Sermon: Jonah 3: 1-10 Revival in Nineveh

Deja vu is the feeling that you’ve lived through the present experience before.

Deja vu is the feeling that you’ve lived through the present experience before. Sorry, I couldn’t resist it! But you could be tempted to think that we’ve been here before, as we open up to Jonah chapter 3 on page 928.

You see, for a second time, the word of the Lord comes to Jonah. And for the second time, the word of the Lord sends Jonah to Nineveh. The first time had come back in chapter 1, when God said ‘Go’ and Jonah said ‘No’. Since that moment, Jonah went on the run from God, onto a boat going the opposite direction from his God-given mission, into a storm, and ultimately into the belly of the great fish.

Even in Jonah’s rebellion, God has been in control - so that this most reluctant prophet witnessed to the pagan sailors (who then turned to worship the one true living God of heaven who made the sea and the land); and God had appointed the great fish to rescue Jonah from a watery grave. After three days in the fish, Jonah must have been stinking to high heaven, and was vomited out onto dry land.

We see God’s grace in action right from the start of this chapter. God’s word comes a second time to Jonah. God is the God of the second chance. Have you found that out yourself? You’ve messed up; you come back to the Lord; and he welcomes you in, again and again - for the second time, and the twenty-second time, and the hundred and second time.

And notice that God doesn’t mention what has come before. He doesn’t say, now Jonah, you remember what happened last time, so get it right this time. You see, with God, our past is gone, forgiven and forgotten, and never more to be remembered or cast up. No, it’s almost as if this is the first time God has mentioned Nineveh to Jonah.

And so God sends Jonah with these words: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’ (2) God has a message for Nineveh and Jonah is his chosen messenger.

So what will happen this time? Last time around, God said Go and Jonah said No. What will he do now that he has heard God’s sending all over again? Well we see the answer in verse 3: ‘Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh.’ Phew! What a relief! This time he obeyed God’s call, and went to where he was meant to go.

And we’re told a little bit about the city to which he had travelled. ‘Now Nineveh was a very important city - a visit required three days.’ (3) You can almost hear the travel agent’s sales pitch, can’t you? For a proper city break experience you’d need three whole days in it. One or two days wouldn’t be enough. To see the sights you need to have three days.

You can imagine the size of it; the importance of it; how amazing it would have been to be there. But remember Jonah isn’t there for a city break; he isn’t there to see the sights from the open-top bus tour; in fact, he wouldn’t have chosen to go there at all. You see, Nineveh is the capital city of one of the hostile superpowers of the day. Going to Nineveh is going into the heart of enemy territory. Pagan territory.

And it’s to this hostile place, enemy territory, that Jonah has been sent by God, with a message to proclaim. And he doesn’t waste any time. On his first day, he starts into the city and proclaims a message. The message we hear in verse 4: ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.’

What about that for a sermon? It’s short and snappy, but it’s all doom and gloom. The countdown clock has begun. Forty days, and Nineveh will be overturned (or overthrown). It’s the same word used to describe what had happened to Sodom and Gomorrah.

So what do you make of his proclamation? Before, when I read his message, I used to think - Jonah really doesn’t like the Ninevites, and he says as little as possible, and offers no hope, and wants them to be overthrown. He’s a reluctant prophet and he’s reluctantly there, so he doesn’t waste much of his breath on them.

But look back to verse 2. ‘Proclaim to it the message I give you.’ Is it that Jonah is like a huffy toddler; or is he actually being faithful this time, even in the sparsity of the message? Perhaps I was being too hard on him. Either way, the message has been proclaimed in the streets of Nineveh. The question is, what will happen next?

You can imagine what would happen these days if someone proclaimed this message in the streets of Portadown or Armagh, in Belfast or London. They’d either be laughed at, or ignored, or locked up. But that’s not what happened in Nineveh. Do you see their response in verse 5?

‘The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.’

While the message didn’t say much, and didn’t offer much or any hope, the Ninevites believed this word of the Lord. They believed God, by taking him at his word, believing what he said to be true, and taking action based on what he had said.

Their response is seen in their fasting and their sackcloth. These are signs of mourning for their sin, of repentance. And their repentance goes all the way to the very top, to the king of Nineveh himself. There he is, seated on his throne in his royal robes. And then there he is, covered in sackcloth, sitting in the dust. Even the king has humbled himself, numbering himself with his people, seeking God’s mercy.

The king sets an example of fasting and repentance. And then he issues his own proclamation in response to the proclamation of Jonah:

‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone urgently call on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.’ (7-8)

Here’s what revival in Nineveh looks like, by order of the king. Did you notice there are five ‘lets’ - two negative and three positive. First, negatively, do not let man or beast, herd or flock taste anything, eat or drink. So to show their seriousness, they are abstaining from food and drink.

And then positively, they are to let man and beast be covered with sackcloth; they are to let everyone urgently call on God; they are to give up their evil ways and violence. They’re turning away from their sin and turning towards God, calling on him for mercy.

