Jonah 1:17  Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah 3:1-10  And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,  (2)  Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.  (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.  (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.  (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.  (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.  (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:  (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.  (9)  Who can tell [if] God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?  (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 4:1-11  But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.  (2)  And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, [was] not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou [art] a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.  (3)  Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for [it is] better for me to die than to live.  (4)  Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?  (5)  So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.  (6)  And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made [it] to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.  (7)  But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.  (8)  And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, [It is] better for me to die than to live.  (9)  And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, [even] unto death.  (10)  Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:  (11)  And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and [also] much cattle?

I caught something while reading this recently.

•  Ninevah was such a huge city that it would take three days to travel through it.


•  Three days has always been significant to me concerning the Gospel.


•  Jesus said He would die, be buried and rise again the third day.

  Then I noticed that Jonah entered into the city and took a day’s journey.

•  He then preached his message concerning Ninevah’s destruction.


•  In forty days Ninevah shall be destroyed!


•  We then read in chapter four that he proceeded to leave the town.


•  Now, if it took a day’s journey to enter, and then he left again, it took a second day to leave.


•  So we have two days lapsed here.

 And then we read of some marvelous things happening.
 
 He made a booth, or tabernacle/tent.

•  He sat in the shadow of it.


•  And he watched to see what would happen.

 I wondered if he stayed in Ninevah for the entire forty days, and then left the city.

•  So I did a bit of research.


•  I found out that John Wesley made the statement “'Till he might see - It seems the forty days were not fully expired.”


•  John Gill, predecessor of Spurgeon in the great London church said, “that is, before all this passed, recorded in the preceding verses; and so Aben Ezra observes, that the Scripture returns here to make mention of the affairs of Jonah, and what happened before the accomplishment of the forty days:”


•  So it seems that as soon as Jonah preached the message, that he left Ninevah.


•  He stayed long enough to preach.


•  And through the spirit of prophecy, he knew the Lord had changed His mind the very day the people repented when Jonah preached, and God forgave the people.

 Jonah 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.
 
 God said in forty days he would destroy them, and changed His mind and would not do what He said He would do to them.
 
 I am glad for repentance.
 
 We can change the course of God’s dealings with ourselves, through repentance!
 
 And then a THIRD DAY IS NOTED!
 

 Jonah 4:5-8  So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.  (6)  And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made [it] to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.  (7)  But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.  (8)  And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, [It is] better for me to die than to live.
 
 When the sun did rise.

•  This is the third day, in the morning!


•  Praise God!


•  We know what happened on another third day in the morning!


•  Jesus Christ resurrected from the grave and overcame death, hell and the grave.

 John saw Him resurrected in his great visions of the book of Revelation, saying…
 

 Revelation 1:18  I [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
 
 Jesus overcame it all!
 
 Let’s get the picture.
 
 Jonah experienced a three days and three nights until He resurrected from the belly of the whale in Jonah 2.
 
 But he had another three days and three nights experience coming to him to deal with him about some other issues.
 
 Jonah leaves town and two days have gone by.

•  He makes a booth and sits in the shadow of it, and God assists him and causes a gourd, a plant with broad-spreading leaves, to grow over as more shadow covers him.


•  Jonah is extremely grateful for the gourd!


•  But he went there to see what would become of Ninevah.


•  He knew God forgave Ninevah and complained.


•  He perhaps felt he shamed God and moved God to change His mind and destroyed them anyway.


•  Or else he felt Ninevah’s repentance would be shortlived, to only see them return to their sinful ways again, and reinstate God’s wrath upon them.

  Either case tells us that Jonah was miserable and completely lacked compassion!
 
 The next morning, the gourd God had prepared had died.

•  But that would also be the morning when Jonah would resurrect over something he had not yet formerly had victory over.


•  Though the gourd died the third day, Jonah experienced another resurrection of sorts on that third day!


•  For it was that third day in the morning, after the gourd died, that God caused a vehement hot east wind to blow upon him and cause him to suffer the heat of the day in a worse manner than normal.


•  And then God spoke to him.

 Jonah 4:9-11  And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, [even] unto death.  (10)  Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:  (11)  And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and [also] much cattle?
  
 God speaks words that leave all of us stunned.

•  In fact those words are seemingly given increased strength due to the placement of them being at the very end of the book!


•  The book abruptly ends, unlike most any other book of the Bible, with such a statement!


