Jonah:
Jonah at Nineveh - Resignation

Dr. Richard L. Strauss
August 28, 1960

 

The book of Jonah is a great book, and chapter 3 is its greatest chapter. We don't often think of it that way, but consider it for a few moments right now. In chapter 1 we saw a man in rebellion. Is this great? Is this noteworthy? It certainly had great spiritual lessons for us as we learned from Jonah those mistakes, as we saw the power of God over the elements, as we saw His attitude toward sin in the lives of His children, as we saw the heathen bow before him. But rebellion and disobedience are neither commendable nor great. In chapter 2 we saw a man who had been restored to fellowship with God through confession of sin. Certainly this was a wonderful thing, those moments of peace of mind and heart that immediately follow an admission of sin and expression of sorrow over sin are blessed indeed. That restoration is only necessary where there first has been rebellion, and while it is wonderful and blessed, it reminds us of our sin.

But when we come to chapter 3 we find a man resigned to the will of God, and in this resignation we find greatness. Here is the pinnacle of Jonah's experience; here is the capstone of Jonah's career. Here is the success story of a man who is submissive to the will of the Lord, and this is great news. The greatest moments of your life, my Christian friend, will be those moments in which you are consciously obeying the command of the Lord, knowingly following His directions. They will be the most successful, most satisfying experiences you will ever have. Jonah on the boat was sad. Jonah in the water was frightening. Jonah in the fish was amazing. But when Jonah arrives at Nineveh he has attained the ultimate of God's purpose for any human being, controlled by the Holy Spirit of God, in full surrender to the will and way of the Lord.

In review, then:

And tonight, Jonah at Nineveh:

Let us see what God has to teach us through this experience of his prophet.

Jonah's Directions (Jonah 3:1-2)

"And the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time." Oh, the wonders of God's grace! Not only did He forgive his erring prophet, but He reveals Himself to him a second time. He does not forgive him and forget him, but after restoration, He speaks once again, recommissioning him for service, directing him once again to the great task that must be undertaken.

I want you to remember this. God didn't consider Jonah useless because he had failed. Sin does not permanently destroy your productiveness for God; it merely delays it. When you are restored to fellowship, you are to be restored to fruitfulness. Sometimes folks get the idea that they've failed God by allowing some hideous sin to grip their lives, so they'll never be able to face Christian people again--they'll never be able to do anything for the Lord again. Their lives are ruined. Well, I don't find that in the Scriptures. There are some cases were sin leaves lasting scars on your life, but these in no way obliterate your usefulness for the Lord.

Once you have been restored to fellowship with Christ, the next step is to get back to work for Christ. The call is still there. The needs are still great. The word of the Lord is still binding on your life. Let the first failure, like Jonah, make you a better servant, when the word of the Lord comes to you a second time.

The directions to Jonah are in verse 2. He was to go to Nineveh and preach to it the message that God bid him. What else could he preach? What else can we today preach? Some would preach the flowery oratory of man's wisdom, but while it may be emotionally moving it lacks the spiritual power that brings eternal results. What God bids us to preach today is His Word.

To young Timothy in the early part of this ministry, Paul wrote, "Preach the Word." Not preach about the Word, not use the Word as a springboard to make some pious comments, but preach the Word. Any church or pastor that fails here has failed at a crucial point and may want to stop to re-think the purpose of the local church, and the purpose of the ministry, as the Bible teaches it.

God isn't focused on speaking out loud to us today, on revealing Himself in dreams and visions. He has given us His completed revelation, and He expects us to spend our time learning, and telling others what He has told us through His Word.

Jonah's Declaration (Jonah 3:3-4)

Will you look at the comparison between Jonah 1:3 and Jonah 3:3? The word of the Lord came to him there also, "Arise, go to Nineveh." So Jonah rose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.

This is the heart of the message right here. Instant, unquestioning, complete obedience. This is the longing of the heart of God for us. This is the key to blessing and happiness in our Christian lives. This is what we Christians are fighting from morning tonight, bringing us nothing but turmoil and misery. "Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey." He went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.

Now Nineveh was a great city of three days' journey. Our translation does us a disservice at this point. The Scripture says, "But Nineveh was a great city to God, I have three days’ journey." Why this unusual, but important, thought should be amended by the translators I do not know. To me, it is quite significant. This was a wicked, vile, immoral, idolatrous, violent city. Yet God says to him it is great. Wherein lies it's greatness to God?

Was it the size of the city, the three days' journey around its walls? Authorities tell us that it was 60 miles around, that the walls were 100 feet high, protected by 1500 towers, each 200 feet tall (see ISBE). Was this why the city was so great to God? No.

Was it the magnificent architecture which characterized this ancient city? Archaeological excavations have uncovered huge, beautiful buildings filled with works of impressive art and sculpture. I am not sure God was interested so much in the architecture.

Was it the culture of the people? We know that even though they were violent tempered and given to oppression and ruthlessness, there was a high level of culture. The great library of Ashurbanipal uncovered in Nineveh is one of the most complete ever found in the ancient world. The clay tablets found their contained works on philosophy, astronomy, astrology, religion, law, science, literature, history, and commerce. Was this the reason for its greatness to God? I think not.

The answer is found in Jonah 4:11. There were people there, and people have souls. And God was interested in their souls. Nineveh was a great city to God.

