Jonah - Chapter 3

Announcements/Prayer Requests

First Fudds-

Next Sunday is First Fudds!

New Study!

Next, on Sunday, the 11th of September, we will begin a brand new 6 Week Study and Format. "Heart of the Problem" will be a six week focus on the following: Heart Foundation, Forgiveness, Trust, Anger, Finances, and Sex. These are common issues of conflict and discussion in marriages and relationships; however, we so often neglect the "Foundation" of the problems because it truly is a heart issue. Read James 4:1-10. This will be our foundational verse throughout the study. NOW...what makes this study unique is that we will first meet together from 9am till 9:10am for Prayer and Announcements, then break into an all women's study and an all men's study. This will allow us as husbands and wives to share, listen, glean and grow from those around us as we look to God's Word on rebuilding or reinforcing those foundations we will discuss. Feel free to share with others as this is not going to be limited to just our class, this is an opportunity for each of us to grow closer to Christ. Again, this is a 6 week study.

"Perfect Union" Understanding God's Gift of Sex in Marriage: POM Retreat Feb 17-19, 2023

The next Pursuit of Marriage Retreat is now scheduled and taking registrations. This 3 day retreat will be held at the Hyatt Place Uptown. Right now, the cost is $250 per couple with only a $100 deposit required to hold your spot. After Dec. 1st, the cost will go up to $300 per couple. We are also limited to only 15 couples for this retreat. This includes the 2 night stay at the Hyatt Place. Perfect Union will focus on God's design and purpose for sex in a marriage. We will discuss such topics as the "Orgasm Gap" that exists in marriage today as well as other topics of the baggage we bring into marriage, the three facets of intimacy, anatomy facts and fallacies, the journey to great sex, myths and lies about pornography, and the trust issues that get into the way. This weekend will be a very open and honest discussion about everything we should know, both "Above" and "Under" the sheets, in our marriage....all grounded through God's Word. Here is the link to register Perfect Union Registration Link Let’s Continue...

Turn to Chapter 2 of Jonah

Hope

Imagine what it must have been like inside the great fish?

The heat, the overpoweringly nauseous smell and the burning of the stomach acids must have been horrific.

Maybe Jonah was slipping in and out of consciousness and alludes to it in verse 7,

Jonah 2:7 NLT

7 As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple.

But there is hope here. The Lord who has saved him so dramatically from the water will surely deliver him at last.

Jonah could have confidence that the Lord who had answered this initial prayer would bring him final deliverance (v. 4). He would yet sing praises of thanksgiving (v. 9a) and would return to useful service (v. 9b).

The Lord’s answer

Jonah’s prayer went straight into the Lord’s dwelling place (v. 7). From there the Lord answered him (v. 2). Not only was this in stark contrast to the pagan idols who had been impotent to answer the desperate pleas of the sailors, but it was also in complete contrast to Jonah himself who had turned a consistently deaf ear to the Lord throughout chapter 1.

But we should note that while Jonah’s first prayer, from the depths of the sea, was answered spectacularly and immediately, as indeed it had to be, his second prayer from within the fish was answered after a considerably long time.

It was to be three long days before Jonah would finally be delivered.

We can only speculate what went through his mind during that period. He had no way of measuring time, of course, but it must have seemed endless. Certainly, when it eventually ended it is likely that Jonah was physically incapable of lasting very much longer.

Question:

So why did the Lord not answer sooner?

Why did Jonah’s ordeal have to be so drawn out?

Jonah probably lived the remainder of his life wondering why God had left him for such a long time before answering his prayer.

It is significant that he took the trouble to find out just how long he had been inside the fish and then record it in his narrative.

In doing so, we have an insight into God’s purposes here—a purpose which is wrapped up in redemptive history.

Jonah’s experience would be a visual aid for the disbelieving Jews in Jesus’ day. Anxious to see a sign, the Son of Man would give them just one—‘the sign of the prophet Jonah’ (Matt. 12:38–41).

After his death and burial Jesus would be in the heart of the earth for the same length of time as Jonah had been in the belly of the great fish—three days.

In other words, there was a purpose to the three days, even if Jonah never learned what it was. The initial swallowing of Jonah and his eventual discharge on to the beach were in divine hands.

But so too was everything else that occurred, including the elapse of time between those two events. With the benefit of hindsight we can see the purposes of God coming to pass even though it meant that Jonah’s pleas for deliverance from the fish were not answered immediately.

Question:

Consider Jonah’s prayer. It mostly describes his anguish. Does he actually ask God for anything in these verses?

Now, onto chapter 3...

We do not know how long Jonah had to recuperate from his experiences. However, the urgency of the situation and the pace of the narrative indicate minimal delay. The Lord speaks—Jonah gets up and goes.

Jonah 3:1–4 NLT

1 Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: 2 “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.” 3 This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. 4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!”

Jonah’s message was extremely short. As he began on the first day of his street walk towards the centre of Nineveh, he spoke: ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.’ Many people think Jonah must have said a lot more which is not recorded. Doubtless he did, but it may have been that he simply answered the natural questions fired at him from people whose consciences had been stirred.

