He stood there, covered in putrefied seaweed and fish guts, staggering, barely able to maintain his balance. His clothing, or what was left of it, was in tatters having been soaked for days in the digestive juices of the great sea creature. The hair on his head was gone, save for a few wispy strands. He had no body hair at all; no eyebrows, no eyelashes, or beard. His skin was pasty white and sagged loosely as the outer layers were beginning to peel away.
Slowly he pulled gobs of sopping seaweed from his head and face and strained as his eyes grew accustomed to the bright sunlight after having been three days in total darkness. He saw the two men standing a few yards away, slack-jawed and in terror at the sight they had just seen. After a few moments he spoke, or at least he tried to speak. It was more guttural than actual language. “N...n...i...nuh...v....v...uh.”
He cleared his throat violently and vomited up a mixture of salt water and blood. The man slumped over, hands on his knees trying to breathe, trying to speak. He finally pushed out the words, “Nineveh . . . which way?”
There has never been a less appealing messenger from God than Jonah. Many a preacher has arrived to preach at a meeting; travel weary, unkempt, disheveled — overworked and under rested. But none of us have ever traveled to a meeting in the digestive system of a fish,
partially digested and totally repulsive in appearance and odor.
If Jonah’s odor was bad, his attitude was worse. To his core, he hated the Assyrians. It was his loathing for the people of Nineveh that landed him in that fish in the first place. He could think of no news that would be more welcomed in Israel than the annihilation of the Ninevites. He could imagine nothing more loathsome than some prophet rushing to Nineveh to warn them of impending destruction. Most detestable to Jonah was the moment when God directed HIM to go to Nineveh to warn the city that He was about to destroy them.
Jonah arrived at the gate of the huge city, ready to obey God. It was a joyless, begrudging obedience. He obeyed not because he had a newfound affection for the people of Nineveh but because three days in the belly of a fish had convinced him that Yahweh, for whatever reason, was determined to warn the people of Nineveh.
As Jonah strode through the western most gate of the city he was not there for the benefit of the people of Nineveh but as an act of his own self-preservation. He would deliver God’s message like a mailman called in to work on Christmas Day. God had given him an eight-word message, and an eight-word message he would deliver. There would be no amusing illustrations to make the message more palatable, no warm familial stories to engage his audience emotionally. He made no effort to exegete or expand on the various points of God’s
message. In fact, there were no points to expound upon. Just eight words: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
From the gate of entry he walked a day’s journey where he began to deliver his message; all the way to the gate of exit he shouted it over and over again. There is no record of Jonah engaging in conversation or debate with any of the residents. There is no record of any instructions given as to how they might avoid the terrible fate he had announced. It was cold,
passionless, and compassionless; no effort to convince, or win, to woo, draw or convert.
Message delivered, Jonah swept out of the easternmost gate, slamming the door as he left, his demeanor oozing contempt. I can imagine him muttering under his breath, “There. I’ve delivered the message as ordered. Now, to hell with every one of you!” Striding to a nearby hillside where he would be able to observe, but far enough away to be safe when the destruction came, he sat down to wait for the hand of God to strike.
Of course, destruction never came. The record in the Bible is clear. The people of Nineveh from the greatest to the least believed Jonah’s warning. They were convinced in their hearts that the wrath of God was indeed approaching and they responded with a great wave of repentance, pleading with God for mercy. Jonah’s worst fear came to pass—God did hear their prayers and He did respond by sparing the city.
We do not celebrate Jonah, nor do we ascribe any great valor or spirituality to this rebellious prophet. He was disobedient, angry, petulant, and willing to die rather than deliver the message of God to Nineveh. However, we can learn from Jonah that the power is in the Word of God, the message, rather than in the man. God anoints a man for a specific ministry, but His power is found in His Word. “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing wherto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11 KJV).
To be clear: Jonah did not deliver Nineveh—God did. It was God’s word. It was God’s message. It was God’s power that brought conviction which brought the city of Nineveh to a place of humility before Him. Many times throughout the Bible we see God choose and use men of questionable ability or integrity. He often chooses the smallest, weakest, or meanest to carry his message. He chooses men with no message of their own, no personal agenda to achieve, no personal power or charisma to put on display. When Peter and John were dragged before the Sanhedrin in Acts 4 they were marked as “unlearned and ignorant men.”
The United States of America is living in the shadow of the judgment of God, and He has given us the message that, if heeded, will turn away his wrath from the nation: Turn, purify, confess, repent. Jonah was given a simple message to deliver to Nineveh - “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Jonah delivered that message, unvarnished and undecorated, and the people of Nineveh heard it, they believed it, and they cried out to God for mercy.
It would appear that the church no longer believes in the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures to reach and change men’s hearts. It is not the Word of God plus fog machines and pulsating lights. It is not the Word of God plus rock music and humanistic psychology. It is not the Word of God plus anything.
If the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in America today is to be true to its calling, we will begin to sound the warning from coast to coast, from border to border. The wrath of God is upon us and unless we acknowledge our sin and turn from our wickedness, America will be overthrown. The message must be delivered without nuance, without subtlety, without regard for the howling response of sinners, without fearing the loss of our tax-exempt status, and unconcerned that we might be prosecuted and imprisoned. It must be delivered with absolute confidence that the power of God is in His Word and not in the method or the man.
Time is short and the stakes are high.
This piece is adapted from my book CRY REPENT, Can the Church Find Its Voice Again?
You can order this book, and others, from my book store here.
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