When I was a child people would sometimes give me a book called ‘the Guinness Book of Records’ as a Christmas present. I guess many of us have come across it. I remember as a kid browsing through the records. You can now find most of the records online and it’s now called simply ‘Guinness World Records'.
Guinness World Records has about 40,000 records, so it covers almost every imaginable record. It includes records for some very cool things. Here’s one – the most stairs climbed while balancing a person on the head (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIPX3pqgfFY&t=18s).
But there’s one world record that doesn’t appear in Guinness World Records. Nobody has claimed an event as the greatest religious conversion in history. If there was, I think Nineveh would hold it.
On one occasion, Jesus was talking to some religious leaders. He said this:
‘The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here’ [Matthew 12:41].
Why does that suggest that Nineveh’s repentance was the greatest religious conversion in history? Jesus’ argument is along the lines, ‘If Nineveh (‘even Nineveh!’) managed to repent, then this generation doesn’t have a leg to stand on!’ Nineveh was a very wicked city. We wouldn’t have expected Nineveh to repent.
Let me try another example on you. The example is purely imaginary – it isn’t anything like our family…
Suppose a mum is a keen runner. Every Saturday she does ‘Park Run.’ (‘Park Run’ is restarting on Saturday, which is why I chose this example.) The mum has a 15-year-old son. She wants him to do Park Run.
‘But 5k is too far’, he complains. ‘I can’t run 5 kilometres!’
The mum might say, ‘Son. A couple of years ago a man called Fauja Singh ran a Park Run in Birmingham. He was 107! If he could do it at 107, you can do it!’
The mum would choose the most extreme example of someone you would NOT expect to be able to do Park Run to make her point.
I think Jesus did the same. He chose Nineveh as the place that was least likely to repent. If that logic is good then Nineveh’s repentance may be the greatest religious conversion in history.
Well, we’ll never know whether Nineveh actually deserves the prize for the greatest religious conversion in history. But Jesus clearly looked very favourably on what the people of Nineveh did. They got something right – and that means that there’s something we can learn from them. In the story of the Ninevites’ repentance we can see what repentance SHOULD be like.
I’m going to draw four points about repentance from Nineveh.
1. The Ninevites recognized that they had a problem
2. The Ninevites recognized the urgency of the situation
3. The Ninevites repented as though they meant it
4. The Ninevites changed
1. THE NINEVITES RECOGNIZED THAT THEY HAD A PROBLEM
The first thing the Ninevites got right was that they saw there was a problem.
In 1970, Jim Lovell, one of the astronauts on Apollo 13, radioed Houston. ‘Houston, we've had a problem here', he said.
Actually, there had been an explosion and there was a real danger that the three astronauts would not be able to return to earth. The first and rather obvious step for everyone involved in the mission was to acknowledge that there was a problem.
The people of Nineveh did the same. They acknowledged that there was a problem.
Look at 3:4. Jonah went to Nineveh and proclaimed, ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.’ Now look at 3:5. The people of Nineveh recognized that this was GOD’S message. It’s a very interesting question why they believed that. But the point is, they believed it. They understood they had a problem.
Let’s apply this to people in our day. Do people face a problem? Answer, yes, people do face a problem. Jesus made it clear that there will be a day of judgement.
He said, ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats’ [Matthew 25:31-32].
Jesus said that there will be a harvest at the end of the age. The weeds will be pulled up and burned in the fire [Matt 13:37-43].
Many people will not fare well on this occasion. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
When Jim Lovell told Houston they had a problem, Houston listened. When Jesus tells the world that it has a problem, the world should listen. But it doesn’t.
Various studies have been done of how many people believe in hell. In 2005, an American sociologist called Phil Zuckerman researched the situation in Sweden and Denmark. He found that only 10% of Danes and Swedes believe in hell. In the United States, Pew Research Center has carried out two surveys in the past 20 years. It found that more than 20% of Americans who consider themselves Christians don’t believe in hell! How is that possible when Jesus repeatedly talks about hell? No doubt the figures are different in other countries but these examples illustrate the point.
Many people today don’t believe in God. In their view there is no judgement, no hell – and no problem. Other people believe there is a God. But he’s a very nice God and so he won’t judge. If people from either group were on Apollo 13, they’d be saying, ‘There’s no danger!’ But that is not what Jesus tells us.
Because many people fail to recognize that God will judge, when exam time comes round, they won’t be ready. Jesus tells us that is exactly what will happen. He said,
‘Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all’ [Luke 17:26-27].
At present most people are going about their lives blissfully ignorant of the danger they’re in. That will continue to be the case until Jesus comes again. It’s very sad.
The Ninevites took the essential first step. They recognized that God had given them a warning. They knew they had a problem. JESUS has given US a warning. We need to do the same as the Ninevites did, and believe him.
2. THE NINEVITES RECOGNIZED THE URGENCY OF THE SITUATION
Some people accept that there will be a day of judgement but they believe it will be a long time in the future. They think that God will only judge on the final day; he won’t judge before that.
The story of Nineveh shows us that such a view is wrong. God’s judgement was about to fall on Nineveh, but it wasn't the judgement of the final day. God was about to judge Nineveh then and there.
I read a story in the news some years ago which made quite an impression on me. Ten years or so ago there was a debate in the UK about legalising gay marriage. The end result was that a law to allow same-sex couples to marry was passed in the middle of 2013. It came into effect in March 2014.
