The Repentance of God

Intro: So here we continue the story of Jonah. He is just experienced his own renewal as he has repented of his sin and been restored, put back on dry ground… given new life. I imagine that feeling of rejuvenation when you overcome sin. You feel like you can overcome anything. An amazing feeling being restored. And then God speaks to him again.

Jonah 3 - The grass withers… 

There have been many times in my life where I have wronged someone. And you know that when you wrong someone, assuming you all know that experience… that you are at their mercy. They have every right to unleash wrath on you. One of these times that comes to mind is when I stole something from someone. And Lied about it. When I finally confessed, as was nervous… beads of sweat formed on my brow… I had that awful gut feeling… and then i blurted out what I did… fully expecting the worst punishment possible… expecting a wrath. Judgement. Severe discipline… because I deserved it.... and to my surprise, the person gave me mercy. They saw in my physical appearance the fact that my apology was genuine. If I walked in expecting grace and mercy… gleeful… then maybe it wouldn’t have been that way… but they saw that my apology was genuien. AndThey forgave me. Though I deserved severe punishment… i recieved grace.

Nineveh finds themselves in a situation like this where they deserve discipline. They have done evil in the site of God… it doesn’t matter if they know his law or not, or if they are his people or not. God’s law covers all that he is made… and we are all accountable to it. And Nineveh had broken his laws in profound ways with their evil… with their violence, Jonah hints at here. It is to this wayward gentile nation… it against their evil and violence that Jonah comes to pronounce God’s judgment.

In this pronouncement against Nineveh we will find that we are all Nineveh. We are all guilty in our sin. Our evil has come before the Lord. And we are unable to escape punishment for our sin on our own. We are at the mercy of God… And what we learn here is that there is actually no better place to be than at the mercy of the God whose steadfast love endures forever...

And in this Nineveh becomes a model for us… they become of model of repentance… a model for turning from sin.... We see repentance in two ways in this passage… the first is this…

1. The Repentance of Nineveh

In Jonah 3 we see all the steps and markers for repentance. We see what the full process looks like. Even though we don’t see that word in our english translations… the word for turn here, that is used several times to describe their actions… is the same word we use for repentance. And it begins with Hearing God’s word.

Verse 1-4… God’s message first has to go out before they can respond. It isn’t Jonah’s preaching that causes response… it isn’t his passion… it is GOd’s word. Remember prophets don’t preach their own message. They don’t get to come up with the words the say. They are mouth pieces. They word for word deliver what God gives them to deliver.

And so repentance begins by hearing God’s word. Just as God’s word has power to insite a storm and control a fish to swallow Jonah… So God’s word has the power to change even the hardest of hearts. Even foreign nations...We see that power on display as Jonah speaks 8 words and it turns this “great city” upside down.

WE see this in the peopl’s response… Repentance… turning… requires action. it isn’t enough to hear GOd’s word preached… but we need to believe it. This is what we see in v5… They believed. one commentator says this about their quick response “

Like the Hebrew women who gave birth before the midwives could arrive (Exod 1:19), the Ninevites responded to God’s message almost before the preacher could finish his speech!

They didn’t ask for explanation… they didn’t ask for qualifiers… they didn’t try to bargain… like a child does when they are told to go to bed… they simple hear and believed. And this belief is not just lip service… belief never is just lip service. If you believe something to be true you act on it. Whatever your deepest belief is, will guide you. This can be a scary thing to think about… What do your actions say about your beliefs?

Here we see the Ninevites had true belief…

Fasting and Sackcloth… from the greatest to the least. This was an immediate response.... Fasting and sackcloth were known ways of mourning in the ancient world. To withhold food… to withhold garments of prestige… as clothing would be a signal to your wealth… everyone on the same level… itchy and uncomfortable… from the greatest to the least humbling themselves before God… all demonstrations that they are helpless to cloth themselves and feed themselves apart from God.... their outward misery reflects the misery of their sin and coming judgment…

And not only the commoners, but from the greatest to the least included even their king (6). Who also immediately believed, and took off his robes which symbolized his power and authority… and put on the same sackcloth as his people were wearing. Not only the sakcloth… but also

ASHES. Ashes, a sign of death. That something has burned up. Something left over after a fire.... This is their sign of repentance. That they are nothing. Just as this fire can bring great cities to nothing… so i am brought to nothing.. That they themselves are ash apart from God’s intervention.

