20160122 Friday, January 22 2016
Jonah 03: Why Was Nineveh Saved From Destruction?

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not"

There are two primary kinds of empires - those that provide or restore civilization and development (e.g. the British Empire; see also A History Of Jerusalem: The British Mandate) and those that merely lust to conquer and rule over other people's nations (e.g. the Roman Empire; see A History Of Jerusalem: Pompey And The Caesars).

The Kingdoms of Israel (see also A History Of Israel's United And Divided Kingdoms) knew many empires throughout their history - and are yet to know, as will the entire world, one more great Satan-inspired, seemingly human-led empire, prophetically designated as the "beast," before the return of the Messiah, upon which He will establish the ultimate Empire, the Kingdom of God over the entire world that He created for that purpose (see The First And Last Nation and The Patriotism Prophecy).

The mainline empires of Biblical history and prophecy:

Egypt. The Israelites grew from a family of a few dozen people into a multitude by means of the prosperity and protection of Egypt (see I Will There Make Of Thee A Great Nationand The Egypt Connection).

Israel itself was a empire during the time of the united kingdom of Israel under David and Solomon (see King David's Empire and How Many Kings Reigned In The United Kingdom?).

Assyria was the empire that the LORD authorized to conquer and remove the Kingdom of Israel, thereby making them "the lost ten tribes" (see Israel In History and Prophecy: The Lost Ten Tribes and The Invasions of Shalmaneser and Sennacherib).

Babylon was the empire that the LORD authorized to conquer and remove the Kingdom of Judah (see Why Did Judah Fall To Babylon? and How Did Eden Become Babylon?; also How The Messianic Line Survived In Babylon).

Persia was the LORD-appointed empire that facilitated the return of the people of Judah from their seventy-years Babylonian exile (see The Prophecies Of Cyrus of Persia and How Hadassah Of Benjamin Became The Queen Of Persia).

Greece was the empire that rose during the intertestamental period (the approximate two to three centuries between the end of the Old Testament historical record and the beginning of the New Testament historical record (see A History Of Jerusalem: Greeks, Ptolemies, Seleucids and The Prophet Daniel: The Ram and The He Goat; also Israel In History and Prophecy: Hasmonean Judea).

Rome became an empire just before the beginning of the New Testament historical record (see Israel In History and Prophecy: Roman Judea).

Germany conquered and superseded the Roman Empire whereby it was officially known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (see The Holy Roman Empire Of The German Nation). The Papacy then grew from the Roman Caesar's local bishop of the Church of Rome, that was created by the Roman Caesars, into an empire in itself (see The Little Big Horn).

The Ottoman Empire was a Muslim (see A History Of Jerusalem: Constantine and Muhammad) empire that ruled a vast area of the Middle East, north Africa and southern Europe, from Turkey. It lasted for centuries before falling at the end of the First World War in 1918.

The British Empire liberated the Middle East from the Ottoman Empire. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, and others became sovereign nations again by means of the British Mandate - which also liberated the land of Israel, thereby enabling the creation of the present-day state of Israel to be born in 1948 (see A History Of Jerusalem: The British Mandate).

The "Beast" will be a Satan-empowered empire that will rule the world through a combination of military force and religious deception (see What Is The Mark Of The Beast?). It will be the "Beast" that is overthrown by the Messiah when He returns to establish the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom Of God will be the ultimate Empire, but from and by which all of its citizens will be native born from all of physical nations that have ever existed (see What Was The Lesson Of John 3:16?).

As stated in the listing above, the Assyrian Empire was chosen by the LORD (see The Identity Of The LORD God and The LORD God Our Saviour) to deliver the LORD's Wrath upon the defiantly corrupt and unrepentant northern Kingdom of Israel (see The Politics And Religion Of The Lost Ten Tribes and How Did Israel Separate Itself From The Messianic King?). Before they could do that however, they needed to be given a reprieve from their own destruction that the LORD would have delivered upon them. That was the purpose of the LORD sending Jonah to Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire.

Jonah's happen chance Earthly patriotism (i.e. the short-sighted logic of "I by chance happened to be born in this country, so that's who I am) got in the way of his obedience to the LORD. Jonah, at first, wanted the LORD to destroy the Assyrian Empire so that it wouldn't be a threat to the morally-rotten Kingdom of Israel of which Jonah happened to be a citizen. It's the reason that Jonah attempted to flee, in the opposite direction from Nineveh. The LORD however provided Jonah with more persuasion so that he would understand the greater purpose of the LORD's Will (see Jonah's Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea) - so Jonah then went to Nineveh as the LORD had commanded him to do (see Jonah's Prayer).

"Repent" means to turn. For humans, it means turning from the loser Satan's fool ways to the LORD's Way (see Strait And Straight and Which Way Is Right And Left?). For the LORD, "repent" means to turn from the wrath that would have surely come upon those who refuse to repent and truly obey the LORD.

"3:1 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,

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

3:3 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. 3:4 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.

3:5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

3:6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 3:7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,

Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: 3:8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. 3:9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not." (Jonah 3:1-10 KJV)

Fact Finder: What did Jesus Christ prophesy about the future of the people of ancient Nineveh?
See The Nineveh Prophecies