Fear and Loathing in Nineveh pt 3.

(Jurassic Park illustration) This passage of scripture is going to teach us the will of God will likewise always find a way. Let’s see how this unfolds by reading our passage of scripture. Read Jonah 3:1-10

Jonah 3:1–10 ESV

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Observations: I wanted to start by making a few observations about the city of Nineveh. I want to draw specific attention to the God’s Nineveh worshiped. One of the Gods they worship was Nanshe who was the Goddess of Social Justice and was also considered to have dominion over the fish. Archaeologists have also found sculptures to the god Dagon while excavating in Nineveh. The Ninevites also seemed to worship Dagon who was a god-like creature that had the appearance of both man and fish. Have you noticed a pattern yet? The people whose deities heavily involve fish heard the word of a prophet who had been swallowed by a fish. Don’t you think Jonah’s story about being swallowed by a fish would have caught the attention of the people of Nineveh. God would use the fish to give Jonah more credibility. Some scholars believe that Jonah’s may have been bleached white because of the acids he would have been exposed to while in the fish's belly. Jonah’s story with a fish would not be coincidence, it may have helped with the miracle that transpired next. The miracle of Nineveh would happen in three major steps.

The Message: In verse 2 of chapter 3 we see God tell Jonah Arise, and go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message I tell you” Notice who God’s words in verse 2 chapter 1 are repeated verbatim in chapter 3 verse 2. God didn’t change a word of what he said to Jonah. This is one of the ways God works, no matter how many times we fail, his instruction to us hardly waivers. Our prompting to surrender to Christ and instruction to ask for forgiveness will not waiver despite our failure. However, Jonah’s response changed! Jonah didn’t run,verse 3 of chapter 3 was far different than verse 3 of chapter one. Verse 3:3 says Jonah arose and went to Nineveh to preach against it. He went throughout the city saying “Yet in 40 days Nineveh will be overthrown.” When Jonah preached this message, he seemed to do so while simply walking on the streets of the city. Jonah was basically a street preacher. It’s easy to get a picture of what Jonah would have looked like in modern times. The street preacher usually finds the busiest street corner in the city, and preaches his message. Usually they have a bull-horn or a megaphone, oftentimes this approach has a lot of yelling and telling various exclusive people groups to REPENT! This is a type of preaching that usually makes me cringe a little bit. Street preaching can easily do as much harm as it does good. I believe good biblical preaching should always be based within the church, that’s the way God designed things to work. The gospel is meant to use the church as a conduit for preaching, not some random person on the street.

The question is this, why does Jonah take this approach? Why does Jonah simply walk on the street preaching? Let’s compare Jonah’s approach against that of the Apostle Paul. When Paul would enter a new city for the first time, we would immediately find a synagogue to preach his message. If the city was entirely gentile he would find a public forum or gathering place. Paul was clearly intentional in how he approached preaching to a lost city. So why wasn’t Jonah so intentional. Because Jonah’s heart isn’t in what he’s doing. Jonah’s lack of motivation will become more clear next week. You might expect God to be upset with Jonah for his half-hearted attempt. However there was no need, because Jonah’s preaching worked! When the king heard Jonah’s preaching, he put on a sackcloth and sat in ashes. In the ancient world this is a sign of humility and a repentant heart. The king demanded not only the people to follow his example, but the beasts as well. The people fasted and worshiped God. They turned their hearts from their evil ways.

The repentance of the people of Nineveh is a great story. However I would say the most prolific lesson this story teaches centers around God’s unshakable and unbreakable will. Think about it this way, God’s will was still accomplished despite Jonah’s half-hearted attempt. Meaning that our preaching and or witness for Christ can be half-hearted, or even downright BAD. However if God wants to use it to accomplish his will, that is exactly what’s going to happen. Our execution of God’s commandments have very little bearing on their success. If God wants it to happen, it’s going to happen.

God’s will The story of Jonah should remind us that God’s will cannot be stopped because of us! God’s will is too powerful for our mistakes and disobedience to derail it. Jonah had mistakes, really big mistakes. However Jonah’s mistakes did not derail God’s plan. This should be liberating for us! This should remove fear from our lives in knowing that we aren’t going to prevent God’s will from happening. (Illustration: Sandbox rivers) This illustration shows us that even if we are like a pile of dirt, God’s will finds a way. It might take awhile to get back on course, but it will always get back on course without fail.

This doesn’t mean we can intentionally be reckless, careless, or even intentionally disobedient because ultimately “God’s will finds a way” Remember Jonah still had an excruciating experience in the belly of the fish. An experience which Jonah basically called a living hell.

However ultimately as Christians we shouldn't want the will of God to work AROUND us, or in spite of us. We should pray for the will of God to be able to work THROUGH us.

I hope that we can make this our prayer as we enter the invitation. Pray that we be a people that allows the will of God to work through us, and not around us. If we’re concerned about making sure that we be a person whom the will of God works through, we must always reflect upon our attitude, our understanding of grace, and our understanding of God’s will