Join us as we dive into the transformative journey of Jonah in chapter 3 and witness the power of a single obedient act. After a near-death experience, Jonah embarks on a mission to Nineveh, delivering an eight-word sermon that changes the fate of the city. Discover how a simple message led to repentance and divine intervention, highlighting the profound connection between human action and God’s response.
00:00:08 Introduction to ADDBIBLE and Jonah’s Journey
Welcome to ADDBIBLE, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Allen J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.
SPEAKER 03 :
Today in chapter 3 of Jonah, after Jonah’s prayer in chapter 2, he repents and decides to go to Nineveh. Let’s listen to our guest reader, Oda Nordpol, as she reads Jonah chapter 3. Oda is 16 years old and lives in Norway. She’s a student in high school, and she’s an ADDBIBLE listener. Let’s listen in.
SPEAKER 02 :
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey, and he called out, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on a sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh. By the decree of the king and his nobles, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out to the mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent, and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
SPEAKER 03 :
In 1991, I read the whole book of Jonah in one day. I did refer to this in our recording of the first chapter, but since we’re in chapter 3, I’ll refer to this journal entry once again. The book is not about a fish. It is about a man who didn’t want to do what God wanted him to do. Jonah knew what God wanted, but he went the other way. God saved his life and asked him to do the same thing he asked for the first time. The people repented, so Jonah got mad, pretty selfish. God demonstrates his sovereignty over a city of 120,000 people and an individual named Jonah in this book. Nineteen years later, I again read Jonah in one day, and referring to this chapter I wrote, God tells Jonah to go again. Jonah goes this time, and the people of Nineveh believed God. They repent. First, turn from their evil ways. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them. Three years later, in 2013, I was reading Jonah a chapter a day. And on this day, after reading chapter 3, I wrote, the God of the second chance. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. I was referring to verse 1. Nice that God gives us a second chance. He has me too. This time Jonah obeys and goes to Nineveh. Maybe if we proclaim God’s word, people will listen too. People great and small fasted and prayed. Even the king laid aside his robe and led by example. That maybe God may turn and relent and withdraw his burning anger. God relented because they repented. If it can happen in Nineveh, it can happen in the USA today. That concludes my journal entry, so let’s take a look at Jonah chapter 3. Chapter 2 ended with the Lord speaking to the fish and vomiting Jonah up on the dry land. The near-death experience of Jonah by almost drowning in the stormy sea and also spending three days in the belly of a whale probably had a great impact on how he now hears from the Lord. Chapter 3 opens with, Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. God says to Jonah, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you. This was a shortened version of the first instruction God gave Jonah in chapter 1. There he said, It’s the same instruction, but this time, what is Jonah’s reaction? Verse 3, So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Jonah’s near-death experience in chapters 1 and 2 have caused him to have an obedient heart here in chapter 3. Where was Jonah headed? To Nineveh, an exceedingly great city. He gets to the city and he preaches what God had put in his heart. Verse 4. His eight-word sermon. Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. That’s it. That’s all he said. And verse 5 tells us the people’s reaction. And the people of Nineveh believed God. Oh, how I wish my messages could be received that simply. You, like me, have probably warned many people, personally and maybe corporately, about the coming judgment of the Lord or about their relationship with God. It’s probably taken us a lot more than eight words to express our views to people. And rarely do I get the response that Jonah got and the people just believed. And they acted. They called for a fast, put on sackcloth. These are signs of repentance. Oh, that the people we speak to would have a heart of repentance. Next, the word reaches the king. He too repents and issues a proclamation of fasting across Nineveh. He went a little farther by saying, let everyone call mightily out to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands. That eight-word sermon from Jonah, Yet forty days and none of us shall be overthrown, has caused these responses from the people and the king. And the king gets it. He says in verse 9, Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. Yeah. Who knows what will happen when we proclaim the word of God to our friends, our family, our work colleagues, our neighbors. Who knows? And because of a sincere, repentant heart, God responds. Verse 10. