A Message of Destruction

Jonah 3:1-4

There is this interesting fact about saving someone's life, the person has to be in danger. It sounds funny when worded like that, but it is a fact. Interestingly enough, sometimes the person does not even know they are in danger. The person doing the saving has to inform them of the danger, the purpose of their effort, and the plan to get the individual to safety. Other times the person is quite aware of the danger and will jump into the arms of the person offering salvation. In either case, there is a very clear threat to the safety or even life of the individual(s) that need to be saved.

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Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. 4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

Jonah 3:1-4

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After two chapters of dealing with Jonah's stubbornness, we find ourselves right back where the book started. God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach the message He would give Jonah to the people. This time Jonah obeys God. Though we are no longer prophets, the job of a preacher is exactly the same today. We are to go where God sends us, and we are to preach the message God gives us. For all of human existence, this has been the way that God has communicated with the masses. God gives a message to an individual and then that individual takes that message to the people.

In the New Testament, Jude spoke of Enoch, the 7th generation of humanity, who preached a message from God (Genesis 5:1-18). Jude wrote:

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Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Jude 14-15

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I'm not going to break this passage down. I simply included it to show you that God is consistent in how He deals with humanity. Men preached in the Old Testament, men preached in the New Testament, and men preach today.

In Jonah 3:3-4a, we read that God again did something supernatural in Jonah's life. Nineveh was 3 days journey by foot for Jonah, but he made it in a single day. There was an urgency that required immediate proclamation of the message. Judgment was set and the warning needed to be sounded immediately. We need to remember this because there is a judgment day set for this world as well. We may not be like Jonah and able to tell a date, but the Bible is clear that it is imminent. No one is promised tomorrow. It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27).

Finally we see the message of Jonah. Jonah told the people, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”. Can you imagine walking 3 days distance and that is all you had to say? Even though it was a short message, it was exactly what the people needed to hear. There are times that we as pastors question the message God gives us. I have heard many preachers make this statement, and I have experienced this myself. Often we feel like we totally blow it in preaching a message, and someone or multiple people walk the aisle for salvation or for some other reason. God uses what we think of as weakness to do His work. Such was the case for this brief message for the city. (We will consider the results next time).

Father, it is by the foolishness of preaching that You chose to save people (I Corinthians 1:21). Thank You for giving us a message to preach, and empowering us to go and preach that message. May we be faithful in telling the world that judgment is coming. We also pray that they will receive Your message and be obedient to Your Spirit's conviction.