If we could turn to Jonah, chapter 3, I am going to read starting in verse 5. We know that it said in Jonah 3, verse 4: “And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Then it says in Jonah 3:5-10:

So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

This brings us to the end of Jonah, chapter 3. In our last study, we were looking at the king of Nineveh. He is not a very well-known Biblical figure. We have read this account and reread this account and we have not considered him very much, because the focus was on the city and the repentance of the Ninevites. Yet, as I mentioned earlier, if we were to consider who is the greatest king in the Bible, the king of Nineveh would have to be considered because more people became saved under his rule than under David, Hezekiah, Jehoshaphat or Josiah. There were typically only handfuls of people that became saved under the authority of the best kings we can read about in the Bible. This king was a heathen king and an unsaved man because the city of Nineveh was a heathen nation and they did not know the true Word of God until Jonah entered the city, sent by God. Jonah, the “dove” or Holy Spirit, was sent by God to Nineveh in this foreign land and, perhaps, for the first time they heard the Word of the Lord. It was a very short and concise message, a single verse: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

As we mentioned last time, Jonah went into the city a day’s journey. He did not publish the message to every soul and he did not speak those words to every Ninevite. He more than likely went to a “town square,” and he went at a time when there was a great number of people and he said what God commanded him to say. He fulfilled his task and maybe he was not very eager or zealous. We do not know his mindset or how he said it, but God had told him to go to Nineveh the second time and this time he obeyed. He did not look for the next ship. He had learned his lesson about what happens when you get on a ship after God has told you to go a different direction and you say, “I am not going to do what God wants me to do. I am going to head to Tarshish.” Before he knew it, he was in a whale’s belly for three days and three nights and then he was vomited out on the dry ground. We speak of God’s chastening and this was a man that was chastened by the Lord for disobedience, even though we know he was a type of Christ. God certainly chastised him in a real way. Can you imagine being inside of a fish for five minutes? Would that not be terrible with the smell and the darkness? And he was inside the fish for three days and three nights, so he was definitely taught a lesson. “When I command you to go to Nineveh, you go to Nineveh. So, at the beginning of chapter 3, God said again, “And the word of JEHOVAH came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh,” and Jonah could not wait to carry it out: “I better get to Nineveh as soon as possible.” [Laughter]

Jonah did go to Nineveh and he did preach the preaching that God bid him to preach: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” He fulfilled the job. He said what God wanted him to say. What else was there to do? God did not say, “Preach for 40 days.” He did not say anything else. So, Jonah went to Nineveh and preached the message and he left after he went in a day’s journey.

By the way, some people say, “Well, if he went into the city a day’s journey, it would require a day’s journey to get out of the city and to go to a hillside on the eastside of the city where he built the booth.” You know, I am familiar with Philadelphia and from one direction, you can go a day’s journey into the city, but if the east of the city is over here in the other direction, it does not mean that I cannot get out of the city very quickly from the east side. I do not have to go back (the way I came). There is nothing that says he went back. We do not know, but a border of the city may have been near where he said these things and then he left and built a booth and sat under the booth.

But, first, Jonah did what God told him to do, which is always the best thing. It is always the best thing for us to do what God tells us to do, no matter what it is in life. If God tells me to do it, what should I do? I should do what God told me to do – that will be the best thing, no matter what it is. If God tells women to be silent in the churches, then He has His purposes for women being silent. If God says that Sunday is His holy day and we are to remove our foot from the Sabbath, then we should listen and do what God commands us to do, where we are not fighting and arguing with Him and trying to get our own way, because God is all-wise and we are all foolish. Just look at the world. They think they have wisdom. They think they know it all. They can even tell you what is good morality or not good, but it is “upside down.” It is turned around and it just shows the darkness that people are stumbling around in. Of ourselves, we do not know anything and God does know everything, especially regarding right and wrong and good and evil, so when He tells us to do something, it is always the best thing to do it.

So, the word finally reached the king of Nineveh. How did he hear? Was he in the “town square” when Jonah walked in the city and said these things? He probably was not present. When a ruler appears in a city, there is a lot of fanfare and the people would have crowded around trying to see the king and Jonah would have been a forgotten man. Very likely, the king did not personally hear Jonah’s message, but someone heard and brought the message to the king.

