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Outline:

Jonah chapter 3 records one of the most incredible (and most unlikely) events in all of human history. We’re told Jonah enters the city of Nineveh and delivers a simple but direct message from the Lord… Jonah 3:4, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

What follows is really astounding… Jonah 3:5-9, “So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying…

‘Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.’” Reasoning, “Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?”

While vague on specifics, there is no doubt God was communicating through Jonah two simple ideas to the citizens of Nineveh (one direct with the other being implied). First, God is crystal clear that the wickedness of the Assyrians could no longer be tolerated.

In Jonah 1:2, God commands Jonah to “arise, go to Nineveh, and cry out against it” explaining that “their wickedness had come up before” Him. Since God is by His very nature holy and just, He can only allow human injustices to continue unabated so long. In regards to the wickedness of the Assyrian people divine judgment could no longer be withheld.

And yet, realizing this to be the case (that God’s judgment was not only just - but warranted), the Ninevites came to see this “forty day” delay as being evidence of God’s mercy and a manifestation of His amazing grace (the opportunity to repent and be saved).

Don’t temper the magnitude of what results… The promise of judgment coupled with the existence of God’s mercy and grace cause an entire city of a million plus wicked Assyrians to repent of their sin and collectively appeal for the salvation of the true and living God! Indeed Nineveh was “overturned” for what had been upside-down was flipped right-side-up.

One of the most amazing aspects of the communal repentance of the Ninevites to the revelation of God’s coming judgment and the extension of His grace is the fact they had zero guarantee the Lord would actually forgive and spare them His wrath. In actuality, this question posed by the King of Nineveh in verse 9, “Who can tell if God will turn and relent” reveals a deep uncertainty as to what would come at the close of these “forty days”.

You see the fact these Ninevites repent not knowing if God would still judge or extend His forgiveness illustrates the genuineness of what was occurring. As a nation they decided to “cry mightily to God” and “turn from their evil way” not in order to deter God’s wrath, but out of an authentic grief concerning their sin. As such the Ninevites repented, not to escape an immanent judgment. They repented because it was a logical reaction to God’s Word.

In 2 Corinthians 7:10 Paul observed that “godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation… but the sorrow of the world produces death.” His point is that there is an intrinsic difference between “being sorry concerning the consequences of sin” and genuine “sorrow over sin.” We know with certainty these Ninevites were genuinely sorry over their wickedness because they immediately repented.

Well, as a result of all this we read… Jonah 3:10, “Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”

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