Jonah’s God (7)
[Jonah 3:5-10]
Long time ago, when my kids were little, I was little bit shock by what one of my kids said to her sibling. At that time I was watching a Korean drama and a guy was making a loud voice in his speech. And my kids were playing toys together and one of the kids who heard his speech told her sibling that ‘Daddy makes loud too.’ When her sibling heard her saying it, he said to me, ‘Daddy, she said your preaching is loud.’ When I heard him saying that, I was surprised. I thought that these two kids were thinking of my sermon as if it was “a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1). So I thought I should repent. Especially on that day afternoon, I learned from my mentor pastor that 'Preaching is the power of influencing' (the power of sermons and the work of the Holy Spirit), but my sermon has lost its meaning to my children because my sermon is noisy to my kids. The next day I heard from my elder pastor that I am arrogant and a close co-worker also agreed that I was proud. In short, it was a week that was not easy for me because of the 'loud sermon' and 'arrogant personality' and the bitter sound of sermon. I am having time to pray before God and repent.
What is repentance? "Repentance" refers to the words of the Old Testament as "Nakham" (repentance) and "Shub" (turn), and in the New Testament terms, "Methanoia" (change of mind) and "Epistrofe" (Change of behavior). In a word, repentance means turning away from sin and turning to God in heart and action (Internet). There are three elements in repentance:
(1) It is an intelligent element.
This is a change of thinking. It is knowledge of sin. Look at Romans 3:20 – “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”
(2) It is an emotional element.
This is a change of emotions. It means to mourn for sin committed against the holy and righteous God. So it is the grief of piety. It is also a wail of sin. Look at 2 Corinthians 7:9-10: “yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” Look at Psalms 51:7 – “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”
(3) It is a willing element.
This is a change of purpose. It means a propensity to pursue internal conversion apology and sanctification to depart from sin. So this is a determination of will. Look at Acts 2:38 – “Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Look at Luke 15:18-20: “I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”
Based on Jonah 3:5-10, I would like to think of Jonah's God in two ways under the title “Jonah’s God (7)”: (1) First, our God is God who makes us to repent (vv. 5-9), (2) Second, our God is God who turns His will (v. 10).
First, our God is the God who makes us to repent.
Look at Jonah 3:5 – “Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.” God gave Jonah a second chance to go to Nineveh and proclaim the words he commanded to Jonah. So Jonah went through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown’ (v. 4). The reaction of the people of Nineveh was repentance. We can think of this Nineveh response of repentance in three ways:
(1) They believed in God.
Look at Jonah 3:5 – “Then the people of Nineveh believed in God ….” God even used Jonah, who disobeyed, who ran away, who was guilty of sin and was exposed by the sailors through lots, to proclaim the message of God to the non-believer sailors. As a result, the sailors believed in God and sacrificed to Him (1:16). However, in Jonah chapter 3, God used Jonah to speak His message to the Ninevites. As a result, the people of Nineveh believe in God. This shows that the people of Nineveh took the words proclaimed by Jonah seriously as the word of God.
(2) They called a fast and put on sackcloth.
Look at Jonah 3:5 – “… and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. ….” This is the sign of repentance on the surface. This action of repentance is not only of the people of Nineveh, but also the king of Nineveh (v. 6). Look at Jonah 3:6 - “When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes.” This was a public ceremony that King Nineveh himself lowered. This self-deprecation and extreme discomfort is one way of expressing the obedience to God's correction (Baldwin).
(3) They repented to God earnestly.
Look at Jonah 3:8 – “But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands.” After the king of Nineveh declared both man and beast to cover with sackcloth and fast he commanded the Ninevites to pray earnestly to God. Furthermore, he gave orders to his people to demand a change of life: "Each will depart from the wicked way, and from the violence done by the hand" (v. 8).
