January 29, 2006 Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days. On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.. . . When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.
In a lifetime the average American will spend six months sitting at stop lights : Eight months opening junk mail: One year looking for misplaced objects : 2 years unsuccessfully returning phone calls: 4 years doing housework : 5 years waiting in line : and 6 years eating. What does this tell us? Every second counts! Think about what difference a second can make. In a race, a second is a world of difference between first and second place. When you are traveling, a second can mean the difference between a head on collision and safety.
In today’s text it says, “the Word of the LORD came to Jonah a SECOND time.” When God uses a “second” in today’s text, it’s a different kind of “second.” It isn’t a second in time - it’s a progressive second. Just as a second can make a world of difference in time, so we will see the same from a progressive point of view.
What a Difference a “Second” Can Make!
I. It made a difference in Jonah
The story of Jonah is one of the most intriguing and eye catching stories in the Bible. Our text for today picks the story up in the middle - half way through. The first half covers a game of hide and go seek by Jonah and God. God called to Jonah, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” Nineveh was the capital of Assyria - yes the same Assyria that ended up taking the Israelites into captivity. They were a violent people. King Ashurnasipal was said to take great delight in the high mound of human heads he erected after his victories. Because of this, they were considered the enemy of God’s people - like modern day Iran or North Korea is to America.
Consider the significance, then, of God calling Jonah - a prophet to ISRAEL - to go and preach to ASSYRIA! What was the message for Israel? “I have had enough of YOU! I am taking my message elsewhere.” Even though Jonah may have been disgusted with his own people’s lifestyles and rejection of God - he had even more disdain for Assyria. These people worshiped foreign gods - they didn’t even have a scent of morality to them. And so, you know what Jonah decided to do. Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD. Instead of heading east, Jonah went in the exact opposite direction - toward modern day Spain.
At this point, God had every right to squash Jonah from any existence on the earth. He could have sent a hurricane to come and swallow Jonah in the sea. He could have sent sharks to swallow Jonah bit by bit. But instead, you know what happened. He had a huge fish of some sort swallow him whole, and spit him back onto shore. In his mercy, the compassionate and gracious LORD - slow to anger and abounding in love - spared Jonah’s life. Not only did God spare Jonah’s life, but He even went one step further - Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time. “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” God gave Jonah a second chance - telling him to rise and go to Nineveh!
What a difference that “second” made! Look at how Jonah responded. Instead of trying to run away, Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. This time Jonah did exactly as God told Him to. God produced a change in Jonah’s actions. If you look later on in the book, you’ll see that Jonah’s attitude wasn’t completely healed. He still held a grudge against Nineveh. After he had preached the message, he sat down and waited hopefully for God to destroy Nineveh. But he must have known that if he had tried to run away again - he wouldn’t be so fortunate - he would probably be lunch for that fish. When it comes down to it, God wouldn’t allow Jonah’s prejudices to get in the way of His will. He produced a godly fear in Jonah that made him preach to the Ninevites even when he had a great desire not to do so.
There are times in our lives when God has to use a similar motivation. Many Christians struggle with God’s commands and have a hard time doing what He says is right. Sometimes, like Jonah - they rebel against God’s will and say, “I’m not going to do it, God!” There was once a Christian young man who was very tempted to go out drinking with his heathen friends. Finally one night he decided, “forget it Lord, I’m going to do it.” Unfortunately, that night he got so intoxicated that he lost control of himself. He said things he wished he hadn’t said. He got deathly ill - to the point that he almost died. From that point on he decided never to drink again. He had to learn the hard way. How often does that happen in our lives - where we know what we’re supposed to do, but we have a hard time doing it. And we, like Jonah, might even occasionally say to God, “forget it! I’m going to lose my temper! I’m going to leave my husband!” And what happens? God chastises us for it - and we end up in a terrible situation. We may get caught drinking and lose our reputation. We may end up on welfare or lose custody of our children because of a divorce.
But the amazing thing is that God doesn’t give up on us. Instead of giving up on us, God forgives us and gives us second chances to do things the right way - chances to rebuild our reputation or put our lives back together. In these instances - even though we still may have temptations to do the same sins again - we know better. We know that we may not be so fortunate the next time. It is like God is taking a club and hitting it over our Old Adams - reminding us that God will not let us get away with disobeying his commands. Even though our attitude doesn’t change over night - the forgiveness and patience of God in giving us a second chance produces changes in our actions. We still have the evil desires - but the fear and love of God from the second chance keeps us from acting upon them. Things like this happen even with Christians - producing change.
II. It made a difference in Nineveh
Let’s look back at Jonah’s situation one more time. Imagine if you or I had the calling of Jonah. First of all, Jonah had the call to preach to a hardhearted people. 2 Kings 17:16-17 describes the situation: They forsook all the commands of the LORD their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger. You would think that Jonah, after preaching in Israel for so many years - would have begun to wonder if preaching God’s Word really did any good? God had given the Israelites hundreds of chances to confess their sins and come to faith - but they just wouldn’t listen. Imagine if you were in his shoes - and then God called you to Nineveh - the heathen city - the violent city - the city that had no clue about who God was! You and I would have reasoned, “it won’t do any good anyway! Why should I go to Nineveh and give them a second chance?”
