Scripture is often silent when we wish that it would speak. Such a time is the gap (if we may use such a word) between the second and third chapters of Jonah. How much we would like to know where the great fish vomited out Jonah. Did he return home to Gath-hepher after his strange and sad experience? Did the command from God, given a second time, come immediately after Jonah was vomited out of the fish, or was there a space, perhaps a considerable space, of time? None of these questions we can answer; and it is idle for us to ask them, much as we would like to know about these things. We do know that God has told us in His Word all that we need to know, and we often can learn from the silence of Scripture as well as from that which it reveals to us.
Perhaps in this instance our gaze is the more steadily kept on God’s determined purpose to send a warning to the great and wicked city of Nineveh. The failure of man, even the failure of God’s own servants, cannot deter the Lord in His purposes of grace. What comfort there is for our souls in this thought. Not that it should make us careless, far from it. Jonah should surely have learned that lesson. On the contrary it should give us a deeper and fuller confidence in the One whom we trust and serve, as we realize that the work is His and depends on Himself and He will surely bring about His purposes. Even though we may fail, He faileth not!
=============================
“And the word of Jehovah came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I shall bid thee.” chap. 3:1-2.
We may well believe that Jonah was in a very humbled frame of mind as he found himself vomited out on the beach and once more safe on dry ground. We may have little doubt that he was very ready to pay that which he had vowed to sacrifice. Was his vow that he would go where God sent him? We cannot answer these questions. As we recall the case of John Mark in the New Testament (another servant of the Lord who turned aside from the service which he had received), and as we bear in mind that he was apparently laid aside from that service for possibly twenty years, it makes us realize more fully the seriousness of Jonah’s actions in the eyes of his Master.
For us, who perhaps also have turned aside from some service that has been given to us, we may find in the first verse of the third chapter of Jonah a rich mine of comfort. Even suppose the mercy of God had delivered His failing servant from the awful death that threatened him, who could expect that the Lord would give to him a second opportunity to carry out this service which he had once been privileged to have the opportunity of doing for Him. Such is the grace of God. Not only did the Lord save His servant from death, but He patiently taught him the lessons that he needed, and then, saved and pardoned and equipped more fully than before through these new lessons, once more the Lord sent him on the very mission that he had formerly refused.
I cannot but think that the unspeakable grace of God shown to him again in this re-commission must have touched the heart of Jonah 1 cannot but think that many times the thought must have gone through his mind, amidst his deep repentance, “Oh, how gladly would I show the reality of my repentance by once again having the opportunity to go on the mission that I once refused.” Mark, the failing servant, became the profitable servant; and Jonah, the disobedient servant, became the obedient one. The Master in both cases received them back and once again gave to them the opportunity of continuing in that service that they had once refused. I cannot but think that most of the servants of the same blessed Master today may take comfort and hope and encouragement from these two failing servants we have been considering.
The message is very much the same. Before it had been, “Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before Me.” chap. 1:2. Now the message is, “Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I shall bid thee.” chap. 3:2.
The message is a little more preemptory, without the explanation of the reason for the warning, as given at first. The prophet had shown himself unworthy of that intimacy of communion that the first command contained. It was something like Psa. 103:77He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. (Psalm 103:7)—“He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel.” The first message told of god’s “ways,” and gave the reason for His “acts.” The second time there was no such explanation given, and simple, implicit obedience is what is called for. This was right. It was in simple, implicit obedience that the prophet had failed: and the second opportunity offered to him is a test of whether he would obey, without being told the reason.
How important for us are the last words of that second verse: “Preach unto it the preaching that I shall bid thee.” How often those of us who preach are tempted to preach what we like. Perhaps the Lord has in the past blessed certain subjects, and we like to preach from these, instead of listening to hear what He may bid us preach. There are those who have certain subjects that they use over and over again: it saves that exercise of soul, perhaps, that new subjects would require. There are others who make it a boast that they never preach the same sermon twice. How different from Jonah, who only had one sermon and preached it over and over again for days on end. “The preaching that I shall bid thee” sums it all up for every preacher today. May the Lord give to us that quiet, hearing ear that is ready, listening for His bidding as to the subject as well as His bidding as to the place!
“And Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of Jehovah.” v.3.