Decree… and so he makes a decree… and this decree coming after the people responded to Jonah, highlights the idea that the people weren’t just in submission to their earthly king… but that they all recognized the truth in Jonah’s message. God’s word is always recognized as authoritative… God’s word always does something… Their response was a heartfelt response. A Visceral reaction… where immediately they knew. Like when Kind David was confronted with his sin and immediately fell on his face. He just knew. He was exposed.

And their contrite hearts are further exampled in that this mourning extended even to their animals. verse 8.... they aren’t taking any chances! And as the owner of a puppy, i get it… Our puppy can incite my wrath by her digging of holes and escaping our fences…

And then in verse 8 we see further turning or repenting… turning from evil and violence… Assyria as nation was one of the most brutal nations of the time. Known for their violence. Known for their lack of mercy. And here they stop the violence. The turn from their evil. It isn’t enough to just confess… But we need to actually turn from the evil. Our lives need to reflect our confession.

In all these things we see a full picture of repentance. Of turning from sin… First you are confronted with the thing that you need to turn from… which is what God’s word does… Then in repentance you believe… you confess… and not just confess but you do whatever it takes to rid yourself of the fowl judgment. Here God has pronounced a judgment of damnation… but the people don’t take this judgement sitting down… they act quickly and swiftly… they act as a whole… from least to greatest… all that is living lays down before God… And what do they say?

Verse 9… who knows… this is a hopeful cry… who knows… God may relent. He may turn.... Who knows… echoing the pagan sailors… who knows. But they recognize that continuing in their evil would surely bring their destruction… so the only hope they have is actually repenting… hoping that God is merciful… that he might be a relenting God.

I imagine Jonah was a bit astonished at this… Before the could finish his journey across the great city, there was an even greater repentance. Before he could explain anything further they already were in mourning for their evil.

And a question lingers in the air… how do you respond when confronted with your sin.... how did Jonah respond when confronted? How did Israel Respond when confronted? They were both slow to turn… slow to repent. Jonah knows that the swift turning of Nineveh is a judgment on Jonah and Israel.... that the pagan nation that doens’ know God, is quicker to repent than those that should know better.

It should cause us to ask the same question… how do we respond when confronted with sin? Are we quick to defend.... to deflect… to self-justify ourselves… I was only angry because I was tired.... Defend/deflect… It’s not my fault, I had a bad day.... defend/deflect.... Self-justifying… trying to live life apart from God… apart from our neediness of him… Not seeing our sin for what it is…

Nineveh recognized their neediness. They knew they couldn’t overcome their sin on their own. And God shows Jonah and Nineveh and even us… that they shouldn’t try. That we should stop trying to self-justify ourselves… and turn to the only one who can jusitfy us… who can cleanse us from our sin… from our evil… that we don’t need to prove ourselves to him… but we are already secure in his love…

And so as nineveh takes it’s chances… hoping that the God who is pronouncing judgment is a merciful God… how does God respond when they repent?

Surprisingly we find that he repents too.

2. The Repentance of God

They turned from evil and God turned from disaster… This might seem strange to our ears to hear… God repents? I thought only those who did something wrong repented. In verse 9 they say… “God might turn… might repent...”

How does God turn then?

verse 10…

It says God saw what they did… God didn’t pronounce this judgment through Jonah and run away resigned not to change his mind on the matter. He gave the word… and he waited. He waited for a response. He was present. Hoping that they would listen… And when he saw that they had genuiine repentance…

What do we find? As the people turned/repented from their evil… so God turns/repents/relents from the disaster he is about to do… they are both turning… And the word for evil and disaster is the same… Raah… As the people turn from their Raah.... so God relents from the Raah he is aobut to do to them. Our God is a relenting God.... he is a repenting God.

Here we learn that the judgments that God brings through his word are always contingent for us.

