Jonah 3:1-10

Jonah’s prayer of repentance brought him to dry land once again, but God was not done with Jonah yet.  Once again God calls Jonah to go to the very same task he had been given to do before all of the trouble in Jonah’s life.  God was determined to have His message preached in Nineveh and He was determined that Jonah would be the one to preach that message.  This is clearly a demonstration of God’s grace on both the city and Jonah.  God could have easily just turned His back on Jonah and called another preacher to go do His work.  However, that would have left Jonah in a place of rebellion against God.  As always, God is longing to have men restored to fellowship with Him.  Bringing Jonah to obedience and Nineveh to repentance are illustrations of God’s grace.

JONAH’S OBEDIENCE: This time when God called Jonah to go and preach against the city of Nineveh; he went.  The city of Nineveh was a massive place that took three days to walk across.  Jonah does not try to argue with God or rationalize his way into another discipline from the Lord.  He is resigned to the fact that he must obey the Word of the Lord.  Jonah’s message was very simple, clear and to the point: in forty days God would destroy the city.  Jonah does not seem too excited about doing this task to which God had called him; but he did obey.  There are times when we may be called to do things we are not very excited about doing.  We cannot fool God, as He sees our hearts and knows our motives in all we do.  It is better for us to obey God independently of our feelings than to allow our actions to be guided by feelings that do not line up with the Word of God.  Of course it is always best for our feelings to be in line with God’s Word and our actions, but when this is not the case, we must follow God’s Word.

NINEVEH’S REPENTANCE: Surprisingly, the people of Nineveh hear the message of the Word of God and His promise of destruction and respond with clear repentance.  The warning of Jonah spreads through the entire city and the people fall on their faces in fear of the Lord.  When the king gets word of the message, he too strips off his royal robes, puts on sack cloth and sits down in ashes to cry out to the Lord for mercy.  He declares that all the people should follow his lead and declares a fast for all people and animals to not eat or drink for three days.  This is the maximum time a human can survive without liquid.  They demonstrate true belief in God’s Word as well as the fear of the Lord and a commitment to change.  Jonah’s message has a tremendous impact on a nation that knew no fear of the Lord before this time.  If only Israel and all of us were so sensitive to the call of God to turn from our sin and trust in His Word so we can live a life of obedience.  God saw the repentance of Nineveh and relented of the judgment He was prepared to release on the people.