Nineveh Is Overthrown

Geoff Box

Jonah • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

Jonah 3:1–10

Repentance

Sackcloth

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Jonah and Nineveh get second chances

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Philippians 2:5–11 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Phil 2:5-

Jonah 3:1–10 ESV

1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. 6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

and14

John 1:1 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 ESV

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:1 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Prayer

Introduction

Alright, we are now to chapter 3 in our study of Jonah. It has been quite the rollercoaster of a story. It started rather abruptly with God calling the Israelite prophet Jonah to go preach to the Israel’s evil, national enemies the Ninevites. Of course, Jonah goes the opposite direction and finds himself at the mercy of the Sovereign God of the universe. He is thrown overboard to calm the storm that the Lord brought upon him and the sailors. The storm ceases, the pagan sailors worship God and Jonah is as good as dead. But God sent a fish to swallow Jonah. He spent three days and three nights in the fish and was subsequently vomited back on to land. While in the belly of the fish, Jonah composes a song of praise and thanksgiving, and it seems Jonah is a new man. Ready to listen to and obey the Word of God. How is that for a “cliff notes” version of the story? A quick summation of what has been going on with Jonah.

Passage

Our passage this morning is and picks up exactly where we stopped. If you are able, please stand for the reading of God’s Word. We do this to show appreciation to God for His Word and in recognition that these words are among the most important words we can hear today. says, “

Jonah 3:1–10 ESV

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”

Thank you, you may be seated.

The beginning of chapter 3, the passage we just read starts out almost exactly like the very first chapter. The Word of the Lord came to Jonah and told him to go preach to Nineveh. Now if we were to read the book of Jonah for the very first time, never having heard the story, we would read the opening of the book and chapter 1 and assume that Jonah would receive the Word of the Lord and obey, and his rebellion would’ve been shocking, and rightly so.

Likewise, if this was our first time reading the story, we would hear that first verse in chapter 3 and really, truly wonder what this supposed prophet is going to do. I mean, he’s probably going to avoid deep water for a while, but will he obey?

The reality is that God has given Jonah a second chance. And we hear that, and we aren’t shocked by it because in reality, we’ve become accustomed to mercy and grace. We’ve become presumptuous – assuming that God will give everyone a second chance. God is merciful and gracious often, but He doesn’t have to be. God does not owe anyone a second chance. God owes everyone his just and burning wrath.

I say all this because second chances should shock and humble us. The fact that Jonah survived his rebellion is shocking and amazing and should lead us to awe and wonder and worship. The fact that God has recommissioned Jonah should do the same. In fact, the very idea that there is a mission trip to Nineveh at all, that they are being warned of God’s judgment is praise worthy. Again, sometimes we presume God’s patience and mercy and act as if we are owed second and third and fourth and fifth chances, and the reality is that we are not. We can look at biblical character after biblical character who did not receive second chances. Don’t be presumptuous.

God commanded Jonah to arise and go to Nineveh, and Jonah arose and went… to Nineveh this time. When he gets there, he starts to preach. On the first day, he begins to preach that Nineveh will be overthrown in 40 days and the people believe him.

In politics, we talk a lot about grassroots campaigns and things like that, but this really was a grassroots movement. Jonah didn’t show up and go directly to the king and deliver his speech. He proclaimed the Word of God and the people believed him. They immediately began repenting and it became such a big ordeal in such a short amount of time that finally the king ends up hearing about it.

Let’s try to make this real for us so that we can wrap our heads around how amazing this is. Let’s say an Iranian man lands at airport in Washington D.C. and immediately – on his way to his hotel – begins proclaiming that God told him that in 40 days, Washington (and by extension the rest of the nation) will be overthrown. What do you think the response would be if that were to happen tomorrow morning? Do you think anyone would listen? I think the guy would be labeled as a terrorist, arrested, and never heard from again. Or maybe he would just be sent to that nice place with the strait jackets and padded walls. I certainly do not think that our response would look like the Ninevites. I don’t think we would turn in repentance. Oh, his message might get uploaded to YouTube and be featured on the 5:00 news. He might go viral, but not like Jonah did in Nineveh. I do not think repentance would sweep the Capitol and then the nation. I don’t think the president would call for a national fast and repentance. And this is why the men of Nineveh will stand in judgement over the Pharisees who demanded a sign from Jesus. They had no sign, and they repented and the pharisees had lots of signs and stood condemned. And frankly, I think these wicked Ninevites will stand in judgment over many of our countrymen as well – and even over us if we do not listen and repent.

I want to shift gears for a second and address a question that almost always comes up in the story of Jonah. Did Jonah lie? He said that Nineveh would be overthrown in 40 days, but then it wasn’t destroyed. is clear that if a prophet speaks a word of prophecy and it does not come to pass, then that person is not a real prophet and should die. What do we do with that? There are a couple points I want to make here. First of all, nowhere does God actually tell Jonah to prophesy to Nineveh. God tells him to preach, to call out, but we are not told directly from Scripture that this is a predictive prophecy. That may seem like a distinction without a difference, but I can assure you it isn’t.

Second, the very fact that Nineveh is given 40 days’ notice is not indicative of an absolute prophecy. The fact that there were 40 days instead of “You all are about to die.” Suggests that there was a recourse, and we know the Ninevites took that recourse.

