READ: Jon. 3:3,4: … Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!
Then Jonah goes. Now he is obedient.
Upon arriving at Nineveh, he would ordinarily require three days to reach the principal parts of this great city, such was its size. Yet he does not even get that far. Within a single day the whole city has already heard the news of his preaching.
The message Jonah brings from the LORD is very brief, yet unmistakably clear:
“Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”
Overthrown? Can this be taken seriously? Certainly. The LORD employs the same word that was used concerning Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19). The consequences of that judgment remain visible in the region of the Dead Sea as a solemn warning to the world throughout the ages.
The same judgment threatens Nineveh because its wickedness is comparable. Sin has accumulated and called forth God’s judgment (Jon. 1:2).
This also teaches us something concerning God’s assessment of our own ungodly age and His coming judgment upon it.
Yet God’s threatening word is not devoid of grace. His Word enters a city that has filled up the measure of its sins. Judgment must indeed come. Nevertheless, by announcing it beforehand, the LORD provides opportunity for repentance: forty days are still granted.
Even now, while lawlessness continually increases in society, the LORD remains longsuffering. He still grants opportunity for repentance. God is unwilling that any of those whom He has chosen unto eternal life should perish (2 Pet. 3:9).
Besides the period of forty days, another token of grace is given: Jonah himself. As a living person he is an example both of God’s judgment and of God’s grace in delivering sinners from judgment.
God’s warning of judgment remains of the greatest importance, also in our own time. His wrath and the threat of judgment are more relevant than ever. Even now judgments pass continually over the earth, warning of God’s final judgment.
We also possess the sign of Christ’s cross. Let us employ it faithfully in our witness to the world.
Is there a relationship between the sign of Jonah and the sign of the cross?
Sing: Ps. 94:6.