Jonah miraculously survived 3 days in the belly of the fish/whale. There he was humbled, submitting himself to God who then had the sea dwelling creature spit him up on the shore.
Then the Word of the Lord came to Jonah again. He is again sent to Ninevah, the difference in wording being “the message that I give you.” He is still to call out against it, warning the people to prompt repentance.
Some have argued that it could not have been a genuine revival. How, they argue, could these coverted Ninevites then resume their conquering ways resulting in the defeat and exile of the Northern Kingdom? Students of revivals will notice that often revivals last but a generation. The effects are not permanent. For instance, barely 100 years after the Welsh revivals, Christianity is nearly extinct there. This shows how long their declension has lasted.
“People who experience mighty revivals may be all the more hardened against God in the generations that follow. The presence of the Spirit of God is a far more delicate matter than we are prone to imagine.” Sinclair Ferguson
This is illustrated in the life of Jonah, and repeatedly in the history of Israel and Judah. So we mich take Paul’s warning against greiving the Spirit seriously. We cannot be sure we will repent of any sin we are tempted to commit. But such disobedience will produce spiritual declension at the least, if not be evidence that the person was spiritually dead to begin with.
God’s evangelistic sovereignty is revealed in this passage, as Ferguson notes. God sent a messenger in Jonah. He authorized the message Jonah would declare. It is good to pray for revival, but we must also evangelize for revival. The God-declared end has a God-ordained means. He sent an evangelist AND He opened their hearts to the message. This is the very reason He sent Jonah in the first place.
The message was simple, but the effect was profound. Historically the Spirit works in 2 ways. The first is in the messenger or preacher, and is called unction (anointing has also been used but this term has recently been hijacked by televangelists like Benny Hinn to mean something quite different). The message is delivered with power and conviction.
“That word can only come with power to our hearers when it has come with power to our own hearts.” John Owen
The Spirit also works in the hearers to illumine them. Paul describes this in 2 Corinthians 3-4. God sheds His light into our hearts that we might see the glory of Jesus. Suddenly people see their need AND the sufficiency of Jesus’ work on behalf of sinners.
Cavman Considers 