SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/08/2025 9:30 PM
My Worship Time Focus: “A Relenting Mercy”
Bible Reading and Meditation Reference: Jonah 3:10
Message of the verse: “Then God saw their works, and they turned from their evil way, so God relented concerning the evil which He has spoken He would bring upon them. And He did not bring it upon them.”
In this section we will finish chapter six in John MacArthur’s commentary.
As the city of Nineveh put on sackcloth and then called on the Lord for mercy, God saw their works of repentance. Through Yahweh was not obligated to pay attention to their cries for mercy, which is what their king acknowledge “Who knows, God may turn and relent and turn away from His burning anger so that we will not perish” (Jonah 3:9). The Lord did not turn a blind eye to these penitent people and this was a wonderful answer to the king’s prayer. God had taken the initiative to warn them of His pending judgment. Here, He again took action by graciously recognizing the fruits of their repentance.
Now the Lord saw that they turned from their evil way (cf. 3:8). “But both man and animal must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God with their strength that each may turn from his evil way and from the violence which is in his hands.” The king had hoped that as the city turned away from iniquity, so God would turn away His wrath from them. Now in acknowledging their turning from evil, the Lord demonstrated His grace to the undeserving king and to his people by taking notice of the fruit of repentance. So out of His abundant mercy, God relented and mitigated His wrath against Nineveh, showing them the same grace that He promised to Israel through the prophet Joel, something we have gone over in a recent SD. So the Lord spared the city concerning the evil which He had spoken He would bring upon them. Think about this next sentence “The Ninevites had been heading toward terrible divine punishment on account of their sin-punishment that would have involved an evil disaster befitting their evil deeds.” Now if you have never trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as you Lord and Saviour then you are in the same position as the Ninevites were before God reached down with love and compassion and saved all of them. I have mentioned in earlier SD’s that there are only two different kinds of people in this world, those who are lost and those who have accepted the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. MacArthur continues to write “This was the judgment of which God firmly had spoken in the message delivered by Jonah. Through His wrath kindled and declared, God graciously relented. While He had revealed that He would bring such wrath upon them, in the end, He did not bring it upon them, a testimony that God’s pardon is total and His grace is greater than sin (cf. Rom 5:18-21). Out of His grace, the Lord had warned the Ninevites that they would be destroyed if they did not repent. And out of His mercy, He withheld His hand of judgment when they heeded His warning. All of this, of course, took place according to His sovereign purposes, to save a city full of Gentiles and showcase His patience, compassion, and love toward the whole world.”
Once again, something we mentioned before, and that is that Jesus mentioned the salvation of these Ninevites while He was on planet earth. Now the following are some verses that are mentioned in the New Testament gospels by Jesus as He speaks of Jonah in them.
Mt 12:39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet;
Mt 12:40 for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Mt 12:41 “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
Mt 16:4 “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah." And He left them and went away.
Lu 11:29 As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, "This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah.
Lu 11:30 “For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
Lu 11:32 “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
John MacArthur concludes this section and this sixth chapter in his commentary on Jonah by writing “To an undeserving people, God bestowed grace upon grace, a gift that went far beyond what the Ninevites could ever ask or think (cf. Eph. 3:20). Jonah 3 stands as a remarkable testimony of God’s saving benevolence, extended to both Jew and Gentile (cf. Rom. 3:27-31; Eph. 2:11-22). The conversion of Nineveh serves as a powerful demonstration of the mercy received by all redeemed sinners. Though deserving of divine punishment and eternal destruction, they had been pardoned by grace through faith and given the hope of eternal life, ‘and this not of [themselves], it is the gift of God’ (Eph. 2:8).”
Spiritual Meaning for My life today: I trust the Lord to work in my heart so that like the Scriptures say that I am to love my enemies and pray for them, something that perhaps Jonah did not do.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to pray throughout the day for my wife as she bravely battles the cancer that is in her body, remembering when my thoughts go astray to stop and pray for her to combat those sinful thoughts that we all get from time to time.
11/8/2025 10:14 AM
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