Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that 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. Jonah 3.3 ESV
We ended yesterday’s Firewatch post with Romans 10.14-15, which lays out the pattern for the multiplication of faith in all the earth: God sends a messenger with His word, the sent ones preach that word, those to whom the messengers have been sent hear the word, and faith is born. This is the way the Way bears fruit, and in abundance.
Notice that this time—the second time—God’s is more specific about why He is sending Jonah to Nineveh than He was in chapter one. Jonah’s first commission was a little vague, a little enabling of his prejudices. God is so wise, isn’t He? The second commission is specific; the guardrails are very close indeed now. He tells him essentially to be very careful to speak only what He tells him.
We saw how Jonah’s eight-word sermon was completely underwhelming in and of itself. It reminds me of how God whittled Gideon down from thousands to three hundred so that there could be no doubt in his mind about the reason for victory against the enemy. Gideon needed to know that God is able.
So too, Jonah needed to know that God would deliver Nineveh from wrath not by the reluctant (even recalcitrant) preacher’s eloquence but by His Spirit. By the power of His word. Period. God didn’t need Jonah to go to Nineveh. He had called him there, though. There is a big difference.
Notice too that Jonah obeyed this time, “according to the word of the LORD.”
I don’t know of a more compelling way to convince you that God’s heart is for all men, that He is relentless in His pursuit of us, and that He can never be thwarted; His wisdom can never be overthrown. Jonah was bound to go to Nineveh as sure as God lives, and he was just as sure to preach the message God had given him.
You will be praised, O Lord. Even by those we deem unlikely! You have ordained praise where it is impossible.
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