I once confessed my sins to my beloved my Bible study class members that I used to teach on Sunday. Then there were two different reactions. One member had advised me to have Heavenly Father's point of view in which God already forgave me if I asked God for forgiveness of sins. Another member spoke about himself that he had a heavy heart even after asked God for forgiveness. How about you? How is your heart after you have sinned and sought for God's forgiveness? Do you have peace in your hearts in the assurance of forgiveness or do you still have heavy hearts in the midst of affliction? I was struggling about what true repentance is. Then I meditated on Matthew 3:8 and 10: “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. … The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” The background to this statement is that John the Baptist saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them “You brood of vipers! … Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (vv. 7-8). In some ways, the Pharisees and Sadducees were those who kept the law more strict than us. But John the Baptist told them to bear the proper fruit of repentance. What does this tell us? If we confess our sins and repent and do not bear the fruit of repentance (v. 8), the good fruit (Mt. 3:10), then we have to doubt whether it was true repentance or not. We have to bear fruit of action. The Bible says to bear fruit in keeping with repentance (v. 8). What is the fruit of repentance? There are two meanings: passive and positive.
(1) The passive direction of fruit is the compensation of the sins that had been made before.
When Zacchaeus repented, he said “if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount” (Lk. 19:8). The Lord said, ‘If you remember that your brother has something against you, first go and be reconciled to your brother. You will not get out until you have paid the last penny’ (Mt. 5:23-26). If we are against someone, we must reconcile with him or her. And if we did someone wrong materially, then we must solve it with material. This is the passive fruit of repentance.
(2) The active direction of fruit is the fruit of righteousness (Phil 1:11), and its life must be renewed.
The life of Christians is a life weaving fine linen cloth (Rev. 19:8), and we have to clean and splendidly weave without scratches, nicks, and wrinkles (Internet). It turns out that Nineveh's repentance movement was not a ritual of food and shelter that was stopped by fasting or wearing clothing, but a moral repentance movement (Park Yun-sun). How can we know this? (1) They cried out to God and prayed, (2) Their fasting didn’t save them from the danger of destruction, but their changed life made God to reconcile with them. Fasting is not just about not eating food. We should not fast in the mouth, but we must participate in acts that are appropriate for the eyes, the ears, and the feet (Park Yun-sun).
The question of Westminster Questions 87 tells us, "What is repentance unto life?" The answer is, “Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin,2 and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.”.
Second, our God is the God who turns His will.
Look at Jonah 3:10 – “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.” God, who made Jonah to repent from his sin of disobeying the God’s command, gave him second opportunity to go to the city of Nineveh and shout, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." Hearing this, the king of Nineveh and the rest of the Ninevites responded in three ways: First, they believed in God (v. 5), Second, the king of Nineveh declared fasting and wore a thick veil (v. 5), Third, they called on God earnestly and repented their sins (v. 8). Did the king of Nineveh and the rest of the Ninevites truly repented? The answer is yes. To know if they truly repented, we can tell by thinking of a word that is repeated four times from verse 8 to verse 10: "... each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands" (v. 8), " Who knows, God may turn and relent ... "(v. 9), “… withdraw His burning anger …” (v. 9), “When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way …” (v. 10). The repentance prayer of king Nineveh and his people did not end in confessing sin to God. They didn’t end with fasting and crying out to God, but they turned away from the wicked way of old life (vv. 8, 10). This is why God turned His will. God's will for Nineveh was "disaster" (v. 10), like the word proclaimed through Jonah. However, through the proclamation of Jonah, the king of Nineveh and his people repented and turned from their wicked way, God relented concerning calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He didn’t do it (v. 10).
Jonah’s God is the God who turned His will when the people of Nineveh repent of their sins and turned from their wicked way. This God is our God. Our God is God, who turns His will and doesn’t reprove us when we repent and turn back from our sins. To this God we must repent of our sins. We must turn from our sinful ways. In doing so, our God will turn His will and will not bring upon us the discipline that He intended to bring us. May this blessing of repentance be with us all.