The Pulpit Commentary — Jonah — Section 80

lf their caRe had been utterly hopeless, why bad he come at all? So, though they h~d seen no miracle, they "believed God." That doom was at hand; doom that might-- who could tell ?-be averted, if they "battered the gates of heaven with storms of prayer." They proclaimed a fast; "the people;" for then, as al ways, national repent- ance and reformation worked its we.y upward. Here, from the people, e.t length reaching the nobles e.nd the king. He, too, was a man and in peril, and, like his subjects, must repent. And, by royal proclamation, all were bidden fast, be clad in sackcloth ; the creatures, too, dependent on them, by their mute misery were to share in the national humiliation. Above all, let the~people "cea.qe to do evil," and show a changed heart by e.n altered life. The humiliation of the Ninevites was- I. RooTED IN FAITH. "They believed God." What were Asshur and their many gods to them now? Jehovah was the living God. All else were dead. They believ,·d in his power to punish; and also (though doubt may have mingled with their faith) that if they turned from their evil way, he would tum from the fierceness of his anger, and they should perish not. Not" idle words" were Jonah's. Not heard with critic ear. Not questioned, much less opposed. Jonah-who was he? God'~ messenger. They believed God. Hence their repentance. Had they not believed, they had been unrepentant. How they rebuke many among us to-day! 'l'hose who have heard many of God's messengers: why turn they not from their evil way? Because they believe not God. This is the ea.pita! count in the Divine indictment against man. He makes God a liar. He believes not the testimony God has given in his Son. The terrible testimony against sin a.s the dark, dreadful evil it is. The gracious testimony to his unutterable love, that only could be truly vocal as it spoke in the sorrow, sufferings, and death-agonies of his Son. Did man believe with the heart this, it would be to repentance-to righteousness. "Believe God." Rooted in faith, the conduct of the Ninevites was- II. FBUI'l'FUL IN REPENTANCE. True belie£ and true repentance are ever connected as root and fruit. "If faith produce no works, I see The.t fe.ith is not e. living tree." The Ninevites fasted, put on sackcloth, cried mightily to God. And is the e-xpression of our repentance to be the same as theirs? Are we to fast? If given to the pleasures of the table, to fulness of bread, abstinence will be well. Wnatever hinders the soul must be avoided. If gay clothing is a temptation to us, we must watch against that peril. The soul must be supreme. Let it "cry mightily." Cry that it may be truly repentant. For" godly sorrow" is the gift of God. The doom coming on the Ninevites was averted. By what? Not the fasting; not the sackcloth; not even the mighty crying, though a whole city was at prayer. God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way" (ver. 10). That plucked them from the peril. There was repent- ance-a change of mind; reformation-a change of life. All is nothing without that. Turn from all evil. Have you wronged another? Confess it; make restitution. Be the changed mind seen in the changed life. The way of sin is an wi7, way and ends ia. evil. Turn from it. "Lord, make me pure and ho1y, but not now," prayed the uncon- verted Augustine. It must be now. 'l'urn from sin, and "who can tell if God will turn?" "Tell?" You know-as did not the Ninevites-the glorious gospel, that God we.its to be gracious; that for Christ's sake he will forgive you. Be not shamed and condemned by the repentant Ninevites. "They repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here. "-G. T. C. Ver. 10.-Missions to the lieathen. 1. The heathen are capable of salvation. 2. God purposes their salvation. 3. 'l'he Jews were the divinely appointed first preachers of salvation to the Gentile heathens. Jewish Jonah, the first of the prophets, was sent to heathen Nineveh. "A real example " this "of the genius of the gospel." And the Jewish apostles were sent to preach Jesus Christ to "every creature," H, died for all/-G. T.O. Ver. 10.-God repenting. It is another people in Nineveh that God now looks down upon. These have "ceased to do evil." " God saw their works, that they turned 78 TllE BOOK OF JONAH. [on. m. 1--10.