Jonah 3:1

Outline:
    I. \\#Jonah 1:1-2:10\\ Jonah’s Disobedience
        A. \\#Jonah 1:1-2\\ The Call from God
        B. \\#Jonah 1:3\\ The Willfulness of Jonah
        C. \\#Jonah 1:4-2:10\\ The Hand of God
   II. \\#Jonah 3:1-3:10 \\Jonah’s Obedience

Notes:
I. \\#Jonah 3:1-3:10 \\Jonah’s Obedience
    A. \\#Jon 3:1-4\\ God’s Renewed Call
        1. \\#3:1\\ "the word of the Lord came…  a second time." - God’s call
            does not change \\#Ro 11:29\\.  It took Jonah’s a while to agree
            to do what God knew he would do all the time.
        2. \\#3:2\\ "go unto Nineveh" - Same God, same servant, same call,
            same city.
        3. \\#3:3\\ "So Jonah arose…." - This time, Jonah accepted. Not
            everyone gets a second chance.
        4. \\#3:3-4\\ "three day’s journey"…"a day’s journey" - Depending on
            where God deposited Jonah, he had to travel to Nineveh.  However,
            that is not what the wording is of this verse is speaking.
            a. "Nineveh was an exceeding great city" - The topic is not the
                distance to the city but the city itself.  The city was so
                large, it took three days journey to walk around it.
            b. A day’s journey was 20 miles, so the city had a circumference
                of somewhere around 60 miles.
        5. \\#3:4\\ "Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey" -
            Jonah wasn’t interested in going around the city but into it. As
            his purpose was to preach, he probably stopped along the way, not
            making it the average distance of 20 miles but rather preaching
            and walking through the city for the entire day.
        6. \\#3:4\\ "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." - Some
            attempt to discredit Jonah as a prophet because his stated prophecy
            of judgment on Nineveh did not come to pass.  What is stated here
            was just a summary of Jonah’s message.  Maybe judgment was the
            part Jonah liked to preach the most!  The fact that there is no
            mention of God stopping the judgment in the event that the people
            repented does not mean that it was not part of the message.  Jonah
            had refused to go to Nineveh because he knew God would forgiven
            them if he did \\#Jon 4:2\\. Somehow, the people knew they needed
            to repent \\#Jon 3:9\\, most likely because Jonah had told them.  It
            would have made little sense for God to have sent Jonah if
            repentance and forgiveness were not a part of the message.
     B.  \\#Jon 3:5-10\\ Nineveh awoke
         1. \\#3:5\\ "The people of Nineveh believed God, and…" - The people
             believed God and repented.  What a testimony to a heathen nation
             and a condemnation against Israel!  Israel had heard the same
             message for centuries, but they did not respond with faith and
             repentance.
         2. \\#3:6\\ "…the king of Nineveh… arose… and… covered him with
             sackcloth, and sat in ashes" - Even the leaders believed God and
             repented.
             a. \\#3:7-9\\ "he caused it be proclaimed and published through
                 Nineveh" - Once the king repented, he commanded the whole
                 city to at least go through the motions of repentance.
             b. While true repentance cannot be commanded, this king’s sorrow
                 and the people’s effort was enough to move God.
         3. \\#3:10\\ "…and God repented of the evil…." - God saw the
             repentance of Nineveh, was merciful, and spared the city.
             a. This would have been a logical place for this book to stop.
                 The prophet had received prophetical word from God, preached
                 it, and now, revival had come to Nineveh.
             b. Sadly, the story continues.

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