July 31 Job Part III Sentence Pronounced And Revival Occurred –The Lesson of God’s Power 3:1-10 God came to Jonah a second time and told him to go to Nineveh and proclaim His message, and this time Jonah went. In verse 3, we see that Nineveh was an important and walled city being the center of the Assyrian empire. It was a populous city (nearly 1 million people in and around the city), but one of great sin (read Nahum 3). The Assyrians were a ruthless, cruel people who had no pity for their enemies. It literally took three days to complete a circuit through the city, of about 60 miles. God told Jonah to cry out against Nineveh for its wickedness. God gave Jonah this great commission, to preach to these Gentiles that they could escape the wrath of God and be forgiven. Jonah had to overcome his sinful prejudices to preach this message. Then, God performed a great change in the city. It is interesting that it is not recorded how far Jonah went into the city, but verse 4 paints the picture that he went in one days walk spreading the message. That was enough to spark revival! His spirit moved and the people of Nineveh repented. There was such a great revival that the king issued a decree for everyone to participate in corporate repentance, so that God might turn aside His wrath. The people believed God and acted according to their faith by their works of contrition. And God forgave them. This really shows what God can do with a frail human instrument who is willing to preach God’s message. In verse 10, we see God’s desire that all should come to know Him as He does turn aside His wrath. We know that there were Ninevites that were truly saved because of Jesus’ words that were recorded in Matthew 12:41 and paralleled in Luke 11:32 as a rebuke to the Pharisees and teachers of the law: “The men of Nineveh will stand in judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.” All it took for the Ninevites was one sermon, Jesus had preached for three years reinforcing His massages with miracles, yet few Hebrews repented and believed. Rebellion-- Chapter 4 In vs. 1 and 3, Jonah was angry and expressed his frustration. And yet, even in this, God had compassion on Jonah and caused a plant to grow to shade him from the sun, and when the plant died Jonah’s compassion was for the plant and not for the people of Nineveh. How often do we look at people and see them as unworthy or too stubborn, and yet if we were to see them through the eyes of Christ they are all His. He desires that they would all be saved. Jonah saw Nineveh as a city that needed judgment. God saw a city that needed Him. Jonah had experienced God’s grace and forgiveness personally and as part of the Israelite nation, but was unwilling to extend that grace to others. God has called us to be messengers of His grace just as Jonah was supposed to be. Are you willing to be that messenger? Or is there sin that is hindering the message of the grace that you have received? God will use imperfect people to spread His Word. As we look at the narrative in Jonah, each of us can see a part of ourselves in what Jonah did. There was fear, pride, arrogance, and selfishness in Jonah and his response to God’s message of what he was supposed to do. Praise the Lord that throughout the Old and New Testament, God used people that are not perfect to spread the truth of His Word. It should encourage our hearts that whatever place we are at. Christ has a job for us and He will give the strength and wisdom to accomplish that task. God will show His mercy on whomever He pleases. We have no right or ability to judge upon whom God chooses to shower His mercy on. Romans 9:15 which is a quote from Ex 33:19, speaks of God having compassion upon whomever He wills. Our joy is to proclaim the message of Christ to the nations trusting that God will draw those that are His to Himself. Be ready to do whatever God calls you to do. Is your heart ready to be used by Christ? Do you look for opportunities to share Christ with others, or do you run away? In our culture it is so easy to become distracted from even the simplest thing that God calls us to do every day, sharing Him with others. How do your feelings about someone affect whether or not God will show them His mercy? Have you allowed your feelings to keep you from sharing Jesus with someone?
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 16:48:12 +0000
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