We know that Nineveh was great, but here we get a better understanding of just how great Nineveh was. It was a major city in Assyria, and it had a population of around 120,000 people. Nineveh was so big in fact, that a visit to Nineveh took 3 days. Not only was Nineveh a huge city, it was also an evil city, an enemy city to Israel. A city that disobeyed God and rebelled against him, a sinful city.

Chapter 3 starts with God commanding Jonah to go to Nineveh a second time, and this time, unlike in chapter 1, he does.

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD.

Jonah 3:1a

Jonah went to Nineveh, and he proclaimed God’s word, he said.

“Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

Jonah 3:4b

We can assume that Jonah probably said more than one sentence as he travelled through Nineveh, and we can assume that he said it more than once. But what we can’t assume is the Ninevites incredible response.

And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

Jonah 3:5

The message was turn or be destroyed, and the Ninevites believe God. The did just that and turned to God. Ever more amazing is who turned to God, it wasn’t just the lowly slaves, or the middle class, but everyone! Including the King!

The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

Jonah 3:6

Everyone in Nineveh turned away from their evil ways. Even the King of Nineveh turned from his evil ways. The whole city of Nineveh, all 120000 of them turned towards God! How huge is that!?

And not only did the people of Nineveh change their beliefs, they showed it in their actions as well. The people didn’t just say that they repented, they did something about it. Turning to God isn’t just about believing, but it is about changing your life as well.

To repent means to turn away from your ways and turn towards God's way of living.

So what was God’s response to this? Well, we read that when God saw this, when he saw that they had turned from their evil. He chose not to bring upon them the disaster that he said he would bring, and showed them mercy.

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Jonah 3:10

That’s where chapter 3 finishes, with God showing mercy to the Ninevites. Happy right? Well, not for everyone. As we find in chapter 4, Jonah wasn’t to happy about it. Stay tuned for the final blog post on chapter 4.

But for now what can we learn from chapter 3. I think we can learn 2 main things.

1. Repent. Turn towards God.
2. God calls all people to repent, and uses us to bring his message to people.

1. Repent

Jesus calls us to repent and in Acts Paul says that God “commands all people everywhere to repent.” But what does repent mean?

Well we need to turn away from our own desires, turn away from what we want for our lives, and turn towards God. We need to stop thinking about ourselves, and start living for God.

2. God calls all people to repent

Second thing that we can learn. God calls all people to repent! And he brings others to repentance through his people.

In Jonah 3, God uses Jonah to bring 120000 Ninevites into a relationship with him. But that’s not the only example of mass repentance through history. Only about 50 years ago, a man named Billy Graham went on preaching tours of countries where he spoke God’s word to hundreds of thousands of people, and at those events, thousands of people repented and became Christian.

It’s not just individuals that God can work through, but sometimes he chooses to work through a number of people in a specific location. Vanuatu is a great example of this. Vanuatu now has approximately 80% of it’s 250000 people professing to be Christians. And God’s word was only introduced to Vanuatu in 1839! So many people have repented and turned to God over that time.

How will God work in you and use you?

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. Jonah 1 – Running From God
2. Talks On Jonah
3. Jonah 2 – A Prayer of Thanksgiving

I’m in my final year of University and I’m hoping to be employed as a full time primary school teacher next year. However, in NSW, it is very rare to get a full time teaching job (unless you’re willing to move). Most grads don’t start their teaching careers in a full-time permanent position but rather start with casual work, which then turns into a block of casual work, which may then turn into a temporary or full-time position.

This has been stressing me out a bit when it really should have been, that is until God spoke to me through a sermon at Church last Sunday.

Up until then, I had thought that I needed a full-time position, so that I could build relationships and serve God through those relationships, and if I didn’t get a full-time job that I wouldn’t be able to serve God as I wouldn’t be able to build relationships, I’d just be going in and out of schools all the time.

So last Sunday’s sermon was on Philippians chapter 1, specifically verses 12-30. One of the key arguments that Paul makes in those verses is summarised in verse 21.

For me, living is Christ and dying is gain.

Paul is currently in prison for serving God, and knows that he would rather be with God in heaven (who wouldn’t!?), but for now he knows that his life is about being fruitful for God.

Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me;

Philippians 1:22a

We as Christians exist in this world to serve God and be fruitful for him. Our purpose is not to serve God and live for him the way we want to, but to live for him and serve him how he wants us to.

This really hit me. Until Sunday I’d been thinking that there was only one way for God to use me, which is ridiculous as God will use me to serve him in whichever way he chooses. I don’t need to have a full-time teaching position to serve God, I just need to be willing to serve him.

I am really thankful for God showing this to me, I am really thankful that God will use me fruitfully, and I’m really thankful that I’m no longer burdened by stress.

To sum up, God is good!

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. Zone of Awesomeness
2. Zone of Awesomeness

So I’ve now got the Holman Christian Standard Version downloaded onto my iPhone (for FREE via the Bible App) and I’ll be giving it a go next to other versions of the Bible. Watch the video below and see if you’re going to put the Holman on your iPhone/shelf along with other versions.

(H/T Dave Miers)

Just as a side, how awesome is it that we have so many awesome translations so easily available to us today!

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. From the bible this week: The Trinity
2. What Are The Most Important “Christian” Words?
3. Christian iPhone Apps

Jonah 2 for the most part is a prayer of thanksgiving from Jonah to God, from inside the belly of the fish.

The prayer of thanksgiving is something that I haven’t given a lot of thought to, but it is interesting to note how much of the prayer Jonah focusses on himself. Throughout the prayer he keeps saying what he has done, and what God has done as a result of this.

I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me

Jonah 2:1

Throughout the prayer Jonah does mention what God has done, but I can’t help but notice how Jonah keeps talking about what he has done. However at the end of the prayer Jonah does say one bold statement about God

Salvation belongs to the LORD!

Jonah 2:9

A great truth. Only through God was Jonah saved, and only by what God has done through Jesus are we saved.

This prayer is not one I would recommend as a model for prayer, that honour must be given to the Lord’s prayer that Jesus taught us which can be found in Matthew 6. This prayer is one that focusses on God, and the fact that it is from him alone that we receive everything.

The final verse of Jonah 2 is not part of the prayer, but instead shows once again the power that God has over creation.

And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Jonah 2:10

Just as God showed that he had power over creation in chapter 1, he shows the same power over creation when the fish follows his command. Not many people survive being inside a fish, but God allows Jonah to survive, and be thrown upon dry land. God is a powerful God, and has power over the creation that he made.

As I said, I only gave a 30 second spiel on Jonah 2. But even with that, it’s interesting to see what can be learned from chapter 2.

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. Talks On Jonah
2. Jonah 1 – Running From God
3. Jonah 3 – A City Repents

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.

Jonah 1:2

Jonah gets told to head off to Nineveh, a big city in the land of Assyria, enemies of Jonah. But instead Jonah heads off to Tarshish by boat. And from this point in the story, we see three aspects of God’s character: God’s mighty power, God’s righteous judgement, and God’s great mercy.

God’s mighty power

In verse 4 we read that God brought a massive storm upon the ship.

But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.

Jonah 1:4

I’ve always found God’s power in nature to be amazing, and to think of a storm for me is to think of how powerful God is. He made the heavens and the earth and has power over them. He has power over creation. God is a powerful God, and the sailors that we’re on the ship with Jonah as he was fleeing to Tarshish knew this.

It’s also cool to see how this story parallels the story of Jesus calming the storm (read more about that here).

God’s righteous judgement

It’s obvious here that Jonah has disobeyed God, and this storm that God has brought upon Jonah and the sailors is judgement for his disobedience. Jonah has not done what God wanted him to do, and therefore God brings judgement upon him. The sailors realise this when they cast lots and the lot falls on Jonah. Jonah finally owns up to this when he says.

I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.

Jonah 1:9

Finally! A bold statement of belief form Jonah, declaring that he knows who God is, and showing once again that God is the God who created this world.

The sailors ask Jonah what they should do, and he tells them that the only way out of this is to throw him into the sea, which they then do.

