Following God (6)

V. Various Repentance (2:1-3:10)

God did alot of really neat miracles throughout this book up to this point (caused a violent storm, had lot fall on Jonah, calmed the sea, commanded a fish to swallow Jonah and transport him safely to land), but the greatest of all these miracles has come and is coming. Breaking a men’s rebellious hearts to yearn for repentance and restoration. Restoration means to restore or bring back what was once dead. That’s the greatest miracle. He did that for Jonah and He is going to do that for a wicked city.

Let’s pick up back in chapter 3 verses 1-4

Jonah 3:1–4 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!”

Before we dive into what happened to the city, we will see a few important details preceding the repentance in Nineveh.

That Great City

Literally “that great city to God”

Why was it so great a city to God?

Emphasizes its size

“three days journey in breath.” the circumference then was about 60 miles. The inner wall was 50 feet deep and about 100 feet tall. It is said that the wall around the inner city boasted some 1500 towers. But included in Jonah’s description was also the outer suburb portion of the city. It was huge. Some 600,000 people which is massive for a city of that time. That compares to the city of Detroit today and all its suburbs.

but also it’s importance

-And here again we see more of that wonderful and mysterious love of God for all peoples. God cares for these people. Jonah 4:11

Jonah 4:11 ESV

And should not I 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?”

-It’s also important based upon it’s role in Jesus own ministry to bring light and understanding to the hard-hearted Jewish nation.

Contrast two repentance’s once more because both of these are questioned as to their validity. We’ve spoken of this in some length last time but I would like to shed more light on this topic.

We see two supposed repentance's back to back. And what I would like you to compare is this. In what way are Jonah’s and Ninevah’s repentances alike. This is one of the reasons people question whether or not they were genuine.

Both repentances are followed by a period of obedience but then turn once again to disobedience. Jonah it’s pretty obvious. He follows God’s command and goes to Nineveh and goes as he is told. But not shortly after that, what do we find Jonah doing. Pouting, angry, and even wishing suicide. Not really showing fruits of repentance. Not only that but Jonah never actually has any mention of repentance or sin in his prayer in chapter 2. So was it really a confession? What about Nineveh's repentance? We will look at that in more detail in a minute, but those of us that know the narrative know that God spared the city because they supposedly repented. What became of this city btw? What happened after Jonah left here. Did their changed spirit last long?

We know from the rest of scripture that it wasn’t but just 35-50 years later that the Assyrians returned to their violent ways and in the year 722 the came in and destroyed the Northern Kingdoms of Israel. And then God would about a century later destroy the city as recorded in the book of Nahum. So how is it that there repentance could be real or genuine.

A. Jonah’s Repentance

We already mentioned the reason for doubting Jonah’s repentance, now let’s look at perhaps why one might believe it was genuine.

1. Admitted to running from God before others

(not yet repentance- still wasn’t ready to obey)

then later in the belly he includes this to some extent when he said these words, Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own Mercy. Mercy here is a name for God, so he recognized that Mercy (God) was lost to him and it was because of his idolatry. (condemning every alternative other than what God wants)

2. Prayed to God for help

(finally… hadn’t prayed up till that point)

Which should show us how important our prayer life is to our living in righteousness. When Jonah failed to pray, so also did his desires to obey God therefore sin. An absent prayer life is a sure sign that one’s life is not currently abiding in Christ and maybe actively living in Sin.

3. Quoted scriptures

(Psalms)- Psalm 18:6, 3:4

4. Showed fruits of a changed/repentant heart

-like faith (God will rescue him & God will hear his prayer) - v.4,7

-thanksgiving (seeing the fish as his deliverance rather than his death)- v.9

-commitment to do what God asks (requires some level of trust) -v.9

-praise of God (Salvation is of the Lord) -v.9

-obeying (3:1-3)

I don’t think we fully appreciate his obedience here because we know what chapter 4 revealed about his heart.

Jonah 3:3 ESV

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.

Travel from wherever the fish spat him out to Ninevah was about 550 miles. BTW, some speculate that the fish spat him out in Joppa, exactly where he boarded the boat in the first place to run from God though there isn’t enough evidence to prove this. Regardless, commentators suggest a travel time of at least one month to travel from his home country to the city of Ninevah. That’s a long time to think about and wrestle with thoughts about what was going on. Perhaps Jonah struggled alot with heading that way again, perhaps he had a new found appreciation. Perhaps, he put all the past feelings aside and was ready to put God first. And that seems evident as verse 3 describes. He went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. He was determined to do everything according to God’s word this time regardless of how he felt about it. One thing he learned for sure, God is gonna have His way in your life. No point trying to run from it. It will only be worse for you if you do.

So when Jonah arrived in the city, what did he do on day one?

On day one, he wandered around the city aimlessly. He dilly dallied. He scouted it out to see whether this was a good idea. All different ways of procrastinating. Now if we are being honest, how many of us would likely procrastinate. We often procrastinate on tasks that are most challenging and most despised.

