Jonah 3c

Please turn to Jonah 3. Ever wonder if your life really makes a difference? Ever wonder if life and circumstances are predetermined, or can things change? How much control does God exercise over what happens in this world and where does freewill fit into this? Where does God’s omniscience and foresight and providence (interaction with creation) come into play and intersect? Does obedience to God really matter?

Let’s look at Jonah 3 and see if we can answer a few of those questions.

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!”

Little review here from a couple weeks ago. Jonah was a messenger, a servant, God’s partner. Remember,

Jonah’s responsibility in this was simply to obey and then trust God with the results.

Obey – trust. That’s what God asks of us. “If you love me, obey and trust me.”

Simple question: Where might you be blurring the lines of loving God, obedience, and trust? What are you going to do about it?

Moving on.

Look at this word overthrown, in verse 4. In Hebrew (haphak), it has a wide range of meaning depending on the context. It can mean destruction, change, transformation or to turn around.

So when Jonah said, “Nineveh shall be overthrown,” there is an intentional double meaning. Nineveh was on a path toward change or transformation. God was either going to judge them with some kind of calamity or He would show mercy. Either way, they would be “overthrown” or changed.

Who determined God’s course of action? The people – the Ninevites. If they responded favorably to Jonah’s message and repented – turn around - they would experience God’s mercy. But if they refused, they would experience God’s judgment. Regardless of the outcome, Jonah’s prophetic message was 100% accurate. “40 days, Nineveh will be changed.”

What Jonah did not say was, “You determine what kind of change. You determine what God will do.” Too often we flippantly say, “God is in control.” He is. However, so are we. We have a lot more control than we like to believe. I said this in the Artios class –

We have less control than we want and more control than we admit.

Hold onto that – we’ll come back to it.

Let’s see how Nineveh responded to Jonah’s message.

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.”

Little side-note here: In Nineveh we have repentance, but not revival. They turned to God, but never truly worshipped Him as Yahweh – never began a relationship with Him. Foxhole faith. Consider the pagan sailors from chapter one. After the crazy events, they feared Yahweh – they were in awe of Him, worshipped Him, and made vows to Yahweh. Don’t know what happened with the sailors, but we do know that Nineveh eventually went back to their evil ways and consequently was destroyed.

There is a difference between this temporary recognition of God and worshipping Him. A lot of people turn to Jesus when they’re in trouble … want a quick fix, get out of a jam. But never truly put faith in Him …. There is a day coming – if you don’t personally know Jesus ….

Reminder,

There was nothing Jonah did in his own power or wisdom that caused “those people” to turn to God.

Their repentance had nothing to do with Jonah, except that he was simply obedient. For whatever reason, they were primed to respond to the message (talked about this weeks ago). Importante -

Do not underestimate the significance of obedience. Jonah’s obedience (and ours) provided God an opportunity to manifest His grace and mercy.

See, we often make obedience about following rules – as if obedience is oppressive and it’s about God satisfying His own self-interest and ego. Obedience has nothing to do with God’s ego. He has nothing we need. Obedience is never arbitrary - there is always purpose behind it that goes beyond mere obedience. This is about obeying God, who is perfect in all His ways, loving, all-knowing, patient, compassionate, wants all to be saved, and knows what is best for you, me and others. He knows how all the pieces fit together. So, do not underestimate the significance of obedience, because obedience opens the door for God to move.

Jonah obeyed. “Those people” repented. What did God do?

Jonah 3:10 ESV

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.

Let’s talk about this word relent, which is (נָחַם) nā·ḥǎm) in Hebrew. Like most Hebrew words, there are several nuances to nā·ḥǎm, but at its core is this idea of compassion or pity.

The Ninevites repented, fasted, and cried out to God. God saw what they did and had compassion, He relented or changed His mind. Judgement diverted.

So how does this relenting work with a God who is omniscient, and fully knows past, present, future, and is in control? Is the future predetermined (some believe God has it already planned out and all we do is play our part) or is it open with variable outcomes? Is God sometimes undecisive – “I don’t know what to do, so I’m waiting for you to decide then I’ll decide?” Is God a 9 on the Enneagram?

God is never indecisive. He’s never in a position where He does not know what to do and He needs us to influence Him. But in this case with Nineveh, God change His mind. Or did He? They way I see it,

God predetermined His course of action.

He gave Nineveh options – “Do you want what’s behind curtain one or curtain two? Curtain one is mercy. Curtain two is destruction. Your choice.”

Example:

Jeremiah 18:7–9 NIV

If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted,

What does all that mean for us?

The future is open to us, but not unknown to God.

In other words, God knows the future, but He doesn’t necessarily predetermine the future. Hence, His Sovereignty allows our freedom to choose – which is both a blessing and a cursing. It allows for a tremendous amount of good and a tremendous amount of evil.

In 1 Samuel, king Saul was trying to hunt down David and his men to kill them.

1 Samuel 23:11–13 ESV

Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O Lord, the God of Israel, please tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.” Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will surrender you.” Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition.

God knew the future. He knew all the possibilities, but He did not predetermine them – they were not absolutes. God told David, “If you do A, then B will happen. If you do C, then D will happen.” So David skipped A and C and chose M, which changed everything.

The future is open, and we play a significant role in the lives of others – both near and far?

When we obey God, we play a significant role in His plan of redeeming the world.

We have less control than we want and more control than we admit.

Do you think the Ninevites, “those people,” were glad that Jonah obeyed God? One man – one act of obedience – prevented a city of thousands of people from being destroyed.

Obedient Lives Matter.

So, what is the Spirit saying to you this morning? Let’s listen.