And yet, as his proclamation goes on, he’s just not sure what might happen. He has no assurance that God will respond to their cries for mercy. Do you see what he says there in verse 9? ‘Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.’

He’s not sure if God will be merciful, but he hopes it will be the case. Who knows? Who does know? Jonah knows! Jonah knows this personally - that when he cried to the Lord from under the sea, the Lord saved him and showed him amazing grace. Jonah also knows this because he has heard about the pagan sailors who cried to the Lord and received his amazing grace. Jonah knows this, but he hasn’t communicated it to the Ninevites!

They’re hoping that God might relent, might have compassion on them, so that they don’t perish. But they don’t know for sure! I wonder, could we be like Jonah? What’s the message we communicate about God? Are there bits we fail to mention? Do we miss out the ‘good’ bit of the good news?

So the Ninevites are unsure about God’s grace. But then they experience it in full measure in verse 10: ‘When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.’

How amazing God’s grace is! He showers his saving grace on this city of his enemies, having compassion on them, not bringing the destruction they deserved. Do you recognise yourself in this picture? If you’re trusting in Jesus, then you are a Ninevite! We too were in the path of destruction. We too faced God’s wrath. But he has had compassion on us, and has given us the grace to turn to him from our sin, and to find his salvation.

How amazing is God’s love, that while we were still his enemies, Christ died for us, to make us his friends. And that’s what we remember and celebrate tonight, as we gather at his table, as we remember the king who stepped down from his royal throne, who was stripped, and beaten, and brought low - for us and our salvation.

This is the blessing for all who hear and repent. Yet Jesus takes up the story of Jonah, and points to the sign of Jonah. You see, the people of Nineveh repented when they heard Jonah’s preaching (even such as it was). But the people of Jesus’ day, with someone greater than Jonah preaching to them, refused to listen, refused to repent. May it never be true of us - that we have heard Jesus’ teaching, and we have turned away.

Jonah eventually obeys, bringing God’s word to a lost and needy world. We too have been entrusted with a message, with the good news of the gospel, of the God who will answer all who call on him. How can we remain silent?

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday evening 16th February 2020.

1859 - 2009: The Burden For Revival

As we bring this series of posts on the 1859 Revival to an end, where are we today in terms of revival? Can we expect a similar move of the Holy Spirit today? Or do we look on those times as just a history lesson, part of the golden age of the past?

What can we learn from 1859 and implement today? The origins of the revival came from sustained, faithful prayer rising up from the Lord's people. The prayer meeting in Kells met for almost two years before the work went outside the village. The Lord also blessed the advance of His word as it was read, preached, and applied to the sinful hearts of the people. The Lord blessed the united work of Presbyterians, Church of Ireland, Methodists, Congregationalists, Baptists and Independents as they came together in prayer meetings, setting denomination aside and joining under the one Lord.

So where do we go from here? Let's join in prayer for the mass conversion of men, women and children in this land, so that many are saved and the glory goes to God. One verse that is used by revivalists is this:

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

1859: Dundonald

Continuing the series on the 1859 revival, I wanted to write about the experiences of the outpouring in the local area. Helpfully, Dr Paisley's book The "Fifty Nine" Revival has a lot of reports from areas across Ulster. Sadly, though, there's not much on Dundonald, so I'll quote it in full:

The revival in Belfast quickly spread to Carryduff, Dundonald and Castlereagh, adjacent districts in Co. Down. Eleven revival prayer meetings soon sprang up in Dundonald, and the number of converts increased rapidly.

If anyone has more information on what happened, then please do let me know.

1859: Bumper Confirmation

An interesting section of Ian Paisley's book on 'The "Fifty Nine" Revival' is the descriptions of events in the counties of Ulster, and especially the city of Belfast. Some of the churches affected during the revival have now disappeared, presumably through the development of the city's infrastructure. So, for example, Great George's Street Presbyterian Church is now long gone, without a trace. Similarly, there are frequent references to Trinity Episcopal Church - a Church of Ireland parish which has now disappeared. It was off Clifton Street, but the Parish church was destroyed in an air raid in 1941. (Holy Trinity, Ballysillan was its replacement).

The Rector, Theophilus Campbell, writes this about his Confirmation service of 1859:

Perhaps I ought to state that at our annual confirmation this year my numbers were one hundred and sixty-one, while the average of former years may be stated at twenty. All of these, with perhaps half-a-dozen exceptions, have come to the Lord's table. During the confirmation many of the candidates were deeply affected, and could scarcely restrain their feelings. Of these one hundred and sixty-one, only sixteen were 'stricken cases'.

161 confirmands in one service! Truly revival struck that parish. Oh that we would see such scenes again. Lord, revive us again.

1859: The Church of Ireland

While the 1859 revival began and spread primarily within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the other Protestant denominations also saw showers of blessing. However, there were mixed responses from the Church of Ireland bishops and clergy.

