This post is adapted from a sermon I recently preached. Unfortunately, the sermon was not recorded.
In chapter one (Jon 1), we read about Jonah and the storm. In chapter two (Jon 2), we read about Jonah in the fish. Today, we will be reading about Jonah’s experience in the city of Nineveh.
Jonah 3:1-10
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.” 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. 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!” 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.
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.”
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.
BIG IDEA: God will pour out his wrath on sinners, but He shows mercy to those who repent.
That’s a pretty basic theological statement, but it’s not a popular message for modern minds. Many don’t like the idea of God, especially the God of the Bible. Even more despise the idea of God’s wrath and the thought of us being sinners in need of repentance. In fact, the only part of that sentence that most people like is that if there is a God, He is merciful. Nonetheless, our views of God must come from Scripture and not from ourselves or the culture.
1
After the fish spit Jonah out (Jon 2:10), in verse 1 we’re told that “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.”
In the Old Testament, prophets were to take the word of the Lord that came to them and proclaim it. Today, there are no prophets as there were in the Old Testament. Today, God does not speak through prophets, but through His written Word, the Bible. The job of every preacher of God’s Word is to communicate the meaning of Scripture as it was intended by the author, as inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:20-21). As Christians, we are to read God’s Word and have it change our hearts and minds (Rom 12:2). We cannot expect to be faithful to the will of God when we refuse to open the Word of God.
We cannot expect to be faithful to the will of God when we refuse to open the Word of God.
2
We’re not told where Jonah was spit out, but once again, the Lord tells Jonah to go to Nineveh. At the very least, Jonah would have had 550 miles to travel, which would have taken at least a month if he was riding a camel or donkey and much longer if he was on foot. The Lord tells him to call out against the city of Nineveh and to speak “the message that I tell you.”
As Christians, we are not free to alter the message of Scripture. We are to proclaim God’s message even when it is unpopular. We preach the truth of God’s Word and we do not apologize for it. To alter or soften God’s Word is to be disobedient to God Himself.
Jonah was given a second chance even though he was disobedient to the Lord. If you are not a Christian, you may be surprised that even though God will judge every sin, He is also a God of second chances.
Though God was displeased with His prophet, He never deserted him, as evidenced by His sending of the great fish. As God was merciful to Jonah, He will offer mercy to the Ninevites as well.
How about you? How many times have you disobeyed God and deserved His punishment, yet God has shown you mercy?
God showed mercy to Jonah because He cared about the Ninevites. But God also cared about Jonah. He wanted Jonah’s heart to reflect the heart of God (Jon 4:9-11). God is not simply interested in obedience out of duty, but He wants us to delight in Him (Ps 37:4).
This time, Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord (v. 3).
3
In chapter one when Jonah received his commission, he “fled to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” (1:2). This time, Jonah realizes that he should not and cannot run from God’s will and so he goes to Nineveh in reluctant obedience.
Scripture does not give us every detail of the story. As I mentioned earlier, we are not told where Jonah was spit up onto dry land. We’re not told if he went to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice (Jon 2:9). We are simply told that Jonah “arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.”
The text says that Nineveh “was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth.”
Nineveh is called a great city four times in Jonah (Jon 1:2, 3:2-3, 4:11).
There is some debate about what exactly the text means when it mentions “a three days journey.”
- One possibility is that it would take three days to get through the city and its suburbs.
- A second possibility is that it would take three days to go around the outside of the city.
- A third possibility is that “three days’ journey” is an idiom that is meant to communicate how long it would take to get to Nineveh. In other words, this phrase is meant to communicate that the city is far away from Jonah when he began his journey.
The clear thing about the text, however, is that Nineveh was a significant place. As we will see in chapter four (Jon 4), this great city greatly mattered to God.
4
When Jonah arrives in the city (in v. 4), he began to warn the Ninevites of God’s coming wrath. His message was simple – “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” This doesn’t necessarily mean that those were the only words that Jonah spoke, but it was the core of Jonah’s message.
