The Book of Jonah, Lesson 3

Assignment: Read Jonah 3

Today we are picking up the story of Jonah after he found himself in a pile of Beluga barf on the beach. Let’s try to imagine that scene for a moment. He has not eaten for three days and reeks of the contents of the fish’s stomach. He was wet, cold, hungry, and tired, but deliriously happy to be breathing fresh air and seeing blue sky. As he looked back over what he had experienced the prior three days, he likely began wondering if he would ever hear from God or sense his presence again. It is bad enough to come as close to death as he had, but can you imagine anything more demoralizing than having to carry the full weight of disobedience? No doubt he feared he had constructed a permanent wall between himself and God. He must have wondered if his sin had permanently severed his relationship with God. Job security may even have been on his mind. I doubt there were many openings for prophets of God to whom God no longer spoke. King David must have felt like that when he penned, “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:11 | NIV)

The fish’s belly was bad news. But we read in his prayer that Jonah was confident he would once again enjoy the presence of God. “I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’” (Jonah 2:4 | NIV) Like Jonah, many of us play Russian Roulette with God’s patience and are left to wonder if our most recent sin will be the final straw. Will God turn his back on us? Will he stop loving us? We can take comfort in the words of the Apostle Paul, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39 | ESV)

Thanks to Jesus, we do not have to wallow in our guilt or blame it on God like Jonah did. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 | ESV) Jonah was disobedient, but he never quit believing in God’s goodness or his own salvation. God’s love for him never wavered. Jonah’s decision to continue the mission God gave him could have been his backhanded apology or an attempt to earn forgiveness. “‘What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’” (Jonah 2:9 | NIV) Jonah’s is a tale of grace, restoration, repentance, and forgiveness.

“Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you’” (vv.1-2) We really do not know where Jonah was when God spoke to him the second time. Some commentators believe he was probably near Joppa, the place his odyssey began. If that was the case, he was still five or six hundred miles away from Nineveh. The trip would have taken a minimum of a month or more giving him ample opportunity to change his mind, yet he kept moving east. “Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days.” (v.3) If that means it took three days to traverse it, Nineveh was, indeed, a big place.

Walking only a third of the way into Nineveh changed the destiny of its inhabitants. To his surprise, they did not respond to him by trying to kill or torture him. “Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.’” (v.4) Notice there is neither equivocation nor hope. He did not say “might be overthrown.” He said, “will be overthrown.” Jonah was not sharing a message of repentance, salvation, or God’s love. He was simply walking the streets proclaiming that the city would be destroyed in forty days.

God’s plans will always succeed. That’s how it is with my words. They don’t return to me without doing everything I send them to do.” (Isaiah 55:11 | CEV) They will accomplish his desires and achieve his purpose. And it is a mistake to think our ideas constitute God’s plan. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9 | NIV)

Sometimes, when we share the gospel with people, we worry too much about what we should say and how we should say it. Yet, if we are obedient, even if we only offer one passage of Scripture, the Holy Spirit can use it to achieve God’s purpose in someone’s life. For a passage that encapsulates all the good news of the gospel, we could do no better this. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10 | NIV)

“The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. (v.5) The people were convicted of their sins, repented, fasted, and crossed their fingers hoping that God would spare them. If someone knocked on your door and told you that you would not live to see the sunrise tomorrow, wouldn’t you have a question or two for them? Yet, there is no indication that anyone asked Jonah what was behind the threat. We know that the Assyrians served gods that were capricious and unpredictable. Also, about that time, historians report the area had experienced a series of famines, plagues and even witnessed astrological phenomena. Some have inferred that this was how God prepared the people’s hearts for Jonah’s message. At any rate, I guess they just figured they were toast, no questions asked.

“When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.’” The people of Nineveh put on sackcloth and fasted. Both were acts of sorrow and repentance. They even put mourning clothes on their animals and made them fast, too (although some commentators believe this was included to be humorous). Regardless, they exhibited a profound change of heart and direction—the very definition of repentance.

For salvation, the Bible does not require a prayer, Sinner’s or otherwise. But it does require a change of heart and direction, in other words, repentance. Today we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus. In this chapter we can’t help but recall God’s earlier act of mercy and grace during the storm at sea. “The captain went to him and said, ‘How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.’” (Jonah 1:6 | NIV) When we recognize that our separation from God may lead to destruction and turn to him in faith, we are saved. And as he did with the sailors and the city, unbelievers are saved by God’s grace, his gift. The Ninevites and the sailors before them hoped God would accept their genuine repentance and relent. And he did.

“Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.” (v.8) Nineveh’s evil and violence was not confined to the battlefield. They were a wicked people living as though there was no God and no rules governing their behavior even toward each other. Do you find it interesting that Jonah did not say anything about his God and the word repentance was apparently never spoken? There is something within the heart of all but the sociopath that lets us know when we have crossed the line with God in the way we treat others. The people humbly responded. And God took notice. “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.” (v.10)  

We don’t know if there was more to Jonah’s message than what is recorded in the book. I suspect, from what we read in the next chapter, that this was his only message, word for word. In fact, he likely proclaimed God’s threat with no little enthusiasm hoping that Israel’s enemy would be destroyed. Yet, in the back of his mind, he knew his God. We read the only threat that was recorded did not come to pass. Apparently, though, they did not turn to Jonah’s God in faith. If you recall, the sailors in chapter one, sacrificed to Jonah’s God. The Ninevites didn’t, perhaps because he never even mentioned his God. We do know that Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was destroyed in 612 B.C. by the Medes.