There was no hesitating now. There was no question now as to whether he wanted to go or not. He received his orders to go, and he went. That is as it should be. He does not say, as we are sometimes tempted, “I have not the ability: I am not worthy of such a high and holy task: I have so grievously failed in the past, send someone else.” Even a Moses could have thoughts such as these, but they were not pleasing to God, nor did they honor Him or show true humility on the part of the servant. “He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory” (John 7:1818He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. (John 7:18)), and actually self is the one on whom our eyes and thoughts are fixed in all such excuses. We need to have our eye on God alone. If He sends us, all is well; then we may gladly go without a fear or a question; but woe to the one who runs unsent. The Lord must say of other prophets: “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.” Jer. 23:2121I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. (Jeremiah 23:21). Let us beware of such work done in the name of the Lord! We all need to take the warning home to ourselves.
“Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.” v.3. “It was a city of vast extent and population; and was the center of the principle commerce of the world. Its wealth was not, however, altogether derived from trade. It was a ‘bloody city,’ ‘full of lies and robbery.’ Nah. 3:11Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; (Nahum 3:1). It plundered the neighboring nations; and is compared by the prophet Nahum to a family of lions which fill their holes with prey and their dens with ravin. (Nah. 2:11-1211Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid? 12The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin. (Nahum 2:11‑12).) At the same time it was strongly fortified; its colossal walls, a hundred feet high, with their fifteen hundred towers, bidding defiance to all enemies.” (Bible Handbook, Angus.) It was said to be about sixty miles in circumference.
“And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” v.4.
The long and trying journey from Canaan to Nineveh is all passed over. We know it took Ezra four months to make a very similar journey (Ezra 7:99For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. (Ezra 7:9)), and we may gather that Jonah was a somewhat similar length of time on his journey. Every detail of it is omitted, indeed it is not even mentioned; it is as though the Spirit of God has one object alone before Him, and that is to tell of the warning sent to the city of Nineveh; the servant and his experiences are all kept out of sight.
We may follow Jonah as he enters that great city. The marvelous palace, the winged bulls, and other wonders of that ancient city are not just old fables—we may see them today in the museums of the world. The picture of the winged bull in the illustration of Jonah preaching is a photograph of a drawing of the very same bull that we may suppose that Jonah looked upon and under whose shadow he may have preached. Jonah was a brave man to walk through that great city, crying out his sole warning of destruction. Watch him as he walked down the streets crying, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” The crowd will surely gather, and perhaps he stops on some nearby doorstep, and raised above them, he solemnly repeats that dread message from God, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” We know not if he added that part told him in the first message he had received, “for their wickedness is come up before Me” (chap. 1:2); but we do know that the people of Nineveh recognized the justice and the seriousness of the message: they thoroughly understood that their sins were the cause of the coming overthrow. There was no lightness, there was no mocking or persecution of this strange man. Did his face bear the marks of those three days in the fish’s belly? Undoubtedly it did, and we may have little doubt that those days had left their imprint on his whole demeanor. There could be no trifling after such an experience. There was no effort to make his preaching attractive to his audience, no need of music or of oratory, no need of a fine building in which to preach. His sermon was perhaps the shortest ever preached, but the most effective: a whole city was converted by it. His preaching hall was the streets of Nineveh and his roof the canopy of heaven; but all, from the king on his throne to the very beasts of the city, heard and were affected by it. Oh, that we modern preachers were more like Jonah in our deportment; perhaps if we entered more deeply into what it means to be dead with Christ and risen with Him, it would show forth more in our ways—yes, in our very faces: and our message might carry more weight than it often seems to do now.
=============================
It is a remarkable thing that there was in Nineveh an old tradition of a strange messenger who on several occasions had appeared from the gods, coming from out of the sea. The messenger of this story was probably the origin of the idol Dagon, which had the head of a man and the lower portion was a fish. (See 1 Sam. 5:44And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. (1 Samuel 5:4), margin.) The Hebrew word Dagon means a fish. Although this idol was worshipped among the Philistines, it originated, in all probability, in Assyria, of which Nineveh was the capital. It is possible that God permitted this story, which was probably well known, to incline the hearts of the people of Nineveh to hearken to the prophet who had so lately, and in such an extraordinary manner, come from the sea. (See Nineveh and Its Remains by A.H. Layard.)
We may see a modern example of how God has used old traditions to work out His purposes of blessing in the case of the Karen tribe of Burma, who were taught to expect “their younger white brother” to bring back to them a long lost book. When it came they were instructed to receive both it and those who brought it. This was one of the causes that led so many Karens to become Christians.
