God, for His own glory, occasionally awakens a whole community to spiritual realities. In Jonah 3 we see the Greatest Awakening the world has ever seen!
The Preaching Prophet – “The Greatest Awakening”
Jonah 3:1-10
In 1734 and 1735 God visited Northampton Massachusetts with unusual and remarkable power. Jonathan Edwards was the leading human instrument in this first visitation of the Lord. He later wrote a book entitled, “A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God” describing what had taken place. He writes,
“A great and earnest concern about the great things of religion and the eternal world, became universal in all parts of the town, and among persons of all degrees, and all ages. The noise amongst the dry bones waxed louder and louder; all other talk but about spiritual and eternal things, was soon thrown by; all the conversation, in all companies and upon all occasions, was upon these things only, unless so much as was necessary for people carrying on their ordinary secular business. Other discourse than of the things of religion would scarcely be tolerated in any company. The minds of people were wonderfully taken off from the world, it was treated amongst us as a thing of very little consequence. They seemed to follow their worldly business, more as a part of their duty, than from any disposition they had to it; the temptation now seemed to lie on that hand, to neglect worldly affairs too much, and to spend too much time in the immediate exercise of religion.
All would eagerly lay hold of opportunities for their souls, and were wont very often to meet together in private houses, for religious purposes: and such meetings when appointed were greatly thronged. There was scarcely a single person in the town, old or young, left unconcerned about the great things of the eternal world. Those who were wont to be the vainest and loosest, and those who had been disposed to think and speak lightly of vital and experimental religion, were now generally subject to great awakenings. And the work of conversion was carried on in a most astonishing manner, and increased more and more; souls did as it were come by flocks to Jesus Christ. From day to day for many months together, might be seen evident instances of sinners brought out of darkness into marvelous light, and delivered out of an horrible pit, and from the miry clay, and set upon a rock, with a new song of praise to God in their mouths.
This work of God, as it was carried on, and the number of true saints multiplied, soon made a glorious alteration in the town: so that in the spring and summer of 1735, the town seemed to be full of the presence of God: it never was so full of love, nor of joy, and yet so full of distress, as it was then. There were remarkable tokens of God’s presence in almost every house. It was a time of joy in families on account of salvation being brought to them; parents rejoicing over their children as new born, and husbands over their wives, and wives over their husbands. The doings of God were then seen in His sanctuary, God’s day was a delight, and His tabernacles were amiable. Our public assemblies were then beautiful: the congregation was alive in God’s service, every one earnestly intent on the public worship, every hearer eager to drink in the words of the minister as they came from his mouth; the assembly in general were, from time to time, in tears while the word was preached; some weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and concern for the souls of their neighbors.”
About 4 years after this remarkable spiritual awakening took place in Northampton, a British evangelist by the name of George Whitefield journeyed to the American colonies, and carried on this work of revival. In his day, Whitefield was the most respected and admired man in North America. In order for you to get some kind of conception of the intensity of this revival, I want to read to you a first hand account of a farmer named Nathan Cole describing his excitement at hearing Whitefield preach:
“Now it pleased God to send Mr. Whitefield into this land. I had heard of his preaching at Philadelphia, like one of the Old apostles, and how many thousands were flocking to hear him preach the Gospel, and great numbers were being converted to Christ. I felt the Spirit of God drawing me by conviction. I longed to see and hear him, and wished he would come this way. And I soon heard he was come to New York and the Jerseys and great multitudes flocking after him under great concern for their Souls and many converted which brought on my concern more and more hoping soon to see him. But next I heard he was at Long Island, then at Boston, and next at Northampton.
