The Power of Biblical Preaching: An Expository Study of Jonah 3:1-10

By Steven J. Lawson

[Steven J. Lawson is Senior Pastor, Dauphin Way Baptist Church, Mobile, Alabama.

This is article two in a four-part series, “A Passionate Call for Expository Preaching.”]

Much of evangelical preaching has become strangely impotent and, sadly, too few realize it. Like Samson, from whom the Spirit departed without his knowing it, many pastors seem to have little awareness that God’s power has vanished from their once-dynamic pulpits. Rather than preaching with renewed fervor, they are preoccupied with pouring their energies into secondary strategies, such as pursuing the latest church-growth programs, alternative worship styles, and corporate marketing plans to build their churches. While some of these augmentations may have a place in the church, the crying need of the hour is for divine power to be restored to evangelical pulpits.[1]

At the heart of this crisis is a lost confidence in God’s power to use His Word. While many hold to the inerrancy of Scripture, some pastors do not seem convinced of its sufficiency when preached to bring about God’s desired results. They reason that biblical preaching is outdated, archaic, and irrelevant. In some churches drama, dialogue, film clips, and similar means are taking the place of solid Bible exposition. These are not necessarily bad in themselves, but expository preaching should never take a back seat to these secondary means of communication.

Pastors would do well to revisit the ministries of God’s servants in the Scriptures and heed their examples as proclaimers of God’s Word. One man worthy of attention is the prophet Jonah.

One Man, One Message, One Method

The extraordinary results of Jonah’s preaching may be unique to his day, but not the manner in which he delivered his message.

Jonah went into a pagan culture, where people had little or no previous knowledge of biblical truth, and he gained a hearing from a scripturally illiterate people, something many today seem to think cannot happen. However, the fruit of Jonah’s ministry was unparalleled, as he saw the greatest positive response recorded anywhere in the Bible. Without entertainment or amusement and without a marketing scheme or an advertising campaign, Jonah simply preached. God’s strategy for reaching this entire culture was for His servant to preach.

Here is the remarkable account of one man (Jonah), equipped with one message (God’s), committed to one method (preaching), who affected great spiritual change. It is no different today. God’s work must be done God’s way if it is to know God’s blessing.

The Call to Biblical Preaching

First, the power of biblical preaching is rooted and grounded in God’s sovereign calling of His chosen servant. This heavenly summons is foundational to powerful preaching. Those whom God calls to preach His Word must know they are divinely selected to carry out His assignment. Jonah was one such man. “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you’ ” (Jon. 3:1–2).

A Specific Person

This scene begins with the call of God extended to a specific person—Jonah. Previously the prophet had resisted God’s call to preach in Nineveh (1:3), but graciously God reissued His call (3:1–2). In a sense Jonah was now back where he had begun.[2] This recommissioning of Jonah points to God’s own commitment to carry out His will, even working in spite of His servants’ failures.

God’s summons to preach has always been issued to sovereignly selected individuals, never vaguely to the masses. From all Israel, God chose Moses to be His mouthpiece (Exod. 3:1–8). Similarly the Lord told Jeremiah that before he was born he had been divinely set apart to proclaim His word (Jer. 1:5). While John the Baptist was still in his mother’s womb, God appointed him to be His spokesman (Luke 1:15). The Lord Jesus personally chose the twelve disciples to be sent out to preach (Mark 3:13–14). The apostle Paul was also chosen by God from his mother’s womb to herald the unsearchable riches of Christ (Gal. 1:15–16).

