Jonah 3:6–10 - An Indicting Testimony

Picture a workplace where many employees have been around for years. Their work has become mechanical. They cut corners, ignore certain safety rules. Not in rebellion, but simply because everything feels routine and familiar.

Then a new hire arrives. This person listens closely in training and follows every procedure carefully. They ask questions. They take the work seriously. And with their arrival, something becomes clear: the long-time employees have grown complacent. Familiarity has dulled their seriousness and sincerity about the work.

This is something like what took place in ancient Israel. The Israelites had God’s covenant and promises and all the things of God, but their hearts had become numb to the truth and to their own sin.

All believers are prone to this. The members of God’s covenant community can grow numb to His commands and dull to His grace. And when that happens, God will expose that numbness by displaying His grace in the lives of those on the outside.

When we see God at work transforming the worst – and really, even before we see that – we should humbly renew our commitment to God. We should express our faith and also demonstrate the change in our lives. That message comes through in Jonah 3:6-10, where God's saving work in Nineveh indicted the hard-hearted Israelites and us as well, because When the worst truly repent, hard hearts are exposed. (vv.6–9) and when the LORD freely relents, His grace is disclosed. (v.10)

We saw last time that when Jonah obeyed God with his second chance to preach to Nineveh, there was true belief and repentance in that great city. Jonah was a messenger transformed by grace, and God bore good fruit through him.

In verse 6, Jonah’s message reaches the king. It’s interesting that it’s the king “of Nineveh,” which was a city. This probably isn’t the king of Assyria (the nation), but rather, the city’s leader. He issues an edict for the city and not for the whole nation. But still, he was a man of tremendous power and influence, and in many ways was responsible for what was going on in the city.

Now, how bad were the Ninevites? Palmer Robertson says, “Archaeology records that the kings of Nineveh regularly cut off the noses of people they conquered, and literally skinned them alive.” But look at the passage. “He arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.” It’s very extraordinary that he responds this way.

Some scholars speculate about his reaction and Jonah’s timing. They wonder if there had been other occurrences that primed the king’s heart, such as a total solar eclipse (which was very alarming at that time), or an earthquake or famine or flooding or the threat of another country invading. These are all possible; we couldn’t say for sure. But it’s true, isn’t it, that when God works true faith in someone’s heart, difficult circumstances are often surrounding that event?

At any rate, the king and people of Nineveh saw the greatness of their need. They accepted that they were evil. They were able to admit their wickedness. These people were the worst of the worst, but here is God offering mercy. Often it’s these people who are aware of their need, while the self-righteous are not.

So the king “issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh.” This is a total fast for every living creature, which is meant to show the totality of it. Don’t eat, don’t even drink, grieve your sin and “call out mightily to God.” And look at the last part of verse 8. The king says, “Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.” He knows they are all guilty.

And he adds, verse 9 “Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” Jonah had preached that if they didn’t turn from their sins, they would be overthrown. Their great city would fall to destruction. This would no doubt come through some kind of violent means. It might be another nation invading or a natural disaster. But their lack of repentance would be their undoing.

If you were go back and research ancient Israel’s history, God had told them this many times and given them many, many chances to repent – but to no avail. There was always a remnant who trusted in Yahweh – a small number who were faithful to God – but on the whole, they rejected God. Most of them wouldn’t humble themselves and turn from their wickedness. But here’s even the king of Nineveh repenting in humility.

Do you know what king failed to do this? Jeroboam II, the present king of Israel. This is an indictment of him. The Ninevite repentance put a spotlight on his guilt. Israel’s kings were a major part of their problem. They had the covenant and the promises and all the things of Yahweh, so they thought they were fine. But they weren’t.

Do you rest on your external credentials or accomplishments or titles in the church, while protecting your pet sins because you know God’s grace abounds? Don’t – be – fooled. Scripture tells you to take regular account of your actual inward and outward life.

Consider how you treat people, the words of your mouth, your private thoughts. Examine your behavior. Do you manipulate people, do you belittle them, do you start gossip or join in when others do it?

Do you talk about others behind their backs while being nice to their face? Does jealousy guide your thoughts and actions? Do you disregard the feelings of others? Do you justify the hatred of your enemies?

Do you really aim to glorify God in your work? Do you constantly complain? Do you have to put others down to build yourself up? Is life a “zero sum game” for you – i.e. others must fail for you to succeed, others must be hurt for you to be happy?

Do you allow sin to remain rather than putting it to death in your life because you have the covenant and the promises? You have grace, so no big deal? Soft hearts toward God shine the light on hearts that are hard toward Him. Regret your ways and return to God, or there will be a price to pay.

Sadly, the Israelites would pay a heavy price for their failure to repent. And what is sad is that repentance was right there. God is gracious and merciful toward sinners to come to Him. He puts whole lives back together where sin has brought its ruin. With true faith and sincere repentance, anyone can start again. We cannot undo the past, but we can move forward with hope because we’re moving forward with God. We’re moving forward by faith, and He leads.

I want to tell you about Steven Parker. He’s currently an inmate at Bibb County Correctional Facility in Alabama. Steven committed multiple murders, including his stepmother and almost his father. He was considered one of the most dangerous men in the AL prison system in the early 2000s. He was part of the Alabama Arian nation as an inmate in the brutal Holman Correctional Facility.