It is similar to when they found the Book of the Law. Remember, it was after a long while and they found the Book of the Law. It was a priest in Judah that found it in the temple and it had been long lost and they brought it to king Josiah. Then he read it and rent his clothes in response to the Word of God, the Book of the Law that was uncovered and revealed. And this does point to the time of the end, as we are told in Daniel, when God would open up the Scriptures.

You see, this is what a good and faithful servant does when they are trying to serve their king and in Nineveh there was a good and faithful servant that heard the message of Jonah and went to the king and shared it with him. And this king had a reaction similar to good king Josiah, in Jonah 3:6:

For word came unto the king of Nineveh…

What word came unto the king? It was the thing that Jonah said. It was simple to remember, so he heard this man and carried the message back to the king: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” It was the Word of God, so this word came unto the king of Nineveh, as it says in Jonah 3:6:

… and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

This shows great humility. Then it says in Jonah 3:7-8:

And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

Would it not be nice to have a President that heard about May 21, 2011 and did this? In fact, I remember our President was driving through the city of Philadelphia prior to May 21, 2011 and everyone had their signs up, so he did see. Also, there were people right in front of the White House several times in the days leading up to that date and they had giant signs that must have been seen and noticed. But would it not be nice if the ruler of a nation (whatever nation it might be) would react this way? You know, May 21, 2011 was not just a judgment on the United States, but it was a judgment on all the world. There were a lot of rulers out there that very likely heard. Would it not have been nice if a president or king or governor or mayor, or even a councilman, had told all their people? They would first show the act of personal repentance, as this king did when he started with himself: “and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.” What a wonderful response that would be for anyone, let alone a king that has power, authority and wealth. You know, kings in this world do not do this. If it had been the Pharaoh of Egypt, he would not have done this. Or, can you imagine king Nebuchadnezzar doing this or king Ahab or any evil king? This king of Nineveh was an evil king because he was unsaved, but when word came to him, he responded: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Because God wanted to spark this great outpouring of repentance throughout the city, He started with the king and then the king caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king. If the king says you have to wear sackcloth and fast, there is going to be a response and everyone would hear it.

It says in Proverbs 29:2:

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

Historically, this was a situation in which a man was transformed from wickedness to righteousness through the salvation God imparted to him and it immediately became a blessing to everyone in the city, even if some of them did not become saved because it is always a blessing to hear the Word of God. The king caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout the city and it was the Word of God, so the king was promoting and sending forth the Gospel. Jonah went into the city and did what he came to do. It was the “dove” or Holy Spirit and we see a continuation of this picture. It was the Holy Spirit that entered the city and he began this work with the king and then it spread far and wide to all the corners of Nineveh and there was great repentance.

Let us look at one more thing regarding the king, historically. Let us go to Luke 14:31-32:

Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

This is what this king did because God is the King and God said He was coming in 40 days to do battle and destroy that city, so through the wisdom God granted this king he decided, “This is not a good situation for me. It is not a battle I can win. It is not something the Assyrian army is going to be able to defend against.” Through humbling himself and telling his people to humble themselves, they were desiring conditions of peace. They were saying, “We cannot fight you. We cannot do battle with you, so let us cry mightily to you and see if you would be merciful to us.” And this is what happened because God was merciful to them. It was the wisest possible thing for an individual or city or nation to do, and he did it.

As we read this, it is almost as if this king is “too good to be true,” but we have to remember that this is an historical account. There was a king of Nineveh that reacted this way, but it was God who arranged it so the king would will and do of His good pleasure and react this way, so God could paint this historical picture. And who would the king of Nineveh represent? It would be the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word that the Holy Spirit brought came to the king (Christ) and He arose from His throne, laid His robe from Him and covered Himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes, pointing to the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ. For instance, let us go to the book of Esther where the evil Haman had arranged for the Jews to be slain on a certain date that was chosen and published. It was another date for destruction, just like the 40 days in the book of Jonah. So, Haman cast a lot and a date was set and the Jews were given a timeline. Then it says in Esther 4:1-3:

When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; And came even before the king's gate: for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

Mordecai was also a type of Christ and he humbled himself, pointing to the humility of Christ, that resulted in the deliverance of the Jews. Of course, it was not based on Mordecai sitting in sackcloth and ashes, but when we “connect the dots,” we see that Esther tried to clothe Mordecai because she did not want him to sit there in sackcloth and ashes. And that started the process of her asking Mordecai and the Jews to pray for her that she would have the courage to go to the king and beseech him to spare the Jews, so it does all come back to Mordecai sitting in sackcloth and ashes as a type of Christ.