But on day one Jonah began to preaching. And what we have recorded, a very simple message. “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown/destroyed.” Was this Jonah own vindictive message to the people. Was this his version of the gospel. No, if he had spoken anything other than God’s words, it would not have been good for him. God would not have allowed that. These were God’s words. Was Jonah happy to share them because they lined up with his desires to see the nation destroyed? I don’t fully know. Scripture only reveals this small phrase from what Jonah spoke. But surely there must have been more. Why would I say this? Well, could this message alone be enough to save them? Could this message alone given them any understanding of God’s mercies? They could have believed that God is only a God of wrath. That would have been fully within there perimeters especially considering that these people didn’t know their right hand from their left.

Interesting side note on 40 days. 40 days is not an uncommon thing in scripture. God is a God of perfection and deep thinking. Completion and Complementing. What do I mean by that.

Throughout scripture, the number 40 seems to be identified with testing or judgment. During Noah’s time, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. The Jewish spies explorer Canaan for forty days. God tested and judged Israel in the wilderness for 40 years. Goliath taunted the armies of Israel for 40 days, and here God gave 40 days for the people of Nineveh to repent.

Regardless of whatever exactly was spoken, verses 5-9 seemed to indicate a repentance.

B. Ninevah’s Repentance

Jonah 3:5–9 ESV

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.”

First we need to mention how much of an absolute miracle this is. We could single-handedly call this the greatest revival that has ever taken place. The most incredible missionary effort ever. How did one man’s message from a far away country, a country that Assyria had no respect for, actually penetrate the vial hearts of over 120,000 people. That it brought renewal not out of constraint or political power but actually emerged from the ground up.

What may have made Jonah’s message so believable may have had something to do with his appearance, scars that may have still been present even after the long journey. But that really doesn’t matter because salvation belongs to the Lord. He is 100% in control of salvation. This was gonna happen because God was sovereign over it all. Jonah did nothing but obey. His sermon wasn’t any greater that of peoples. His was just the words of God that penetrated hearts. Jonah delivered the message but God did the actual work.

So did they truly believe.

One commentator noticed the differences in beliefs between the two gentiles salvations in this narratives. The sailors upon being rescued from the storm offered up sacrifices to YAHWEH. Whereas the repentant Ninevites used a different word for God. One that is more broad and not specific to YAHWEH. Perhaps this is out of ignorance and lack of understanding perhaps this is from their unbelief. There might be something there that is note worthy, but two convincing verses say that it was genuine.

1. Verified by their fruits

One they like Jonah, displayed fruits that are in accordance with repentance and salvation. A nation that is and has always been fully wicked actually for soon time turned from their evil ways. They repented. They acknowledged they were wrong and that God is the only one that could save them. This is the gospel message.

2. Verified by Jesus

Further proof of the genuineness of their salvation lies in the fact that Jesus taught it as a criticism to the hard jewish hearts in Matthew 12. Look what takes place here.

Matthew 12:38–41 ESV

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 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.

This is called the sign of Jonah. Jesus makes 2 important thoughts here. Just as all Jews believed that Jonah was in the belly three days and came out again, Jesus would do the same thing and all should believe. A sign.

Second, the Ninevites believed and repented immediately at the preaching of stubborn Jonah. Why does Jesus mention this. “the men of Nineveh shall stand up with this generation (the Jews of that day) in the judgment and shall condemn it (that generation) because they repented at the preaching of Jonah.” Who is condemning how. The Ninevites are condemning the scribes, pharisees, and unbelieving Jews of Jesus day because they never believed in Jesus and they had far less to go on then the Jews did and a far lesser preacher than the Jews did. (Jonah compared to the Son of God himself Jesus.) So Jesus confirms the Ninevites salvation as well as uses it to condemn the unbelief of the Jews.

So what do we make of the wickedness that would return to Nineveh and Jonah. Well 37 years later and Israel had quite some cycles of wickedness themselves in less time than that. As for Jonah and his quick change of heart. All I can say is this.

Remember what we said again in the past...

Repentance is more than a one-time event. It has a start time, but it must continue and mature. Therefore, repentance is an event but is also a process.

Jonah’s repentance began in the belly of the fish but his sin of idolatry still wasn’t fully revealed to him yet. He recognized that he could no longer fight God in obeying him and committed to trust God even if it wasn’t fully there. By the way that does resemble faithfulness more than hypocrisy when we do things even when we don’t feel like it or understand it. But Jonah still had a long way to go when battling and so do we.

As we have read the last few verses, we have seen not only Jonah’s repentance and Nineveh’s repentance but there is yet another repentance that we would read about in this passage, very different though from the first too. We would read of...

C. God’s Repentance

Jonah 3:10 KJV 1900

And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

If that sounds funny to you, that’s good because it should. Does God really repent? Other words that different translations have used are relented like in the ESV or changed his mind like in the NLT. But does God really change his mind. This statement might really throw us for a loop if we are not careful. What does it really mean that God relented or changed His mind?

