Bible Passage: Jonah 3

A short chapter consisting of 10 verses, but a happy one, because the people of Nineveh repented and were saved!

This time, Jonah did not run away from his responsibility to preach to the city of Nineveh, he obeyed God’s command and did what he had to do. And it was great news for these people, from the greatest to the least of them repented and were saved; regardless of whether they were rich or poor, old or young, man or woman.

3 reminders for me from today’s chapter:

1)      Jonah took the first step to preach. During the evangelistic forum held last month, Pr Shee shared that evangelism means being an ‘’angel’’, or ‘messenger’ for God. We are the postman who delivers God’s message to people who has not heard the good news. We don’t have to invent any message, God’s message is already there, simply waiting for us to deliver to unbelievers.

2)      The people heard and repented, probably because their hearts softened against the word. Similarly for us today, while we know the truth and have believed, we must not be stiff-necked and turn a blind ear against teachings from the bible. We must humble ourselves and accept God’s Word into our hearts.

3)      God’s salvation is indeed for everyone. The city of Nineveh was first mentioned in Genesis 10:11 as being founded by Nimrod, the hunter who built the tower of Babel and led the rebellion against God. Nahum 3 describes Nineveh as a city of violence and immorality. Nahum saw that Nineveh was ripe for judgement, full of deception and idolatry. Yet God gave the city a chance, and in the end the people were saved. The salvation grace of God is freely given and so precious, shouldn’t we participate in this wonderful work of preaching God’s word to those who yet to believe?

May God guide us to be willing to be His fishers of men.