Faith & Action
Too long, please open your Bible Jonah 3
Destruction or change?
Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” Jonah 3:4
The word for “overthrown” in Hebrew is used generally to refer to some sort of change or transformation.
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness Psalm 30:11
He turned their waters into blood And caused their fish to die. Psalm 105:29
The word is however, undeniably closely related to the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
Too long, please open your Bible Genesis 19:24-25, 29
Too long, please open your Bible Isaiah 30:19
Too long, please open your Bible Lamentations 4:6
Too long, please open your Bible Jeremiah 49: 17-18
Too long, please open your Bible Amos 4: 10-11
Even though the word may have double meaning, it is clear particularly from the response of the king and knowing what we know about Jonah, that he delivered the sermon as one of destruction.
Judgement, mercy and love
Some think that God’s judgement/warning is the opposite of love, but that cannot be further from the truth as we see in the following points:
- Judgement is a part of justice and a just God is one who loves. If God ignored sin, He wouldn’t be loving, he’d be indifferent. The New Testament claims that the cross is the ultimate example of the confluence between love and judgement.
- True love warns. If judgment is coming, love requires that we tell people. Jonah’s message wasn’t meant to destroy Nineveh; it was meant to save them. God could have destroyed Nineveh without informing them, but He didn’t
- God’s goal in judgment is repentance, not destruction.
“Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’ Ezekiel 33:11
God is sovereign
In today’s world, it is possible that one would be discouraged from preaching the message Jonah preached because it would be considered judgemental. Even though in this case it was against the prophet’s will, God still took the message of the prophet and used it to get the people of Nineveh to repent. The heard a message of destruction with no explicit promise of mercy or even a call to repentance, yet, they weren’t disgusted or annoyed. They didn’t feel “unloved”. They didn’t even know Yahweh! But they believed upon hearing the message. We must preach the whole word of God, and trust God with the results. We don’t need to water down Scripture to make it more acceptable. Avoiding hard truths weakens the gospel.
True Faith
Too long, please open your Bible Jonah 3: 5-9
The response of the people and king of Nineveh highlight to us a fundamental truth; true faith leads to action.
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. John 14:15