The Archdeacon of Derry, in an address to the clergy sanctioned by the Bishop, recommended that they should keep aloof inasmuch that the Church of England clergy* could not join other denominations except by sacrificing their principles. Whilst acknowledging that the revival was of God, he advocated the holding of separate meetings. Consequently, services were held in the Cathedral and in the church schools, but they were thinly attended and there were few results... This attitude of the episcopal clergy of Londonderry stood out in sharp contrast to the example of Dr Knox, the Bishop of Down and Connor (and Dromore), and the clergy of his diocese.

Dr Knox called a meeting of the clergy of the united Dioceses, and gave the revival his support and blessing. He then took part in the united weekly prayer meetings in the Music Hall, Belfast.

Throughout Paisley's book there are further incidents of revival striking Church of Ireland parishes including Magheralin, Lurgan (where an extra 500 seats in Shankill Parish Church had to be provided in the years after the revival because of the increased attendances), Portrush, Coleraine, Garvagh, and Monaghan. It seems that 'where brothers dwell together in unity' the blessing was particularly sweet, while in many places, the Church of Ireland clergy condemned or worked against the work of the Spirit.

May we in our day discern what God is doing, and not work against the Lord and his purposes.

* Church of England clergy - at this point the Church of England and the Church of Ireland were united in the Church of England and Ireland, which explains why the Archdeacon of Derry refers to Church of England clergy in his address.

1859: Origins

When considering the scale of the 1859 Revival, with over 100,000 people convicted and converted, you may well wonder how it came about. What happened to impact so many people? Given the way we try to organise things today, you might be tempted to imagine there was a committee which sat and planned for revival, with sub-committees and standing committees and sitting committees and such like.

Not a bit of it! To trace the origins of the 1859 outpouring, instead you must turn to a prayer meeting, in a schoolhouse in the tiny village of Kells, County Antrim. There four young men began to pray weekly on Friday nights, and it blossomed and spread, bringing the Holy Spirit's blessing on their endeavours, and awakened many to their utter sinfulness and need of salvation.

The four men were James McQuilkin, Jeremiah Meneely, Robert Carlisle and John Wallace.

Quoting from Ian Paisley's book: These four young converts were naturally closely allied in spirit and they mutually agreed for their own edification and the salvation of precious souls to meet weekly for prayer and Bible study... The place chosen for meetings was the Old Schoolhouse near Kells and the meetings commenced in September 1857. During the long winter of 1857-58 every Friday evening, these young men gathered an armful of peat each, and taking their Bibles made their way to the old schoolhouse. There they read and meditated upon the Scriptures of truth and with hearts aflame with a pure first love, poured out their prayers to the God of heaven. The peats made a fire in the schoolhouse grate and warmed their bodies from the winter's chill, but their prayers brought down unquenchable fire from heaven which set all Ulster ablaze for God, and warmed with saving rays at least 100,000 souls.

For three months, there was just the four of them, but then converts began to be added to their prayer group, so that by the beginning of 1859, there were 50 men gathering each week to pray.

As Jeremiah Meneely said years later: We did not allow the unsaved in the prayer meeting. It was a fellowship meeting of Christians met for the one great object of praying for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon ourselves and upon the surrounding country. This was the one great object and burden of our prayers. We held to the one thing and did not run off to anything else. The Presbyterian minister (Rev John H Moore) was favourable toward us all the time but many of the people ridiculed our praying for an outpouring of the Spirit, saying that He had already been poured out on the day of Pentecost. But we replied that the Lord know what we wanted and we kept right on praying until the power came.

Source: The "Fifty Nine" Revival by Ian R K Paisley.

1859: The Year of Revival

While some may be recalling 1859 for the installation of Big Ben in the Houses of Parliament, and the publication of The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, here in Ulster, we recall with gladness the Revival that swept the province. For many years, I've had a copy of the book written by the Rev Dr Ian Paisley on the subject, The "Fifty Nine Revival", and so in this 150th anniversary year, I thought I should get around to eventually read it. Particularly since the Northern Ireland Assembly may be holding events to mark the occasion.

Starting from a prayer meeting of four converts in the Old Schoolhouse in Kells and Connor, County Antrim, it rapidly spread across the country, affecting over 100,000 people. God's grace and mercy were richly poured out on this land, and the Holy Spirit was mighty in operation. Over the coming days I'll post some quotations from the book, highlighting stories from local places, as well as lessons to learn.

If my people...

On Monday night, we had our usual Late Praise service in the College Chapel. This week it fell to me to organise. Having cast my vote over the weekend (using my postal vote), the elections were in my mind. So I thought we would read, think and pray about our position as God's people in the world.

One of the readings we used was 2 Chronicles 7:14 - 'if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.'

We were praying for revival to come, to see the increase of the kingdom in our land - north and south - but then someone prayed a prayer, and it blew me away... Revival starts with us. It's up to the people of God (called by his name) to be humble, and pray, and seek God and repent as the key to see God acting.

What are we doing to constantly seek God's face and walk in his ways? Are we ready to be totally transformed by the Spirit so that others see the transformation and ask what it's all about (1 Peter 3:15)

Send revival Lord, and start with me!