{"id":1017,"date":"2009-04-16T08:00:09","date_gmt":"2009-04-16T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.danielgoepfrich.com\/?p=1017"},"modified":"2022-10-17T05:38:32","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T09:38:32","slug":"jonah-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/jonah-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonah 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Chapter 3<\/a> is a really powerful part of Jonah’s story, maybe even the most powerful. People tend to focus on the fish and the plant, but those are really secondary to the story of God’s never-ending search to deliver humans. This is the main course of the little book, and in it I find three awesome principles.<\/p>\n

A second time<\/h3>\n
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The Lord said to Jonah a second time, \u201cGo immediately to Nineveh, that large city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.\u201d Jonah 3:1-2<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I like how this half of the book begins almost exactly the same as the first half. God had a specific task for Jonah to accomplish. The first time, Jonah ran away and almost got himself killed. God intervened in nature and disciplined Jonah until he repented.<\/p>\n

Upon Jonah’s repentance, God never mentioned it again (though Jonah does in chapter 4<\/a>). However, the task still had to be done. Parents do this with their kids all the time.<\/p>\n

“OK, you threw your fit, so you don’t get dessert tonight<\/span> [fill in your favorite method of discipline here]. Now clean your room like I told you to do.”<\/p>\n

Discipline is for the purpose of bringing back into line. Jonah was back in line, so God approached him again. Nothing had changed in God’s mind.<\/p>\n

Our rebellion doesn’t change God’s plan. It will “be done on earth as it is in heaven”.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jonah’s proclamation<\/h3>\n

Did you notice that Jonah did not preach a message of repentance? By most standards, he didn’t preach a message at all. In Hebrew, his statement was only five words long – “At the end of<\/span>\u00a0forty<\/span> days<\/span>, Nineveh<\/span> will be overthrown<\/span>!”<\/p>\n

He didn’t cry out, “Repent!” He just said, “You’re toast! Deal with it.” So what made them respond?<\/p>\n