The End is Near

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.”

Vomited out by a fish.

Hopefully, maybe, he has had a shower since then.

But the he has traveled overland more than a thousand miles to the big city. Nineveh. Big enough that it would take 3 days to walk across.

Maybe 120,000 people.

That guy shows up in your city. Even if he was cleaned up as can be, he is still a nobody from podunk nowhere Israel.

Know-nothing wanna-be prophet of an unknown God.

And that guy starts preaching the worst “pitch” you ever heard.

What is the “message that God told Jonah?”

What is his “gospel presentation?”

Jonah 3:4 ESV

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!”

Jonah 3:4 The Message

4 Jonah entered the city, went one day’s walk and preached, “In forty days Nineveh will be smashed.”

Not “get smashed.” It’s “you’re about to get smote!”

He is a third of the way, near the center, not quite there. Preaching doom and judgment and condemnation. You are all going to die.

He doesn’t actually even seem to say “repent...” because that’s not an option in Jonah’s mind. That’s not part of the message, I am assuming Jonah didn’t cut that part out.

He just says “you are all going to die!”

Hell House

It reminds me of these. I think I went to one of these here in Colorado back in the late 90s. But these are still happening today. It’s the total “scare people into heaven” model.

And it’s easy to mock it. It’s easy to make fun. I’m skeptical of this approach. You can’t scare people into heaven, by the way, but you can scare them away from hell.

And that isn’t the endpoint.

But it is a starting point.

And who else preaches about the judgment of God, the coming end, even fire and damnation?

Just about every prophet, certainly John the Baptist for days and, oh yeah… Jesus. That guy.

It makes us uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable. But it is true.

And it is part of the gospel. Because it is true, and it is true today. The End is Near. We live in Nineveh and Nineveh needs to repent!

It isn’t loving to leave that part out. It’s actually pretty hateful. I love this quote from Penn.

If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward… how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?

-Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller)

Jonah preaches the classic doomsday message: The End is Near!

To everyone’s absolute shock... it works and the people of Nineveh repent.

Nineveh Repents

Jonah 3:5 ESV

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.

The rich people repented. The poor people repented. The worst sinners repented. The not-quite-as-bad sinners repented. All the way up to the top:

Jonah 3:6–9 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. 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.”

That is what repentance looks like.

I recognize my sin… and the coming consequence of sin. Judgment is coming...

I will do anything and everything I possibly can do to turn away from that.

Now, does this get them into heaven? No, that’s going to take some Jesus. How does God handle that with people born and die before Jesus? That’s a fun conversation… but he does. God is creative, He has that all figured out.

This may not be the be-all endzone of faith… but it absolutely the starting point. The “turning” point...

and God saw it.

Jonah 3:10 ESV

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.

One of the most beautiful verses in the Bible.

An answer to what “could have been” in the Flood with Noah, or in Sodom and Gomorrah, or in a thousand other stories of God’s judgment.

God speaks or the prophet speaks that God’s judgment is coming. Why say anything? Why send the messenger at all?

This is always and has always been God’s heart, God’s plan, God’s purpose.: that his children in every tribe and nation would turn their hearts to him.

The Israelites, the Jews after them, they got this wrong over and over and over again. Jonah is going to get this wrong. Thinking that because they are “special” and “chosen” and “set apart” that they were the only ones God loved and the only ones that could or would be saved.

God always sought to save and rescue and bless all his peoples. Through Abraham to bless all the nations. Through the line of David to rescue all the nations. Through Jesus to save the world.

We saw it in Nahum the leper the prophet Elisha. And maybe more than anywhere else, we see it here in Nineveh.

No wickedness is “too wicked” for God’s mercy.

You cannot be too far gone for his love and grace.

Does their “ashes and sackcloth” give righteousness? Does it undo the effects of their sin? Not even close. But God is just that eager for his people to turn their face back to Him.

This is a start.

The Prodigal Father

To illustrate the ridiculous love of the Father, Jesus told this parable. Called by many, Christian and non-Christian alike, the greatest short story of all time.

We hear the first part this week and the rest next week:

Luke 15:11–24 ESV

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

God is not reluctantly accepting the repentance of Nineveh. Repentance was the point.

Every man, woman and child in Nineveh: created by God, crafted by His hand, created on purpose for a purpose. It breaks his heart that they are hurting one another. Every day they live and remain is an act of grace, allowing their sin for a moment in hopes they will repent. And when the pain and sin is just too much, sending a prophet to announce that there is a deadline. There is judgment coming. There has to be, God cannot forever allow sin and pain and people hurting people. We all want him to draw a line for how much “awful” is allowed, don’t we? God draws a line with Nineveh: 40 day countdown.

God invites you to repent.

You are never to far gone from his love for you. It is not too late to turn around.

Repent, for the end is near.

The End is Near.

For those of you who are forever and already rescued from hell, from judgment, forever free from sin and shame. You have been given the command to go and tell the good news.

Repent, the End is Near. That’s part of the good news.

And look, God sent his Son, not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Jesus. In order that you could be saved.

The End is Near.

If you are stuck in Nineveh that may sound scary.

If you belong to Jesus, that is great and glorious news.

Because here is a sneak peek at what the End looks like to the people of God:

Revelation 7:9–12 ESV

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

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