•  Had God continued with a little epilogue afterwards, we would not be left affected and impacted as much as we are in reading the end as we have it here.


•   Those words show God opening His very heart to Jonah!


•  God went through much effort in preparing the whale for Jonah’s original three day and night ordeal, which Christ compares to His own death, burial and resurrection.

 Jonah had his personal three-day period before he ever went to Ninevah.

•  But God went through additional efforts to prepare a gourd, prepare a worm and prepare a vehement east wind.


•  Why?


•  GOD WANTED JONAH TO RESURRECT OVER MUCH MORE THAN DEATH.

  Some claim Jonah actually died in the whale’s belly.

•  Jonah speaks of the term HELL and the GRAVE that God delivered him from in the whale.

 Jonah 2:2-3  And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, [and] thou heardest my voice.  (3)  For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
 
 He used the word, translated into Hell, in the Hebrew, SHEOL, the realm of the dead.
 
 Whether or not he actually died and rose again from death, is not the point.

•  The point is that Jesus Christ likened His own experience of resurrection from the dead using Jonah’s experience as a reference to the only SIGN He would give to authenticate His ministry.


•  And I say here today that the STRONGEST sign and the only NECESSARY SIGN is the actual truths of the GOSPEL itself… the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ!


•  Paul said he preached nothing more or less than Christ and Him crucified.


•  THAT MESSAGE ALONE IT DOES EVERYTHING!


•  It answers every need!

  So although Jonah resurrected over death… traversed the state of death back to life again… experienced a three day period of his personal resurrection…

•  God had more resurrections for him to experience.

  Church, God has resurrected each one of us who are born again in that same three day and three night period that Christ experienced.

•  I was crucified with Him, and buried with by baptism, and risen with Him to walk in newness of life with Him!


•  That saved me.


•  But the cross is always going to be a part of my life as a Christian, or else everything stops right here right now as far as God’s leading in my life is concerned.


•  We’re not here just to enjoy life from resurrected from the death of sinful living.


•  We’re here to affect this world around us.


•  And I think God is trying to apply the work of the cross to our Christian lives today, that we might resurrect from and overcome another enemy.


•  Lack of compassion for the lost world around us.

  Jonah did not mind the resurrection he experienced himself.

•  In fact, his prayers were quite elaborate and poetic when the issue surrounded himself.

Jonah 2:2-9  And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, [and] thou heardest my voice.  (3)  For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.  (4)  Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.  (5)  The waters compassed me about, [even] to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.  (6)  I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars [was] about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.  (7)  When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.  (8)  They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.  (9)  But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay [that] that I have vowed. Salvation [is] of the LORD.
 
 When seeking mercy for himself, he was quite involved and enthralled!
 
 But when he was to preach to Ninevah, he thought less of the people’s salvation there and less of their chances for God’s mercy than He did for a mere PLANT!

•  God asked Jonah if he did well to be so concerned over the gourd’s demise.


•  Jonah replied in the affirmative.


•  God then hammered a death-blow to Jonah’s attitude and extremely selfish composure.

Jonah 4:10-11  Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:  (11)  And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and [also] much cattle?
 
 All Jonah had from the GOURD to pity was its MERE SHADOW!

•  And God spoke in a way in which I did not realize until I studied it more carefully.


•  When God spoke of how He had concern for threescore thousand persons, He referred to 120,000 people.


•  Now, if Ninevah was so large that it took three days to walk through it, that is much bigger than Halifax!


•  120,000 people would not be that great a city as Ninevah really was.


•  But what God said about those 120,000 people impresses us about something quite strongly!


•  It actually shows us the heart of God, and how God sees things.


•  Those 120,000 did not discern between their right hand and their left.


•  In other words, they could not tell what was right or what was wrong.


•  I formerly felt the Ninevites were so evil they had no conscience.


•  But how would that cause God to pity them like He is here?


•  No, God was speaking of the INFANTS ALONE throughout this kingdom.


•  Babies, who had not yet grown to the age of understanding.


•  Babies who were innocent of the evil that the people of Ninevah had filled their kingdom with.


•  Should God destroy Ninevah, 120,000 innocent infant children would die in the cataclysm with the sinners.


•  And this idea of referring to innocents is affirmed by the following mention of cattle.


•  If God sees a sparrow when it falls, and does not miss a single tiny lifeform that He created when it dies, we know His compassion is great.

