1 And
the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, 2 Arise, go
unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid
thee. 3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of
the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. 4 And
Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet
forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 5 So the people of Nineveh
believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of
them even to the least of them. 6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh,
and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him
with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and
published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let
neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor
drink water: 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry
mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the
violence that is in their hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and
repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? 10 And
God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of
the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. (Jonah
3:1-10)
As we read in our Bibles and in the first devotions on Jonah, the prophet has
been called to go to Nineveh – that Great City – and cry AGAINST it. Jonah does
not obey God’s calling. His efforts to flee the Presence of the Lord have taken
Jonah on a continuously downward spiral even to the depths of Hell, but all the
more into the awesome Presence of the Lord. God meets Jonah on the stormy Sea
and deals with His obstinate prophet with a fear-inspiring chastisement. One
residual benefit of Jonah’s disobedience is the budding faith instilled in the
hearts of the seaman aboard the vessel of Jonah’s attempted escape. These men
prayed to God while Jonah refused to pray at all. The prophet’s heart was so
tough that even the whale’s belly could not digest him; so the whale, at God’s
command, vomited Jonah up on a beach head. Jonah paid good money for a segment
of his travel aboard a vessel bound for Tar shish, but the Lord paid for the
latter segment aboard a whale. Greater in distance was Jonah’s spiritual
journey to the gates of hell than his physical journey in the storm at Sea. Our
flight from God always leads to greater and greater misery and despair.
It sometimes happens to God’s elect that they hear less keenly with spiritual
age than when they first came to know God. Personal arrogance and spiritual
pride dull their ears. But Jonah’s hearing the Voice of the Lord was fine – he
simply chose to disregard that Call and flee from God. As we have learned so
far in the narrative, that is NOT possible! Prompt obedience to the One who
loves you will always lead to greater blessings than running off into a far
country vacant of Godly love. Even in our rebellion, God does not give up on
His own. In your own spiritual journey, it may be that you, like Jonah, are
fleeing the will of God. You have purchased your ticket of escape through the
means of procrastination and lack of fervor; but God is waiting just ahead in
your path that you believe is taking you farther away from Him. It will be less
painful for you if you simply surrender to God now rather than meeting with
your own floundering in the tempest at sea.
God now has Jonah’s undivided attention, at least for this immediate time
following his ordeal with the fish. Jonah has had enough of not only traveling
ON the sea, but IN it! Jonah should have known that the purposes and intentions
of God never change as do those of fickle man. His memory is always current,
and His plans do not change. 1 “And the word of the LORD came
unto Jonah the second time.” At least the hearing of the Word of
the Lord is becoming more familiar with Jonah for he heard it quite clearly,
too, before his rebellion against it. If you do not heed that Voice when you
first hear it, you will heed it the second time in a different state of mind.
God comes to us in gentle whispers and a still, small voice; however, if we do
not obey, He will come in the unrelenting storms and gales of the troubled
seas. Why not obey at First Call, rather than putting the Lord to all of that
trouble of preparing a Great Fish for you?
So what does God command of Jonah this second time? 2 “Arise, go
unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.”
The command remains the same, except God tells Jonah the second time to preach
UNTO that great city – not AGAINST it! Perhaps seeing the travail of Jonah in
the fish’s belly has caused the Lord to take greater pity on the sinful souls
of Nineveh. Those in Nineveh are truly sinful; however, they have not had the
benefit of “hearing the Word of the Lord” as has Jonah. The furtive flight from
God has delayed that blessing to these people.
3 “So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word
of the LORD.” If we began reading the book at this point, we would
believe Jonah a commendable servant of the Lord since we would know nothing of
his previous flight from the Lord. We know only in part, but God knows the
whole scope of our lives. We judge on appearance and in part while God judges
the whole of the heart. Now Jonah will obey “according to the Word of
the Lord.” This time, instead of going DOWN from the Presence of
the Lord, Jonah ARISES to obey that Lord. The direction we follow in life is
always better if it is TOWARD the Lord.
