Are You Responding?

Are you responding?

Jonah 3

In the spring of 2000, my college roommate was caught cheating on one of his college midterms. Our school had a zero tolerance policy for cheating and he had to stand before the Academic Dean and fight for a second chance. I had the privilege of standing with him. My friend humbly and graciously admitted his mistake to the Academic Dean and the council of students who would decide his fate. My friend made a mistake but he also was a solid kid who was going through a difficult home stretch. I spoke of his character and his heart for the school and how circumstances led him to make a poor choice and I affirmed he learned his lesson and would not make the same mistake. Even though the school had a zero tolerance policy, the Academic Dean showed mercy and my friend was given a second chance. He finished college and never cheated again. Thank God for the grace of second chances. 

In the Fall of 2018, a new visitor of our church was caught stealing property from a co-worker. This was not his first time his greed led him to take what did not belong to him. He had to stand before a judge and fight for a second chance. I had the privilege of standing with him. He had recently started coming to the church and was trying to turn his life around and live in a way that honored the Lord. He was serving the church and members of our community and seemed to desire to live the right way. I had the privilege of standing with him at his trial. I spoke of the changes that I had seen in his life and how circumstances led him to make a poor choice and I affirmed what I saw of his change of heart in recent months. The judge considered the case and could have offered him probation and to pay for damages, the judge gave him the max sentence and sent him to prison. The bailiff cuffed him and escorted him out of the courtroom. There was no good bye or heartfelt exchange, simply the execution of the judge’s order. Thank God for the grace of second chances for we do not always get them.

Have you ever been given a second chance? Have you ever made a horrible mistake? Have life circumstances led you to make a poor choice? Have you ever stood before an academic dean or a judge or a friend to plead your case and beg for mercy? Do you know the grace of second chances or the pain of judgment? 

As I stood up in the courtroom hearing the judge’s max sentence, I was shocked. It didn’t feel real. I didn’t expect it. And as I look back, I believe the judge did what was right. Friends, we do not deserve second chances. It is all grace. We must not squander it. Jonah was given a second chance. He did not deserve it. It was all grace. As we follow the gracious second chance God gave to his wayward prophet, let us meditate on the grace of the second chances in our own life.

The Grace of Second Chances 

Jonah’s life is a picture of grace. God calls him to arise and go to Nineveh and he goes the opposite direction. He was a rebellious, selfish prophet. And God loved him. He sent a storm forcing him to be thrown into the sea. He rescued him by appointing a great fish to swallow him and vomit him on dry land. Jonah 3:1–3,

[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.

God came to Jonah a second time. The Creator of the Universe, the Sovereign King, the Lord Most High, the Covenant-Making and Keeping God of Israel, spoke to him a second time. Do not miss how gracious God is to Jonah. Remember Jonah, the son of Amittai, the son of my faithfulness. Jonah was not faithful to God, but God remained faithful to him. 2 Timothy 2:13, “If we are faithless, he remains faithful-- for he cannot deny himself.” 1 Thessalonians 5:24, “he who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” Or the great hymn of the faith, “Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not, As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be, Great is Thy Faithfulness.” 

Jonah has appeared to learn his lesson. He knew the consequences of rebellion against God and decided to obey. Verse 3, “So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD.” God speaks to us. He has spoken and continues to speak to us in his holy Word. Beloved, do you realize how much of a grace it is to us to have his Word? We know how to live because we have been given everything we need for life and godliness. One of the most important questions you should ask yourself when you read the Word of God is, “Is there a command to obey?” One pastor notes, “The Bible is filled with divine commands for you and me to obey. There is no question what God’s will is in these areas. Our obedience to His commandments leads us precisely into the center of His will.” We read God’s Word because we want to obey. We are not looking for a loophole of obedience. We do not want to ask, “Is this allowed? Can I do this?” but rather, “Does this decision honor God? Is Christ magnified in this?” 

As children of God, we should delight in obedience for we want to be at the center of his will. By God’s grace, Jonah “seemed” to get it. He externally followed God’s command and went to Nineveh. Do you get it? Are there any commands in your life you are not following? Where do you need to return to the center of God’s will? God is calling you today to receive the grace of second chances and return to God. For God wants to use the grace he extends to you so that you can extend grace to others.

The Grace of Salvation Circumstances 

God is always working to fulfill his purposes. For the Ninevites, Jonah’s story is merely the prelude to their story. God was working grace in Jonah’s life so Jonah could extend grace to the Ninevites. And before Jonah even stepped foot into Nineveh, God was working in that great city. Jonah 3:3–5,

[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. 