Surely Jonah selfishness never allowed him to think of it in those terms!
 
This reminds me of Abraham’s plea with God to spare Sodom …
 

 Genesis 18:23  And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
 
 Until we finally read,
 

 Genesis 18:32  And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy [it] for ten's sake.
 
 No wonder God listened and changed his mind to spare Sodom if the count of the righteous was down from 50 to 45, to 40, to 30 and to 10!

•  This is God’s heartbeat!


•  This is God’s very inner being!

  Church, God wants us to continue to experience a three day application of the cross to cause us to overcome, not only death of sin, but selfishness, lack of compassion for the lost, inconsideration for innocents, and any other areas wherein we struggle in ungodly manners.
 
 It may not take literally three days, but if we can apply the work of the cross from our own lives in salvation to these kinds of areas of our lives, and overcome and resurrect above self-centred ways, tonight in a single evening’s altar service, then we are truly being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ!
 
 They that are led of the Spirit are the sons of God.
 
 The Spirit wishes to lead us into these experiences where we see the heartbeat of God.

•  Where God is able to open Himself up to us and show us His own mind.


•  We need the mind of Christ!


•  We need to know how God thinks!


•  And we need to have our minds renewed to be like His.

Ephesians 4:23-32  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;  (24)  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.  (25)  Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.  (26)  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:  (27)  Neither give place to the devil.  (28)  Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with [his] hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.  (29)  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.  (30)  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.  (31)  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:  (32)  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
 
 These are things Paul saw fit to speak to Christians already saved who had experienced a third day salvation from Christ.

•  Obviously they needed a third day experience in these areas as well.


•  And Paul said they had to be renewed in the spirit of their minds.

  Colossians actually uses terms of resurrectiona nd ascension, which Jesus experienced, and told us to experience that in these sort of ways.
 

Col 3:1-17  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.  (2)  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.  (3)  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.  (4)  When Christ, [who is] our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.  (5)  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:  (6)  For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:  (7)  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.  (8)  But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.  (9)  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;  (10)  And have put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:  (11)  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond [nor] free: but Christ [is] all, and in all.  (12)  Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;  (13)  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also [do] ye.  (14)  And above all these things [put on] charity, which is the bond of perfectness.  (15)  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.  (16)  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  (17)  And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
 
 We need to resurrect and ascend over these areas of our lives as well as over sin and death!
 
 In other words, KEEP RESURRECTING throughout your Christian life!

•  Becoming more like Jesus!


•  In this area of our lives and in that area, too!

  You may have been saved years ago, but have slipped away into complacency and no longer seek God at all in any prayer at home or in church or anywhere!

•  You lost your testimony and nobody would know you as a Christian whatsoever any longer.


•  Come on and rise again!


•  Don’t let some silly bad experience with somebody cause your Christian life to die.


•  Your Christian life should be worth more to you than that!

  It’ not enough to be raised from sin through the death, burial and resurrection.

•  God wants to use you in this world.


•  He wants to see others rise again too!

  We really enjoy God being merciful to us, but could care less if He is to others, for we might be jealous!
 
 Notice the terms Jonah used concerning Ninevah’s mercy were from Israel’s mercy.
 
 Joel 2:13  And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he [is] gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
 
 Jonah 4:1-2  But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.  (2)  And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, [was] not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou [art] a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
 
 Its nice for God to treat us like this, but Israel was the type of people that God actually provoked into jealousy just by saving the gentiles.
 
 Rom 10:19  But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by [them that are] no people, [and] by a foolish nation I will anger you.
 
 Jonah was like that, too!
 
 Angry by God’s mercy to others.
 
 Reminds me of Cain, who criticized Abel because God blessed Abel and not him!
 
 Israel was so obstinate that she rebelled again and again, as God’s longsuffering waited for her to repent.

•  But Ninevah puts Israel to an outright shame by turning so strongly to God at her FIRST REBUKE!

  Jonah was jealous!
 
 We need to get out of that carnal jealous spirit!
 
 Die, be buried to it and rise again from it!
 
 Someone gets a new car and we want one, too.
 
 Someone remodels their home and we want to too!
 
 This is carnality and awful and is envious.
 
 We need to apply the cross to our lives in these areas and die, be buried to these sort of things and rise again from it, in freedom and victory over it!
 
 How do we overcome?
 

 Revelation 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
 
 We overcome the way He did!

•  And He overcame by the death, burial and resurrection!