Then one morning all on a Sudden, about 8 or 9 o’clock there came a messenger and said Mr. Whitefield preached at Hartford and Weathersfield yesterday and is to preach at Middletown this morning [October 23, 1740] at ten of the Clock. I was in my field at Work. I dropped my tool that I had in my hand and ran home and ran through my house and bade my wife get ready quick to go and hear Mr. Whitefield preach at Middletown. I ran to my pasture for my horse with all my might fearing that I should be too late to hear him. I brought my horse home and soon mounted and took my wife up and went forward as fast as I thought the horse could bear, and when my horse began to be out of breath, I would get down and put my wife on the Saddle and bid her ride as fast as she could and not Stop or Slack for me except I bade her, and so I would run until I was much out of breath, and then mount my horse again, and so I did several times to favor my horse. We improved every moment to get along as if we were fleeing for our lives, all the while fearing we should be too late to hear the Sermon, for we had twelve miles to ride double in little more than an hour…
And when we came within about half a mile of the road that comes down from Hartford, Weathersfield and Stepney to Middletown; on high land I saw before me a Cloud or fog rising. I first thought it came from the Connecticut river, but as I came nearer the Road, I heard a noise something like a low rumbling thunder and presently found it was the noise of horses feet coming down the road and this Cloud was a Cloud of dust made by the Horses feet. It arose some Rods into the air over the tops of the hills and trees and when I came within about 20 rods of the Road, I could see men and horses Slipping along in the Cloud like shadows, and as I drew nearer it seemed like a steady stream of horses and their riders, scarcely a horse more than his length behind another, all of a lather and foam with sweat, their breath rolling out of their nostrils in the cloud of dust every jump; every horse seemed to go with all his might to carry his rider to hear news from heaven for the saving of Souls. It made me tremble to see the Sight, how the world was in a Struggle. I found a vacancy between two horses to Slip in my horse; and my wife said “law our clothes will be all spoiled – see how they look”, for they were so covered with dust, that they looked almost all of a color – coats, hats, shirts and horses.
We went down in the Stream; I heard no man speak a word all the way three miles but every one pressing forward in great haste and when we got to the old meeting house there was a great multitude; it was said to be 3 or 4000 of people assembled together. We got off from our horses and shook off the dust, and the ministers were then coming to the meeting house. I turned and looked towards the great river and saw the ferry boats running swift forward and forward bringing over loads of people; the oars rowed nimble and quick, everything – men, horses, and boats – seemed to be struggling for life; the land and banks over the river looked black with people and horses all along the 12 miles. I saw no man at work in his field, but all seemed to be gone.
When I saw Mr. Whitefield come upon the Scaffold he looked almost angelical, a young, slim slender youth before some thousands of people with a bold undaunted countenance, and my hearing how God was with him everywhere as he came along, it solemnized my mind, and put me into a trembling fear before he began to preach; for he looked as if he was Clothed with authority from the Great God, and a sweet solemn solemnity sat upon his brow. And my hearing him preach gave me a heart wound; by God’s blessing my old foundation was broken up, and I saw that my righteousness would not save me.”
Friends, this is not religion as usual. Something very, very remarkable is taking place in both of these first hand descriptions. This period of time was later dubbed “The Great Awakening.”
I want to speak to you this morning about “The Greatest Awakening.” I want to point your attention to the greatest revival this world has ever known. We usually think of Pentecost as the greatest work of God in conversion in a single day. However, what we are going to read of this morning makes Pentecost seem like a man’s height compared to the height of the Empire State Building.
Now remember the story thus far. God has called Jonah to arise and go to the wicked Ninevites and cry against them. However, Jonah does the exact opposite. He goes in the opposite direction, boards a ship in Joppa, and sets off for Tarshish. Well, God is not going to let this rebellious prophet succeed in his sin, so He hurls a great storm on the sea. When the sailors finally learn that Jonah is to blame for the storm which is threatening to sink the ship and drown all the passengers and crew, they finally pick Jonah up and throw him overboard. God responds by bringing a great calm on the sea, with the result that the pagan sailors were all converted. Well, Jonah now finds himself in the sea. The breakers, billows, and waves are pounding on him, driving him lower and lower to the bottom of the sea. He was just about to die, about to faint away, when a great fish comes and swallows him. When Jonah comes to, he figures out that he is in the belly of a great fish. In spite of the horror of being trapped inside this fish with no way of escape, God gives Jonah great grace so that instead of despairing, Jonah prays a beautiful prayer of faith and thanksgiving. God has finally broken this rebel’s will. Jonah repents of his idolatry, he trusts that God will somehow deliver him and enable him to offer sacrifice again in Jerusalem, he makes a vow, promising God that he will do whatever He wants him to do, and then triumphantly declares that the salvation and deliverance of any person must always be only of the Lord. Well, the Lord has finally gotten Jonah where He wants him, so He commands the great fish and he vomits him up onto dry land.
Now, basically chapter 3 consists of 4 events: God’s Recommission (1-2), Jonah’s Compliance (3-4), Nineveh’s Repentance (5-9) and God’s Relenting (10).