Let us also look at Psalm 69, a Messianic Psalm, where we see it says in verse 21: “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” This happened to Christ on the cross, so this is a Messianic Psalm. Then it says in Psalm 69:11-12:

I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them. They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.

Christ is pictured as sitting in sackcloth. If we go the book of Job, we see that Job was afflicted grievously with the loss of his children and all things. He was also a figure of Christ suffering the wrath of God. It says in Job 2:7-8:

So went Satan forth from the presence of JEHOVAH, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.

Here, Job was a picture of Christ, sitting in ashes. In Esther, Mordecai was a picture of Christ, clothed in sackcloth. The Messianic Psalm speaks of Christ in sackcloth. We see this incredible and wonderful response from the king of Nineveh. Word came unto him and he arose from his throne, without hesitation, and he laid his robe from him and he sat in sackcloth and ashes. We are led to a verse we see in Philippians 2:5-8:

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Christ’s humiliation is the basis for payment for the atonement and salvation, so the Lord uses the king of Nineveh as a figure to point to Christ. Then notice Jonah 3:7:

And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles…

When we understand that the king of Nineveh was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we can see what is being proclaimed – it was the Word of God that Nineveh would be destroyed in 40 days. The king caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh. And what does Nineveh represent? It represents the world outside of the churches and congregations. The salvation of the Ninevites represents the salvation of the great multitude saved outside of the churches and congregations.

If Jonah had been sent to a city of the Jews…and, remember, they were just as wicked, or sometimes even more wicked than Nineveh. Just read some of the Old Testament book of Judges when they went to a city of Benjamin and some of the things that were going on there. If Jonah had been sent to a city of the Jews, we would not have had the picture that this was something happening in the world outside of the churches because Israel or Judah are types and figures of the churches. So, if you had a great many people in Bethlehem or another Jewish city, it would point to salvation in the churches and congregations. But this great number of people saved in the Old Testament were saved in a foreign land – they were Assyrians, not Jews – and it can point to only one time in history. The “early rain” was sent during the church age when the firstfruits came forth, but it was not until the Latter Rain, which began in 1994, that the Holy Spirit was sent the second time. It was from 1994 through May 21, 2011 that there was the salvation of the great multitude and not one of them was saved within the corporate church. They were all “foreigners” to the outward representation of the kingdom of God on earth. All the people of the world that God saved was the great multitude saved during the Latter Rain and they were all “foreigners” or “aliens” to the commonwealth of Israel or the corporate church.

So, here, we can look at Jonah 3, verse 6 as what prompted the king to proclaim and publish the message was his humiliation. It formed the basis of what followed. When we look at the sending forth of the Gospel, we always look back to the point when the Lord Jesus died at the foundation of the world for His elect. It was because He humbled Himself unto death that the Gospel went forth, no matter what the time or season.

Here, the king of Nineveh established the death of Christ, spiritually, and he caused the Word of God to be proclaimed and published. But what if we wanted to be more specific about what he wanted proclaimed and published? It was a timeline and a final date. That is what we see in the message: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Again, we can relate this to 1994. We can relate this to the outpouring of the Gospel during the Latter Rain period because there were only “foreigners” being saved outside the churches and the king of Nineveh (the Lord Jesus Christ) was behind it all and causing it to happen. It was not just for those that heard during Jonah’s single day’s journey, but it was the whole city: “And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king.” We can see from the response that this (message) went everywhere.

