MAYBE GOD WILL CHANGE HIS MIND

(Message by Tanny Keng)

1. Nineveh

a) Nineveh was located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River in northeastern Mesopotamia (Iraq). It flourished from about 800 to 610 B.C. as the capital of the Assyrian empire. It is first mentioned in the Bible back in Genesis as being founded by Nimrod (Genesis 10:9-12).

b) During its time of power, the Assyrian empire conquered the northern Israelite kingdom of Israel, with their capital at Samaria, and transported them away into captivity.  

2. Why Didn't Jonah Want To Go To Nineveh?  

a) Nineveh was the city that the reluctant prophet Jonah was sent to by God. Jonah did not want to go, so he ran away. However, after a famous adventure with a whale at sea he accepted what he was to do - get the people of Nineveh to repent of their evil.  

b) Jonah however still was not happy because he did not very much like the Assyrians because of all of the harm that they had inflicted upon Israel. He was hoping that they would refuse to repent so that God would destroy them. He may well have been the only prophet in history that hoped that his ministry would fail! 

3. Jonah Preached And The People Believed  

a) Next, God spoke to Jonah a second time: “Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They’re in a bad way and I can’t ignore it any longer.”

b This time Jonah started off straight for Nineveh, obeying God’s orders to the letter. Nineveh was a big city, very big—it took three days to walk across it. Jonah entered the city, went one day’s walk and preached, “In forty days Nineveh will be smashed.”

c) The people of Nineveh listened, and trusted God. They proclaimed a citywide fast and dressed in burlap to show their repentance. Everyone did it—rich and poor, famous and obscure, leaders and followers.

d) When the message reached the king of Nineveh, he got up off his throne, threw down his royal robes, dressed in burlap, and sat down in the dirt. Then he issued a public proclamation throughout Nineveh, authorized by him and his leaders: “Not one drop of water, not one bite of food for man, woman, or animal, including your herds and flocks! Dress them all, both people and animals, in burlap, and send up a cry for help to God. 

e) God saw what they had done, that they had turned away from their evil lives. He did change his mind about them. What he said he would do to them he didn’t do. 

4. Maybe God Will Change His Mind

a) Everyone must turn around, turn back from an evil life. Who knows? Maybe God will turn around and change his mind about us, quit being angry with us and let us live!

The End ...