We may observe from this subject,
1. How certainly is Christ the true Messiah!
[Tlie Ninevites knew for certain the divine mission of Jonah, by means of his miraculous deliverance from the fish's belly. How evidently then is " Christ declared to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead' !" Let then every word of his, by whomsoever it be delivered, " be received, not as the word of man, but, as it is in truth, the word of God "]
2. How inexcusable are they, who continue im- penitent under the preaching of the Gospel !
[Jonah simply denounced the vengeance of God against the Ninevites, without making them any offer of mercy, or even intimating, that there was any possibility that the sentence might be reversed ; yea, and without so much as working one single miracle in confirmation of his word : yet they, though heathens, trembled at the very first denunciations of God's wrath, and set themselves to repent and turn from their sins, upon the slightest hope that peradoenture God might turn from his fierce anger ^. How then ought ive to seek the Lord, who have not merely temporal ruin, but eternal condemnation, denounced against us ; who, besides this, have promises of mercy also set before vis, to encourage our repentance ; and both the threatenings and the promises confirmed by ten thousand miracles! Surely "the Ninevites will rise up in judgment against us at the last day, if we continue obdurate" under such means as are used to reclaim us.]
3. How certainly may they expect mercy, who repent and beheve in Christ !
[We have no reason to think, that the repentance of the Ninevites was genuine and abiding : it is more probable that it resembled that of Ahab, both in its nature and duration'. Still, however, it was the means of preserving all of them from the threatened calamities. And shall not true repentance, accompanied with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, avail for the salvation of our souls? Will that God, whom Jonah reproached for the unbounded extent of his grace and mercy, " cast out any who come to him by Jesus Christ™?" We need not fear: it is not a peradventure, but a certainty, that God " will save them to the uttermost." Let us then seek the Lord in his appointed way, that we may be monuments of his mercy to all eternity.]
' Rom. i. 4. k Jonah iii. 5 — 9
1 1 Kings xxi. 27 — 29. m John vi. 37.
c c 2