Response To The Message

Jonah 3:5-10

One of the last major incidents I worked involved 10 members of one gang being attacked by 40+ people in the dormitory they lived in. I will spare you the details, but it was a mess. As my team entered the building, we came in one door, but the control room officer opened the second door to the building, which allowed the 10 gang members to run into the sallyport (foyer if you will). The other guys on my team started grabbing guys and putting them in cuffs because they had weapons. I slid past them and entered the dormitory. I had a pepperball gun (think souped up paintball gun) and began deploying rounds and ordering the dorm to lock down. They complied, and I suddenly noticed that I was all alone in the dorm. The shift of officers had not entered the building. At that moment I calmly made my way to the door and retreated from what could have been a very bad situation. Danger was present and I needed to leave.

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So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,

Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?

10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

Jonah 3:5-10

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In verse 8, the King of Nineveh makes a decree that orders the people to "let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands". The words "turn from" comes from a Hebrew word that can mean "to retreat". I really like that word picture. Just like in my introduction, the king realized danger was present and that they needed to run away from the cause of that danger. They needed to retreat!

Unlike Jonah, they did not try to run from God. Rather, they realized that it was their sins that were putting them in danger. So, they retreated from their sins. Paul wrote to the church at Colossae, "Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience" (Colossians 3:5-7). Repentance requires us to retreat from committing the sins. For a Christian, we must not only stop doing the sin, but "put to death" the desire to commit the sin.

The King's desire was that through their repentance and seeking the mercy of God, God would change His course of action and not destroy Nineveh. That is our goal every time we repent of sin. We are retreating from the action, and petitioning God to have mercy on us, rather than Him executing justice. Guilt or innocence is never the case. We are guilty, we acknowledge that guilt, but we stop committing our crime against God, and beg for forgiveness of our debt that requires payment.

The king never argued innocence or guilt. The king never said "Jehovah is not our God". Jonah proclaimed a message of coming judgment, the king and people heard the message, the Holy Spirit convicted them of their sins, and they retreated from their sin and threw themselves before the throne of God to beg for mercy. Is this not what Salvation is? Someone tells us that there is judgment for sins, we hear the message, God's Holy Spirit convicts us that we are guilty, we retreat from our sins, and throw ourselves at the throne of God and beg His forgiveness through the blood of Jesus for our sins. What a beautiful picture of the Gospel being carried to the gentiles and they receive salvation!

Father, I thank You that You are in the forgiving business. If we repent of our sins, seek Your face, and humble ourselves to You, You are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9). Thank You for being a holy, righteous, and loving God.