When you look throughout scripture and even throughout the prophets this response from God is expected for those who repent. In this a pronouncement of Judgment is an invitation to repent.

Joel 2:12-14

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent...

Again we see this… turn and relent. Our God is a relenting God… he turns from his wrath… he repents. For any who call on his name and repent, he repents of his wrath… he turns from it. Eager to do so… more eager than the people of Nineveh were....

Throughout this narrative we can’t help but compare the Nineveh response to Jonah’s response. Jonah as he experienced the storm and the fish took so long to repent… and Nineveh? They were quick. Instant. They didn’t try to justify themselves.

In this God is using Nineveh to demonstrate his love… demonstrate his steadfastness… demonstrate his character to Jonah and his people. I am the God who saves… I am the God who relents.... who repents… there are no other God’s like me… I extend my rule and my love over the entire earth… I am not bound by ethnic lines… This character of who God is should cause us to be a people who are quick to repent.

In this we are called to be like Nineveh. Israel is called to be like Nineveh. Here God is using their rivals to stir them to jealously… That they might turn back to him. And experience his great mercy and grace. Experience his relenting. God wants to do this for his people… He doesn’t bring us under discipline for fun… but so that we might turn to him…

One thing we see through is that Nineveh did not continue in their repentance. Eventually their evil was seen by God again and they were destroyed. This is a tension for us because you realize that you don’t always turn from your evil either. That we like to self-justify.... WE still cling to it. We still… as Paul says… do the things we don’t want to do… what does this mean for us? Does this mean that we are under the wrath of God again everytime we sin? Are we destined to eventual destruction like Nineveh was? Does this mean that the level of our salvation is determined by how good at repenting we are? That it is based on our works? That God can’t act apart from our works?

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 says this

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation (salvation belongs to the Lord) through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.

The beautiful news of the gospel is that God has not destined us… his children… his church, for wrath.... but for life! Christ died for us… taking God’s wrath on himself… in our place… that we might be saved. In Christ we experience the great relenting power of God. That all our sin is taken care of. And where we deserved death… judgment… we receive life. and a judgment of righteous. God does this for us… because we are all more like Jonah than Nineveh… he knows that we struggle to turn from our sin. And so he takes his wrath upon himself… that we might have life.

And so we need to fight to apply this truth to our lives… our first response is one of heaviness… where we need to recognize the true weight of our sin.

Knowing that our God is merciful and kind. Forgiving our sins. We should be exhorted to have the same distain for our own sin as Nineveh had for theirs… only we don’t have to say “who knows”… we know. We know God’s character… That God has redeemed us already. So all the more we should be invigorated to walk with God.... to put our sin to death.

Because this identity in Christ is now ours… we don’t have to perform for anybody… we don’t need to self-justify… but when confronted with our sin, we can be quick to yea, I am sorry. Because our justification is not dependent on our ability to perform or to do good. It is based on Christ alone. And putting faith in him.

But like I said earlier… this transformation isn’t only an internal one… But is the launching pad for a life growing in good works. This internal transformation should also give us a great love and concern for the ones who we think are unloveable. To repent and believe changes us… it changes what we do… it effects real world actions....

Going back a a couple of weeks.... we asked the question who don’t you want God to have compassion on… Who is the most unloveable person you can imagine. in Jonah 3 we remember that WE ARE THAT PERSON… we are the ones that should be saying… how could God show compassion on us?” and yet he does… and so we should have great love for those around us… for Christians who we disagree with… for the homeless sleeping outside this building right now high on drugs. For whoever we think is unredeemable… for the greatest sinners in our land.... because we should see ourselves in them… because apart from Christ coming to us in our own sin… coming to us in our own rebellion… in our raah.... we have no hope… the hope of Nineveh is our hope… that God is a relenting God… and for those who call on Christ… he relents.... and instead of bringing his own raah against you… he brings good. Mercy. Steadfast love that never fails.

May we be a people who have a deep understanding of the work of Christ and his grace… ou need of God to relent and to become a gracious and loving people, the very aroma of Christ in the places that God has put us. .. even to the most unloveable.