God’s great mercy

Now we get to the fish, the big fish. The centre of most people’s understanding of Jonah. God provides the great fish to swallow Jonah, and save him from drowning in the sea. Jonah was drowning in the sea as a punishment for running away from God, he deserved to die, the story of Jonah should have ended there. But God, in his great mercy, provided a great fish to swallow Jonah.

What can we learn?

Just like Jonah, we so often run from God’s will for our lives, we run from what God wants us to do. We’re not told exactly how the word of God came to Jonah telling him to go to Nineveh, but we know that today we receive the word of God through the Bible. We need to listen to God, and not run form him, but walk towards him.

Sadly, like Jonah, all of us have run away from God in some way or another.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 3:23

We have all disobeyed God, we have all lived our lives the way we want to, and not the way that God wants us to. In some form or another.

Thankfully that’s not where the story ends. Just like God showed mercy to Jonah, he has shown mercy to us today. Although it is not through a fish, but through Jesus. God sent Jesus to die, to turn the punishment that we deserve from God away from us. So if we live our lives for God, and put our trust in him. Then instead of receiving the punishment that we deserve, instead we will be given eternal life.

God is a merciful God, a forgiving God when we deserve punishment, so let’s live our lives for him!

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. Talks On Jonah
2. Jonah 2 – A Prayer of Thanksgiving
3. Jonah 3 – A City Repents

Is Jonah only about a big fish?

I recently had the great privilege of giving a series of 3 talks (plus a short one) on Jonah at the St Stephen’s Normanhurst Youth Weekend Away. It was a huge honour to preach the word of God to 20ish high schoolers.

Jonah is an interesting book and I really enjoyed diving into the book while I was preparing the talks. Over the next little while, I’m going to be doing some blog posts on the 4 chapters of Jonah. They’ll be linked to below.

• Jonah 1 – Running From God
• Jonah 2 – A Prayer of Thanksgiving
• Jonah 3 – A City Repents
• Jonah 4 – He Just Doesn’t Get It

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. 6 Talks on CRAZY Bible Stories
2. Jonah 2 – A Prayer of Thanksgiving
3. Jonah 3 – A City Repents

1. The word church (ecclesia) means gathering.
2. The laws in the old testament help the Israelites understand how to love God and love others.
3. In 1st century Israel, there was a problem in that Rome had taken over. Different groups had different ideas about how to continue living as God’s holy people and responded to this differently: Sadducees were the ruling elite and cut a deal with Rome, Pharisees were concerned with keeping the law, Essenes chose to run and start again and theZealots wanted to violent revolution for God.
4. The confession that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, is what separates a Christian gathering from any other gathering (From Matthew 16:16-18).
5. We’re not a shadow, but an outpost of the heavenly church.
6. You become part of Jesus’ church when you become a Christian.
7. All Christians are members of the body of Christ. It is not optional.
8. The new testament refers to church in two different ways. Either as the universal church (referring to all Christians from all of time) or as the local church (a local gathering of believers).
9. The local church is the precious body of Christ.
10. If three Christians are hanging out together, it is not necessarily church. What makes it church is when the word is taught faithfully.
11. Church is where the body of Christ functions together as a church.
12. Church is not about me and God. It’s about God, his people and how I fit into it.
13. There are some issues in the church that are worth fighting over, but often we must love each other and submit to authorities (more on this in a future blog post).
14. The church should be a community of gracious love.
15. I love the church. I love the local church I am part of. We love our church!
16. Sometimes we can be afraid to teach and admonish each other due to our Australian culture and thinking that we’ll big not ourselves.
17. Bonhoeffer: “Nothing can be more cruel than the tenderness that consigns another to his sin.”
18. The church defends and upholds the truth.
19. We proclaim the power of God’s word through the life of the church.
20. The church should be in the world, but the world should not be in the church.
21. We don’t take corporate holiness seriously because we have forgotten our identity as the dwelling place of God.
22. We don’t take corporate holiness seriously because we’ve cheapened grace.
23. We don’t take corporate holiness seriously because we’re infected with individualism.
24. We should start by weeding out sin in our own lives but we shouldn’t stop there. Corporate holiness is important!
25. We shouldn’t continually point out sin in another’s life if they have repented from that sin and are working on it.
26. Church shouldn’t be impressive in the worlds eyes. It’s Christians’ love for each other that matters.
27. God is good and he saves people (at least 2 people became Christians on Ancon!).

