God's Preaching Instructions for Jonah

When God sent Jonah to Nineveh, did He tell him, Jonah, I want you to go to the city Nineveh and tell them from Me that I love them. And I have a wonderful plan for them. And all they need to do is accept Me? Is that the message God sent Jonah to proclaim?

Absolutely not! Below, in capital letters you'll find the exact one sentence message God told Jonah to preach:

Jonah 3:2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.

4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, YET FORTY DAYS AND NINEVEH SHALL BE OVERTHROWN.

Where's the message of God's love for them? Where's the message of God's wonderful plan for their lives? Where's the message telling them to accept Jehovah and all will be well?

There's none of those things. Only time (40 days) and judgment (being overthrown). And yet, the Ninevites did repent. They did cry out to God for mercy. And they did become saved.

Which means, the judgment message itself implied a message of God's mercy. The fact that God was giving them advance warning revealed the mercy of God. If the Lord intended not to grant mercy, why warn them at all?

One other thing you will find that Jonah did not tell the Ninevites. He did not say, "God's going to destroy you some day, but we can't say when because no man knows the day or hour".

Rather than preaching a message of some day soon, maybe, who knows? God directed His prophet to declare specifics. 40 days! And then destruction. Jonah's prophecy was very similar in type to "May 21, 2011 Judgment Day!" Similar messages because both came from the same God. The God of the Bible. The God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.