Dr. Layard, the archaeologist who discovered and excavated the ruins of
Nineveh, estimates the city to be approximately 60 miles in circumference. This
would make it 15 miles of length to each side. So Nineveh was a great city in
both power and in size. “Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of
three days' journey.” It would take a man quite a long time to go
from one end of Nineveh to the next when walking and preaching at the same
time.
4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he
cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”
This verse gives greater insight into the size of the city by Jonah’s just
beginning to enter by a day’s journey. A day’s travel was only a beginning. The
number forty so often in scripture heralds a time of trial and tribulation. “In
the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day
of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up,
and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty
days and forty nights.” (Gen 7:11-12) Also, note that the Children of
Israel, for their lack of faith, were in the Wilderness for forty years.
Likewise, our Lord began His earthly ministry in the Wilderness for forty days
and forty nights. Jonah’s words to Nineveh were the words of the Lord. Jonah
was a prophet, not because he could tell the future, but because he KNEW the
ways and nature of the Lord through His Word. The people of Nineveh were great
sinners, and God had pronounced a coming judgment upon them. However, the judgment
of God is never irreversible if the people will repent of their sins and call
upon the Lord. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble
themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then
will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
(2 Chron 7:14) Of course, the first requirement is that we BECOME the people of
the Lord who are called by His name. Being “called by His Name” is more than a
simple label. The Name we are called must be reflected in the character we
evince. So Nineveh was on God’s mind for destruction.
5 “So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast,
and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne,
and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.”
The Spirit of God is grieved at our false fasts and days of so-called mourning.
Do we really feel, as the King of Nineveh felt, a strong revulsion to our sins
and such a deep repentance that we would fast as he fasted? Or do we believe
that having a small dab of ash smeared on our foreheads, for all to see that we
are so pious, at Lent will suffice? This King was over a sinful people and, was
himself, sinful; yet, see what he does. He was very much unlike our modern
politicians in Washington. He first of all 1) proclaimed a fast. He did not
exempt himself or his court from that fast. 2) He humbled himself first of all
his citizens by laying aside his robes of royalty and adorning himself with the
rough and uncomfortable robes of sackcloth. He sat down in a pile of ashes – he
did not merely smear a dab on his forehead and be done with it! He was SERIOUS!
What great blessings could again flow into our benighted land if we had leaders
who would only repent and humble themselves in prayer!
After first doing so himself, see what proclamation the King made to his entire
realm: 7 “And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through
Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor
beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily
unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence
that is in their hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent,
and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” Who can
tell, indeed! Jonah KNEW! He KNEW God well enough to know that God would
forgive even sinful Nineveh if they only repented. Amazingly, this is
what troubled the heart of Jonah. Even the King suspected that the mighty God
whom Jonah preached would also be mighty in Heart.
America has, in time past, had such leaders who would deign to lead the nation
in prayer and repentance:
“On OCTOBER 3, 1789, from the U.S. Capitol in New York City,
President George Washington issued the first Proclamation of a National Day of
Thanksgiving and Prayer to Almighty God, as just one week earlier the first
session of the U.S. Congress successfully approved the First Ten Amendments
limiting the power of the Federal Government.
The First Amendment begins: “Congress shall make no law
respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof.”
In his Proclamation, President Washington stated: “Whereas
it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God….we
may…unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great
Lord and Ruler of Nations…”
Washington continued: “and beseech Him to pardon our
national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or
private stations, to perform our…duties properly… to render our national
government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of
wise, just and constitutional laws…and to bless them with…peace and concord…
and the increase of science …and…to grant unto all Mankind such a degree
of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.” (American Minute,
Bill Federer)
So how did God respond to the prayers and fasting of the people of Nineveh?
Perhaps you, like Jonah, have become prophet enough to know already? Well, let
us check the Word of God to see: 10 “And God saw their works,
that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had
said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”
We are bewildered at the rampant sins of our own nation. We view the situation
as helpless, but it is not. If we follow the lead of a great President, George
Washington, God will restore our hearts to ones of flesh and not of stone.