At the end of 2013, south west England was battered by storms. In the following weeks and months large parts of south west England were flooded and they remained flooded for the best part of three months.
About that time a UKIP councillor called David Silvester blamed the storms and heavy floods on the government's decision to legalize gay marriage. The media ridiculed him.
Were the floods God’s judgement? I don’t know and I’m not sure that David Silvester knew.
But is it POSSIBLE that the floods were God’s judgement? Yes, it’s possible. The story of Nineveh tells us that it is possible. God was ready to judge Nineveh and if he was willing to judge Nineveh, he could also judge Britain. The idea is not ridiculous.
The people of Nineveh didn’t think it was ridiculous that God would act in judgement then and there. They believed that that was what would happen if they didn’t do something.
Let’s go back to the verse we were looking at before, 3:4. Jonah proclaimed, ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.’
God gave the people of Nineveh 40 days. There is nothing strange about this. University lecturers set deadlines. Students regard that as quite normal. God also gives deadlines. He decides when he’ll take your work in and mark it.
Let’s apply this to people in our day. God will judge on the final day. At some point he will demand our lives of us. Most of us get more time to decide than the people of Nineveh, but it isn’t unlimited.
God also judges in the present. He may judge us as individuals, as communities, as nations or as churches. God may make it clear to us that he’s deeply dissatisfied with something.
In Revelation, Jesus told the church in Ephesus:
‘Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place’ [Revelation 2:5].
Jesus was deeply dissatisfied with the church in Ephesus. He didn’t tell them how long they’d got but they certainly didn’t have unlimited time.
Jesus could say the same thing today to an individual, a church or even a nation. If he does, it’s essential to act immediately.
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews urges: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’ He repeats this three times [Hebrews 3:7-8, 3:15 and 4:7]. When the Bible repeats something three times it means it’s important! When we hear God speaking to us, we need to act straight away!
Many people today never take this step. They think they have loads of time to sort things out. ‘Tomorrow’, they say to themselves. Within a week they’ve forgotten that they ever intended to do something. After a month it’s too late. The deadline’s passed.
The Ninevites took the essential second step. They recognized that they had limited time AND they then acted straight away. When God gives us a warning, we need to do the same.
3. THE NINEVITES REPENTED AS THOUGH THEY MEANT IT
Repentance is key to salvation. If God is unhappy with you, you have to say sorry and say it like you mean it. There is no way to bypass this step. John the Baptist preached, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Jesus preached, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Peter told people to repent. It’s the Bible’s consistent message.
The Ninevites did that. They fasted and put on sackcloth. Then the king issued a proclamation that not just people but animals (!) should not eat or drink and be covered with sackcloth! It sounds weird! But by doing that, the Ninevites showed they were serious.
When we’re passionate about something it’s noticeable. Some people put on a red nose on Red Nose Day. Some people grow a Movember in November. Some people wear fancy costumes in the London Marathon.
It’s true that repentance takes place in our hearts. But we need to show it. Billy Graham would ask people to stand up or come to the front if they were committing themselves to Christ. If nothing changes on the outside you would have to ask if anything has changed on the inside. From the time of Jesus, the standard way for a person to show that he or she is serious about following Jesus is by being baptised. ‘Repent and be baptised’, Peter told the crowd on the day of Pentecost. Baptism shows you’re serious.
So, the Ninevites took the essential third step. They made it clear that they were serious. If we want to sort out our relationship with God, we need to do the same.
4. THE NINEVITES CHANGED
3:10 says this: “When God saw what they did and HOW THEY TURNED FROM THEIR EVIL WAYS, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.”
I don’t know how the Ninevites changed but the Bible tells us that they did change. They turned from their evil ways.
This step is also essential. 3:10 starts with the word ‘When’. Do you know the proverb, ‘When the cat’s away, the mice will play’? When will the mice play? When the cat’s away. When did God relent? ‘When God saw what they did and HOW THEY TURNED FROM THEIR EVIL WAYS.’
Words are a good starting point. But God needs to see real change. This is as true today as it was in Jonah’s day. Change that’s skin deep doesn’t work. The apostle John goes ON AND ON AND ON about this. According to John, if a person is not living in obedience to God, then he is, quite simply, not a Christian. John writes, “Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ BUT DOES NOT DO WHAT HE COMMANDS is a liar, and the truth is not in that person” [1 John 2:4].
We’re saved through faith but the faith MUST be expressed in obedience. Near the beginning of his letter to the Romans, Paul writes, ‘we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles TO THE OBEDIENCE THAT COMES FROM FAITH.’ Faith is great. But faith needs to be expressed in obedience to God. We were going our own way; now we need to go God’s way. There has to be a change of course.
So the Ninevites took the essential fourth step. They changed. We all need to do the same.
Let me conclude. Jesus was impressed with the Ninevites. What did they get right?
1. They recognized that they had a problem.
2. They recognized the urgency of the situation and took action immediately.
3. They repented as though they meant it.
4. They changed.
God was happy with what he saw. He relented. The disaster was averted.
The Ninevites are a great example. Let’s learn from them. If we hear God warning us, let us do what they did.
Talk given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Boscombe, Bournemouth, UK, 18 July 2021
