A Second Chance God

Jonah 3:1-10

SpurgeonFaith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle. He who obeys God, trusts God; and he who trusts God, obeys God.

A Second Chance God

I. God’s Re-Call

II. Jonah’s Response

III. Nineveh’s Response

A Second Chance God

I. God’s Re-Call – vv. 1-2

Jonah 1:1-3

1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

Jonah 3:1-3

1 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.

AlexanderBy paralleling here the book’s opening remarks, almost word for word, the author skillfully conveys the idea that Jonah is being offered a new beginning.

MorganHow many of us who have been called to deliver the word of Jehovah, would still be doing it, if it were not for this patient and perfecting grace of God? Surely not many! How have we failed Him, and broken down in our ministry; and often not on ground so high as that of Jonah’s failure.

A Second Chance God

I. God’s Re-Call - vv. 1-2

II. Jonah’s Response – vv.

3-4

AllenLost like a needle in a haystack inside this gigantic Vanity Fair, this Sodom of a city, the tiny figure feels he can go no firther. He stops and shouts out the laconic message with which he has been entrusted.

FretheimJonah had just experienced the unmerited grace and goodness of God in his own life. Now he turns right around and makes it as difficult as possible for the Ninevites to experience God's deliverance...a graceless message delivered by one living in the shadow of an experience of grace.

Jeremiah 18:7-8If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.

Genesis 19:24-25Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven. 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

Lamentations 4:6For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands were wrung for her.

A Second Chance God

I. God’s Re-Call – vv. 1-2

II. Jonah’s Response – vv.

3-4

III. Nineveh’s Response – v.

5

Jonah 2:1Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish

Luke 11:32The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Acts 17:1-7Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading

Acts 17:1-7women. 5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. 6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

Matthew 12:20…a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory

Matthew HenrySee here the nature of repentance; it is the change of our mind and way, and a return to our work and duty. Also, the benefit of affliction; it brings those back to their place who had deserted it. See the power of Divine grace, for affliction of itself would rather drive men from God, than draw them to him. God’s servants must go where he sends them, come when he calls them, and do what he bids them; we must do whatever the word of the Lord commands. Jonah faithfully and boldly delivered his errand. Whether Jonah said more, to show the

Matthew Henryanger of God against them, or whether he only repeated these words again and again, is not certain, but this was the purport of his message. Forty days is a long time for a righteous God to delay judgments, yet it is but a little time for an unrighteous people to repent and reform in. And should it not awaken us to get ready for death, to consider that we cannot be so sure that we shall live forty days, as Nineveh then was that it should stand forty days? We should be alarmed if we were sure not to live a month, yet we are careless though we are not sure to live a day.