Evidence of Repentance

Jonah 3:1–10 ESV

1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 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. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 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. 6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 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, 8 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. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” 10 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.

To continue looking at the depth of repentance we must look at the rest of the chapter

Remember Jonah’s call

“Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”

Jonah’s proclamation was not one of repentance

Jonah proclaimed destruction

Jonah proclaimed a message without hope

Jonah

Repentance of the King

Jonah 3:6 ESV

6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

To grasp the showing of repentance we need to understand the custom and practice of the time

sackcloth is an uncomfortable article of clothing

not typically work next to the skin

resembles that of burlap today

traditionally made of goat hair

in times of grieving individuals would wear sackcloth

also would do so in times of repentance of sin

basically it is used commonly as an outward expression of repentance

in this we can visibly see repentance from the king in this verse

as we advance through this scripture we see the people take this even further

The practice is not something that would have been necessarily native to gentiles like Ninevites

The King started off with showing his repentance

a showing from the throne of God’s Authority

His submission to God’s command

A powerful testimony from a decree of destruction

Repentance of All

Jonah 3:7–8 ESV

7 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, 8 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.

The King Then exhibits his authority

Commanding for repentance across his city

He even calls them unto a fast

a time without food or water

A time a pondering and surrender

This is a powerful example

The king even goes as far as to cover the animals

The king puts sackcloth on them and covers them with surrender

The King recognizes the authority of the almighty God

He places surrender as a command on the hearts of the people

He calls the people to turn from violence and evil

Repentance is evident

Repentance is not something that is hidden

It is something that is noticed

Surrender to the King of Kings is something that is noticed

The surrounding cities and countries must have noticed

they must have seen the things of Nineveh

They had to have noticed a change

Their acceptance and belief in God is shown in their surrender

and that surrender was made evident

God Relents

Jonah 3:9–10 ESV

9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” 10 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.

Then we see their understanding

When we look at this we think oh they understood God’s command

We see even more that the decree was of judgment and punishment

The king states who knows?

signifying an unknown factor to them in this equation

They put their faith on the possibility of a forgiving and gracious God

We know it as reality

to them it was a possibilty

They heeded the warning

and in that warning came a sense of respect

leading to true repentance

repentance filled with evidence

that repentance was rewarded with Salvation from the Father

in His infinite Grace

What a wonderful OT picture of the Saving Grace of God

God shows mercy to the people in Nineveh just as he showed mercy to the rest of the world through His Son Jesus

Salvation Message