Jonah’s message is very simple, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. Again, I do not think we understand how shocking that statement truly is. The Ninevites were a ruthless, evil people. Remember in Jonah 1, God said, “their evil has come up before me.” They were violent, wicked people. They were the Taliban of their day. Imagine if Jonah was sent to Kabul today and said, “Yet forty days, and Kabul shall be overthrown!” And the next sentence read, “And the Taliban believed God and called for a fast.” Verse 5 is astounding. The people of Nineveh believed God. Why? Because God was working on their hearts before Jonah arrived.

The Ninevites were experiencing several very harsh circumstances. They viewed these as omens with prophetic significance from the gods. They were looking for a way to interpret the events. They were engaged in a war with the Arameans and the Uraratians. And there was a widespread famine in the land. War and hunger were common for the people. History recorded a full eclipse during the reign of Ashur-dan III around 763 B.C. which was perceived by the people as an auspicious sign of coming judgment. All these circumstances we know of and others we do not know of, made the people more likely to respond to Jonah’s warning. 

Beloved, this is a helpful reminder for us in our evangelism. We are often like Jonah in our evangelism. We hear, “Arise, go across the street and share the coming judgment,” and too often we, “Arise, and go to “Tarshish.” The average Christian rarely shares their faith. We rarely share our faith because we are afraid and disobedient. I think the main reason we do not share the gospel is because we do not believe God will save. We think of all the reasons why someone would not come to Christ: their lifestyle, their political opinions, their views on gender and sex, etc. We forget God's grace extended to us. Beloved, the gospel is the power of God for all who believe. The gospel is like an Atomic Bomb to our sin and disbelief. The gospel is more powerful than any force in this world. He who is in us is stronger than he who is in the world. Do we believe that God has the power to save? Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one to save.” Jonah 2:9, “Salvation belongs to the Lord!” 

We say we believe God has the power to save yet functionally we live as if it is not true. We are too often like Jonah. Do you believe God is working with your unbelieving co-worker or family member? God sent a famine and an eclipse so that Nineveh would be more receptive to the gospel. What has God sent to America? Political and relational national strife, international shame in Afghanistan, Covid 19 and the reality of how things can change in an instance. God is using all the circumstances in the life of our nation to make people more receptive to the gospel. Jonah shows us that God does not show partiality but offers salvation to all. Listen to Romans 10:11-13, 

[11] For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” [12] For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. [13] For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

The Lord will save all who call on him. He has the power to save. And yet Paul doesn’t stop there. He appeals to the church, Romans 10:14–15,

[14] How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? [15] And how are they to preach unless they are sent? 

Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. God worked in Jonah’s life to save the Ninevites. God worked through a widespread famine, a full eclipse and war to make the Ninevites receptive to the gospel. Beloved, he is working now in people’s lives. We know God saves, but how will the lost call on God if they never hear? Spurgeon pleaded with his people as I do with you,

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”

Oh beloved, let us wake up from our slumber and share Christ. Let us send missionaries to Kabul, that great city with the message of the gospel. Let us send it to Bangkok and Turkey. Let us send it to our neighbors and our families. 

If you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, maybe God is working things in your life which are stirring you to ask questions. Maybe you are wondering what will happen when I die or can I be forgiven of my sin. Friend, God is mighty to save. I hope you see God’s grace in Jonah’s message and in the Ninevites response.

The Grace of Societal Change 

The people called for a fast on the preaching of Jonah, but word eventually came to the king, Jonah 3:6–9,

[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.” 

King responded to Jonah’s preaching. He mourned over his evil way and the violence of his hands. He knew he deserved to be punished for his sin. And he knew the nation deserved to be punished for their sin. He calls the entire nation to repent with a fast and with mourning. It is important to note the people had already responded upon Jonah’s preaching but now the nation collectively as a whole is responding as a unified people. 

The church’s aim is not to transform society but to transform hearts. We preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins. We preach Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life and died for sinners on the cross. We preach of the resurrection on the third day and the declared hope for all the world. For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. We have been commissioned to go and make disciples in the gospel. We are called to share Christ with the world. And when we share Christ, we share the coming judgment. Jonah’s message is similar to ours, “Judgment is coming so repent from your sins and trust in God’s salvation.” The only way to be spared from the coming judgment is to fall upon the mercy of God. 

