4. The Beauty of Repentance

Welcome to part four of Jonah the Story of You. I’m so glad that you are here today. What we are discovering is that this odyssey of Jonah isn’t about some random prophet who was swallowed by a fish. Oh, it’s much deeper and personal. What we are discovering in each chapter is that Jonah’s story is really our story, and today we are going to see this played out in a very profound way.

If you have a Bible or device, find Jonah chapter three. If you are using the YouVersion Bible app, go to Events. Then find Iowa City Church. All the Scriptures, sermon notes and another Bible reading plan through Jonah is there. If you have already read Jonah during this series, read it again. If you haven’t read all of Jonah yet, you need to take some time this week to read through it slowly. Especially after this sermon.

Have you ever noticed that you become a different person once you are sitting behind the steering wheel of your car? You put on your sun glasses. You put on some sweet driving music, La Grange from ZZ Top. You pull out on the road cruising, your king of the road. When you are behind that wheel, you are always right and everyone else is always wrong. You may have been driving too fast, but the driver still shouldn’t have pulled out in front of you.

This has happened to me. I was cruising along and I came up behind a slow car. It’s frustrating. Can’t they even drive the speed limit? You finally get some space to pass…so you blow on by and give a quick glance to the right to let them know they are getting passed by someone driving the correct way. A few miles down the road a car comes flying up from behind me and passes me like I’m standing still. My first thought? Idiot! They’re going to kill someone going that fast! Talk about being a hypocrite! I have my own standard that applies only to me…and I can’t even live up to my own standard!

Back when I was going to seminary, I would drive two and half hours one way to go to class. I had a lot of windshield time. Anyway, that last year of driving I racked up three speeding tickets in the same calendar year. I was on probation and had to driving school again. I remember my first class, we were all there for the same reason. We all had to introduce ourselves and talk about how we got there. My introduction went like this: Hi. My name is Tom. I’m a youth minister, and I like to speed. It was so embarrassing. However, I haven’t had a speeding ticket since. You could say that each time I was pulled over, I had a chance to change…but it took three tickets and a driving school class for me to change my ways! You know, what’s interesting? Each of those speeding tickets was in a way like a prophet. Each officer told me, that if I don’t change my ways…a worse judgement was coming, and I didn’t listen. I thought I could keep driving with my definition of right and wrong.

We all have this way of wanting to live life on our own terms. We want to define right and wrong, good and evil. The problem is, we don’t even live up to our own personal standards. So what does it take to help awaken us from our hypocrisy? What does it take to turn things around and find true life? Jonah chapter three has some insightful solutions to this age old problem.

If you are new with us, here’s some really quick background. Jonah is a prophet of God. God asks Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital city of the largest, most powerful empire on planet earth at the time and tell them that God was going to bring judgement on them for their wickedness.

Jonah wants nothing to do with this and he decides to pursue life by heading west, as far away as possible. He boards a ship heading for Tarsus. In a huge act of grace, God sends a storm and a fish to grab hold of Jonah’s attention. While in the belly of this fish, Jonah realizes God’s severe mercy and agrees to do what God wants. So we pick up with Jonah lying on a beach after being vomited out of the fish.

Jonah 3:1–3 NIV

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it.

God gives Jonah the same word as before. Go to Nineveh and proclaim the message God has for them. Here’s the difference. It’s the word “obeyed”. Which means, he did what God asked him to do.

Here is why this is such a significant event for Jonah. The Ninevites were quit literally the enemy. This was the capital city of the fierce, violent, brilliant, and yet most brutal people on the planet. I want you to feel something similar to what Jonah felt for these people. It will help you understand this entire story.

Archeologists uncovered the ancient city of Nineveh. It’s located near the modern city of Mosul is northern Iraq. In the ruins they found the royal palace of Sennacherib. If that name sounds familiar, he shows up in your Bible. Specifically in 2 Kings 18, when he had his powerful army come into Judah and lay siege to and destroy the city Lachish. Like most good victors, you record and commemorate your victories. So in this palace there are these huge reliefs, like carved 3-D pictures. They tell the story of the defeat of Lachish and you can view them in person the British Museum.

Picture of Reliefs in the British Museum.

Let me show you just a few of them so you understand what kind of people they were.

Here’s a picture of the Assyrians impaling prisoners from Lachish.

Here’s a picture of the Assyrians filleting alive two prisoners.

Here’s a picture of a Jewish family going off into exile with the Assyrians.

I show this to you to understand how feared, hated and evil the Assyrians were. Not just to the Jewish people, but to everyone. Now you understand why Jonah ran when God wanted him to go tell the Ninevites that they were wicked. Jonah is thinking, “Let them burn God…let them burn.”

This also helps you understand what Jonah is about to do. Look at verses 4 and 5.

Jonah 3:4–5 NIV

Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

Okay, this is a massive city. However, Jonah gets a days journey into the mission and people begin to respond. Now, before we get into their response, I want to focus on Jonah’s sermon. In English it’s 8 words. In Hebrew it’s 5 words. He doesn’t say why and it doesn’t say who is going to do the overthrowing.

Now, you all are very smart people. What is going on here? Jonah, is obeying alright…in the least possible way. He’s telling them the message, but that’s all. He still wants them to be destroyed.