But while in solitary confinement, someone gave Steven a Bible, and he started reading. At some point, a black inmate shared the gospel with him, and he trusted in Christ and repented of his sin. He’s now been released to a medium-security prison, and he’s done theological studies with Birmingham Theological Seminary and Ligonier’s Prison Outreach.

I want to share with you what he says in a video posted by Ligonier. Steven says, “I would not surrender my identity as a Christian to be free. I'm more than a prisoner. I'm a Christian and that means everything. So I see in God's sovereign providence that because of my own waywardness and my own willingness to sin that he brought me here so that my light might shine.

Right theology and right thinking about God, it changes your attitude and it has an effect from the inside out. Jesus has taught me to love others, to love others as I love myself, because I see the awful sin in myself. I can look at the next sinning man and I can say like Charles Spurgeon said, if not for the grace of God, there I am.

I love to help guys know Jesus better, grow in the Lord. I like to see the Lord work in their lives and my concern is to see Christ honored, to see the glory of the Lord. And my hope is in the resurrection of Jesus Christ when this life is over and I see Jesus face to face.

Hope to me looks like salvation. My hope is not getting out of prison or getting rich or having a lot of friends or being really respected by other inmates. My hope is that I'll finish the course well and my Father will say, “Well done.”

That’s an indicting testimony, isn’t it? Do you have this kind of humility before God? When the worst truly repent, hard hearts are exposed. (vv.6–9)

Now look at verse 10. God responds. “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.” When they turned, God turned, as the king had hoped. This would seem to have occurred at the end of the forty days. Forty days came and went, and the city was not overthrown.

It was often the case that prophecies such as this would have implicit conditions built in. God was willing to withhold destruction when people responded in faith. But interestingly, where the Hebrew text says God “relented,” some translate that as,
“God repented.” To repent means “to change one’s mind.”

Now, from a human perspective, that’s what God did. But it’s important to note that in verse 10, the phrases “they turned” and “God relented” use two different words that might be translated “repented.” The Ninevites turned from evil to good. That’s the meaning of “turned” there. Of course, God did not turn from evil. His “turning” signifies the turn from judgment to compassion. He said he would destroy unrepentant Ninevites, so from His perspective,
he didn’t change.

Now, the word used about God’s repentance signifies the suffering of grief. Richard Phillips writes, “God literally suffers in repenting from judging our sins.” One scholar notes that it could be stated that God “was moved to pity.” He was moved to compassion, which always has with it a type of pain. God suffered pity – He suffered compassion – for them.

But these people were clearly guilty. They deserved punishment; they had earned judgment. How could God justly forgive them?

You heard the answer earlier in this worship service as I read from Romans 3. Paul writes that, “in His divine forbearance [God] had passed over former sins.” God passed over the sins of the Ninevites in divine forbearance – in anticipation of the atoning work of Christ. God truly forgave them, and there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. No forgiveness apart from Christ.

Nineveh experienced divine mercy and relief of threatened judgment. Whether each individual was justified eternally the text does not specify. The likely reality is that much like today, while many professed faith, some were genuine and some were not. But the LORD shed His grace on Nineveh.

If you look back at Romans 3, notice verse 26 says, “It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” What is the “it” referring to? It’s the public display of God’s righteousness in the atoning death of Jesus Christ.

Up until the cross, God had “passed over” sins, forgiving people who trusted in Him – though no sufficient sacrifice had yet been made to accomplish that forgiveness. The death of Christ showed the righteousness of God. It showed that He was just even as He relented and did not judge those He forgave. This is how God could be and still is “just and the justifier.”

Most Christians would agree that God is the same today, yesterday, and forever. And yet, some seem to have the idea that OT believers were saved some other way. But you must understand – by faith through grace has always been the only way. We know the faith of the Ninevites was real. In Matthew 12, Jesus said to the hard-hearted Jewish Pharisees and scribes, “The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah.”

The Ninevites believed God. Ancient Gentile forgiveness – like ancient Hebrew forgiveness – was grounded in the future work of Christ. God’s relenting in Jonah 3:10 is an historical instance of His merciful forbearance. When the LORD freely relents, His grace is disclosed – revealed and magnified.

This is a warning and reminder to us today. We who are in close proximity to the truth, who are familiar with the covenant and promises, who have our religious routines and history, who have our Christian achievements, titles, reputations and rights as members of the covenant community, who espouse Christian beliefs and values, we can be blind to our habitual sin and numb to the love of God.

We can be cold to the compassion of the Lord, numb to the pain of others, and content in the comfort of our sins, and for this, we deserve God’s judgment, but He directed that judgment to His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, the spotless sacrificial lamb of God, whose life and death reveal God’s righteousness and the true standard of obedience.

We who claim to be Christians, to trust and follow Jesus, will we be condemned on the last day by the faith of the Ninevites? Admit your sin to the living Jesus today, and turn from it to follow Him. By His grace He will carry and sustain you.

And for those who trust in Him, you receive His whole righteousness as your own, and therefore His testimony before God is yours.

Let’s bow in prayer.