They would have been anxious to find out about this God who was threatening them.

And what had they done specifically which had angered him so?

What could they do to assuage his wrath?

The situation demanded answers.

Clearly the message that Nineveh would be overthrown was a devastating one. It was a solemn message of impending judgement and suggested that something cataclysmic would shortly befall them.

This was the issue at the heart of Jonah’s grievance.

He had prophesied destruction and would only be happy if it came to pass.

However, the word translated ‘overthrown’ can also mean ‘turn upside down’.

In other words, if Nineveh experienced a complete and radical change of heart she could legitimately be described as having been ‘overthrown’.

This is of course precisely what happened.

The embodiment of the message

There is an account of a man who survived being swallowed by a sperm whale in 1891, although some doubt has been cast upon its authenticity. Initially thought to have been lost at sea in a whaling accident, James Bartley was discovered when the whale was caught and cut open a couple of days later. He was pulled from the stomach unconscious but he came round and eventually resumed his life as a whaler. The significant aspect of the account is that for the rest of his life he was strangely bleached. Considering he had lain in the gastric acids of the whale’s stomach at temperatures of around 105°F it is hardly surprising.

It is not unreasonable to think that Jonah was similarly bleached.

If so, it is difficult to imagine people holding back from the inevitable question: ‘What happened to you?’ His story would then unfold as a living example of the truth he proclaimed.

Even if this is pure conjecture, it is nonetheless true that Jonah himself was a living embodiment of his message.

Both Jonah and the Ninevites had wilfully ignored God’s word to them (although in the case of the Ninevites the voice of God came indirectly to them through their consciences).

Both Jonah and the Ninevites, as a consequence, faced the imminent judgement of the Lord.

Jonah 3:5 NLT

5 The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.

Verse 5 is a key moment in the book, just as 2:1 had been a key moment for Jonah (‘from inside the fish Jonah prayed’).

Although it was obvious that the Ninevites believed what Jonah was telling them about their city being overthrown, this is not how it is recorded.

Rather, we are told that they believed God. They took Jonah to be a faithful prophet and embraced the message he was bringing them from the Lord.

It was God’s message they heard and God’s message they believed.

However ‘believing God’ goes deeper than just believing what they had been told.

It also means that they believed in God.

They were not merely heeding his warning but were casting themselves upon him.

The declaration of a fast and the wearing of sackcloth was an outward expression reflecting a genuine and heartfelt turning away from sin.

But the fact that they believed in God indicates that the ‘turning away’ was matched by a ‘turning to’ at the same time.

In a single movement they turned their backs upon their old way of life and turned their faces in hope to the God of mercy.

Question:

Do you see repentance and faith as representing the two aspects of ‘turning from’ and ‘turning to’?

A fast is declared. It may have been little more than a formal recognition of what was already happening since they were grieving over their sin, and those who grieve do not feel like eating. They also put on sackcloth—thick coarse cloth, often made from goats’ hair. It symbolized their inner self-abasement.

Jonah’s preaching put a torch to the very fabric of Ninevite society. Once ignited, the flames swept all before it, engulfing every social group, from the greatest to the least.

Jonah 3:6–10 NLT

6 When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. 7 Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city: “No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. 8 People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. 9 Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.” 10 When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

The king’s repentance (v. 6)

There is a neat symmetry to the king’s response in verse 6.

He gets up, takes off, puts on and sits down.

It is a remarkable act in its spontaneous humility and repentance.

He arises from the throne, removes his royal robes, puts on sackcloth and sits down in the dust.

In one sense, it was a simple gesture not requiring a great deal of energy and probably not taking him very far geographically.

In another sense, it cost him everything and a single step equated with a period of light years.

In a matter of minutes he had personally taken himself from the top of society and placed himself deliberately at its very bottom.

Ashes speak of fire and judgement; dust speaks of the end of all men.

The king is saying that, despite his earthly privileges, it is among the dust of death that he rightly belongs.

Such an act and such a statement was all the more astonishing for the fact that he only heard the word of God second hand.

The king’s decree (vv. 7–8)

Having set the example in a spontaneous act of personal self-abasement, the king and the nobles together issue a decree requiring the citizens of Nineveh to do exactly the same, i.e. repent from their sin and call upon God.

In point of fact the people are some way ahead of him at this stage.

They are already in sackcloth by the time he gets to hear the news. It is not clear that he is telling them to do anything which they have not already done, or are doing.

Nonetheless, his decree gives a focus and leadership to the crisis at hand and his personal example gives it added force.

Even if the people have not quite grasped the significance of the forty days, the king has.

He therefore tells everyone to call urgently on God.

There is a healthy partnership here between people and king.

Had the king’s decree been imposed without the people having been moved and troubled as the king had been, it would have achieved little. Surely the judgement would have fallen just as Jonah promised. Without a movement of God among the inhabitants of Nineveh, the result of the king’s decree could never have got beyond an outward conformity to a law.