Do you have any quick reflections from Ancon?

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. Ancon 2011 on Facebook
2. Ancon on Facebook
3. Could You Spare a Minute?

The idea of May 21 as the day of judgement comes from a series of calculations that Harold has made dating back to Noah’s ark. I couldn’t follow the logic in the argument enough to explain the details, but if you would like to read more about it then you can at their website, here.

So… Is the world as we know it really going to end tomorrow? Will Jesus return tomorrow…?

Maybe.

While the great majority of what is written on the website is incorrectly interpreted application of the Bible, at least one part could be seen as possibly true, that is that Jesus could return tomorrow. Although, he could also return while you are reading this tonight.

The Bible tells us that we do not know the day that Jesus will return, the Bible even tells us that Jesus does not know when that day will be, but that only God the father knows when Jesus will return and judge the world. Jesus says this when speaking of the day that he will return.

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

Matthew 24:36 (Read the whole passage in context here)

Jesus will return, that is for certain. He could return tomorrow, or he could not, we don’t know.

But what does that mean for us?

The truth is that when Jesus does return, he will judge us. That sucks. That sucks because we will all be found short of the standards of perfection required to live with God forever. We all deserve punishment for eternity in hell, because no one has lived a perfect life. Not me, not any minister or bishop, not any Christian or non-Christian. We all deserve to be punished.

Thankfully for us, God loves us as humans so much that he sent his son Jesus into the world as a man to take away the punishment that we deserve. When Jesus died on the cross, the punishment that we deserved was turned away from us by Jesus, and he proved this to us by rising from the dead (read here). So instead of Jesus seeing us as imperfect on the final day, he will see us as perfect if we follow him in our lives. If we live lives devoted to God, then we are saved and will be judged as being right with God. Awesome.

Want to find out more? Read the best source of information on Jesus, the Bible. Possibly start here in Mark, to read about the life of Jesus.

No related posts.

Recently in Bible study, we’ve been reading 2 Timothy, which was the last letter that Paul wrote. In 2 Timothy, Paul is passing on his final words of wisom to Timothy, his mentee. Although the letter does not represent his final words, they are some of the last words that Paul wrote from the chains of his imprisonment in Rome.

Before I get on to some of my favourite last words from Paul, I thought I’d have a search for some other famous last words.

“Don’t worry, they usually don’t swim backwards.” (From TopTenz.net)

These are the last recorded words of Steve Irwin, the Australian conservationist and crocodile hunter. These were sadly his final words before he was killed by a stingray spine.

“I have offended God and mankind because my work didn’t reach the quality it should have.” (From World of Quotes)

The last words of Leonardo Da Vinci.

“Nothing, but death.” (From corsinet)

Were the last words of Jane Austen when asked by her sister what she wanted.

Thinking through the last words of people can be quite sadening, as death in this world is scary and unknown. However, some of the last words of Paul are quite the opposite. They are victorious and encouraging. Read them below.

For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

2 Timothy 4:6-8

When I read these words a few weeks ago, I thought to myself that I wanted to be able to say these words at the end of my life. I want to be able to say that I have fought the good fight, and that I have kept the faith. And instead of giving up my life to death, I want to look forward to the new life that is ahead of me in Christ.

This has reminded me of the passage from Philippians.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Philippians 1:21

A temptation that I (and I’m sure many others) face is the temptation to get caught up in the good things of this life, and to forget about the pain and suffering that is in this world. Through doing this we can forget about what God wants us to do in this world, and focus selfishly on ourselves. Rather I want to look forward to the new creation that is ahead of me. But for now I hope that God sustains me in this world, so as to bring glory to his name.

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. What Are The Most Important “Christian” Words?
2. Stoned for the Gospel?
3. Tweets About The End Of Acts

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

1 Corinthians 15:12-20

If Christ has not been raised then preaching is useless and Christians are to be pitied above all others, but Jesus is risen and is alive today!

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. From the bible this week: Resurrection bodies