The same is true today. God Himself still summons His chosen instruments to the task of preaching, and He then empowers them to do so. Each person who preaches God’s message must know that he has been sovereignly called by Christ to represent Him in this solemn duty.[3] In fact the conviction of one’s own calling to the ministry is a pillar of support during times of adversity. The call to preach should be treasured deeply by all whom God has selected for His service. As Lloyd-Jones affirmed, “The highest and the greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called” is the call to proclaim God’s Word.[4]

A Specific Place

Jonah was commissioned by God to preach in a specific place— Nineveh. Situated on the Tigris River, this city served as the capital of the mighty Assyrians.[5] Three times Nineveh is described as a “great city” (1:2; 3:2; 4:11) and once as “an exceedingly great city” (3:3).[6] This bulging metropolis boasted a population of at least 120,000 (4:10). By way of comparison, Samaria, the capital city of Israel’s northern kingdom had a population of only about thirty thousand, and Jerusalem, capital of the southern kingdom, was even smaller. This great city, Nineveh, was protected by a huge inner wall that was fifty feet wide, one hundred feet high, and about eight miles in circumference. A second line of defense, an outer wall, encompassed fields and the smaller suburban towns.[7]

One of the most wicked cities of the ancient world, Nineveh was feared for the cruelty with which its soldiers treated captives of neighboring nations. The Ninevites were infamous for sacrificing their children to pagan deities and were shameless in their disregard for human life. No wonder it was known as “the bloody city” (Nah. 3:1). Modern archaeology has documented the vile brutality of the Assyrians as a barbaric people, especially in their treatment of prisoners of war.[8] They nailed their defeated foes to the city walls, leaving them to die agonizing deaths.

This defiant city was not an easy place in which to serve God. Ministering in this “great city” was a most demanding assignment for Jonah.

There are no easy places today to which God sends His servants to preach. Like Jonah, every ministry assignment is difficult and demanding. Because sin has permeated the entire human race, wherever there are people there will be human depravity. Furthermore Satan holds all unbelievers captive to his will (2 Tim. 2:25–26). “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). The world, the flesh, and the devil oppose ministers in every place with sinister, superhuman powers, hostile to the proclamation of the gospel. Wherever God’s servants are sent, a battlefield of spiritual warfare awaits them.

A Specific Purpose

Furthermore God also called Jonah to a specific purpose—preaching. God said that he was to “proclaim … the proclamation which I am going to tell you” (3:2). This includes both the manner (“proclaim”) and the message (“the proclamation”). God would tell him what to say and also how to say it. The word “proclaim” (קָרָא) means to “call, invoke, summon, proclaim, or appeal to.”[9] This often refers to a proclamation spoken in a time of critical need, intended to elicit a decisive response (Pss. 34:6; 81:7).[10] “In prophetic literature the verb qr’ is a technical term for the proclamation of Yahweh’s will.”[11] Far more than making mere suggestions or offering idle opinions, this word means to declare a prophetic message (1 Kings 13:32) in the sense of an authoritative proclamation (Gen. 41:43; Exod. 32:5; Judg. 21:13; Esth. 6:9). So Jonah’s message was to be given with divine authority.

Concerning the message itself, God referred to it as “the proclamation which I am going to tell you” (Jon. 3:2). As Unger notes, Jonah preached “what the Lord had told him to preach.”[12] In other words the message originated with God Himself, not the prophet. The word “proclamation” (קְרִיאָה) suggests a formal type of announcement made by an official messenger or ambassador, which lent credence to the importance of the message.[13] Martin states, “He is to be an ambassador in the strictest possible sense. He has simply to make known the will and Word of God.”[14] In other words Jonah was to be faithful to deliver God’s message, not his own self-contrived thoughts.[15]

In response to God’s call of Jonah, this time he obeyed. He was now resolved to proclaim God’s message. “So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk” (v. 3). Jonah may have been standing somewhere near the beach of the Mediterranean Sea, having been recently vomited up there by the great fish (2:10). More than five hundred miles away lay the city of Nineveh, and so Jonah’s journey there would have taken about a month to complete.[16] The previous time God called him, Jonah headed west; but this time he headed northeast. The city was so vast, it required “a three days’ walk” to encircle it with its circumference of about sixty miles. Nevertheless such an imposing city did not stifle Jonah’s commitment to preach. No longer running from God, he now purposed to go where God wanted him to go and to do what God wanted him to do.

Where Are Such Men Today?

Preaching was God’s strategy to reach Nineveh, and it remains His primary plan for impacting cities today. With a holy boldness to preach His Word, preachers today must be obedient to go where God sends them. Each preacher is to be a God-called man, armed with a God-given message, and committed to the God-prescribed method of preaching. Where are such men today?