Sometimes we try to be secret witnesses for God and wonder why people do not respond to the gospel. Perhaps we are sharing a message of hopelessness like Jonah’s. The Apostle Peter suggests that we tell others of the hope we have in Christ, rather than threaten them with fear of destruction. Honor Christ and let him be the Lord of your life. Always be ready to give an answer when someone asks you about your hope. (1 Peter 3:15 | CEV) Despite our failures, as Jonah demonstrates, evangelistic success doesn’t depend on the messenger, but solely on God’s sovereignty. The Ninevites became better people and enjoyed longer lives because of his mercy and grace.

Jonah didn’t care about Nineveh. In fact, he hoped God would destroy the city. As we read and re-read this passage, two important lessons emerge. The first is our responsibility to carry a warning to those within our sphere of influence. And the second is the need for spiritual revival among believers, starting with us. If revival comes to our nation, it will have to start with people like us. Just as Jonah had to be recalibrated, we may need to change how we see others before we can be part of what God intends. Too many of us have forgotten we are all God’s image bearers, and we will never look into the eyes of anyone in this life that God loves more or less than he does us. Everybody needs to hear the gospel message, no matter how different from us they may appear.

It’s easy to become careless when we have walked with the Lord for a while. Jonah had the words of life and hope for Nineveh. We have the words of hope and life for anyone who does not know Jesus. The primary difference is ours is a gift that will last an eternity if we are willing to share it. Unlike Jonah, we should not be hindered by hatred or fear.

According to Jesus the two greatest Commandments are to love God and love others. He loved others so much he was willing to die for them. Do we love them enough to tell them what he did for them and why he did it? Can’t we, at least, say what he did for us? Jesus warned many who call him Lord will not enter the kingdom of heaven because they do not do what he says. He commanded those who consider themselves to be his followers to make disciples wherever we go, not whenever we feel like it. If we hope to see revival in our nation, the first thing we need to do is examine ourselves.

My wife and I once participated in a Sunday school class where the teacher asked a simple question, “What makes a good Christian?” Think about that for a moment. How would you respond? One of the women in the group blurted out, “I dress better than the worship team.” Knowing her, she meant it to be funny in a backhanded sort of way. Still, it is an eternally significant question. What makes a Christian? And is there a difference between a ‘good’ Christian and one that is just an ‘ok’ Christian?

Are you acting like Jonah? Are you telling others Jesus is your Savior, but not living like he is Lord? Is your love for Jesus as strong as it ever was? Are you willing to risk everything to see another find Jesus? Just becoming a Christian is not the point of the gospel. That makes us just an ‘ok’ Christian. We are saved to be disciples and make disciples. Are you in the game or still on the bench? Good Christians are people who look, act, and even think like Jesus.

We shouldn’t be looking down our noses at Jonah for looking down his nose at the people of Nineveh. Jesus told us to love God and love others. If we consider ourselves to be his follower, sharing the good news should be a no brainer. Especially when we take seriously the grace God extended to us. He forgave our sins the instant we confessed our faith in Jesus and promised to follow him. The writer doesn’t say the Ninevites believed Jonah. But it does say they believed the word of God.

We must not be like Jonah who approached his assignment reluctantly and fearfully. If we don’t readily share our witness, perhaps we need to examine ourselves to see if we are ‘good’ Christians or simply ‘ok’ Christians. Might we even be Christian posers? Jonah travelled a great distance to warn people he didn’t know and didn’t like. It shouldn’t be that hard for us to walk across the street or across the hall to invite our neighbors to church or to befriend them so one day we can tell them what Jesus did for us?

Even if we are obedient believers, when we share Jesus with someone and they don’t respond, we sometimes take it as a personal rejection. God opened the Ninevites’ eyes to the words Jonah spoke. It is the same with the gospel. Unless the Holy Spirit opens people’s spiritual eyes, they are not going to respond and there is nothing we can do about it. Those around us, who do not yet know Jesus, need us to warn them, share the gospel and pray for them so they will not perish. But genuine belief, like grace, is a gift. It begins and ends with God. Rather than a duty, we should consider sharing the gospel to be a sacred opportunity; done purposefully, if not joyfully. It is not only good news, but also life changing news.

Undoubtedly, the Ninevites breathed a sigh of relief knowing they were saved because they had temporarily, at least, turned from their wicked ways. Being a good person may forestall God’s wrath in this life, but not in the next. Good people without Jesus are just as lost as bad people without Jesus. We live in a post-Christian nation of wishful thinkers, many of whom believe hell, if it exists at all, is reserved only for the truly wicked. The biggest lie they believe is that they are ok without Jesus.

America, like Nineveh in the days of Jonah, needs to clean up its act. We need a revival. We cannot expect that it will begin with our nation’s leaders. Even in Nineveh, revival began in the hearts of the people and spread to the king. If revival comes to this nation, it will originate in congregations that love Jesus and desperately want others to love him too.

Discussion

1. What does the passage say to the original audience?
2. What is it saying to you?
3. Have you ever worried that your sin caused God to turn his back on you? How was that fear or worry resolved?
4. What message have you been given to share with unbelievers?
5. God gave Jonah a second chance. Why? How might God’s response encourage us in our failures?
6. Nineveh heard and repented. What do you think might have happened if they didn’t? What lesson can you take from that?
7. Who was Jonah’s assignment really intended to change (Nineveh or Jonah)?
8. What makes a “good” Christian? Is it enough to simply be an “ok” Christian?
9. What are your biggest concerns when you witness to an unbeliever about Jesus?
10. How would you feel about a rapist or murderer escaping eternal punishment by surrendering their life to Jesus in prison?

Revised: 11/21/2022