JONAH LESSON 3


     We will begin this lesson in Jonah 3:1 "And the word of the LORD
came unto Jonah the second time, saying,"

     God has not removed the call for Jonah to go to Nineveh and carry
them a message. Now that God has Jonah's attention, He speaks to Jonah
again.

     Jonah 3:2 "Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach
unto it the preaching that I bid thee."

     This is telling Jonah to get on with the ministry. He has already
wasted time. He must go, now, and preach to all of these people.
I Corinthians 1:21 "For after that in the wisdom of God the world by
wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to
save them that believe."  Preaching is for the purpose of saving
people. The Words that come from Jonah's mouth will not be his own.
They will be the Words God put there, to cause these people to repent
of their sins and be saved. We mentioned before, that this city has
over 100,000 souls in it.

     Jonah 3:3 "So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to
the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three
days' journey."

     Jonah has learned his lesson well. He obeys God this time, and
goes to Nineveh. Jonah did exactly as the Word of the LORD commanded
him to do. The city was so large, it took three days to walk across
it.

     Jonah 3:4 "And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's
journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be
overthrown."

     The number 40 is a time of testing. He preached as he went across
the city. It appears, he preached more than once across the city.
These Assyrians had no trouble understanding what Jonah was saying to
them. There was a short time to repent, or their city would be totally
destroyed. Jonah, probably, wandered around the city giving this
warning at every place he could speak to a crowd.

     Jonah 3:5  "So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed
a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the
least of them."

     Jonah's preaching was accepted by the people. They all believed
Jonah's message, from the king to the poorest person in the community.
There was a massive repentance. They showed the seriousness of their
repentance by fasting and wearing sackcloth. The whole city repented.
The most important thing, in the verse above, is they believed God.

     Jonah 3:6 "For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose
from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered [him] with
sackcloth, and sat in ashes."

     The king set the example for all the rest. He humbled himself
before God {removed his kingly robe}. He covered himself with
sackcloth, and poured ashes upon his head, which was a sign of great
sorrow and mourning.

     Jonah 3:7 "And he caused [it] to be proclaimed and published
through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let
neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not
feed, nor drink water:"

     This was a total fast. They even made the animals fast as well.
This fast did not even allow the drinking of water. They believed the
message Jonah brought and repented.

     Jonah 3:8 "But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and
cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way,
and from the violence that [is] in their hands."

     Not only did they repent, but they changed their lifestyle. They
became new creatures. Their old lifestyle is gone. Now, they live to
please God. Crying mightily unto God shows the sincerity of their
prayers.

     Jonah 3:9 "Who can tell [if] God will turn and repent, and turn
away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?"

     Their prayers are so God will see that they have sincerely
changed, and perhaps, He will not destroy them. Of course, that is why
God sent them the message by Jonah. He did not want to destroy them.
He wanted them to repent.

     Jonah 3:10  "And God saw their works, that they turned from their
evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would
do unto them; and he did [it] not."

     Praise God! He saw the sincerity of their repentance, and He
changed His mind about destroying them. He forgave them, instead of
destroying them. One of the strong lessons in this is, that Jew and
Gentile are loved of God and can be saved, if they repent and live
Godly lives. God loves us all, one at a time. He is quick to forgive
and to set us up in right standing with Him. We must be truly sorry
for our sins, and believe that Jesus is our Saviour. It is really
important to confess with our mouths the belief that is in our hearts.
If we do all of this, then we will want to be baptized, to show the
world we have been buried in the watery grave with Jesus, and have
risen to new life in Him.





                          Jonah 3 Questions


1.  Why does God tell Jonah, again, about his calling?
2.  What is the first thing He says to Jonah?
3.  Quote 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 21.
4.  What will come from Jonah's mouth?
5.  Again, how large is Nineveh?
6.  How many days did it take to walk across Nineveh?
7.  What did Jonah cry out to them?
8.  The number 40 is a time of __________.
9.  Where did he preach?
10. The people of Nineveh ___________ God.
11. What did they do, because of the message?
12. Who believed the message?
13. What is the most important thing spoken in verse 5?
14. What humbling thing did the king do?
15. What decree was made by the king?
16. What were man and beast to be covered with?
17. Not only did they repent, but they changed their ___________.
18. What were they praying God would do?
19. What effect did this have on God?
20. What is one strong lesson to be learned here?
21. What must we do to be saved?