But Jonah went and he preached the message that God gave him, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” Notice how basic this message is. Just four words in the Hebrew. God will overturn you in 40 days. That’s it. This was no idle threat. God really planned on destroying Nineveh in 40 days. There were no conditions to it. He didn’t even tell them to repent. God had every intention to reduce the town to nothing. It was such a scary message that it only took one day for the message to get through the whole city. Even the king was scared to death. They knew that God must have meant business to send His messenger all of the way up from Jerusalem to proclaim this message - the same messenger that was reported to have been swallowed by a fish!
And yet, the message had a hint of Gospel in it as well - and Jonah knew that. After all, if God cared nothing for this people, why would He have sent His messenger to warn them of this pending disaster? He must have cared something for them! If nothing could be done, then why would He give them 40 days notice?
After Jonah delivered this Law and Gospel message - one of the greatest miracles that could ever take place happened in the Bible. The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. The Ninevites actually believed God’s threats. Even though they didn’t know if God would respond - they threw themselves at the mercy of God - by all of them putting on sackcloth - an itchy clothing that would make them look and feel on the outside how they felt on the inside - uncomfortable with their sin! Think of it - perhaps ½ a million people came to repentance and faith in a single day - they were brought to the Light! And what happened as a result? When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. Instead of rejecting this heathen city, God forgave all of their sinful past and mercifully accepted them. They went from being a second Sodom and Gomorrah - from being a completely heathen city - to being believers under God’s favor! What a difference that second chance made!
We often ridicule Jonah for running away from his calling. Yet there is something to commend him for. Jonah knew that if he preached God’s Word - the Ninevites very well might come to faith! He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. He fled because he knew that God’s Word just might produce a change in the Ninevites! Even though Jonah is a terrible example in prejudice - isn’t he a great example in his faith in the Word! Even though he had been getting rejected time and again in Israel - he still knew that God’s Word - the Law and the Gospel - was powerful enough to change a whole city of heathens living in Nineveh - if they had a second chance!
There was once a married couple that came to their spiritual counselor because the wife had had an affair on the husband. The wife begged his forgiveness - and knew that she had messed up. The husband wanted to forgive her, but didn’t know if he could. The first thing the pastor told the couple to do was to get back in the Word of God! The counselor told him - “the Word can work wonders! If you get in the Word - come to church - it can give you the strength to deal with the hurt and the heartache!” Unfortunately, the couple didn’t believe him. He never saw them in church again, and they ended up getting divorced a year later. How often do we think the same things to ourselves - “it wouldn’t do any good to invite him to church!”? We might think to ourselves, “it won’t do any good if I show him his sin. He won’t listen anyway.” How often do we think that our children or our spouses or even ourselves cannot be changed by God’s Word - that we are stuck in the same sins forever. We lack faith that the Word of God and the Holy Spirit can work changes - so we never give it a second chance!
Jonah, according to church growth standards - had everything going against him. He was a foreigner. He was their enemy. He spoke a message that wasn’t friendly - it said you will be destroyed in 40 days. Yet the LORD worked through that message to convert thousands of people! If God could do that, then what does that tell us? Don’t cut the Holy Spirit’s arms short! Don’t think that God’s Word won’t make a difference. Don’t think for one minute that coming to church and listening to God’s Word does your children no good. Don’t think for one moment that devotions are useless within your home! Don’t think for one second that God’s Word couldn’t produce a change in your children or spouse! Don’t imagine that God has given up on them. Even if you’ve brought them to church for years and it hasn’t produced fruits - don’t give up. Give them a second chance. Now you know what a difference a second can make!
Today we’ve seen what a difference a second can make. Let’s pause for a moment now, and just think for a minute how dismal life would be if you never tried things a second time. All of us fell down the first time we tried to walk. All of us spilled milk while we were drinking it. All of us missed a ball when we swung a bat at it. All of us have spelled words wrong. Did that mean that we never tried to walk again - never tried to hit another ball - or never tried to drink milk again? Babe Ruth struck out 1330 times, but also hit 714 home runs. R.H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York caught on. Einstein didn’t speak until he was four years old and didn’t read until he was seven. It took Thomas Edison 2,000 tries before he was able to invent the light bulb. Failure happens, don’t worry about it. Worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try. If you’ve given up on yourself or on someone else - thinking there’s no way they or you could change - give it a second chance! The Lord is more merciful, powerful, and patient, than you could ever imagine. Look at what a difference that second chance made with Jonah. Look at what a difference that second chance made for the Ninevites. Don’t forget “what a difference a second can make!” Amen.
