In Jonah 3:4 we finally see the will of God being put into action by Jonah.  The Bible says, “Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown’” (Jonah 3:4).    The message was not positive, but it was the truth.  We must commend Jonah for having the courage to preach an unpopular message to people who were entrenched in the muck of immorality (Jonah 1:2).

The power of the Word of God is on full display in this passage.  The citizens of Nineveh were people living their lives in a way that was contrary to the moral standard of God’s will; yet, when they heard the message of God, they believed it and showed signs of repentance.

Jonah 3:5 (ESV)
⁵  And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

God’s Word can soften the hardest of hearts.  This has been demonstrated over and over again through the years.  Even the king of Nineveh was moved by the message of Jonah.  He, too, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes (Jonah 3:6), and then set forth a proclamation, demanding that everyone do the same thing, and turn away from evil (vers. 7-9).

You may wonder why the Ninevites, including the king, were so quick to accept the message of doom from Jonah.  The answer is that his message was confirmed by his miraculous deliverance from the sea and the belly of the great fish.  Somehow the Ninevites heard of Jonah’s ordeal at sea and his miraculous deliverance.  How do I know this?  It is because Jesus referred to it as a sign to the Ninevites (Luke 11:29-30).  Still, they had to believe God’s message if they were to repent of their sins, and this they did (ver. 10).

Never underestimate the Word of God.  As the Psalmist once said, “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul…” (Psalm 19:7).  The people of Nineveh are proof that no miraculous outpouring of the Holy Spirit is necessary for God’s Word to penetrate the hearts of men.

In what I believe to be a blatant attack upon the power of the gospel of Christ, the widely-accepted teaching of Calvinism tells us that, since we, according to them, are born totally depraved, we do not possess the power to hear and understand God’s Word, let alone respond to it, without divine help.  Yet, this is exactly what the Ninevites did.

Upon hearing God’s message, the people of Nineveh turned from their wicked ways.  The record says, “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” (Jonah 3:10).  Notice, God did not turn them by an illuminating outpouring of the Spirit.  The Ninevites decided to turn when their hearts were pricked by the Word of God.

We see this same reaction by the Jews on the day of Pentecost.  They heard the gospel and were cut to their hearts (Acts 2:36-37).  That is the power of the gospel.  No miraculous outpouring is necessary.  No special divine illumination is needed.  The willingness to accept and follow the Word of God is all a person needs to be converted.  Our job is to preach God’s message like Jonah.  The powerful gospel of Christ will take it from there.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.