“And the men of Nineveh believed God [or, believed in God, Newberry], and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. And the word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.” vv.5-6.
What glorious verses! What a magnificent result to that short sermon! It all came because the people of Nineveh “believed in God.” They took Him at His word. Would that the people of China, the people of Britain and the people of other lands would do the same thing today! Alas, the most solemn messages from God today are passed by without heed and thrown aside as if they were of no importance. The sad, sad truth today is that the people do not believe God and do not believe in Him or in His Word. This solemn message to Nineveh was the first of three warnings that God sent to them. The second by Nahum, perhaps some one hundred and fifty years later, and the third by Zephaniah, some years after Nahum, were both disregarded by this proud and mighty city. We know that the judgment, so long threatened, yet so long delayed, did at last fall with all the terrible fullness so minutely foretold in Scripture.
Is this a little picture of the Gentile cities of today? How many warnings has God in His grace sent to our guilty lands; and how little have we copied the people of Nineveh! Would that today the cities of Europe, Asia and America would believe God, believe His Word, and turn to Him as the king and people of that mighty heathen city did long ago! Just as surely as this simple faith in the people of Nineveh brought deliverance to their city, so surely would true faith in God, and turning to Him, bring deliverance today. We need not be ashamed of believing God. We certainly should be ashamed of not believing Him. The fasting, the sackcloth, the ashes were nothing to be ashamed of. It was their sins of which they should be ashamed. Thank God for the days of prayer that certain rulers call for in the different nations. Were those days of prayer accompanied by the deep, deep repentance and humiliation so plainly seen at Nineveh, how much greater the deliverance that God would delight to give to us.
I love to watch the king of Nineveh. See how he received the message which that strange foreigner had been preaching all day in his city: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” v.4. Would this strange prophet lose his head for such impertinence? Far from it. The king believed the message. Watch how he came down from his throne with bowed head. He knew very well that he and his people had merited this judgment. See how he laid aside his robe and took off his crown. We know that one sinner that repenteth brings joy in the presence of the angels of God (Luke 15:1010Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. (Luke 15:10)), and what joy the conduct of that heathen king, whose name we do not even know, must have brought in heaven on that day. Nor was it the king alone. It was “the men of Nineveh” as well. How many we cannot tell, but we do know that there were a hundred and twenty thousand little children, too young to know their right hand from their left. Even these little ones put on sackcloth. What joy must there have been in heaven to see those hundreds of thousands in Nineveh fasting and clothed in sackcloth, to show forth the depth of their repentance before God! Oh that today our rulers and we, their people, might follow the example of Nineveh!
=============================
Nor was that all. Listen to this great and wise king: “And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water; and let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God; and let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knoweth but that God will turn and repent, and will turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?” vv.7-9.
The sackcloth and the fasting were good as showing forth the reality of their deep repentance; but of even greater importance in the sight of God must have been that admonition from the king, “Let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.” This mighty work in Nineveh started with faith, but faith without works is dead. These people of Nineveh had the right order: first faith, then works. Had they not believed God, they never would have repented. Faith wrought repentance. What is repentance? It means “thinking again;” it tells us the very same story that we have just read in the book of Jonah. The people, in the old days, had been quite satisfied to go on in their usual wicked course—“no worse than others” perhaps they would have said; but when they heard of destruction just ahead, they believed it. In the light of coming judgment, they saw their conduct in all its awfulness, as God saw it. There was no excusing of themselves; but on the contrary they took sides with God against themselves. That is what repentance really is.
First came faith, then repentance; and the depth and reality of the repentance was shown forth by the fasting, the sackcloth and the ashes, from the greatest to the least. Yes, even the beasts wore sackcloth in Nineveh during those days, and God takes note of the beasts in giving Jonah His reasons for showing mercy to the guilty city.