The Character of Biblical Preaching

The first day Jonah set foot in Nineveh he began preaching: “Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, ‘Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown’ ” (Jon. 3:4).

This message is only eight words in the New American Standard Bible; in Hebrew it has only five words. While it is not clear that this was all Jonah said, the verse does suggest that God’s message was brief. It was a declaration of God’s impending judgment, as well as an invitation to His saving grace. From this pointed message several marks of biblical preaching can be identified.

Courageous Preaching

First, Jonah’s preaching was courageous. In delivering this message, Jonah “cried out,” showing the courage of his soul to declare God’s message. He did not creep into town quietly, nor move among the people timidly, only to mumble his message for fear of offending someone. Rather, the prophet raised his voice above the commotion of this great city and proclaimed God’s Word; he had to be heard.

Jonah did not passively bring up the subject of divine judgment as if anticipating that his message would be disliked. Instead he threatened his listeners with divine wrath and eternal destruction. Jonah might have rationalized, “I could be killed if I preach this message. What good would I be to God if I were dead?” Or, “What if the first person to hear me should stone me? How can I reach this city then?” But he did not do this. Instead he courageously spoke out the Lord’s message to this citadel of carnality. With a growing boldness in God, who called him to preach, Jonah lifted up his voice for everyone to hear.

The courageous courier of God’s Word seems to be an antiquated reminder of a bygone era. Addressing this dire need for boldness in preaching, Stott writes:

There is an urgent need for courageous preachers in the pulpits of the world today, like the apostles in the early Church who “were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31, cf. v. 13). Neither men-pleasers nor time-servers ever make good preachers. We are called to the sacred task of biblical exposition, and commissioned to proclaim what God has said, not what human beings want to hear. Many modern churchmen suffer from a malady called “itching ears,” which induces them to accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings (2 Timothy 4:3). But we have no liberty to scratch their itch or pander to their likings.[17]

Unfortunately much of contemporary preaching seems out of balance, having become too much like what someone described as “a mild-mannered man standing before mild-mannered people urging them to be more mild-mannered.” What Philips Brooks said in his famous 1877 Yale Lectures on Preaching sounds a much-needed warning. “If you are afraid of men and a slave to their opinion, go and do something else. Go and make shoes to fit them. Go even and paint pictures which you know are bad, but which suit their bad taste. But do not keep on all your life preaching sermons which say not what God sent you to declare, but what they have you to say. Be courageous.”[18]

Compelling Preaching

Second, Jonah’s preaching was compelling. The fact that Jonah “cried out” reveals the passion with which he delivered God’s message. Here is the same Hebrew word (קָרָא) that God used earlier in His call on the prophet’s life (1:1). He was dealing with sobering issues of life and death, salvation and damnation, heaven and hell. Alexander Maclaren, Scottish preacher of the nineteenth century, commented on the manner of Jonah’s preaching. “To cry … suggests the manner befitting those who bear God’s message. They should sound it out loudly, plainly, urgently with earnestness and marks of emotion in their voices. Languid whispers will not wake up sleepers. Unless the messenger is manifestly in earnest, the message will fall flat. Not with bated breath as if ashamed of it, nor with hesitation as if not quite sure of it, nor with coldness as if it were of little urgency—is God’s Word to be pealed in men’s ears. The preacher is a crier.”[19]

God’s messengers have always recognized this indispensable need for passion in preaching. Puritan pastor Richard Baxter said, “I preach as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.”[20] George Whitfield commented, “I love those that thunder out the Word. The Christian world is in a deep sleep. Nothing but a loud voice can awaken them out of it.”[21] D. L. Moody remarked, “The best way to revive a church is to build a fire in the pulpit.”[22] Lloyd-Jones, the late pastor of London’s Westminster Chapel, once said, “Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire.”[23]

Where are such “on-fire” men today, who passionately proclaim the Word, preaching as dying men to dying people?

