Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.”
In today’s OT reading we find a reminder that our God is the God of second chances. Jonah is a well-established and evidently well-to-do prophet of Israel in the mid-700’s BC. He was called to leave his comfortable ministry to the royal court of Jeroboam II and go to the far-away lands of Israel’s powerful and idolatrous enemy and prophesy in its capital city Nineveh. Earlier in Jonah, the prophet rejects God’s call, hires a ship to take him as far in the opposite direction of Nineveh as he could get, encounters a terrible storm of judgment at sea. On his own admission of guilt and desire to spare the crew from his own expected death, Jonah was thrown overboard where he was by a fish or whale especially prepared by God for this task. After three days in the belly of this creature, Jonah repented of his disobedience and was spit out onto the land to resume the mission God had assigned. At this point, our reading resumes.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying… One of the greatest joys of the Christian faith is knowing that our God forgives…he gives us fresh starts when we fail, second chances if you like. But sometimes, our sin may seem beyond God’s grace, and we have fallen too far to ever stand straight again. Addictions to alcohol, drug and other substances often contribute to loss of self-control and habitual self-destructive or immoral behaviors that seem impossible to escape. Yet the power of God is far greater than any sin and can bring healing and restoration to the most degraded of souls.
In earlier years I spent many years in the ministry of the Salvation Army. As you know, I needed to leave their organization for theological and organizational reasons. But I have no regrets for the opportunity of service in Christ I enjoyed then. Whether I was working in inner city slums, metropolitan areas, major cities, smaller cities, towns, or rural settings there was no shortage of men and women with serious addictions and long histories of family and social problems. A great many of these believed they could never get free of their bondage and live a decent life, let alone find the love of God, and know that they are forgiven and heaven bound. One man, otherwise a pleasant fellow, when drunk would abuse his children and wife. She and others kept praying, kept trying to get him to trust in Jesus, to stop drinking, to clean up his life, to be a man instead of a drunken animal. Now, drinking in moderation is not a sin. To drink to drunkenness, to bring upon oneself the loss of self-control and the transformation from a decent person to one out of control and abusive is. He had long ago lost all control; the love of drink kept him going back for more and making life terrible at home and put his job in jeopardy. In the daytime he sometimes wanted to change but couldn’t fight the addiction. One night he came home drunk and began to take out his inner frustrations on his loving wife. Is it not both true and sad that we often treat most terribly those we should love and honor most highly? Such is the very nature of sin. Addictions often bring it to the surface. In his drunken anger he shoved his wife down the basement stairs. She didn’t get up. He went to bed. In the morning he woke up, hung over as often before. Going into the kitchen he saw the door open and looked down the stairs. She was still there. Thankfully, she was not dead but neither could she get up. After a lengthy hospital stay and rehabilitation, she could walk and use her arms again. Thankfully also, her mind was not damaged nor was there any lasting visible effect other than a modest limp when she walked and pain if she used the most damaged leg and hip too much.
The best news – God used this terrible incident to wake up an alcohol-deadened soul. The man finally saw himself for what he had become and the terrible effects his addictions had brought to the most loving and faithful person in his life – and he turned wholeheartedly to Jesus. He fully admitted his sinfulness and inability to change himself for the better. And when he gave up his life to Jesus, he found a greater life given to him – God’s own resurrection power raised him from the spiritual grave of his sins and made him a new creation in Christ. A second chance. As you might imagine, it was hard to change habits of addiction, hard to fight the craving for another night of binging. It was difficult to forsake old associates although they were not really friends as he came to understand, but fellow addicts to the bottle. It was hard work to change his routine to include prayer, regular worship, and build a new set of Christian relationships. But it wasn’t nearly as hard as his addiction had been. It didn’t bring pain and injury to those he loved. It made his job more pleasant and he a better employee. And over time, it not only became easier to live as Jesus teaches but enjoyable and even exciting. If you met him ten years after the night when he nearly killed his wife, you would never in your wildest dreams imagine him to have been capable of the things he said and did. And now in Christ, he isn’t. He is changed. He is made new. He is a disciple of the Savior of the world. He serves the God of the second chance. His kind of story, and others more marvelous yet are repeated throughout the world continually as Jesus seeks and finds the lost and brings them home to the joyous song of the angels in heaven.