Then after repentance, rather perhaps should we say, part of the repentance, came that wondrous turning from their evil way, coupled with the command, “Let them... cry mightily unto God.” The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah, God said, was great (Gen. 18:2020And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; (Genesis 18:20)), but it was a cry that brought down judgment. How different was this mighty cry that went up from nearly a million hearts and tongues in Nineveh. What music must that cry have been in heaven! You will recall that it was by no means the first “cry” for help of which we read in this little book. We have already seen the heathen sailors cry to their false gods, and we have seen how useless was such a cry. We have seen them tell Jonah to call on his God; “perhaps God will think upon us, that we perish not.” chap. 1:6. We have heard Jonah himself say, “I cried by reason of my distress unto Jehovah, and He answered me” (chap. 2:2), and again, “My prayer came in unto Thee, into Thy holy temple.” chap. 2:7. We have heard these same heathen sailors cry mightily, not on their false gods, not even on Jonah’s God as an unknown Being, but we heard that bitter cry, “Ah, Jehovah, we beseech Thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for Thou, Jehovah, hast done as it pleased Thee.” chap. 1:14. Every one of these cries was heard and all were abundantly answered. Shall that mighty cry from Nineveh, from the king and all his subjects, be disregarded? Impossible! God’s Word, in both Old and New Testaments, says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Rom. 10:1313For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13); quoted from Joel 2:3232And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. (Joel 2:32). Listen again: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Isa. 55:77Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:7). What a bright illustration the city of Nineveh gives to us of this verse; and how true would the peoples who are in such distress today find these words, if they would but put them to the test!
“And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil that He had said He would do unto them, and He did it not.” v.10.
“God saw their works.” “Faith without works is dead.” James 2:2626For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (James 2:26). Did God not first see their faith? Surely He did, but the works were the visible evidence to all men of their faith. We all might take good heed to this verse. Too often we are content to say, “I have faith,” and the question God asks is this, “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?” James 2:1414What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? (James 2:14). I believe that every one of us might do well to see to it that we have works to show forth our faith. Romans and Galatians make it perfectly clear that a man is justified in the sight of God by faith, not by works. “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight.” Rom. 3:2020Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:20). “To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Rom. 4:55But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 4:5). “A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.” Gal. 2:1616Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (Galatians 2:16).
The book of James is equally inspired by God and makes it perfectly clear that there must be works, not in order to justify or save us (that is done by faith alone), but because true faith always produces fruit that is shown forth in works. I was returning home from work one evening, when I saw flames coming out of the roof of a house on a small side street. I rushed over to the house, ran down the garden path and, without even waiting to knock at the door, ran in and shouted, “Your house is on fire!” A man came leisurely downstairs with a cigarette in his mouth, stared at me and asked me what I was making all that fuss about in his house. I said again, “Your house is on fire!” but he paid not the least attention and evidently thought I was a lunatic. He had no faith. A few minutes later, when he discovered I had spoken the truth, he was tremendously excited. Then works showed forth his faith. Had he believed my words when first I told him, had he had faith then, he would have been tremendously excited immediately. The lack of works proved that he had no faith.
So it is today. Men are perishing on every hand. They go to “church,” they have Bibles in their homes, and profess to believe in God, but by works they deny Him. They have no real faith. If they had, it would most certainly be shown forth by their works. “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” James 2:2626For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (James 2:26). “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” James 2:2424Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. (James 2:24). A man can be justified in the sight of his fellow men by works only, for no man can see into the heart of another. So men can judge whether there is true faith only by his works. Jonah 3:1010And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. (Jonah 3:10) is an illustration of a city that is justified (from man’s point of view) in God’s sight by their works. God, Himself, gives us other examples, as Abraham and Rahab.
In these days, through God’s infinite grace, a full and clear gospel, through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ alone, is often preached. We can thank and praise God for it; but we fear that at times the balance of truth is not always kept, and we are apt to forget that with us it should be as in Abraham’s case, “faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect.” James 2:2222Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? (James 2:22). Please be absolutely clear, it is not that we are saved partly by faith and partly by works. No, we are saved by faith alone, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. But if there is true faith, then it is utterly impossible not to have works. The works are merely the external result of the internal faith. The faith saves us. The works give evidence that we truly have the faith.
How beautifully all this is illustrated in the story of Nineveh and her king. Speaking reverently, it would have been utterly impossible for God to do other than show mercy to that great, guilty city, when her works spoke so loudly of the faith which produced them.
So, whether it be an individual, a city, or a nation, if there be a true turning to God, as there was in Nineveh, it is impossible that God should do otherwise than have mercy and “abundantly pardon.” Isa. 55:77Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:7). Otherwise, He would not be true to His character—“Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving-kindness, and repentest Thee of the evil.” chap. 4:2.