In Scripture, the number 40 is often identified with testing or judgment.
- During the great flood in Genesis, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights.
- The Jewish spies explored Canaan for 40 days.
- The nation of Israel was tested in the wilderness for 40 years.
- Goliath taunted Israel’s army for 40 days.
- Here, the Lord gives the Ninevites 40 days to repent of their wickedness.
The word “overthrown” is the same word that was used in the warning to Lot about Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:23-29). It’s clear using this word and the number 40 that the author is communicating that Jonah’s message was a word of judgment. Notice, Jonah did not name their offenses. He didn’t tell them what they ought to do. He did not explicitly offer any hope of avoiding judgment.
He didn’t even mention God’s name. Remember, in chapter one (Jon 1:9) he told the Gentile sailors that He feared the Lord, and Jonah used the name Yahweh. But when it came to the Ninevites, it seems that Jonah shared very little. He simply warned them of coming judgment. As we will see in chapter four, Jonah did not want the Ninevites to repent. He wanted God to wipe them out.
Like Jonah, we are called by God to give people bad news. We are called to warn them of God’s coming wrath against them. It is only when people understand the depth of their own sin against a holy God will they be ready for the good news that He offers forgiveness through Christ. The good news of the gospel only makes sense to people if they understand their condemnation without Christ.
We are called to warn others of the wrath to come, even our enemies.
We are called to warn others of the wrath to come, even our enemies.
Jonah was not a missionary that preached a message of hope but was a reluctant prophet that preached a message of judgment and doom. In what must have been a shock to Jonah, the people of Nineveh believed his message.
5
Verse five is a summary statement of what happened, and vv. 6-9 contain the details.
Perhaps you may be asking this question:
Why would a city full of wicked people believe Jonah, who was a prophet from a different place and who worshiped a different God?
There are several possible reasons:
- One is that around the time of Jonah’s mission, Assyria had experienced a series of famines, plagues, revolts, and eclipses, each of which would have been interpreted as omens of far worse things to come.
- It’s also possible that someone saw the fish spit Jonah up onto dry land and that news had spread to Nineveh.
- Perhaps the pagan sailors spoke of Jonah as well as the mighty power of the Lord to still the sea. Maybe they had told traders that went into Nineveh and told the tale.
One or more of these were contributing factors, but the most likely cause is that they had a guilty conscience (Rom 2:15) because of their wicked ways and that God had begun to till the soil of their hearts.
The text says that the Ninevites “believed God”, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that they were converted. There seems to be no indication that they entered into a covenant relationship with God. Notice, there is a mention of God (Elohim), but not of Yahweh (the Lord) as there was with the sailors (Jon 1:14-16).
We also are not told that they removed their idols or understood God’s law. In the ancient world, people believed there were all sorts of powerful gods, but they only worshiped ones they believed had power over their lives.
It seems that they didn’t really believe in God in a salvation sense, but rather that God’s word of judgment was true and would come to fruition if they did not change their behavior.
They wanted to do whatever it took to keep themselves from experiencing God’s wrath.
6
The message of Jonah reached the king of Nineveh. Verse six says that he got up from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
Sackcloth was rough and uncomfortable material (similar to an old potato sack) that was worn to indicate mourning.
Not only did the king put on sackcloth and sit in ashes, but he issued a proclamation that was published throughout the city in vv. 7-8.
7-8
In modern day terms, he called an emergency press conference and gave instructions to the citizens of Nineveh: neither men nor animals were to eat or drink. They were to be covered with sackcloth and to “call out mightily to God.” In addition, they were to turn away from their evil and violent ways.
By commanding the people to cry out to God and to turn from their evil ways, the king hoped that they would be spared from God’s wrath. That is what we see in verse nine.
9
The king doesn’t seem terribly confident that God would relent but he hopes that their repentance will turn God away from his fierce anger.
