I’ve been teaching on Jonah so I am kind of hung up on this a bit. Here are a couple things I saw in Jonah 3 that I had not really noticed before.
Jonah’s recorded message wasn’t difficult. It was actually quite simple. “In forty days, God will destroy this city.” That was it. There is no indication that he even said repent. Their response amazed me. Verse 5 says, “And the people of Nineveh believed God.” My take away from this – God’s message was simple, powerful and in verse 10 we see it was merciful. God’s message changed the hearts of man and when the people repented, God relented.
It’s still true for his message today. It’s simple, powerful, and merciful. All who are followers of Christ are called to share this simple message with our world.
We all have sinned. Because of our sin, we are separated from God and in danger of being separated forever. God sent His only son to take the punishment we deserved on himself so we could be saved from the consequences of our own sin. All we have to do to receive this free gift of salvation is to believe that Jesus is God’s son, he came to the earth and never sinned, then died on a cross to take our punishment, was put in the grave and three days later was raised from the grave. He lives today and offers all men salvation if they will admit they have sinned, turn from their own sinful ways of living, and instead follow in Christ’s footsteps of living.
This is even more complicated than it really has to be probably. The truth is, God wants you to share His message. He will do the rest.
His message is simple. His message is Powerful. His message is merciful.