Confrontive Preaching

Third, Jonah’s preaching was confrontive. His message—“Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown”—was a declaration of God’s impending judgment. This word for “overthrown” (הָפַך) means “to “turn or overturn.”[24] It is often used of catastrophic judgment.[25] Just as God “overthrew” (הָפַך) Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:25, 29), so He would overthrow Nineveh if the Ninevites did not repent. Jonah was confronting the Ninevites with the severity of God’s much-deserved judgment on this wicked people.

Such confrontive preaching was not unique to Jonah. From Moses to Malachi, this same strident tone reverberated in the voices of all the prophets as they issued their calls for stubborn Israel to repent. The preaching of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus was confrontational, often calling the religious establishment of their day into account (Luke 3:1–17). The apostles reproved those who heard them, going so far as to indict their Jewish listeners for the premeditated murder of the Messiah (Acts 2:23; 4:10; 5:30). The apostle Paul charged Timothy and Titus to proclaim God’s Word with elements of reproof, correction, rebuke, and conviction (2 Tim. 3:16; 4:2–4; Titus 1:9; 2:15). And Jesus confronted five of the seven churches in Asia Minor with their sin as He called them to repent (Rev. 2–3).

Such direct preaching has always marked the proclamation of God’s men down through the ages. “Noah’s message from the steps going up to the Ark was not ‘Something good is going to happen to you!’ Amos was not confronted by the high priest of Israel for proclaiming, ‘Confession is possession!’ Jeremiah was not put into the pit for preaching, ‘I’m O.K., you’re O.K.’ Daniel was not put into the lion’s den for telling people, ‘Possibility thinking will move mountains!’ John the Baptist was not forced to preach in the wilderness and eventually beheaded because he preached, ‘Smile, God loves you!’ The two prophets of the tribulation will not be killed for preaching, ‘God is in his heaven and all is right with the world!’ ”[26]

Pastors who are committed to biblical exposition must have a confrontive element in their preaching if they are to emulate the prophets and the apostles. Regretably this kind of reproof and rebuke are often missing from present-day preaching. Rogers calls for boldness in proclaiming God’s truth. “It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills. It is not love and it is not friendship if we fail to declare the whole counsel of God. It is better to be hated for telling truth than to be loved for telling a lie…. It’s better to stand alone with the truth than to be wrong with a multitude.”[27]

Compassionate Preaching

Fourth, Jonah’s preaching was marked by the offer of God’s grace and mercy, as he held forth a brief window of time—forty days—in which the Ninevites could repent. As Hannah notes, “Perhaps this was a period of grace, giving the people an opportunity to repent before the judgment fell!”[28] Unger agrees. “The forty-day delay in the execution of divine judgment upon Nineveh gave the people time to repent and showed the utter urgency of action.”[29] “Jonah’s message,” Stuart writes, “must have seemed to many Ninevites to be an invitation to repentance, giving hope that they and their city or land might not be destroyed.”[30] God extended to the Ninevites a gracious opportunity for them to turn to the Lord and escape the retribution they deserved. Jonah understood that his message was a loving offer of salvation, for later he said to God, “Thou art a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity” (Jon. 4:2). According to God’s abundant grace toward sinners, Nineveh had forty days to repent before His judgment would fall.

Such loving compassion must always accompany biblical preaching. As preachers warn of God’s coming judgment, divine grace and tender mercy must be held forth as well. God delights in bestowing pardon on undeserving sinners so that He can reveal His lovingkindness. He says, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (Ezek. 33:11; cf. 18:23). Finding no joy in the damnation of the unrighteous, He prefers to forgive. He declared Himself to be “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin” (Exod. 34:6–7).[31] Biblical preaching must accurately convey this aspect of God’s loving character. The declaration of God’s judgment must be tempered with promises of His mercy; the announcement of His condemnation must be balanced with affirmations of His compassion.

The missing power of present-day preaching will be recaptured only when the proclamation of the Word is again courageous, compelling, confrontive, and compassionate, as it was in Jonah’s ministry.