The main thing I want you to see from this chapter is this:
“God, for His own glory, will occasionally bring a spiritual awakening
to a whole community”
Now, what do we mean by a “spiritual awakening”? Well, the word “awakening” refers to being woke up. What is it like to be a sleep? You are oblivious to what is going on around you. You are in your own little dream world. World War III may be taking place, but when you are asleep, you know nothing about it. It doesn’t affect you. A spiritual awakening is what happens when people are suddenly woke up to see and hear and feel spiritual realities, and then they begin to live as though they are real. They realize there is a God, and that we are His creatures and must give an account to Him. They realize that there is a day of judgment, at which time this great God will either cast us into eternal hell or receive us into His eternal glory. We realize there is only 1 way of escape: through the perfect life, substitutionary death and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. They realize there is only 1 way of benefiting from the finished work of Christ: repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They realize the absolute necessity of the new birth to prepare them for eternal glory. They also realize the absolute necessity of good works and holiness, not in order to get saved, but as evidences that they have been saved.
I want to examine this Spiritual Awakening in Nineveh with you, by looking at it from 5 different angles: the Agent, the Instrument, the Recipients, the Preaching, and the Outcome of this Awakening.
1. The Agent of this Awakening: 3:1,10
Who produced the awakening? God!
The word of the Lord came to Jonah: Notice how this chapter begins with God (the word of the Lord came) and ends with God (He did not do it). God is the one who is taking the initiative to bring the awakening. God spoke to Jonah. Jonah ran. God hunted him down, brought him to repentance, and then gave the command a 2nd time. This wasn’t Jonah’s idea! Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh, and in fact, is going to be angry when he does go and they all repent. This isn’t the Ninevites idea. The Ninevites didn’t even believe in Jehovah. They had a whole slew of gods, Jehovah not being one of them. The Ninevites weren’t seeking the Lord. They had no use for him. However God was seeking the Ninevites. What is about to take place in Nineveh is so great that it could never have taken place through the power of man. Only the power of God could ever do something so incredible as to bring a giant metropolis filled with vicious, cruel, wicked pagans to their knees in genuine repentance, all at the same time! God is about to pour out His sovereign mercy. Why do I refer to it as “sovereign” mercy? Because this mercy is going to be dispensed according to God’s will alone. No one is manipulating Him or twisting His arm, or has a gun to His head. God is doing exactly as He pleases here.
God is doing this for His own glory! If this is God’s idea; if this is accomplished by God’s strength and power, then God is the One who should receive all the glory. Incidentally, this is why God does not allow the sinner to have any contribution in his salvation. We are all “saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of our works, so that no one may boast” (Eph.2:8-9). God chooses to save the foolish, the weak, the base, and the despised so that no man may boast before God, and that the one who boasts would boast only in the Lord (1Cor.1:26-31).
In the 1800’s a man by the name of Charles Finney began to teach something new. Up until this time, God’s people believed that revivals took place according to the sovereign will of God. Finney began to teach that if God’s people would just use certain means they could have a revival any time they wanted. Finney’s thoughts have been largely followed today. That’s why you may drive by a church building and see a big banner that says, “Revival – August 12-19, 2012”. The problem with that is that no one can predict when we will have a revival, because only God can bring one, and He hasn’t told us when He’s going to do it. Recently, when Luis Palau came to Sacramento it was being called a Revival. No, it was a series of well publicized religious meetings attended by 75,000 people, which surely did much good. But it wasn’t a revival. If it was, there would be such a sense of the presence of God throughout Sacramento that true Christianity would be the subject on everyone’s lips. A real spiritual awakening can’t be drummed up, or brought to pass by human means, but is a miracle of grace originating in the sovereign will of God.
2. The Instrument of this Awakening: 3:2-4
Whom Did God Use in this Awakening? Jonah. Jonah was the instrument of God. It was Jonah that obeyed the voice of God, arose and went to the Ninevites. It was Jonah that cried out from one quarter of the city to the other, “Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” Usually there will be human instruments God will use in a spiritual awakening. He used Edwards and Whitefield in the 1st Great Awakening. He used Asahel Nettleton and Finney in the 2nd Great Awakening. He used Chuck Smith and Lonnie Frisbee in the Jesus Movement.
God’s selection of Jonah was designed to bring glory to Himself. What was Jonah like? At this point He is a compliant but surly, pouting prophet. He obeys, but His heart is not in his work. He was a proud Israelite who hated Ninevites. He was racist and prejudiced. He was rebellious. He was also angry at God and not afraid to say so, when God saved them. There’s not a whole lot in Jonah to admire, and a lot in him to despise. God didn’t choose the best of the best, the cream of the crop. Jonah’s not the Captain of God’s All-Star Squad. He chose the most onery, obstinate, rebellious prophet He had. Why would God do that? Because that eliminates all boasting in man! That’s why God chooses the foolish, weak, base and despised. God loves to choose to save those kind of people, because they can’t take any of the credit for their salvation. They know that their salvation is of the Lord, and give all the praise to Him. God was about to do something incredibly amazing, and He didn’t want anyone to rob Him of His glory. Never get the idea that if God uses you in His work, that you are someone great! What brain surgeon will be admired more? The one who uses the latest technology and multi-million dollar equipment, or the one who uses a can opener and a pair of pliers? God is using a bunch of cracked pots! Broken jars of clay! Oh, how magnificent a God He shows Himself to be!