Third, Jonah’s message actually did happen. Now, I know what you are thinking, that you know the story and you know that Jonah gets mad because Nineveh wasn’t destroyed. You are absolutely correct. Nineveh was not destroyed, but that wasn’t what God told Jonah to say. Jonah didn’t say, “Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed.” He said it would be overthrown or overturned. The Hebrew word used for overthrown certainly can me destroyed or toppled, but it actually has a broader range of meaning than just destroyed. It can also include ideas like turning around and going another direction. That sounds a lot like repentance. That sounds a lot like what did happen. Nineveh was overturned, from the greatest to the least, the people turned from their wickedness. For all of Jonah’s failures, we can’t call him a false prophet.

I want to circle back on this idea of repentance. Think for a moment how awesome this whole scenario is. A foreign prophet shows up to the capitol city and starts preaching that the city is going to be overturned, and they believe him! We don’t know if the message that Jonah gave was only the words, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Or if that was just a summation of what he proclaimed, but regardless, people started listening on the first day. In fact, we don’t even know for sure if Jonah preached for more than that first day. Repentance spread like wildfire, reaching even the king.

Here is the thing that we should notice about this. If you look again at verse 2, you see that God tells Jonah to call out the message that God tells him. The story of Jonah is not one of a story of a prophet. It is the story of a Sovereign God. It is God’s Word that overturns this city, not Jonah’s preaching. Look at verse 5, “And the people of Nineveh believed God.” They didn’t believe Jonah. They believed God, and it led to deep, deep repentance. Their response is not a simple, “Say a prayer and repeat after me.” Type of situation. Their response is more like what we actually see elsewhere in Scripture when people are actually convicted of sin. “What must I do to be saved?” is the common refrain in the New Testament. The Ninevites had a similar thought. They poured themselves into repentance with the thought, “Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

And this is the greatest miracle in the story of Jonah. Forget storms and giant fish. God granted repentance to wicked people. God did turn away from His fierce anger and relented. God gave the Ninevites something they didn’t deserve – a second chance. And it all came through the proclamation of His Word. In the New Testament, we are told that the Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Again, it is the Word of God that overturns Nineveh (in a good way).

There is one last thread I want to follow this morning and it has to do with sackcloth. Have you ever wondered what sackcloth is, and what it is for? Did people just have sackcloth garments lying around just in case they needed to repent of something? Sackcloth was a very inexpensive material made of goat hair. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a petting zoo and petted sheep and goats, but the hair on those two animals is very, very different. Sackcloth made from goat hair would’ve been very itchy and uncomfortable to wear. The material was a utilitarian fabric used for everything from making sails to, well, making sacks. Often times the very poor would use it for their clothing because it was inexpensive and easy to come by. It was often used as a sign of debasement. One commentator put it this way, “The sackcloth used was a thick coarse cloth, normally made from goat’s hair; to wear it symbolized the rejection of earthly comforts and pleasures.”

Now we’ve discussed how God doesn’t have to give second chances. That God didn’t need to save Jonah, that it was an act of mercy. God didn’t need to relent of His anger towards the Ninevites. And in fact, if we rightly understand justice and God’s judgment, we are left wondering on what basis God could do this. We know that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. We also know that the blood of animals and goats cannot actually propitiate the sins of men. How can God be merciful and gracious and just at the same time? God’s law demands justice – it demands blood.

Remember that quote I just read about how wearing sackcloth symbolized a rejection of earthly comforts. says, In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and the Word was with God”, if you jump on down to , It says, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” What Jesus did by taking on flesh is He rejected his Heavenly comforts and pleasures. He put on something comparatively far more debasing than sackcloth. The eternal Word aligned Himself with the poor and needy becoming a servant. We read earlier, let’s look at verses 6 and 7 again, Jesus, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

Look at the language of what the king of Nineveh did. He left his throne, he removed his robe, his symbol of authority and he put on sackcloth. Do you see the connection? Jesus left His throne, emptied Himself, humbled himself, made Himself of no reputation, and put on flesh. Not because of his own sin, not because He needed to repent, but because of our sin. To purchase our repentance, so that through the perfect life of Christ, through His death, and through His resurrection, God can be both just and merciful. The blood of goats and sheep could never be enough to save, but the blood of the perfect, eternal Son of God who died in the place of sinful man? Oh, that’s enough. That is priceless and without compare.

Conclusion

So, how do we respond to all of this? We who are sinners. We who do not deserve a second chance. We who rightly deserve nothing but the fierce anger of God. We would do well to emulate the Ninevites here. To throw ourselves at the mercy of God. To repent. To turn from our evil ways. To turn to Christ and Christ alone as the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for sin.

If you are here this evening, and you have never trusted Christ, if you are continuing to hold onto your sin and refuse to repent, you should know that you will be overthrown. Like the Ninevites, destruction is on your doorstep. It may be 40 days, 40 years, or 40 seconds, but you will bear the penalty of your sin if you do not repent and trust in Christ.

Christians, what joy we should have in remembering what Christ has done on our behalf. Let us rest in the perfect and completed work of Christ. Where there is sin still lingering in our lives, we must repent of it and forsake it. And how can we not? Again, I say, “Look what Christ has done for us!” That ought to lead us to deep sense of love and worship. Bend your knee and confess with your tongue that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

We are about to transition to a time of worship through response. We believe that any time we hear the Word of God, that we respond in either rebellion or in worship. Do not refuse to repent and remain in your rebellion. Worship Christ for what He has done! Repent where needed and praise Christ who makes mercy and grace possible. Who purchased them with His blood.