When we look at the book of Jonah, we see that he preached that they ought to repent pronto, immediately with due haste, and with no postponement at all--as soon as possible, asap. The Ninevites realized "Now is the day of salvation." They did respond immediately as it says and felt convicted with what they had done, and they changed their attitude towards their behavior and said that they had sinned against God, even though they did not know God, but did not realize this is only half of the formula of salvation or conversion we must add faith to our repentance. Now, we should realize penitent faith or believing repentance go together hand in hand as it says in Acts 20:21.
Now, something you may wonder whether Jonah was a good prophet or not but he is the only prophet of the major and minor prophets who really got any results in preaching the thankless job of repentance because the people actually did repent when he preached, and what is ironic thing is that Jonah probably didn't even want him to repent or wasn't expecting him to repent he probably hated these innovate somewhat he won and to be punished by God. What kind of attitude does God have when he says, "I will be merciful to those who are merciful." and "Mercy and mercy triumph over judgment." (James 2:13).
We must be careful not to pass judgment too quickly and that measure we measure on others may come back to us and haunt us if we are judgmental, we may end up being judged. If you want to be shown mercy you must be merciful to others if you are not merciful to others don't expect God to be merciful to you you need a lot of mercy then you better exhibit a lot of mercy. This is the thing about mercy in my opinion once you've experienced it you want to pass it along just like the love of God if you have never experienced the love of God you will not be sharing it with others is a transforming experience to encounter God in one's life in conversion you want to help others see the light in the work when you see the light the Joanna exhibited none of these qualities he didn't realize that the commission that God gave the Jews for the Israelites was also to the Gentiles to be a light to the nations.
The point of the story is that the Ninevites sought fire insurance, as it were, they didn't want their city destroyed or overthrown. They had regrets about what they had done and felt sorry for what they had done but it was nothing mixed with faith they were only halfway there. Also, repentance is not supposed to be merely a ticket out of hell or fire insurance, but a heartfelt conviction, radical change of behavior, and transformation of the heart will, and mind not just a change in your opinions toward your sin.
They certainly did not deserve mercy we must also realize that we do not deserve mercy and that God doesn't have to be merciful. God could be just even if he condemned everybody who ever lived. It is a miracle of mercy that he has saved anyone. When people say that God is love they forget that is not the whole picture as far as God is concerned for the lost ("Behold, therefore the goodness and sternness of God." Rom 11:22). God is also just and righteous and holy and must not overlook sin he must punish it because it offends him it is just like man or is to anti-matter to matter when both cannot coexist. God's holiness and man's sin are antithetical.
Usually, when we preach faithfully the Word of God, we must properly divide the law and gospel into what we must do and what God has done or will do for us. Good news as well as bad news. He failed to preach the good news of the gospel to get them saved he just preached something to them so they would avoid catastrophe and annihilation as a city. Have the message! He was a doomsayer, in other words, and he probably felt that this was their just dessert for what they had done, and in due time they would be judged.
But the Ninevites realized, first of all, that perchance God grant them mercy and change his mind and not destroy us. This is an example of God's justice being satisfied because these people did render contrition to what they had done in the sense that they went through all the motions of repentance like sacrificing sackcloth and sitting fasting and prayers and all that so God did spare them, so they were lucky in a sense. We certainly did not deserve it either, we must realize that all of us are like the men of Nineveh, but God is calling us all on the day of salvation that once. we repent we will be headed towards hellfire as we already are if we don't repent.
The default position or direction or destination is hell-bound and God does not condemn us. We condemn ourselves God does not judge so much as we judge ourselves so much, we condemn ourselves by our own conscience and we choose to rebel against God on our own even without Adam's help for we would have done the same thing as Adam and God knows it and we know it.
You must realize that true repentance isn't just reforming our lives or changing our ways but having a change of heart not just an opinion and a complete turnaround from our sin to God and in about-face going in the other direction we were running from God and we should run to God it's more than just turning over a new leaf or making a New Year's resolution or making an AA pledge, rather it is a complete transformation of the heart from the inside out wrought by God's grace (Acts 5:31:11:18).
Repentance is only manifest when it has the fruits of repentance (Luke 24:47) for it we are told to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance to prove our repentance is genuine for there is no genuine repentance without saving faith that produces a life of good works. They all go together hand in hand one after another in subsequent order. We do not change our lives, but God changes us and changes our hearts.
We must also note in this book that God always gives time and place and the chance for repentance he never judges without warning. We are given a fair chance to repent and an opportunity to change our ways and God doesn't give anyone an excuse, so it is our fault that we turn against God, not his fault for failing to warn us of our ways. We all got more than an apology we need to change our lives to prove our apology is valid. We don't just say we're sorry to God that doesn't cut it with God. Judas said he was sorry, but he did not have faith, Peter did have faith when he did repent and was sorry, he showed true repentance accompanied by faith and fruit. Soli Deo Gloria!
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