So Jonah entered the great city, and I can picture the odd-looking Hebrew prophet moving from street to street as he meandered through the city on that first days' journey, crying aloud with power and conviction that simple message God told him to deliver. "Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Whether this is all of the message or not, we cannot be sure. Whether he spoke it in Hebrew, or Assyrian, we do not know. We simply know that what he declared was done in the power of the Holy Spirit, and that the people understood his message, and that they responded to it.

Jonah's Distinction (Jonah 3:5-10)

God's servant (Jonah 3:1), living according to God's word (Jonah 3:3), declaring God's message (Jonah 3:2, 4), will enjoy God's results (Jonah 3:5). And in Jonah's case those results were among the most spectacular of all time. At no time in human history, as far as the records tell us, has a similar event taken place. Never before nor since has one foreign prophet walked into one great heathen city, preached the simple message through the streets of the city, and seen the complete city-wide revival which resulted in the conversion of the entire population. Certainly this was of God. This was entirely supernatural, a miracle of God's power. But may I remind you that Jonah was the servant whom the Lord used to accomplish this thing, and that makes him more or less a man of distinction. Let us look at the details of Jonah's distinction as we note the reaction of the people, the resolution of the king, and the repentance of the Lord.

The Reaction of the People (Jonah 3:5)

We are told that the people of Nineveh believed God. The more accurate rendering is accepted to be, and the people believed in God. There is a vast difference in believing God and believing in God. To believe that is to accept what He says as truth. Countless multitudes today believe God. They accept the general facts about Jesus Christ: His perfect life, His death on the cross to save them. They've heard this in church, or over the radio and they believe it. But they're not saved. They have never trusted in those facts, appropriated them to themselves, resting in them by faith. They have not believed in God and in his son Jesus Christ. There is a difference.

These people in Nineveh met God; they got saved. They put their trust in Jehovah, and of their own accord, evidently, not because of anything Jonah told them to do, they began to fast, and wore sackcloth as an expression of their repentance. All class barriers were broken. With one accord, the inhabitants of the city, from the greatest to the least, put their trust in the Lord.

The Resolution of the King (Jonah 3:6-9)

Eventually, as might be expected, the word reached the king. Which king this is we cannot be sure, because the exact date of the happenings in the book or not given us. But one Assyrian monarch we know in the history of that great nation, came face to face with the one great true and living God. The message reached him with the same convicting power that it came to the rest of the inhabitants, and when he heard it he removed his kingly garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. What an experience for a king! Unusual, you say. Not when the power of God is at work through the life of a man resigned to His will.

Well, the king made a resolution, or proclamation, that every person, as well as every beast shall be closed with sackcloth, and fast. Why the beasts are included here is a problem we do not fully understand. It is possibly a recognition that they too suffered from the sin of the people. Now we all know that it is impossible to legislate faith and repentance, but this proclamation of the king reveals the tremendous desire in his heart to see his people turn to the Lord. Notice in verse 8 how he puts his finger on the particular sin of the people, the sin of violence. Archaeology has proven that cruelty and heartlessness was characteristic of the Assyrians' dealings with their fellow man, and the fact that they were able to recognize it is another indication of the reality of their conversion.

The Repentance of the Lord (Jonah 3:10)

The last verse in the chapter poses a real problem, however and we will not attempt to avoid it. It says that God saw their conversion, and "repented of the evil" (King James Version) that He had said He would do to them, and He did it not. Since when is God sorry about something He planned to do? Since when does God change his mind?

There are similar passages which are likely problems to our minds (Genesis 6:6, 2 Samuel 24:16, Joel 2:13). Yet Numbers 23:19, 1 Samuel 15:29, and Malachi 3:6 state that God does not repent, nor change. How can these facts be reconciled? Is this a contradiction in the Scriptures?

It is admittedly a difficult problem, and I don't profess to have the last word. I can say that I have an answer that satisfies my own mind; you may accept it or not. It is entirely possible that God repenting is a figure of speech revealing the way man looks at it rather than the way God looks at it. For instance, we say the sun rises. That's the way it looks to us, yet we know that is not true. The earth turns. Yet you still say that the sun rises, even though you know better. It is a figure of speech. Biblical authors speak of the hand of God. That is a figure of speech. God is a spirit; He doesn't have a hand in the literal sense as we think of hands. But we still say the hand of God.

To Jonah it was like God changing his mind, but in reality, it was God acting in accordance with His eternal character of grace and justice, in accordance with His principle of mercy. When a nation sins, God punishes. When a nation repentance, God saves. To us it seems that God has changed His mind, and so the Scripture states it that way, in a figure of speech. In reality, Nineveh changed, not God. There is a difference between slavish literalism which refuses even to recognize figures of speech, and a consistent literal interpretation of Scripture which we hold to be a basic principle upon which we stand.

Conclusion

But let us get back to Nineveh for a few moments in conclusion. While I recognize that revival concerns believers, we use the word to describe the salvation of souls that results from believers getting right with God. In that sense, this was a revival.

Will you trace the steps with me? They first of all heard the word of the Lord (Jonah 3:4). Secondly, they believed the word of the Lord and acted on the basis of that word (Jonah 3:5). And finally, they allowed the word of the Lord to lay bear the sins of their lives, and they got rid of it, (Jonah 3:9). May God use the power of His word, and our faithful response, to bring revival to our hearts, and our church.

 

Continue to JON-4: Jonah under the Booth - Reproval