Jonah 3:1-10

Obeying God

© 2000, J.W. Carter
Scripture quotes from KJV

Jonah 3:3-4.

3Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days. 4On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned."

Nineveh was a very large city, numbering about 120,000. It was a very wicked city. As a major center of commerce it was a mixture of cultures were pagan practices were intermingled with godless, violent, and riotous lifestyles. Also, the Ninevites hated the Israelites. So how would you expect the people of the city to respond to a single individual who walks into town and simply states, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be destroyed." We have many people telling us that in less than two months the world will be destroyed. How do we respond to them? We do not see these people as speaking with authority. We find their statements lacking in power because of a lack of authority behind them. A good example is Jack Van Impe who proclaims in his book, 2001: On the Edge of Eternity that the rapture will take place on January 1, 2000 because God planned for the rapture to take place 6,000 years after the creation of the universe, and according to his calculations, in less than two months, the universe will be 6,000 years old. We see the doomsday prophets of today as seeking doomsday profits in their bank accounts. It would seem the people of Nineveh would respond in the same way they had responded to every other obedient believer who spoke to them: Jonah would be ignored.

How did Jonah respond this time? What did he find?

When Jonah arrived at Nineveh he wasted no time. All of the city’s wealth and power could not save them. God gave them 40 days to repent; He would wait no longer. God is a just God and must punish sin. There is a timetable that must be meted out. We would be greatly alarmed to know that we were to live but 40 days, yet we are careless, not even knowing if we will live one more day.