it produced in his life.

It produced a concern for his own soul.

It produced a concern for the souls of others.

It produced a belief in God’s Word.

It produced fruits of repentance.

It produced humility.

It produced a new life.

It produced prayer.

This is what the preaching of God’s word should produce in our own lives. The preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ should work within us a repentance of sin that leads to faith and good works. When it does we can be sure that the judgment of God has been turned away from us.