And yet it needed the king to give a sense of direction to the nation’s grief and impress upon the people that the need of the hour was not merely to turn from sin but to turn to the Lord himself.

He therefore tells his people to call urgently on God.

I want us to look at the humility of this unnamed king of Nineveh by comparing him with Nebuchadnezzer and Herod.

Daniel 4:28–37 NLT

28 “But all these things did happen to King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 Twelve months later he was taking a walk on the flat roof of the royal palace in Babylon. 30 As he looked out across the city, he said, ‘Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor.’ 31 “While these words were still in his mouth, a voice called down from heaven, ‘O King Nebuchadnezzar, this message is for you! You are no longer ruler of this kingdom. 32 You will be driven from human society. You will live in the fields with the wild animals, and you will eat grass like a cow. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.’ 33 “That same hour the judgment was fulfilled, and Nebuchadnezzar was driven from human society. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven. He lived this way until his hair was as long as eagles’ feathers and his nails were like birds’ claws. 34 “After this time had passed, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. My sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the one who lives forever. His rule is everlasting, and his kingdom is eternal. 35 All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. No one can stop him or say to him, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’ 36 “When my sanity returned to me, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored as head of my kingdom, with even greater honor than before. 37 “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud.”

Acts 12:19–25 NLT

19 Herod Agrippa ordered a thorough search for him. When he couldn’t be found, Herod interrogated the guards and sentenced them to death. Afterward Herod left Judea to stay in Caesarea for a while. 20 Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they sent a delegation to make peace with him because their cities were dependent upon Herod’s country for food. The delegates won the support of Blastus, Herod’s personal assistant, 21 and an appointment with Herod was granted. When the day arrived, Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his throne, and made a speech to them. 22 The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, “It’s the voice of a god, not of a man!” 23 Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people’s worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died. 24 Meanwhile, the word of God continued to spread, and there were many new believers. 25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission to Jerusalem, they returned, taking John Mark with them.

Thoughts? Did you notice how God dealt differently with each of them?

Call urgently on God (v. 8b)

The king directed the people to plead with the Lord.

He was right to do so.

After all, the people had something to say to the Lord.

It was far more important that they express the inner turmoil of their hearts in words than merely demonstrate the emotion of grief through the external signs of fasting and wearing sackcloth.

Although God sees us, he particularly wants to hear us.

The sin of Nineveh was something in which the entire community shared. It was therefore appropriate that the entire community come together in repentance over it.

Yet, sin is committed by individuals and each must carry the burden of his own sin.

Knowing this, the king tells them that every one of them should personally turn from his own evil and violent ways.

Again he is right. Man’s sinfulness has an individual as well as a corporate dimension to it.

And so as the city wept for its sin, individuals also sought the Lord personally. Each person carried two burdensome weights to the Lord. One was in a package marked ‘our sin’; the other in a package marked ‘my sin’.

A shred of hope (v. 9)

The words of the king: ‘Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish’ carry a vestige of hope. It may not be great, but it is all that he has and he will hang on to it.

The same kind of desperate yet real faith is found in the captain’s words to Jonah in 1:6 where he demands that Jonah call upon his God and comments: ‘Maybe he will take notice of us and we will not perish.’

The thought in both of these men is that if they turn from their sin, maybe God will turn from his wrath. And then, having turned from his wrath—dare they hope it—maybe he will turn to them.

The faint hope in God entertained by pagan men in this book is made absolutely certain in the light of New Testament truth.

Both the king and the captain understand that without divine mercy they will certainly perish.

The prayers they urge in desperation to be prayed are designed to avoid such an outcome, but it is impossible to avoid the feeling that they see this as their last and rapidly fading hope.

However nobody praying that same prayer nowadays need approach God with such timidity.

John 3:16–21 NLT

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

We have the famous words of John 3:16: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’.

It is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ which means that, with repentant hearts, we can pray the prayer that pagan Ninevites prayed and know with rock-solid confidence that we are forgiven for Christ’s sake.

The Lord’s response (v. 10)

There has been a change in the heart of the people and a change in the heart of the king.

There is therefore a change in the heart of God.

This is not repentance in the sense of regretting something done earlier, but God’s response to a complete turnaround in Ninevite thinking and acting.

Judgement was lifted when God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways.

It was not when he saw their tears or observed their fasts.

It was not even when he heard their cries to him.

Although he could read their hearts, the threat of destruction was only removed in compassion when the Lord could see that their grief was genuine.

This was true heart transformation.

Side Note:

If you want the “rest of the story” read the book of Nahum. Within 150 years, Nineveh had abandoned the fruits of repentance and returned to her previous violence and wickedness. This time there is no repentance and the ‘city of blood’ (Nahum 3:1) is destroyed as prophesied. This does not mean that their repentance in Jonah 3:10 was not genuine. It was—Jesus said so (Matt. 12:41).

Matthew 12:41 NLT

41 “The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent.

However, it does show that a past act of repentance does not guarantee future safety.

A return to sin needs a corresponding return to repentance.

Truly saved and a complete surrender of the heart is needed.

In Closing

What rules your heart?

Humility or Pride?