Jonah 3:1
Outline:
I. \\#Jonah 1:1-2:10\\ Jonah’s Disobedience
A. \\#Jonah 1:1-2\\ The Call from God
B. \\#Jonah 1:3\\ The Willfulness of Jonah
C. \\#Jonah 1:4-2:10\\ The Hand of God
II. \\#Jonah 3:1-3:10 \\Jonah’s Obedience
Notes:
I. \\#Jonah 3:1-3:10 \\Jonah’s Obedience
A. \\#Jon 3:1-4\\ God’s Renewed Call
1. \\#3:1\\ "the word of the Lord came… a second time." - God’s call
does not change \\#Ro 11:29\\. It took Jonah’s a while to agree
to do what God knew he would do all the time.
2. \\#3:2\\ "go unto Nineveh" - Same God, same servant, same call,
same city.
3. \\#3:3\\ "So Jonah arose…." - This time, Jonah accepted. Not
everyone gets a second chance.
4. \\#3:3-4\\ "three day’s journey"…"a day’s journey" - Depending on
where God deposited Jonah, he had to travel to Nineveh. However,
that is not what the wording is of this verse is speaking.
a. "Nineveh was an exceeding great city" - The topic is not the
distance to the city but the city itself. The city was so
large, it took three days journey to walk around it.
b. A day’s journey was 20 miles, so the city had a circumference
of somewhere around 60 miles.
5. \\#3:4\\ "Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey" -
Jonah wasn’t interested in going around the city but into it. As
his purpose was to preach, he probably stopped along the way, not
making it the average distance of 20 miles but rather preaching
and walking through the city for the entire day.
6. \\#3:4\\ "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." - Some
attempt to discredit Jonah as a prophet because his stated prophecy
of judgment on Nineveh did not come to pass. What is stated here
was just a summary of Jonah’s message. Maybe judgment was the
part Jonah liked to preach the most! The fact that there is no
mention of God stopping the judgment in the event that the people
repented does not mean that it was not part of the message. Jonah
had refused to go to Nineveh because he knew God would forgiven
them if he did \\#Jon 4:2\\. Somehow, the people knew they needed
to repent \\#Jon 3:9\\, most likely because Jonah had told them. It
would have made little sense for God to have sent Jonah if
repentance and forgiveness were not a part of the message.
B. \\#Jon 3:5-10\\ Nineveh awoke
1. \\#3:5\\ "The people of Nineveh believed God, and…" - The people
believed God and repented. What a testimony to a heathen nation
and a condemnation against Israel! Israel had heard the same
message for centuries, but they did not respond with faith and
repentance.
2. \\#3:6\\ "…the king of Nineveh… arose… and… covered him with
sackcloth, and sat in ashes" - Even the leaders believed God and
repented.
a. \\#3:7-9\\ "he caused it be proclaimed and published through
Nineveh" - Once the king repented, he commanded the whole
city to at least go through the motions of repentance.
b. While true repentance cannot be commanded, this king’s sorrow
and the people’s effort was enough to move God.
3. \\#3:10\\ "…and God repented of the evil…." - God saw the
repentance of Nineveh, was merciful, and spared the city.
a. This would have been a logical place for this book to stop.
The prophet had received prophetical word from God, preached
it, and now, revival had come to Nineveh.
b. Sadly, the story continues.
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