In Thursday's study we learned that the ancient capital city of Assyria was so large that it took Jonah three days to travel through it while preaching the Lord's message. The Lord's message was that if the people of Nineveh did not repent, that great city (which historians and archaeologists believe was the most impressive city in the world at that time) would be destroyed in forty days.
Jonah preaches with a passion and conviction he's never preached with before, now that he's been rescued from the belly of the fish. The people of Nineveh can see it on his face that he believes every word he says. They can tell that he's had a real experience with a real God---something none of them has ever experienced. In yesterday's study as soon as people began hearing the message they began repenting. The Bible says that they "believed God" and they began fasting and wearing sackcloth as the outward signs of humility and sorrow over their sins.
Today the message reaches the ears of the king. "When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust." (Jonah 3:6)
In my opinion this is one of the most astonishing conversions in the Holy Bible! We do not know which of the kings of Assyria this man was but we know that the Assyrians were idolaters. We know that this king was the leader of the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth at that time. We know that up until now he must have credited his false gods with his success and that he must have trusted in the might of his army and in the prosperity of his country. I think we can also safely assume that, despite his outward success, he was empty on the inside. He was not satisfied with the things the world could offer him. The words of the Lord Jesus Christ would have resonated with him when He said, "What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" (Mark 8:36) The king of Assyria appears to have everything anyone could ever want or need but he's destitute at heart. Finally he hears a message that rings so true to him that he knows this is the answer he's been seeking all his life: there is a God---the one and only God who created everything that exists---and this God cares about him and wants to give him an abundant and satisfying life on earth and an eternity of peace and joy in the presence of God forever.
All of the people of Nineveh were sinful because they lived in whatever manner their hearts desired and because they served gods who did not exist. But the king, due to his immense wealth, may have indulged himself in more ways than the average person. On top of being responsible for his own sins, as the leader of the nation he's had a sinful influence on his subjects. When he confronts these facts he falls under so much conviction that in sorrow for his wrongdoings the most powerful king in the world sits down in the dust! He cannot think of any way to lower himself more than this. He cannot think of any way to better demonstrate his desire to humble himself under the mighty hand of a holy God and to express his sorrow for having offended this holy God.
The king has had a wicked influence on the people in the past but he immediately begins turning this around by being a good influence on them. He proclaims a fast and encourages everyone to confess their sins, repent of their sins, and submit themselves to God. "This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: 'By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from His fierce anger so that we will not perish.'" (Jonah 3:6-9)
Why does the king command even the animals to fast and to be clothed with sackcloth? The animals didn't sin against God; only the people sinned against God. I can't say for certain but we know that when sin first came into the world, everything in the world was affected by the pollution of sin, even the animals. If the city of Nineveh is destroyed then the animals will become what we would refer to in modern times as "collateral damage". If the Lord rains down fire and brimstone on Nineveh as He did on Sodom and Gomorrah, which may be what He intended to do, no living thing will escape---not the people, not the animals, not the insects, not the crops or the flowers or the grass. The animals haven't sinned against God and they don't need to repent but since they would share the same fate as the people if the Lord destroyed the city, they also take part in the display of repentance that is occurring all over the city. If the people of Nineveh repent and are spared from destruction, the animals also will be spared from destruction. The people are asking the Lord to take pity on them and also on all the animals. At the end of the book of Jonah we will find the Lord saying something that shows us He expects people to care about the welfare of animals.
In a moment we will look at some words of the Apostle Paul that will provide us with a very accurate description of how the natural world was affected by the sin of mankind. We harmed everything when we fell from grace, which is why natural disasters occur and why things like injuries, illnesses, and deaths exist. But the creation, like mankind, awaits a world that has been set free from the effects of sin. The creation, like mankind, looks forward in hope to the day when our Lord makes all things new, when the children of God will live forever in a body like Jesus' immortal body in a world where no sin will ever again be committed, where no disasters will ever occur, where no person or animal will ever get sick or hurt, and where no animal or person will ever die. "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the One who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." (Romans 8:18-21) Just as the creation shared in the fall of man (as the "collateral damage" of man's sin), the creation will share in man's liberation from bondage to death and decay.
The repentance of the people of Nineveh is genuine and the Lord hears their prayers and has mercy on them. "When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He relented and did not bring on them the destruction He had threatened." (Jonah 3:10)
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