What is so shocking is that the people of Nineveh believed God. How do we know they believed God? The proclaimed a fast and put on sack cloth. Fasting is going without food to humble one’s self and demonstrate their desire for God and God alone. It’s a matter of listening and depending on God. Sack cloth is similar. It denotes being uncomfortable. They are putting themselves in an uncomfortable position to show not only humility but a desire to listen intently to God.

Look more closely at the word believed. In Hebrew it means “to prove to be firm”. You can look at freshly poured concrete. How do you know it’s trust, worthy or able to hold up a person? You test it. It’s believable if it’s firm.

In our culture, a lot of people claim they believe in God. A lot of people say they believe in Jesus. Belief isn’t an agreement you say in your head. It’s not some mental assent or thought you put on a T-shirt or bumper sticker. Your belief in God is measurable by the life you live. I know you believe in God because by looking at your bank account, your browser history, or how you spend your time.

How do we Jonah the people of Nineveh believed God? They humbled themselves.

Let’s keep reading.

Jonah 3:6–8 NIV

When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.

Not only do the people humble themselves, but the most powerful man in the world, gets up off his throne, takes off any appearance of power, puts on sack cloth and sits in the dust. A sign of resignation, humility and fear of the Lord. This is a clear acknowledgement that he is wrong and God is right.

In his decree, he calls for all the people, even the animals to participate. This is supposed to be a bit funny, but also show how serious the king is in submitting to God. But it’s not just humbling…it’s repentance.

Look at the end of verse eight. “Let them give up their evil ways”. Repentance isn’t feeling sorry, it’s turning around. The Hebrew word there literally means: to walk down a road, discover it’s the wrong direction, then turn around and go the right way.

Here’s what the king is saying: God you have brought judgement upon us for our actions. We acknowledge that we are wrong. We will turn around and go the right way.

Repentance is a beautiful thing. Yet it might be the most difficult thing because it requires us to admit that we are wrong.

So what is he hoping from these actions? Look at verse 9.

Jonah 3:9 NIV

Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

The King knows a judgement is being made by God against the city. The King is taking Jonah’s words to heart, that a judgement is coming. We have to not only slam on the brakes, but we have to turn around. The King is desperately hoping that it isn’t too late.

How many of us here like to talk about God’s fierce anger? How about his judgement? We typically try and avoid the conversation. We instead talk about his grace, mercy and love. However we can’t ignore God’s judgement. Here’s why: The most loving thing God could ever do is show justice. If God is just and if we long for justice in our broken world, then the most loving thing God could ever do is bring his justice.

Often times people will say, “Why can’t God just let people be and do what they want?” Isn’t that really the loving thing to do? The most loving thing God can do is tell us the truth, and deal with what is wrong or evil. You don’t want to live in a world where people just do whatever they want with no consequences. If you do that you have the Assyrian Empire where might is right, and violence and fear reign.

I picked up this illustration from Tim Mackey at Bible Project. Let’s say you are walking by the school yard and there are a bunch of 6th graders surrounding and bullying a little third grader. You as an adult could just walk by and say, “Kids will be kids, that’s just the way it is.” Is that the loving thing to do? Is that the just thing to do? No, that would be the apathetic thing to do! The opposite of love isn’t hate…it’s apathy! The most loving action you could take would be to step in and bring judgement on those 6th graders, and thus save that little third grader from those bullies.

God see’s violence and injustice in the world, and he is patient, he does send people like Jonah to tell people to turn around, however at some point, God is going to bring judgement. Sometimes judgement can simply be a consequence for wrong behavior. If you spend more money then you make, at some point the judgement will happen when you go bankrupt. We all have experienced those types of judgments haven’t we?

Scripture also makes it clear that there is a final judgement. Jesus talks about it on multiple occasions. That’s why we talk about Hell. Sometimes people will say, “How could a loving God even allow for Hell?” When the truth is, how could a loving God not have a place of judgement, like Hell? We need to be reminded of judgement.

Listen, but here’s the gift of judgement: It awakens us to repentance. The King of Nineveh repents. Judgement came on me and my speeding tickets. I had to change. Some of you have felt the judgement of consequences, prison time, separation, or just plain brokenness. Judgement, or the promise of approaching judgement can save us if it awakens us to the fact that we are living life in the wrong direction…we need to turn things around.

The King and all of Nineveh repent. They stop their wickedness. Here’s what happens.

Jonah 3:10 NIV

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

God relents. Destruction will not come. Here’s the deal however. This doesn’t last. At some point, Nineveh goes back to their old ways. As some point, Nineveh is destroyed and the Assyrian Empire goes down.

In the same way, we can repent. Acknowledge our mistakes, but it’s funny how things always gradually change. After a few days of repentance, we can say to ourselves, “Well, God is a God of forgiveness, just this one time won’t hurt.” Before we know it, we are back on that path leading to judgement…leading to death! We get in this nasty cycle don’t we? If only there was some good news to help us break the cycle!

Enter Jesus! Jesus came to us fully human and fully God. This connecting point between rebellious humans who want to define good and evil on their own terms and God. Jesus upon the cross absorbs our judgement. The punishment that was for us, was taken upon Jesus on the cross. Through the resurrection, Jesus provides us a new way to live life in his grace. So when we talk about repentance, we aren’t just talking about stopping something evil. Instead we are talking about turning from the wrong path, and instead following after Jesus.

Here’s what we learn from Jonah, chapter four:

God’s judgement is real. He wants us to know when we are going in the wrong direction, so that we can turn around and follow Jesus.