Week 3
series
Description
God’s justice and mercy often don’t make sense to us, and they certainly didn’t make sense to Jonah. In this Old Testament narrative, we see God’s prophet obsessed with exacting his notion of justice against a nation of evildoers. In his sovereignty, God exposes the ridiculous nature of Jonah’s self-righteousness and showcases the wideness of his mercy as he pursues all nations. As we study the book of Jonah, may we be willing to look in the mirror of God’s Word and ask ourselves: Am I willing to be a vehicle of God’s mercy to those who have wronged me?
Featured
Resource
If you're looking for a daily reading plan, two options will be made available in next week's Sermon Prep Plan: a longer, 15-month plan working through the entirety of Scripture and a shorter, 100-day plan covering key events in the narrative of the Bible.
main
passage
Jonah 3:1-10
Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.”
This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.
When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city:
“No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”
When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.
Related
passages
For more context on Nineveh, the prophet Nahum prophesied against the city for its wickedness and cruelty about a century after its repentance in response to Jonah’s preaching. This week’s related passages emphasize that “Salvation comes from Yahweh alone” (Jonah 2:9).
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