Jonah 3

The question is often asked, “Was the fish more relieved to be rid of Jonah or Jonah to be rid of the fish?”

Regardless, Jonah gave thanks to God for his present salvation.

We don’t know where the fish spat Jonah, but we do know that God was there. Jonah had fled the presence of God, but now he was comforted by the only thing that guarantees the presence of God - His word.

1. Jonah Preaches (vv. 1-4)

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time...

It’s important to see the repetition of the Word coming throughout this book.

Originally it came to Jonah, then to the mariners, then to Jonah again, and finally it is coming to Nineveh.

It is important to see that God draws his people by his word, saves his people by his word, and sustains his people by his word.

Isn’t it great that the word has also come to us and now we can go to the world with the assurance that God will bless the ministry of his word.

Jonah 3:1-2 “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.””

The compassion of God can be seen as God restores Jonah to his prophetic ministry,

This shouldn’t surprise us.

“Abraham fled to Egypt, where he lied about his wife, but God gave him another chance (Gen. 12:10–13:4). Jacob lied to his father Isaac, but God restored him and used him to build the nation of Israel. Moses killed a man (probably in self-defense) and fled from Egypt, but God called him to be the leader of His people. Peter denied the Lord three times, but Jesus forgave him and said, “Follow Me” (John 21:19).”

But, here, God’s compassion was about more than just Jonah.

v.2 - He was sent to Nineveh, “that great city”

Nineveh was an influential city in Jonah’s day.

It’s location near the Tigris River and the Khoser River offered great trading opportunities throughout the city.

Nineveh was not just great in commerce, it was great in sin.

The Assyrians were violent, and they did not respect gender or age. - life meant nothing to them.

Nahum 3:10 “Yet she [Thebes] became an exile; she went into captivity; her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; for her honored men lots were cast, and all her great men were bound in chains.”

Roe v. Wade - A sign of evil through out time has been the disregard of human life, particularly those who are helpless.

We need to be intentionally aware of what is going on in our own nation, and make sure that we as Christians value life from conception to death. Each person is created in the image of God!

BF&M - “We should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, and the sick. We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death.”

The evil of Nineveh was so bad that, according to Jonah 1:2, their evil had made its way uniquely into the view of God.

In response to their wickedness, Jonah was to “call out against it the message that [God told him].”

These words reminded Jonah of the divine commission that he was given. This message was not about him or about how he felt about Nineveh, but it was a message from God for his rebellious creation.

Like Jonah, Tribalism, Patriotism, and Prejudice are sins we are all prone to struggle with, but just because they are common doesn’t mean they are to be accepted.

If you find yourself in anyway devaluing others, you can go to the Lord and ask that he forgive you and help love unconditionally.

By God’s mercy, Jonah’s view had changed...

Jonah 3:3 “So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth.”

In the first chapter Jonah arose to flee the presence of the Lord, but here he arose and went according to the word of the Lord.

Here again it is emphasized that Nineveh was a great city...

Being mentioned twice in three verses helps us understand the care and compassion God had for the Ninevites who were created in his image.

This was a great city in the eyes of God, in-spite of their sin.

Though they were idolatrous Gentiles, their inherent value was in their creator not their nationality.

Not only was Nineveh great in the eyes of God, it was great in its size.

It is said that the circumference of the city was 55miles, meaning a three day journey would be an amazing pace for anyone.

v. 4 - Jonah went into Nineveh, a days journey.

This would have been within the customary traditions of the day.

Jonah would have met with officials, dignitaries, and influential residence.

He probably gave them gifts and food to earn the right to speak.

Jonah doesn’t need to be seen as some wide-eyed street preacher.

But, a man commissioned by God, under the compassion of God, and compelled by the mercy of God - he shared what seems to be a very short, yet effective, sermon.

v.4 - “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

Jonah’s sermon was a pronouncement of judgement, but with a look toward the hope only God can provide.

The biblical pattern of 40 days is seen here in the forecast of judgement.

Be Amazed (2. The Marvel of an Unparalleled Awakening (Jonah 3:3–10))

Throughout Scripture, the number forty seems to be identified with testing or judgment. During the time of Noah, it rained forty days and forty nights (Gen. 7:4, 12, 17). The Jewish spies explored Canaan forty days (Num. 14:34), and the nation of Israel was tested in the wilderness forty years (Deut. 2:7). The giant Goliath taunted the army of Israel forty days (1 Sam. 17:16), and the Lord was tempted in the wilderness for forty, here the Lord gave the people of Nineveh forty days to repent and turn from their wickedness.

Jonah’s sermon carried the weight of God’s all consuming judgement. Just as he destroyed Sodom and Gomorra, he would destroy Nineveh., but they would be given 40 days to turn from their evil ways, but they didn’t need that long.

2. Nineveh Repents (vv.5-9)

v.5 - the people of Nineveh believed God...

Jonah’s message seems to lack a sense of hope, but the response of the Ninevites shows that they knew God would relent if they would repent.

Jonah’s message carried the compassion we see in Jer 18:7-8

“If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.”

The Ninevites respond, and from the greatest to the least (v.6) - men, women, and children repented and worshipped God.

What did the Ninevites believe?

Believed God

Called for a fast unto God (Worship)

Put on sackcloth (Mourned their sin)

v. 7 What had begun among the people was now reenforced by the king. He made the worship of God mandatory, but it started with him first.

But, the governor takes things a step further by including the animals in his desperate attempt to appease God

Jonah 3:7-8 “And he issued a proclamation Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 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.”

This type of response to the word of the Lord showed a focused self-denial among a people who had been self-confident and self-reliant.

Amos, Obadiah, Jonah (3) The Response of the King (3:6–9)

By eschewing normal comforts and making themselves physically miserable, they sought to show the genuineness of their prayers for mercy

v.9 - However, through all this sacrificing and worship the king off Nineveh was not sure that God would spare them.

His words sound a lot like the pagan ship captain in Jonah 1 when he told Jonah to call out to his God and “Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

In both cases these men were coming face to face with the reality, as Jonah said, “salvation belongs to the Lord!”

Pious actions and religious traditions cannot secure one’s salvation of the Lord. Salvation belongs to the Lord!

Thankfully, the response of the Ninevites received the affectionate gaze of God.

The wrath of God was satisfied as the Ninivites believed him! This has been the case throughout history...

Jn 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

3. God Relents (v.10)

Jonah 3:10 “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.”

The Ninevites turn from their evil, and God turns from his wrath.

It is important to see what led God to relent.

The people fasted, the wore sackcloth, they called on the Lord, but it was their turning from evil that satisfied God.

Relent v. Repent

Repent - to turn from a bad thing and embrace the good

Relent - to turn from acting in a particular way, but it does not necessarily mean that the first was worse than the second.

It would have been perfectly just for God to extend his judgement on Nineveh.

It was also perfectly just for God to with hold his judgement on Nineveh as a response to their repentance

This does not mean God changed in his eternal decrees.

Simeon - “The change was not in God, but in the Ninevites. For the removal of his threatened judgements was rather an execution, than a reversal, of his own decrees, which from eternity have been to pardon the penitent, and to bless the contrite.”

The justice of God is satisfied in both saving the repenter and condemning the sinner.

Often times we shy away from the hard spiritual conversations because we don’t understand both sides of God’s justice.

Let us not be like the faithless generation of Jesus’ day who turned from the truth.

They wanted Jesus to perform signs they could understand rather than taking him at his word.

His response was Matthew 12:41 “The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”

May we, like Nineveh, believe God, turn from our evil ways, and worship him knowing that he has rescued us from perishing in Christ!

The Word of God has come to us in the Son of God!