Notice there was only 1 human instrument. How in the world is Jonah going to reach all the Ninevites? If we were trying to figure out how to evangelize Nineveh, we would have figured it would be necessary to recruit and train and deploy at least 1,000 preachers. Remember that there was probably a minimum of 600,000 people in Nineveh and likely as many as 1 million. Nineveh had a circumference of 60 miles, a 100′ high wall so wide that you could ride 3 chariots abreast on it. It was huge! Vs.2 says it was a great city. Vs.3 says it was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. It may have been the largest and most powerful city in the ancient world. After training and sending all those preachers, we would deploy them to manageable divisions of the city and commission them to reach their own section. However, that’s not what takes place here. 1 man goes to 1 million sinners and reaches all of them! What are the odds? A million to one. However, always remember this, “One with God is a majority!” In other words, God doesn’t need lots and lots of people to do big things. God can do big things with just a few people or even 1 person. That’s encouraging for us, because we are only a few people. Let’s dream big and believe big.
3. The Recipients of this Awakening: 3:5
Who did God awaken? The Ninevites – all of them! “Then the people of Nineveh believed in God.” What do we know about them? 1:2 says “their wickedness has come up before Me.” These Ninevites are from an entirely different race, from a different culture, and a completely different religious belief system. They are polytheists, worshipping many different gods. In the natural, Jonah should never have come out of Nineveh alive. He should have been captured, slowly tortured, and then mercilessly killed. Remember, these are the sworn enemies of Israel, known for their fiendish brutality and merciless cruelty. The Ninevites loved to torture those they captured by skinning them alive, impaling them on sharp poles, gouging out their eyes, cutting off their ears, or noses, or tongues, or burying them alive. There is absolutely nothing in this story that should give us any hope that something good was going to come out of it!
This also brings God glory. If the Ninevites were really good people, had good hearts, but just needed a little enlightening, their conversion wouldn’t have been much of a miracle. But the fact that they were totally opposed to Jehovah and His people, and then turn around completely and worship Him in repentance shows how great God is who can do such wonders! The Ninevites had done nothing to deserve God’s favor. It wasn’t because of their inherent goodness that God sent them a prophet. It was to glorify His great name!
4. The Preaching of this Awakening:
What means did God use in this awakening? Preaching!
The Style of the preaching. Jonah’s preaching was very simple. Any child could understand it. Jonah didn’t use $40 words like “hypostatic union” or “supralapsarianism”. He spoke in a language they could understand. Jonah didn’t speak so that he would appear well educated or brilliant. Jonah was simply repeating God’s message. His preaching was also serious. “Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” There is no levity, no clowning around, no attempt to be a comedian. Jonah was serious. Now, there’s nothing wrong with a little humor, but when you try to fill your sermons with jokes don’t expect God’s powerful presence. You can be either a prophet or a jester but you can’t be both. William Sprague in his book on Revival in 1832 says that seriousness over eternal truths always attend a true spiritual awakening, and that levity and jesting must be forsaken if we want to see revival. I do have to hand it to Jonah – his preaching was also fearless. I doubt whether I would have the courage to do what he did! I can’t imagine waltzing into Nineveh and preaching about their destruction and expecting to get out alive! But Jonah obeyed the Lord. The kind of preaching we would expect God to use today should also be the same: simple, serious, and fearless!
The Subject Matter of the Preaching. What did Jonah preach? The judgment of God and His certain destruction, with the hint of the possibility of mercy upon repentance. This preaching was not seeker-sensitive. Jonah wasn’t assuring them that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives. It was not calculated to please them and lull them into self-deception. It was calculated to slay them, and cause them to cry out in desperation for God’s sovereign mercy. Now, there was a hint of the possibility of mercy. Even the king recognized that because he says in 3:9, “Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.” He must have reasoned that if God had intended to destroy them with no possibility of mercy, He wouldn’t have sent them a prophet. He would have just destroyed them. The fact that He had warned them and given them a specific date of their destruction might mean it was possible He would relent if they turned from their wicked ways.
