The Long Arm of the Lord

Introduction

Jonah 3

Jonah 3 CSB

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach the message that I tell you.” 3 Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the Lord’s command. Now Nineveh was an extremely great city, a three-day walk. 4 Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, “In forty days Nineveh will be demolished!” 5 Then the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth—from the greatest of them to the least. 6 When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 Then he issued a decree in Nineveh: By order of the king and his nobles: No person or animal, herd or flock, is to taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink water. 8 Furthermore, both people and animals must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from his wrongdoing. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent; he may turn from his burning anger so that we will not perish. 10 God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.

Over the past couple weeks we have been examining how Jonah, the son of Amittai, was called on by the Lord to preach against the wickedness of the people of Nineveh. We discovered how he rejected the Lord’s initial call, and instead, chose to run from the presence of the Lord and God’s plan for his life in search of his own way.

Last week, we come to realize that there is no escaping God’s providence and reign in your life. There is no peace outside the presence of the Lord. And there is no escaping God’s wrath unless it is pinned on Christ Jesus.

We saw how Jonah confessed his sin, confessed the Lordship of Yahweh, and once again turned his eyes upon the holy temple of the Lord. In doing so, the Lord relented and brought Jonah from the certainty of a stormy death to dry land by way of a large fish.

This week, what we will see is the outpouring of Jonah’s verbal confession through action. One thing to have in the back of our minds as we read this chapter: Some of us present today likely felt that we were too far gone, too far from the Lord, for him to save us. Either we had spent too much time away from his presence or our sin was too great. Yet, the Lord was gracious and he cast his mercy upon us.

At the same time, some of us may have people in our lives that we, if not intellectually, practically believe that an individual is just too sinful, too rotten, too self-involved to be saved by God’s grace. But as we will see, no one is too far for the long arm of the Lord and his Salvation. Or, as pastor Mark Buchanan quotes:

“This is the love of God, an alchemy that can turn enemies into children.”

Jonah’s Return

The interesting part about the beginning of chapter 3 is that is so closely resembles the beginning of chapter 1. In both cases, the Lord called upon Jonah. In both cases the Lord called Jonah to go to Nineveh. And, in both cases, Jonah was called to preach against the Ninevites. However, in this case, Jonah obeys! Jonah 3:1-3

Jonah 3:1–3 CSB

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach the message that I tell you.” 3 Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the Lord’s command. Now Nineveh was an extremely great city, a three-day walk.

It’s hard not to see this, in some ways, as God saying “I told you so!” Had Jonah simply set his sights on the Lord when God initially called him, Jonah might have avoided a difficult path. Now, we also understand that even Jonah’s rebellion was a part of God’s plan, because this provided opportunity to save pagan sailors, to teach a difficult truth to Jonah and his audience, and also foreshadow the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (the Sign of Jonah).

A practical teaching point is that first-time obedience is what we are all called to. However, second-time obedience is not really obedience, it’s repentance. If Jonah had been obedient to the Lord in the first place, then there would be no need for his confession of sin or for him to repent (turning from his sin and turning towards the Lord) at least in this case. However, what we see is that when the Lord calls him this second time, Jonah quite literally turns from his sin, his rebellion, and turns towards the presence of the Lord.

In this case, it only took one very close encounter with God’s wrath and the consequences of sin to set Jonah straight. Far too often, in our sinful stubbornness, it’s as if the Lord has to beat us over the head with a shovel repetitively to get us to turn.

However, if it is the Lord’s hidden will to save you, you will be saved. The question is how often will the Lord have to konk you on the head, or toss you overboard as the case may be, for you to listen. Obedience can be painful, but it’s a lot less painful than the consequences that lead to repentance.

Wrath and Repentance

Here would be a good spot to say just a couple of things about Nineveh.

First, Nineveh was a very large city. Jonah says that, “Nineveh was an extremely great city, a three-day walk.” Now, what that likely means based upon the context, is that it would take Jonah nearly 3 days to fully evangelize the city.

Second, Nineveh was a pagan community that was bent towards war. They were very violent, especially against Israelites, and would impale, peel the skin, and behead their enemies.

It’s not surprising that Jonah was reticent about going to this barbaric nation. However, if the Lord wills, he will also make able.

Let’s read this section of the text: Jonah 3:4-6

Jonah 3:4–6 CSB

4 Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, “In forty days Nineveh will be demolished!” 5 Then the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth—from the greatest of them to the least. 6 When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

First thing to note is that Jonah’s message is one that includes the warning that, “in forty days, Nineveh will be demolished.” The intent here is to say that lest they repent, they will all be destroyed. And, what we will see is, that even if they do repent, they STILL might be destroyed. We should note that it is not wrong to speak of the consequences of unbelief and sin when we share the gospel. That shouldn’t be our only hook, but it is a powerful and certain hook. Let’s not sugarcoat the truth surrounding wickedness.

The next thing to note is that all of this was accomplished on the first day. Remember, to fully evangelize the city it should have taken three days. However, the message given to Jonah was so powerful, that people began confessing their sin and repenting in sackcloth and ashes immediately. This was n part due to the kings decree in Jonah 3:7-9:

Jonah 3:7–9 CSB

7 Then he issued a decree in Nineveh: By order of the king and his nobles: No person or animal, herd or flock, is to taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink water. 8 Furthermore, both people and animals must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from his wrongdoing. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent; he may turn from his burning anger so that we will not perish.

What should we take from this? Nineveh was not an easy going people. These were not the people that you might sit back and think, “Yeah, I could see them loving the Lord someday!” These people were hardened until the Lord softened them through Jonah’s preaching.

We should be very careful in assuming God’s plan of salvation for a particular people, regardless of their sin.

No one is beyond the Lord’s ability to save. It is not our responsibility to separate the sheep from the goats, that the Lord’s job. It is our job to pray for the lost, preach to the lost, and then pray that the lost would be receptive to the message. As we can see from Nineveh, the gospel - even an early example of it - is a powerful message.

God Responds

Jonah 3:10

Jonah 3:10 CSB

10 God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.