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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to
go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming,
“Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A
fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on
sackcloth.
When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose
from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and
sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:
“By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let
people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or
drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call
urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who
knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so
that we will not perish.”
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their
evil ways, He relented and did not bring on them the destruction He had
threatened.
Jonah 3:3b-10
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks
be to God.
Jonah was back on dry land again, courtesy of the Lord’s
mercy and grace after spending three days in the belly of a great fish. And as
we know from yesterday’s devotion, Jonah made good on his second chance to do
what God commanded, heading to the great city of Nineveh, the capitol of
Assyria.
It was quite a dramatic turning for God’s chosen
messenger, converting from non-compliant servant to committed, subservient prophet.
But yet, as we see in the remaining verses in Jonah 3, it was far from the most
dramatic turning that took place. Look again at what took place in Nineveh
here:
Now Nineveh was a
very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a
day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be
overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of
them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
When Jonah’s
warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his
royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. This is
the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:
“By the decree of
the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything;
do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with
sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways
and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from
his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
When God saw what
they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He relented and did not
bring on them the destruction He had threatened. Jonah 3:3b-10
The scriptures have told us that Nineveh was a great city
and as we see in this passage, it was huge. Just imagine how far a person would
be able to walk in three days and then picture that distance representing how
far it would be to go through it.
Well, we read where Jonah had only walked one day into
Nineveh, announcing the following coming judgment:
“Forty more days
and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
The people could have responded in one of two ways to
Jonah’s announcement. They could have just blown him off and went on with life.
It would have been business as usual in this instance but note that this isn’t
what happened at all.
For the “Ninevites believed God”, proclaiming a fast and
every person donning sackcloth, the classic expression of remorse and mourning
in biblical times. Even the king got involved, taking off “his royal robes”
before covering himself with sackcloth and sitting down in the dust. From this
humble position, the king proclaimed the following:
“By the decree of
the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything;
do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with
sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways
and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from
his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
It was an extreme, dramatic turning for a powerful,
prideful city who had sinned at will against God in the past. Now they grieved
their wicked actions, gave up their evil ways and violence and called urgently
for God, hoping He might relent from expressing fierce anger and intent on
seeing the Ninevites perish.
How would God respond to this display of repentance?
He showed us His own dramatic turning, choosing to not
bring destruction on Nineveh after seeing its people show deep sadness as they
turned from their evil ways.
Three main players in this account: Jonah, the Ninevites,
and God. Three incidents of dramatic turning.
In the end translation, none of this would have been
possible had Jonah not done as God asked. Through his willingness to pronounce
God’s coming judgment, he shared a message that caused the Ninevites to change
their ways. The same can happen to us today when we show a readiness to speak
about the reality of God’s judgment with others, something many pastors go out
of their way to dodge in many instances these days. Those pastors want to talk
about prosperity and make God a feel-good deity, portraying Him as One who always
gives us just what we want, not what we deserve.
Friends, if we fail to speak about the judgment of God
with others, then we omit an important part of who He is and what He does in
dealing with sinners. Further, I believe we only enable wicked, evil behavior
when we choose to not talk about the consequences that will come from that
behavior. We keep people from understanding a nature of God that would
facilitate their own dramatic turning.
As we consider all this, the solution to making sure we
don’t err in the way we discuss God with others is to follow the lead of the
Jonah who emerged from the great fish, transformed and recommitted to do
whatever God wanted. He unashamedly told of the punishment God was bringing and,
in doing so, played a role in the Ninevites’ redemption. His message was the
impetus for the people of Nineveh to be saved and when we share the truth of
God’s coming judgment with others, coupled with the good news of His saving
grace through Jesus His Son for all who believe and trust in Him, then we too
become the people Jesus called us to be, people who make disciples of all
nations so they might find salvation and the opportunity to spend all eternity
with the God of mercy, grace, forgiveness, and love and His Son Jesus who came
as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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