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. Did eight words change God’s mind? No. The response of the people changed God’s mind. We have seen in the scripture that prayer can change the course of God. We saw it with Moses. He interceded for the people and God relented and didn’t destroy them. Here again, he works through Jonah. The people repent and he relents and does not destroy them. Does that encourage your prayer life? Can your prayers change the mind of God? Is there a connection between human action and God’s divine intervention? I refer to my English Standard Version Study Bible footnote. It says sometimes there’s a close connection between human action and divine response. God did not carry out the threatened disaster because the Ninevites repented of their evil. From a temporal perspective, God responds to human action. From an eternal perspective, God chooses the means, human repenting, as well as the end, divine relenting. So does human action elicit a divine response? If not, why pray at all? Now, I certainly don’t take the position that I can change the mind of God. But I do believe that God expects our human action to connect with others’ human actions. And somehow, in those connections, God responds. That’s powerful. That’s biblical. What great hope we get in verse 10. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them. And he did not do it. Praise God. What we do and what we don’t do. does matter to him. Hopefully out of chapter three, we’ve pumped up our prayer life. Father, we thank you for the great words of Jonah chapter 3. We thank you for the response of the people in Nineveh, a true heart of repentance. And we thank you for revealing your own heart in this chapter, that you can be moved by human action. Thank you for sparing Nineveh. May we be encouraged to maybe give someone an eight-word sermon. Who knows? God may turn and relent. they may turn and repent. Give us the boldness to pray. Give us the boldness to share. And give us the humility to understand that if you change your mind, it’s not really about us. It’s about your divine intervention. To God be the glory for answered prayer. Amen. thanks for listening to ADDBIBLE today across our listening audience more and more of you are supporting ADDBIBLE by visiting our website at ezraproject.net and purchasing resources like club 365 subscriptions bible reading journals and one or more of our day by day through the bible devotional books we thank you so much and encourage more of you to do the same You will find helpful and inspirational tools to enhance your personal time in God’s Word. Today I want to review the three tools we see most listeners getting. First, Club 365. This is a monthly subscription opening our vault of all ADDBIBLE audio recordings and all printed pages of the entire Day by Day through the Bible devotional series. By joining Club 365 for only $7 a month, you have access to both audio and written information on all 66 books of the Bible. Club 365 is a goldmine, and it is completely flexible to your personal Bible reading plan. So if you’re reading Matthew or Isaiah or Psalms or Revelation, you have access to audio or written comments, applications, and prayers on any of them at your fingertips. get club 365 at ezraproject.net today like so many others have secondly another hot seller are our bible reading journals we offer two one is a chronological bible reading journal that contains a daily bible reading plan chronologically you don’t have to buy a chronological bible just get our chronological bible reading journal It has over 200 pages, so you can journal your way through the entire Bible. This book is our number one bestseller over the last two decades. The other journal is called the Trio Bible Reading Journal because it has three annual Bible reading plans in it. a New Testament schedule, an Old Testament schedule, but if you do them both on the same day, a complete Bible reading plan, you’ll finish the Bible in 365 days. We have a limited supply of the TRIO Bible reading journal. The cool thing about our journals is they start when you start. Day one of the schedule is the day you start, not January 1. Again, completely flexible to your Bible reading habits. Order your journal for just $9 at EzraProject.net and we ship it free. And the third product people are ordering is one of our day-by-day through the Bible devotional books. There are only 11, but they cover all 66 books of the Bible, filled with comments about passages, applications from the passages, and prayers related to the passages. Listeners are understanding Bible passages in a whole new way, thanks to digging deeper with a day-by-day supplement to their daily devotions. You can find all 11 books on our website at EzraProject.net. They are available in print and digitally. Get one today and start understanding your Bible in a whole new way. So that’s all for today. Join me tomorrow for another chapter of AdBible. I know you’re going to enjoy it.