This was also the preaching God honored in the 1st Great Awakening. Notice Jonathan Edwards’ description, The only thing in their view was to get into the kingdom of heaven, and every one appeared pressing into it. The engagedness of their hearts in this great concern could not be hid, it appeared in their very countenances. It then was a dreadful thing amongst us to lie out of Christ, in danger every day of dropping into hell; and what persons’ minds were intent upon, was to escape for their lives, and to fly from the wrath to come.
The kind of preaching God will honor is the preaching of the truth! We have to get back to the old gospel of Luther and Calvin, the Puritans, Whitefield and Wesley and Spurgeon. We must not be afraid to call a spade a spade, and tell people of their depravity, that heaven and hell are realities, that repentance is absolutely necessary to escape the wrath of God. However, we can also preach not just a hint of mercy, but the absolute certainty of mercy if they will come, repent and believe on Jesus Christ.
5. The Outcome of this Awakening:
Look at what the Ninevites did. 3:5-9. They believed God, called a fast, and put on sackcloth (rough burlap). Notice who did it? From the greatest to the least of them. Everyone! When the king heard Jonah’s preaching, he did the same thing. Only he made it mandatory for everyone in the city, and all the animals, to fast, cry to God earnestly, and turn from their wicked and violent ways. They weren’t making a bunch of decisions that would last a few weeks before they jumped on the newest fad. This was not a bunch of people who raised their hands in a meeting, or went down to an altar to say a prayer and then were assured by a counsellor that they were saved, and they should never doubt it again. The results of this awakening were faith, earnest prayer, and repentance. Try to understand the magnitude of what is going on here. If every person in Sacramento, Galt, Elk Grove, Citrus Heights, Fair Oaks, and Folsom were to repent and cry to God for mercy on the same day, it would still not be as great as this. The people of Sacramento have heard the gospel and have something of a Christian heritage. Not so with the Ninevites. The greatest miracle in the book of Jonah is not that Jonah was swallowed by a great fish and did not die. It was that the entire population of Nineveh repented! Now, when you see a whole community of people believing God, crying to Him earnestly, and turning from their wicked ways, you have a real spiritual awakening. When we see a famous evangelist do a series of meetings resulting in some decisions for Christ, you have an evangelistic crusade. We should never confuse the two.
Look at what God did. 3:10. He relented from the calamity He declared He would bring on them and didn’t do it. In other words, He extended mercy. Mercy is when God “doesn’t give us what we deserve.” What do we deserve? What does Rancho Cordova deserve? What does Sacramento deserve? What does San Francisco deserve? We all deserve judgment! If we will repent, God will relent of the judgment that we deserve.
Application:
Jonathan Edwards wrote in his book, “The History of Redemption”, “From the fall of man to our day, the work of redemption … has mainly been carried on by remarkable communications of the Spirit of God. Though there be a more constant influence of God’s Spirit always in some degree attending [the work of the church], yet the way in which the greatest things have been done towards carrying on this work always have been by remarkable [outpourings], at special seasons.”
If Edwards’ statement is true, then we need the Lord to bring a spiritual awakening again! Thank God for His saving activity in the more ordinary periods of the church, but that’s not going to be enough to finish the job. We need a sovereign, supernatural outpouring of the Spirit to advance His kingdom.
William Sprague, a Presbyterian minister who lived during the 2nd Great Awakening, wrote a book in 1832 called “Lectures on Revivals.” In that book there is a letter from Francis Wayland, a Baptist minister, to William Sprague. In his letter Francis Wayland cites 3 things we should do if we desire to see a true awakening: 1) The putting away of all known sin; 2) The setting apart of seasons of fasting and prayer and humiliation both individually and collectively; 3) The more frequent and more faithful preaching of the gospel.
As I have studied Jonah chapter 3, the Lord has given me a fresh hunger to intercede for a spiritual awakening here in our city. We’ve decided to set apart this Friday as a day of Fasting and Prayer. I’m asking all of you to spend the day fasting and praying for a sovereign work of God in our city. At 6:00 p.m. We will meet at our house to pray together. I’m going to read to you an account of true revival which took place in Scotland and Wales in 1904, which I hope will be greatly encouraging to you.
As we come to the end of our service, we’re going to take some time for corporate prayer, and we’re going to pray for a spiritual awakening on 3 levels: in our own lives, in our church, and in our city. All of us, from time to time, need to be jolted awake. We can go on living as though this world were everything, and there is no eternal world or great God to whom we are accountable. If we were truly awake to these realities, could we go on living the way we do? Would we spend our live sin the pursuit of wealth, or entertainment, or sex, or fame? No, we need God to come and awaken us from our sleep!
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