Why do people change their minds? Usually because what they used to think was best is no longer the best so they change it. Similarly people change their minds because of imperfection. They tried option one and it failed so they try another option. Does God ever pick what is not best? Does God’s plan and thoughts ever fail?

No, and not only that, it doesn’t fit with His character.

They term we use for this is Immutable. Meaning unchanging. We get that from verses like Hebrews 13:8

Hebrews 13:8 ESV

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Let’s consider the context with which these verses are written.

In Hebrews 13 the writer is encouraging readers to conduct themselves in a way that reflects a recognition of the superiority of Jesus Christ. The writer has already challenged readers to fix their eyes on Jesus and run the race with perseverance (Hebrews 12:1–2). As long as believers are fixing their eyes on Him, they can run without losing heart (Hebrews 12:3). Believers can be encouraged that He will never forsake them or leave them (Hebrews 13:5), and believers should imitate the examples of those who have had faith in Him (Hebrews 13:6). But all this encouragement and direction is only helpful if it is truth that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If God arbitrarily changes His character, then how can we have confidence that what He has said He will do? If we can’t rely on Him to do what He has said, then we cannot have confidence and certainty, and it is impossible to run the race with endurance. Hebrews 13:8 gives us wonderful assurance that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This statement helps us look backward and forward so that we can know He is reliable today and that the things He has said are reliable. Jesus wasn’t some trendy preacher who rose in popularity and then faded into oblivion. Jesus had always existed as God (John 1:1; 8:58), He came in the flesh as a man in order to pay the human price owed to God for sin on behalf of all humanity (Philippians 2:5–8; 1 Corinthians 15:1–4), and He is in heaven working and interceding until He returns for His people to take them home (John 14:1–3; Romans 8:34). One day He will return in glory for all to see (Colossians 3:4), He will rule as King, and He will dwell with humanity forever (Revelation 22). He has had a consistent plan from the start and has been faithfully executing that plan, always keeping His word, and always completely trustworthy. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

And that is so beautiful and so wonderful a truth to comprehend.

And that is exactly what the Psalmist here declares.

Psalm 102:25–28 ESV

Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end. The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you.

What a comforting truth, but how does that line up with words here in Jonah about God relently or changing his mind. There are quite a few other places where it mentions the same thing about God changing His mind much as in Gen. 6 about God relenting that He made mankind and that He was going to wipeout the world through the flood because of it. Did God mess up? Was He upset at Himself and doubting His plan to make mankind? Or you can read about it with Moses and God’s dealing with Israel, or in the major and minor prophets regarding God’s judgments. So what do we do with this. For one, we must recognize that God wasn’t seriously saying that He felt He messed up and should have never created man in the case of the flood. Since God had already made a plan long before the world was created to send His son as the Messiah. He was predestined to do this task.

Acts 4:27–28 ESV

for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

God predestined it all to take place. Here in this passage, it even says that Herod and Pilate and the Gentiles and the people of Israel were going to do this task because God’s sovereign hand of work will come to pass and nothing will stop it. It was appointed for one man to die as we read in scripture from the very beginning. So God relenting doesn’t actually line up with the rest of scripture taking of God’s sovereign plan even from the very beginning of time to the beginning of creation. In the garden, that plan was still locked in. God gave mankind a glimpse of that glorious plan that he would crush the head of the serpent giving mankind a hope in our lost state.

So how do we reckon these words then with God’s character of immutability. For one, understand that whenever God used these words, there seems to be something of a life lesson to be observed for those apart of it and bearing witness of it. They were teaching tools for the people God was working with. In Exodus, it was a teaching tool for Moses, here in Jonah it was a teaching tool for Jonah, learning more about the character of God. But when He “changed His mind” it was only ever in complete agreement with what He had already committed to do.

God intended all along to save the people of Israel. Part of the great importance of their salvation was in the fact that Jesus was going to use this to rebuke the Israelites for their rebellion against Him. So this was always bond to happen. Not just something Jesus was like oh ya, I could use that. There are no coincidences with God.

Think of what other major reason why God had always intended to save Nineveh. God’s readiness to have compassion on a wicked but repentant people and to withhold threatened destruction showed Israel that her coming judgment at God’s hand was not because of His unwillingness to forgive but because of her impenitence.

God always acts within His own character but are there some things that we can never grasp about God today. Absolutely, so how can man write about a God we can never fully understand and if falliable man could grasp and infalliable God, that certainly diminishes His infinite majesty and character. This might be one of those sections where man is trying to grasp God and write about him in ways we as humans can understand. The Bible often uses human analogies to try to reveal the divine character of God. Think of God being described like a mother for instance. Is God a mother. NO. But He is described in that way so that we as humans can better grasp what He is like. Same is applying here. So take comfort in that.

Take comfort that God in His “repentance” is actually acting completely within His character and his character is one of compassion and mercy. Completely unmerited or earned. Therefore repentance should never be seen as a work that deserves to be rewarded by God.