Do you have problems that maybe are getting bigger than you? Or one near you who is struggling and failing to break free of their habits and behaviors – whose life is going downhill fast? The best hope for this life and the only hope for eternity in heaven is Jesus. He is everything the Bible says and more. He can overcome the sin in your life because he is the author of life and wants to give his life to you. He will renew your soul and change your heart, mind, and direction.
Jonah 3:1-2 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” “Arise.” In the Greek Old Testament (LXX), the word is the same as we use to denote the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus, after three days in the grave rose from the dead a new man and confirmed his identity as the long-promised Savior the prophets foretold. Jonah, according to Jesus, was a sign to Israel and of the most incredible miracle of God – raising his Son from the grave. In Matthew 12:38-40 we read:
“Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But [Jesus] answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sigh, but no sign will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
The Jewish religious leaders claimed to believe that the account of Jonah was entirely true even though they had not seen it and it had occurred seven centuries earlier. Yet most of them would reject the greater miracle that happened right under their noses – the resurrection of the Messiah whom Isaiah promised would give his life a sacrifice for sins and yet in due time see the light of day and behold his descendants. In short, they knew the word of God yet refused to accept it in its clear and obvious meaning. Then, when God fulfilled the obvious meaning of his very clear Scriptures and promises right in front of them, they refused to believe that God did indeed act wondrously in their midst. Like many today in the church and out of it – they know the Word of God but don’t accept it. Or they refuse to hear and learn the Word of God and can’t be helped in their rejection and unbelief of the Savior. The problem is not that Jonah is an unbelievable account, God can easily do what he said. The problem is an unbelieving heart that refuses to see the glory of God even when revealed in plain sight. Like the miracles of myriads of believers once trapped in terrible sins and addictions now freed by the power of Christ. Almost everyone knows some personally or by reputation. People everywhere have evidence that God breaks the power of sin and raises souls to new life. Yet too many see the miracle of faith and do not believe. They explain God’s actions away: “Oh, they’re just religious zealots who found internal strength by their delusion of God.” “Oh, they just needed the crutch of religion to walk a better life.” “Oh, they just traded the addiction of drug or alcohol for an addiction to their own view of what God is.” Whatever the excuse, even when God does miracles right in front of unbelievers, many refuse to admit that God is at work. Thankfully, others see, consider, and believe. They come to know and love the God of the second chance.
The early Christian believers embraced and identified with the account of Jonah. In early Christian art that has survived the ages, Jonah is by far the most popular figure of all. Historian Graydon Snyder wrote:
“There can be no doubt that the primary artistic representation of early Christianity was the Jonah cycle. Of all known pre-Constantinian [before ~300 AD] Christian frescoes, mosaics, sarcophagi [~casket/tomb] and sarcophagi fragments, Jonah at rest [sleeping in the boat] appears 42 times, Jonah cast into the sea 38 times and Jonah vomited from the fish 28 times. By way of contrast, the next most frequent figure is that of Noah, who appears in 8 instances. The most frequent NT scene is the baptism of Jesus with 6 occurrences. Jonah is by far and away the most popular biblical narrative before and even some years after Constantine. “
Why the great interest in Jonah by the early church? Why also the next level of interest is Noah, and after him Jesus being baptized? What is the common link? Churches that don’t share our ancient and Biblical view of baptism won’t want to admit this. But the three most prominent early church art motifs share one common theme. Baptism: passing from death into new life in the Holy Spirit. Baptism, which the Bible clearly states brings to us a measure of the same resurrection power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Baptism, which the Bible clearly connects to Noah and the flood. Baptism that strengthens us to forsake sin and to embrace a pure life of faith guided by the Word of God so we can bring forth the fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Jonah 3:1-2 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” In Jonah we find a rebellious, rather moody prophet who needed to be brought back to the Lord. In Jonah, we find a man whose imperfect life and wavering obedience was used by Jesus to describe his great sign to the world: the resurrection of a very dead, very buried Savior to life and ascension to heaven. Jonah passed through the waters of death yet found himself on the shoreline of life. Jonah couldn’t find reason to obey God until he was humbled in the belly of the great fish and come out a changed man. Jonah may have been a flawed man, a reluctant servant, but Jesus would later affirm him as a successful prophet who was used to bring hundreds of thousands of souls to faith. Jonah was a man we should all relate to if we stop and consider him. And like him, we serve the one true God, the one who gives us the second chance.
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