We start off with Jonah fulfilling his mission as he preaches to Nineveh. But then, the mercy of God towards the people of Nineveh makes Jonah angry. Jonah delivered the message, but Scripture does not state if he gave assistance or encouragement.
Jonah had disregarded God and opposed him; however, God actually showed him sympathy. At the point when we disregard God, he might chastise us, yet he will, in any case, show empathy and pardon us assuming we abandon our wrongdoings.
The Significance of Jonah
Jonah fled from God, yet he was allowed a second opportunity to partake in God's work. We might feel that we are excluded from serving God due to some previous mishaps. Nevertheless, serving God is anything but a procured position.
Not a solitary one of us fits the bill for the service of God, yet he actually requests that we complete his work. We may yet get another opportunity.
Jonah was to preach just what God told him, a message of destruction to the most impressive city on the planet.
This was not the best task, but the individuals who carry God's Word to others should not let prevalent burdens or feeling of dread toward others direct their words. They are called to preach God's message and his truth, regardless of how disliked it could be.
The Hebrew text sees no difference between the city appropriate and the regulatory locale of Nineveh, which was around 30 to 60 miles across.
The walls of the city were something like eight miles in boundary, obliging a populace of around 175,000 individuals. An incredibly extraordinary city, it required three days to simply stroll through it.
God's message is for everybody, all of humanity. Notwithstanding the insidiousness of the Ninevite public, they were receptive to God's message, and they repented of their sins right away.
In the event that we just basically announce what we know of God, we would be amazed at the number of individuals that will actually listen.
The unbelieving individuals of Nineveh accepted Jonah's message and apologized. What a supernatural impact that God's Word had on these malevolent people. Their apology remained a distinct difference from Israel's hardheadedness.
The people of Israel had heard many messages from the prophets, yet they would not atone. The people of Nineveh simply heard God's message once.
Jesus said that on Judgment Day, these Ninevites will ascend to censure the Israelites for their inability to apologize (Matthew 12:39-41). It is not our becoming aware of God's Word that satisfies him, yet our reacting loyally to it.
God reacted in leniency by dropping the punishment that he would deliver. God himself said that any country on which he articulated judgment would be saved assuming they atoned (Jeremiah 18:7-8). God pardoned Nineveh similarly as he had excused Jonah.
God's reason to mete out judgment is to correct the wrongs that people have committed, not as vengeance. He is dependably prepared to show empathy to anybody ready to look for him and come to him with a repenting heart.
The Pouting Prophet
For what reason did Jonah turn out to be so furious when God saved Nineveh? The Jews would have rather not shared God's message with the Gentile country during Jonah's day, similarly to Paul's day (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16).
They failed to remember their unique reason as a country, to be a gift to the remainder of the world by sharing God's message with different countries (Genesis 22:18).
Jonah believed that God ought not to give his salvation to a fiendish barbarian country. However, this is actually how he helps all who come to him today in confidence.
Jonah was furious that God had saved Nineveh. He failed to remember that God had pardoned his own wrongdoing of insubordination and had saved his life.
How much better it would have been if he had celebrated the Ninevites' repentance of their sins and received the atonement (Luke 15:10).
Jonah uncovers the justification behind his hesitance to go to Nineveh (1:3). He did not want the Ninevites pardoned; he wanted them obliterated. Jonah did not comprehend that the God of Israel is additionally the God of the entire world.
Is it safe to say that we are astonished when some individuals that we do not expect to go to God? Is it conceivable that our view is about as thin as Jonah's? We should not fail to remember that truly, we do not merit being pardoned by God.
Jonah had run from the responsibility of conveying God's message of obliteration to Nineveh (1:2-3); presently he wanted to die, in light of the fact that the annihilation would not occur. How rapidly Jonah showed forgetfulness of God's benevolence toward him when he was in the fish (2:9-10).
He was cheerful when God saved him, however furious when Nineveh was saved. However, Jonah was learning an important example about God's benevolence and pardoning. God's absolution was not just for Jonah or for Israel alone, it expands unto all who believe and repent.
Jonah was more worried about his own standing than God's. He realized that assuming that the people repented, none of his alerts to Nineveh would work out.
This would humiliate him, despite the fact that it would give greatness to God. Might it be said that we are keener on gaining appreciation and glory for God or for ourselves?
God had ministered carefully to Jonah, similarly as he did to Nineveh and to Israel, and like he as to us. He might have obliterated Jonah for his resentment, yet above it all, he delicately showed him something new.
Assuming we submit to and obey God's Word, he will tenderly lead us. In verse nine, Jonah resented the passing of the plant, yet not over what might have happened to Nineveh.
A sizable portion of us have cried at the passing of a pet or when a sentimental item is broken, yet have we cried over the way that a companion does not know God?
Why does it seem that it is so natural to be more thoughtful of our own concerns than the spiritual requirements of individuals around us?
Once in a while, some individuals wish that judgment and annihilation would happen upon corrupt people whose insidiousness, they think requires quick discipline. In any case, God is more forgiving than we can envision.
He has compassion and mercy for those sinners that we want to be judged, and he prepares plans to carry them to himself. What is our mentality toward the people who are particularly evil?
Do we want them to be punished? Or then again, do we wish that they could encounter God's benevolence and absolution?
God saved the mariners when they prayed for benevolence. God saved Jonah when he had prayed from inside of the fish. God saved the individuals of Nineveh when they reacted to the preached Word that Jonah delivered.
What Does This Mean?
God answers the petitions of the individuals who call upon him. God will forever work his will, and he wants that all people come to him, that they all trust in him, and that all are to be saved.
We can be saved if we heed the warnings that God sends to us in his Word. If we respond to God’s Word in obedience, he will be benevolent and merciful, and we will not receive his judgment.
For further reading:
How Did God Use Jonah’s Disobedience in the Bible?
Why Is the Story and Meaning of Jonah and the Whale Often Mistaken?
Can We Really Run Away from God?
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