Jonah’s Second Chance, Nineveh’s Repentance and God Relenting

Jonah 3 :Jonah’s Second Chance, Nineveh’s Repentance and God Relenting

       In Jonah Chapter 1 God commanded Jonah to go to the great Assyrian city of Nineveh and preach His Word.

But Jonah responded by wilfully disobeying God and running in the opposite direction to the city of Tarshish in Spain that was literally the end of the earth in that day.

We see in chapter 2 God disciplined Jonah, as He does all the children that He loves but did not abandon Jonah or grow weary in patience or kindness to him. In this we witness the unyielding persistence of God to pursue those that He loves until they are transformed. We can take great comfort that regardless of how frequent, far, and fast we have ran from God that He never wearies in pursuing His children and speaking to them yet again… and including them in His ministry. 

Now let’s have a look through Jonah Chapter  3.

Jonah’s Second Chance

In verses 1-2 we see emphasis on the Word of God coming to him a second time, a second chance... despite Jonah’s unfaithfulness God was faithful and kind to Jonah speaking to him again and commanding him to preach His Word in Nineveh. This time in verse 3 Jonah was obedient and went to Nineveh

Now this chapter did not hesitate to give details of how great a task this would be and how daunting it was… 3 days… it would take Jonah 3 days of proclaiming:  “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown” He went through day one; which in my eyes would’ve been a very long day for him to say just that simple statement over and over again. Very short and sweet, at first glance a bit crazy but what would encourage him along would be the response he receives from the audience his listeners.

Please note that Jonah didn’t speak the words of his own but what came out of his mouth were words given to him. These words, when uttered had great authority and power behind them. How do you know that Adrian I’m glad you asked In Verse 5 “The Ninevites believed God, A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, they put on sack-cloth.”

You see they believed God not Jonah the vessel was not on show here but what it had contained inside it and in Listening to those words would then create a city wide change!

Nineveh’s Repentance

In Verses 5 through 9 we would see Nineveh in response to these Powerful words of God by repenting and how they went about it would be go down in history! A nationwide fast was proclaimed, so that they would be spared not a drop to eat for anyone from the greatest to the least.

They were encouraged by the king to do these outward things which supported their inward change… in verse 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.

Verse 9 is where we have a laugh for a second. It begins by saying “who knows?” Now hold on a minute you mean to tell me that I’m doing all of this: Wear these crazy clothes, not eat my lovely meals, and sit around all day in dust but being saved isn’t sure?

But see the thing is it isn’t a laughing matter when you realize that this life of yours that you’ve been living in sin and violence and thinking its right will come to an end soon. This very life can be suddenly taken away from you in a mere forty days, not by natural death but by the Hands of the one who holds your life in his hands.

You see the King was hoping for what Jonah had received at the beginning of the chapter… A second chance…to make things right and go the correct path and giving up their evil ways and turning and going in the direction of God was the way forward!

God Relenting

We now come to the self-explanatory verse 10 "When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened"
God deciding to change his mind is only something he can do… based on evidence that was presented in this verse believe you me this wasn’t a wishy-washy repentance this was the real deal. Coming before an all-knowing all seeing God and having him relent takes a sincere heart and sincere change in ways not one for show.

The people of Nineveh’s humble and sincere repentance was met with God’s compassion as He loved them, forgave them, and did not bring upon them the judgment they knew they deserved for their many sins. In this we see the pattern of God’s work throughout the ages in saving people from not only sin and death but also His fierce vengeance. Salvation begins with the preaching of God’s Word that is accompanied by a conviction of sin, sincere repentance, and grace and mercy replacing imminent anger and justice.

All of this is ultimately made possible only through the cross of Jesus Christ where God’s justice and mercy kissed and Jesus was punished for the sins of all of God’s people, including Jonah, the Ninevites, and everyone else who turn from sin to throw themselves upon the mercy of God

So what Now?

We truly need to see our need for God’s grace and no one else’s, because his grace alone is sufficient! After seeking and finding his grace, we need to cling closely to the God of Grace and mercy. Nineveh said “Who knows?” But we know that through scripture and through the internal transformation that we’ve received through Jesus Christ that grace was the way in and still the way on. This will help us to pursue his calling continuously because it’s the most valuable thing in life.

          As believers we need to take comfort in this scripture and see God’s second chance in our situations. When we don’t feel close to him or don’t “feel” forgiven. That he has forgiven us as soon as we’ve asked for it and wants to commune with us again.

          For those who don’t know this saviour and wonderful God to you I must say that it’s time to examine one’s life and like the people of Nineveh the judgement on sin is imminent and we need to ensure that we received God’s love not his wrath.

Have a peaceful day.

By Adrian