Jonah 3 - Introduction

Jonah Running With God

Jonah Three

Have you ever messed up really bad? What would you do if given a second chance to deal with the same opportunity? Jonah was given a second chance to go preach to Nineveh. Each day that we live provides us with another "second" opportunity to get right with God or to render greater service in His kingdom. It took him a while to get to Nineveh but when Jonah finally surrendered to God he was able to do a great service for Him.

Nineveh was a very large city. “So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey." (Jonah 3:3) It took three days to walk, either from one side to the other or around the city. "In that city of Nineveh there are more than a hundred twenty thousand people who cannot tell right from wrong, and many cattle are also there." (Jonah 4:11) Jonah preached a message of doom that had been brought on by the sins of the people. He warned the people, "Forty days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed!" The response to the preaching of Jonah was great. The people repented, from king to beggar. "And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them." God saw their repentance and changed His mind about the destruction.

God sent His prophet with a clear, concise message and those people repented. People have always been admonished to hear the word of the Lord. "Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land." (Hosea 4:1) Today God has sent His Son and all the people of the world should repent. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10)