Notice that the king is concerned that the Ninevites would perish. This is the third time that a pagan has shown concern that people might perish. We saw the captain of the ship concerned about him and his crew (1:6). We saw the sailors ask the Lord for mercy and that they would not perish for throwing Jonah overboard (1:14). And here in v. 9, we see the king of Nineveh hoping that the city will not perish.
Ironically, God’s prophet Jonah has expressed no such concern. In fact, he was very short with the sailors and the Ninevites, but his prayer of thanksgiving for his own deliverance was quite long (Jon 2).
As Christians, we should care more about human suffering than unbelievers.
As Christians, we should care more about human suffering than unbelievers.
As the Ninevites repent, they are in fact spared.
In v. 10, we see that when the people repented, God relented.
10
God saw the people’s repentance and he spared them. The text says that, “God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”
The KJV says that God repented. I don’t really the use of the word repent. I say that because when I think of repentance, I think of a change in morality. But God is perfect. He does not sin, and He does not change.
The theological word for the idea that God does not change is immutability. I want to share two verses to emphasize that God does not change:
Numbers 23:19 – God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
James 1:17 – Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
The reality is that God did not change His mind. Implied in Jonah’s message of judgment was that judgment would be spared if the people repented.
There are varying opinions as to whether the Ninevites were converted. One commentator says that Jonah was the most successful evangelist of all time. In my view, the text seems to indicate that the repentance of the Ninevites was quite shallow.
It seems to me that he Ninevites were not really acting in true faith and devotion to Yahweh, but were really acting out of self-preservation (see especially v. 9 – “Who knows?”). But God honors their small step in the right direction and relents from His imminent judgment.
Overall, it seems that the majority of the Ninevites were not truly converted, but perhaps a few were. Remember, Jesus mentioned the Ninevites to the Pharisees because of their willingness to repent when warned of coming judgment (Matt 12:38-41).
Conclusion
The repentance of the Ninevites is similar to someone who hears the gospel and walks down the aisle. He or she makes some sort of emotional decision but later drops out of church and continues to live as they always have with no regard for obedience to Jesus.
Most of these people want to escape hell and exhibit some remorse for their sins, but many have not genuinely put their faith and trust in Jesus, which becomes evident over time (Mark 4:13-20).
We all need to be warned about superficial repentance. In His mercy, God spared Nineveh of immediate judgment. However, it is not enough to be spared a temporary judgment. If the Ninevites only repented but did not put their faith and trust in Yahweh, they would be judged in eternity. In fact, only 125-150 years later, Nineveh experienced God’s wrath, which is expressed in the book of Nahum.
Friends,
It is one thing to believe that a message is true in your mind. It is another to believe it in your heart.
It is one thing to believe that the gospel is true. It is another to build your life upon it (Matt 7:24-27).
It is one thing to walk the aisle and “accept Jesus”. It is another to follow after Jesus, deny yourself, take up your cross, as you submit to Him as Lord (Luke 9:23-24).
God is patient. He is kind. He is merciful. But He will pour out his wrath on sinners who do not repent (John 3:36).
Do we see ourselves as needing mercy just as much as the Ninevites? It’s easy to compare ourselves with others and to become self-righteous. The reality is that we are all in need of God’s grace (Rom 3:10-11, 23).
Maybe you’ve never committed acts of violence or torture, but we have all broken God’s Law. James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”
The greatest news is that God shows mercy to those who repent of their sin and trust in His Son Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life, and died for our sins as a substitute for us, who deserved His wrath.
Have you trusted in Jesus as Lord? Are you honoring Him with your life? Are you offering yourself to God as a living sacrifice?
Christians,
God does not tell us to tell people that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life. Jesus never said this to anyone.
Are we willing to share the message of God’s Word, even the uncomfortable parts about God’s wrath and judgment?
God commands us to call people to genuine repentance and true faith in Jesus.
Will we be found faithful when God calls us to the Ninevehs in our life?