The Consequences of Biblical Preaching

As the prophet preached God’s message, the people of Nineveh listened and responded. Nineveh experienced an unprecedented time of divine visitation as God’s message, ministered by the power of God’s Spirit, impacted this city. What resulted was a great awakening, a spontaneous stirring in the hearts of those who were under the impending judgment of God. The word “revival” is used in the following pages to describe the Ninevites’ response, but in reality it was a spiritual awakening in which sinners were aroused from their perilous condition of separation from God, resulting in their turning to Him in repentance and faith. The result was a revival that was saving, sobering, sweeping, and sanctifying.

A Saving Revival

“Then the people of Nineveh believed in God” (3:5). In response to the preaching of God’s message, this “bloody” city, known for its violence, turned to God, entrusting themselves to Him. They turned from their pagan religion of man-made idols and put their trust in the one true God. Some scholars find such a wholesale turning to God unlikely, because Assyrian records make no mention of this citywide revival. But, it was the practice of official ancient historians to delete events that were embarrassing to their cause.[32] For example Egyptian records made no mention of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and the drowning of Egypt’s army (Exod. 14). Neither did the Assyrians record the killing of 185,000 of their soldiers in Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:35). Yet both events did occur.

So this spiritual awakening should not be discounted simply because secular history did not record it. Furthermore Jesus Himself validated the genuineness of the Ninevites’ conversion. “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah” (Luke 11:32). Also God would not have removed His hand of judgment against the Ninevites if their response had been superficial.[33] It seems that the people of this ungodly city did truly believe and so received eternal life.[34]

The word “believe” (אָמַן) means “to be firm, to stand firm, to trust, to believe” (Exod. 4:31; Ps. 116:10).[35] It is used of Abram’s trust in the Lord. “And [Abram] believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). This does not imply that Abram merely gave intellectual assent to what God said. Instead he believed God with an active, confident faith, resulting in his salvation (Rom. 4:1–5). In other words Abram entered into a personal relationship with God Himself by faith.[36] So it is reasonable to infer that when the people of Nineveh heard Jonah’s message, they placed their faith in the true God.[37] “They took Jonah’s message seriously as a message which actually came from God.”[38]

If churches today are to see more people come to Christ, then more biblical preaching is needed, not less. God has promised to honor His Word. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). God has always been pleased to use the foolishness of preaching His Word to bring about the conversion of lost sinners (1 Cor. 1:18–25). He did so in Jonah’s day, and He will do so now if churches will return to solid, straightforward biblical preaching.

A Sobering Revival

The faith of the Ninevites was accompanied by expressions of deep sorrow and humble contrition over their sin. Having been deeply affected by Jonah’s message, they demonstrated that their repentance was genuine as “they called a fast and put on sackcloth” (Jon. 3:5). In the ancient world a “fast” was often a sign of inward contrition and self-humiliation (1 Sam. 7:6; 2 Sam. 1:12; Neh. 1:4; Zech. 7:5), and wearing “sackcloth” was also an outward symbol of an inward sorrow over sin.[39] Sackcloth was a coarse, roughly woven, burlap-like fabric, often made of goat’s hair. It was rough, dark, crude, and uncomfortable to wear.[40] It was the normal dress of poor people, prisoners, and slaves, and was often worn by people when they were in mourning (Ezek. 7:18). Prophets wore it, partly to associate with the poor and at other times as a sign of mourning for the sins of the people (2 Kings 1:8; Zech. 13:4; Mark 1:6).[41] The abrasiveness of the sackcloth made the one who wore it miserable from the self-inflicted pain, which was intentionally symbolic. It represented how the Ninevites felt internally about the painful awareness of their sin. They were sorrowful, miserable, broken, and grief-stricken over their sin as they suddenly realized that their wickedness had offended God. Understanding their inability to contend with God, they chose to be in submission to Him as the supreme Ruler of heaven and earth.

A similar experience of repentance is needed today. Although not necessarily expressed by donning sackcloth, genuine repentance involves a deep conviction of sin, a sorrow over sin, and turning from sin. Such a sobering revival can be seen again when preaching once more calls sinners to repent and turn from their wicked ways.