The king of Nineveh did not presume God’s kindness. He knew the nation did not deserve a second chance so he called on God and hoped God would be merciful. The king knew that, “salvation belongs to the Lord.” Societal change will always be a spiritual matter. We should fight for good law and fair and honest courts, but true change is only possible at the hands of God. We must be about sharing the message of the gospel. We must share the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Grace of Sovereign Choice

God was working in the Ninevites. He was working in Jonah’s life. God does not desire any to perish but all to come to repentance and to the knowledge of the truth. And yet God must hold people accountable for their sin. Jonah 3:10,

[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. 

God saw repentance and gave grace. He did not send his disaster upon the Ninevites. He spared them because of their repentance. 

The numbers are interesting as you read this account of Jonah’s second chance obedience. The great evil city was a three day journey in breadth. Either it took 3 days for him to journey to all the important sectors of the city so all would hear his message or the 3 days included the surrounding areas of the city which would have been close to 50 miles. The reference to 3 days draws us back to the 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the fish. And will point us to the 3 days and 3 nights of the Lord Jesus to be in the center of the earth. The call of 40 days and the city will be destroyed would have reminded Israel of 40 days and nights of rain that fell upon the earth in the days of Noah and the 40 years Israel would have wandered in the desert for their disobedience to enter the Promised Land. I do not believe those numbers are used by accident. God was using Jonah’s life to illustrate his grace to the Israelites and to call them to repentance. Remember the state of Israel while Jonah was prophesying,2 Kings 14:23–27

[23] In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. [24] And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. [25] He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. [26] For the LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. [27] But the LORD had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash. 

God was preserving Israel even while they were in sin for, remember, God is faithful when we are faithless. Israel was faithless during Joanh’s life and God was faithful to them. And in giving 40 days for Nineveh to repent he is reminding the Israelites of both their disobedience (40 years of wandering) and God’s faithfulness (40 years of provision of manna and quail). 

The Ninevites repented but Israel did not. Eventually God would send this repentant nation to destroy the unrepentant one. As one scholar notes, “ Jonah’s prophetic mission to this languishing foreign nation resulted not only in their repentance and deliverance but ultimately also in Israel’s destruction.” Israel was carried into exile and forgotten in 722 B.C. In order to better understand the message of the book of Jonah it is important for us to read 2 Kings 17:6-18. It is a longer passage, but vital for us to grasp what the Holy Spirit desires for us to comprehend. 2 Kings 17:6–16;18

[6] In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

[7] And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods [8] and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. [9] And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. [10] They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, [11] and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger, [12] and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this.” [13] Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

[14] But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. [15] They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them. [16] And they abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God..[18]Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only. 

God’s people would not listen, but were stubborn and did not believe the Lord or follow him as their fathers. Remember the message Jonah was given, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Those forty days were a reminder to Israel to repent. Do not be like your forefathers who hardened their heart so they did not enter the promised land. Hebrews 3:19, “So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” And in 2 Kings 17, God removed them from the promised land because of unbelief. The repentance of even the Ninevites was a judgment against the Israelites. 

And yet in Jonah, and in Kings, we see God’s sovereign hand. Israel was hardened, but the end of 2 Kings 17:18, “None was left, but the tribe of Judah only. Romans 11:25–27,

[25] Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. [26] And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,

he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;

[27] “and this will be my covenant with them

when I take away their sins.” 

Partial hardening happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles would come in through the Lion of the tribe of Judah. In Revelation 5:9–10,

[9] And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you [the Lion of the Tribe of Judah]  to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation,

[10] and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.”

Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, was slain. His blood has purchased people from every tribe and language and nation. His blood rescued the Ninevites and Taliban, and all who repent of their sin and trust in Christ. 

Jonah’s message and his life is to point us beyond his life to Jesus Christ. One day all of us are going to stand before a judge who will decide what our sentence is going to be. On that day, you will need someone far better than a friend standing next to you who speaks about your recent change of character; you will need an Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, who will not stand beside you, but for you in your place saying, “I will pay the max sentence on his behalf. I will offer my blood for his freedom.” 

Friends, Jesus Christ is the only one who offers the grace of a second chance. Don’t be like Israel whose hearts were hardened with unbelief, but trust Christ who was slain and buried and was raised on the third day. Jonah did not only remind Israel of their 40 years in the wilderness he pointed them forward to the 3 days of judgment of the Son of God in the center of the earth who would pay for that disobedience. If we are faithless, he remains faithful. God is faithful. He is working for your salvation and the salvation of the whole world. Beloved, remember Jesus Christ, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, who was slain and raised on the third day. Our God is mighty to save.