Jonah 3 Devotional
by Pastor Mark Hudson
In this chapter. Jonah gets a second chance. That should make us ask why? Here was a prophet of God who upon hearing God’s call to go to Nineveh paid his way to go the opposite direction “away from the presence of the Lord.” He endangered the lives of pagan sailors who after throwing valuable cargo into the sea beckon him to pray. Pagans asking a Jewish prophet to pray. In short, these pagan sailors look more righteous than Jonah. Imagine sailors looking more righteous than anyone.
So why should Jonah get a second chance? God extends grace to Jonah by this first verse in chapter 3. God still wanted to use Jonah. God still has a mission for Jonah to complete. Jonah certainly did not deserve the repetition of the call after his blatant rejection of God and his refusal to obey. Yet God used Jonah and God wanted to reach the people of Nineveh.
God does not give up but calls him a second time with a slightly different call, “call out against it the message I tell you.” So, Jonah does not know exactly what he will be saying. Nineveh is called a great city. It could be great because of its size or population. It could be great because of its political or cultural significance (important rather than great). Nineveh, this violent wicked city was important to God. We see this at the very last verse of the book. This violent, wicked city is important to God. Enough to send an unwilling prophet a long way away to preach His word to them.
Notice that we hear nothing of his almost two-week walk to Nineveh. The brevity of language pushes the narrator to only include what is necessary. Jonah preaches this message in v. 4. This is probably a summary of the message, but we find little hope, opportunity to repent, or promise of forgiveness. Yet, the people believe.
Some surmise that a famine, solar eclipse, flood, or invasion was considered a bad omen for the people of Nineveh. And if one of those things happened prior to Jonah’s arrival, that could explain how the city so eagerly responded. There is evidence that a solar eclipse happened around this time. This might have made the people and King more sensitive to their perilous state. For whatever reason, this may be the grandest and most spectacular revival ever.
Remember, these people were vicious. They would flay people alive and hang their skin on city walls. They pulled people’s tongues out of their mouths. They impaled people. The list goes on. Their own art reflects how savage they were. And these people repented. Maybe we can understand why Jonah did not want them to be forgiven.
A large portion of the chapter is devoted to this revival. They repent not on day 39 of the 40 days Jonah mentioned. Not on the third day of his preaching, but on the first day. They stopped eating and put on ugly, scratchy sackcloth. The king goes further. He leaves his throne, removes his robe, covers himself in sackcloth and sat in ashes. This is humbling himself. Then he issues a decree that man and beast are not to eat or drink, dress in sackcloth, and call out to God. The king calls them to turn from the evil ways and the violence that is in their hands. He knows what they have been doing is wrong.
Then the King adds what is in every rebuke from God: hope. We don’t know what he knew about God, or all that Jonah said. We do not know where the king came up with any hope at all. But he knew what Jonah knew. “I know that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” This is why I am so mad; Jonah seems to reason. So now we see the third repentance. We have a repentant prophet, a repentant people, and in v. 10, a repentant God. Of course, the last repent has a different meaning than the first two.
You will notice a lot of proclaiming (3 times in this chapter) arising, turning, going down and coming up, etc. in this book. One of the key thoughts from this chapter is the little understood grace of God. Why should He call Jonah as second time? Why should He trust Jonah with such an important task? It reminds us that Jonah was right in 2:9, “Salvation belongs to the Lord!” We also are reminded that our repentance is an evangelical grace and is always defective. Jonah did repent but he still had a confused mind and divided heart. Yet he obeyed. Keep obeying even though you are unrighteous. Yes, you will sin again but don’t ever give up fighting sin by repenting and believing the gospel.
That wicked city was important to God. Nineveh was not important because of its size or political significance but only because of grace. As Deuteronomy 7:7ff says, “it was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you . . . it is because the Lord loves you . . . .” Do you follow the logic? The Lord loves you because He loves you. He loved Abraham when he was a pagan. He loved David even though David did a horrible thing. He loved Peter who betrayed Him. And he loves you if you are in a covenant relationship with Him.
“Father, I confess that I will never, ever comprehend the depth of Your grace. There is nothing that compares with Your grace, and no one compares to You. You are the most beautiful of all Beings in the universe. You are relentless in Your pursuit of those You have called. You use flawed, selfish, mixed-up believers who don’t know the first thing about You and Your heart. We say the words, but we do not comprehend the depth of the eternal significance of words we throw around like grace, heaven, sin, grace, and love. Open our eyes and minds so we replace our love of sinning with a love for You. We confess that we are far from that as evidenced by the constant battle we engage with sin. May we be known for our repenting rather than our outward show of righteousness. Break us down so You can build us up to where we should be which is a lowly, humble position. Help us to be more like Christ and less like ourselves. In Christ’s name. Amen.