God’s Mercy in the Repentance of Hardened Sinners

Why didn’t Jonah want to go to Nineveh? He knew God would be merciful to them, as we find out in chapter four. With that framing in mind, we should consider why Jonah assumed they would be repentant in the first place to receive that mercy. By this time, the people of Nineveh had experienced a famine, two plagues within 7 years, and an earthquake (according to history and as mentioned by Amos). They were primed for a message that destruction was imminent. 

Yet these were hardened sinners of the most sordid type. We have written testimony of Ashurnasirpal II, king of Nineveh (at the time of Jonah), in 883–859 BC. This king's inscriptions describe in detail how he had enemies flayed alive, impaled, and decapitated. He boasted of burning cities and piling up human heads into pyramids as monuments of his victories. Moreover, they lacked the Law of God. Why would they have fear of their actions?  

Remember that Romans 2 tells us the non-believers have a natural law written on their hearts. 

Romans 2:14-15 (ESV) Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.

Add these events and the human conscience together, and the Ninevites indeed repent speedily in response to Jonah. 

Jonah 3:1–5 (ESV) Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. 

It’s as if Jonah knew the preaching he would bring would indeed lead to all of this on behalf of the Ninevites. And that makes me ask a question: How? I believe text demands that we see the power of God’s word to bring the heart to contrition and change. Jonah knew this power in his life as a prophet. He knew what worked in Israel would work outside of it. YET, he did not want it to work for people unlike him. 

Jonah 3:7–9 (ESV) By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” 

The biggest story of Jonah 3 is not that Nineveh was spared, as it was. The grand truth is that God sent His Word to them through Jonah in order TO spare them by convicting them of their sins and bringing them repentance. 

Jonah 3:10 (ESV) When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

As a preacher, this truth gets me excited. The Word of God has the power to convict the sinner and bring repentance. The power is strong enough to convict people who take pleasure in the worst humanity can offer. If God’s Word could change the king of Nineveh, good news, God’s Word can change anyone. 

Amen.