So, again, we try to find a comparison to understand what God was writing thousands of years ago. God knows the end from the beginning and He knew all about our time before He gave His Word, the Bible, but when we try to find something that fits or matches, where else can we look but at that time prior to May 21, 2011 when the entire world heard the message? It was proclaimed and published.

I think it may be fading from our memories a little bit because we are some years away from that time now, but there were t-shirts, tracts, bumper stickers, billboards, buses wrapped with messages and even on little jitneys in the Philippians and India. The message was even in Arabic lands. Can you imagine that? There were billboards declaring Judgment Day in the Middle East in some of these lands. Incredible! And it was not just one country in the Middle East, but it was several. It was all over the earth. I do not know how many tracts went out through tract trips. But, well, it was just all wrong? Who could possibly be behind something like that and then it turns out to be all wrong? Satan? No – there are plenty of religions and gospels that Satan operates and they normally get their little slice of the population. There has never been a false gospel that was able to proclaim something worldwide, let alone Judgment Day. That is not a message that false gospels typically proclaim. How do they come? “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” They do not tell people that they are under judgment or that judgment is coming. Jonah did not travel into Nineveh and say, “Yet forty days, and God will work out a wonderful plan for you and your life.” He did not say that. It was very much to the point – there was a timeline, judgment and a message that the people were in trouble and were going to perish. That is not the message of the ungodly because they understand people do not like that kind of message and the natural-minded individual caters to the natural mind. The individuals that developed these other religions and other gospels naturally cater to like-minded people and they all have their understanding of what is acceptable and not acceptable. And the message of judgment is almost exclusively the Bible, the Word of God.

I really wish someone would tell me how it was possible that the message of Judgment Day was all wrong and, yet, it went on for years. The most faithful individual that I knew of is who the Lord used, as well as the most faithful ministry of that time and all their resources, and God was opening doors and expanding their ability to reach people globally. God was blessing them and blessing them and it seemed they had the “storehouse” for just that specific time and they expended all their resources. And it was all a lie? It was all deceitful? For people that do not realize that God was behind it all, that is exactly what it was. No – no – it is not possible for it to have been a lie or deceitful or that anyone was behind it but God. And if God was behind it, why are we still here? And that is what God is answering in the book of Job. God is giving a timeline for the prolonged Day of Judgment that stretches from 1994 when judgment began at the house of God, to another date. There are all kinds of other Biblical information that still locks in May 21, 2011. It is still accurate, but it is all happening within this over-arching timeline of 40 days (40 years).

Was it “day one” that word came to the king of Nineveh? It does not tell us how long it took the word to be delivered to him. It could have been the same day that Jonah did his preaching. Maybe it was the next day. We are not sure, but it would have been early on within the 40-day period. It would have tied in to the Jubilee period of 1994 when it was the time to proclaim…is that what it says in Leviticus? It says in Leviticus 25:10:

And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

Ye shall…proclaim liberty. And the king of Nineveh caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout the city of Nineveh, which typified the world.

Then we read of their repentance. First, the king of Nineveh repented and through his repentance, we see the Ninevites’ repentance. Again, who is showing humility first? Sitting in sackcloth and ashes is a very humble act and then there was the response of his people. The Lord Jesus Christ was the first to be humbled and He has a people that are humble people; we have a heart after His own heart – broken and contrite, like it says in that Psalm of David where the Lord convicted him of his sin of adultery and murder. It says in Psalm 51:17:

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

This is not speaking of our sacrifice, but of God’s sacrifice. They are the sacrifices of God, which means the Lord Jesus Christ, as He experienced a broken spirit when He was under the wrath of God. As God said of David: “…a man after mine own heart.” It was the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ, broken and contrite. It is first “Him” and then “us.” He first loved us and then we love Him. First, it is the Lord Jesus Christ and then His people follow suit. First, the king of Nineveh repented and then all the people of Nineveh repented, pointing to the elect of God.

We will close here and, Lord willing, in our next study we will look at this idea of God turning away from the evil: “Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” They had the right idea. Man-centered gospels want men to repent. The God-centered Gospel, the Bible, requires God to repent in order for men to find mercy and be spared. A man-centered gospel wants to provoke faith in an individual, but the God-centered Gospel requires the faith of Christ to do the saving.