Out of His Comfort Zone on a Mission - Jonah 3

Introduction

When we last left Jonah he had been expelled from the great fish onto dry ground. Jonah, a prophet from the northern kingdom of Israel had been commanded by God to go to Nineveh, the Assyrian capital and proclaim against it. Instead Jonah went the opposite way to Joppa and boarded a ship bound for Tarshish. While on the ship a storm came up (caused by God) and Jonah was thrown into the sea after he told the sailors he was responsible because he was running from God. Instead of letting Jonah drown God had prepared a great fish that had swallowed Jonah. Last week we looked at a Psalm of Jonah from inside the fish and the fear of drowning that he experienced. God then spoke to the fish and the fish barfed Jonah back out on dry land. We now join Jonah in progress.

Chapter 3: Now let’s try this again

Chapter 3 begins almost as chapter 1.

Jonah 3:1–2 NKJV

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”

In chapter 1 it was:

Jonah 1:1–2 NKJV

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

So God is saying, now let us try this again.

Arise (Get up)

Go to Nineveh (that great city)

Preach to it the message that I (God) will tell you.

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15)

Matthew 28:19–20 NKJV

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Just like Jonah we have been told to GO. It doesn’t mean you will have to go across the world to share the Gospel. It can be with your neighbor, co-worker, friend, family member.

Yet, just like Jonah. It is getting out of your comfort zone. I told you when we started that Jonah had his reasons or excuses for not wanting to go there.

Nineveh

The City of Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire as a whole was greatly feared.

The Assyrians depicted the torture in great detail on the walls of the imperial palaces. They created tablets containing every single punishment the Assyrian army carried out. They cut off the limbs, gouged out the eyes, and then left those poor victims to roam around. (https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/assyrians-torture-60fabb7a9642)

The army of the Assyrians would:

Impale victims (a pole through their body)

Flaying of the skin (skinning them alive)

Beheading (building monuments with their heads)

Amputation of limbs, blinding, castrating

Burning them alive

Now you wonder why Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh. Go to Afghanistan and preach to the Taliban. You might be tempted to get on a ship or plane and go in the opposite way too.

These were the people that Jonah was called to go to and preach to.

Going to Nineveh

Jonah 3:3 NKJV

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.

And Jonah rose up and went to Nineveh, just as the Lord had spoken. Now Nineveh was a large city before God, a journey of about three days. (Lexham English LXX)

So after that long way around he goes to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD.

It reminds me of one of the funniest verses in the Bible that refer to human made detours. Where God had one plan, but the people had another.

Deuteronomy 1:2–3 NKJV

It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. Now it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him as commandments to them,

Jonah goes to Nineveh. It is a large city. It is believed it is about 7 1/2 miles around. Big for the ancient times.

The phrase “a three day journey” is unsure. Some believe it is how many days Jonah was going to preach. One day in one section of the city and one day in another and the rest on the third day. It doesn’t seem to be referring to the size of the city

The Message

Jonah 3:4 NKJV

And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

The message that God had given him was in 40 days, Nineveh will be overthrown!

The City will be destroyed!

That is not a popular message. If you saw a guy walking through Washington DC shouting that in 40 days Washington DC and the United States was going to be overthrown we might think the guy crazy and needs to be put into a psych ward at a hospital or be arrested for making such statements. Yet, this is the message that Jonah, a foreigner, he proclaiming through this great city.

Have you ever had to say or do something that really took you out of your comfort zone? Jonah is way out of his comfort zone, but he knows God is serious about it after everything that has happened when tried to run. The prophets never real;y had nice messages like you are doing great and here is a pat on your back. They are calls to turn around and go back to God.

The Response of the People

Jonah 3:5 NKJV

So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

The message was harsh, but the people of Nineveh BELIEVED the message that God had spoke by the mouth of Jonah.

They had faith in the words that were proclaimed to them.

We are not told why they believed, but they believed. God had prepared their hearts to hear and receive this message.

Remember Jonah is the messenger, not the message. Just like we are the messengers of God, not the message.

Jonah just had to go to this city and proclaim the message that God had given to him. We have to go and proclaim the message He has given to us.

The people responded by BELIEVING and then putting it into action.

A FAST (refraining from food for a period of time)—show they are serious by giving this up

SACKCLOTH — Sackcloth was fabric made of goat or camel hair, which made it coarse and uncomfortable. The piece of sackcloth used in mourning usually took the form of a loincloth. (Faithlife Study Bible)

This was done by all of them.

Response of the King

We zoom in and see that not only the common people in the streets heard the message, but the King of Nineveh heard it too.

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 3

The king of Assyria in Jonah’s day was probably Assur-dan III

Some commentaries think it is him and others someone else, but the King responded to the message.

Jonah 3:6 NKJV

Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.

The King humbled himself by leaving his throne (he arose from it)

He takes off the royal robe

He puts himself in sackcloth

He sits in ashes

From a throne with royal robes to a pile of ashes wearing sackcloth.

He takes it a step further:

Jonah 3:7–9 NKJV

And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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.”

The King is serious, the nobles are serious and he wants the people to be take this serious as well.

No eating by human or animal

No drinking water (most likely for 3 days)

Let man and animal be covered with sackcloth

Call out Mightily to God! (PRAY)— WORDS

TURN from evil and Violence — ACTIONS

Turn around. PNG - Turim bel (turn your stomach) go in another direction. Repentance.

In turn maybe, they don’t know the outcome. Maybe God will spare us from fierce anger so they do not die.

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 3

Literally, “anger of nose.” In modern usage, it might be rendered “flaring nostrils.”

Once again, we do not know how God prepared the soil for Jonah’s message. God was at work long before he called Jonah to go arise and go to this city. We never know how God has prepared someone’s heart when He tells us to talk to them about Jesus. We are just the messenger, not the message. Follow His leading.

God’s response

Jonah 3:10 NKJV

Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

This was not a show. This was not false humility. God would not be mocked. This is genuine repentance in the city.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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.

God saw their change and their real turning away from evil. God saw their hearts beyond the sackcloth. They truly changed.

The result is that His flaring nostrils calmed and He relented from the disaster that He was going to do to them.

Exodus 32:7–14 (NKJV)

And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ ” And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.” Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.

So Jonah should be happy that God had forgiven the people whom God sent him to, right? Well we will see what Jonah’s response is next week and God’s response to him.

Conclusion

God has given us a message to proclaim, yet so often we (myself included) are like Jonah and we go the other way. Yet, we are the messenger and God gives the message. We have no idea how God is going to use the message He has given us to touch the people we talk to. Jonah’s message was not a nice warm and fuzzy message. It was a warning! We have a warning and hope in the message God has given us. Let us be used by God this week.