A Sweeping Revival

Every strata of society in Ninevah repented—“from the greatest to the least of them” (Jon. 3:5). From princes to paupers, from royalty to rogues, they were all broken over their sins and turned to God. This response was citywide in its scope, blanketing the entire community.[42] In fact so comprehensive was this revival that even the king’s heart was smitten. “When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ashes” (v. 6).

When the king of Nineveh, either Adad-Nirari III (ca. 810-783 B.C.)[43] or Assur-Dan III (ca. 773-756 B.C.),[44] heard God’s message, he became deeply convicted and wounded, as evidenced by his change of outward clothing. Descending from his throne, he exchanged his silk robes for sackcloth and sat down on ashes, yet another sign of deep humiliation (cf. Job 42:6; Isa. 58:5). With no attempt to cover up his sin, he openly acknowledged his iniquity before God. So genuine was this work of God in the king’s heart that he issued a decree for the entire city of Nineveh to go one step further in expressing its repentance. “And he issued a proclamation and it said, ‘In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth’ ” (Jon. 3:7–8).

The king’s edict called for an extreme fast that was to include the animals as well.[45] Including domestic animals in mourning ceremonies was a common way in which people expressed deep remorse and supplication.[46] So by official statement even the animals were to be covered with sackcloth to depict the thorough repentance of the entire populace. After winning over his cabinet and advisers, he called on the entire nation to join him in this intense period of penitence.

Sparked by the preaching of God’s Word, a true work of His Spirit knows no social boundaries. Not restricted to a particular economic class, ethnic group, or religious denomination, a heaven-sent spiritual awakening extends from top to bottom, touching all classes of people. Not limited to one particular homogeneous unit, it transcends all cultural differences and social barriers. The preaching of God’s Word brings about a thorough, across-the-board response.

A Sanctifiying Revival

This previously pagan king, now converted, invited all his subjects to join him in turning from the violent deeds that previously characterized their lives. The decree he issued said, “And let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands” (v. 8). In this royal edict repentance and faith were inseparably joined, like the head and tail of the same coin. As Unger notes, “Records of Assyria resurrected by modern archeology abound in evidence of the cruelty and monstrous inhumanity of the Assyrians as an ancient, warlike people, especially in regard to prisoners of war.”[47] In calling each citizen to turn from his “wicked way” and from “the violence which is in his hands,”[48] this tandem expression is a typical way of joining the general with the specific. “Wicked way” (רָעָה) refers to sin broadly and generically, everything condemned by divine law and human conscience.[49] But “violence” (חָמָס) represents the infringement of human rights or a defiance of common decency (cf. Gen. 16:5). It suggests moral misbehavior and aggressive violence toward other peoples and nations, including even murder.[50] Ellison notes, “The Assyrian assumed that in virtue of his conquests he had been placed above lesser breeds and was entitled to ignore the dictates of conscience and compassion in his behavior to his neighbors.”[51] But in true repentance the Assyrians renounced their sin.

The words of the Assyrian king concluded with a contrite expression of hope that God would find their repentance genuine. “Who knows, God may turn and relent, and withdraw His burning anger so that we shall not perish?” (v. 9).

The Hebrew word for “turn” (שׁוּב) has a variety of meanings, depending on its context. The verb basically means to make a change of direction. In a religious sense, this word is the most common term for turning decisively to either God (or idols), or turning away from Him (or them).[52] “Better than any other verb, it combines in itself the two requirements of repentance: to turn from evil and to turn to the good.”[53] The people of Nineveh demonstrated both sides of this turning in repentance by expressing their belief in God (v. 5) and turning from their wicked ways (v. 8).

The Ninevites truly repented, as evidenced by the way the Lord responded. “When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked ways, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it” (v. 10). When the Lord saw that their turning to Him was genuine, He withheld His judgment. He was not changing His plan; instead He was responding to their repentence.[54] This is consistent with God’s character, for as Jonah said later, He is “gracious and compassionate … and one who relents concerning calamity” (4:2). He withheld His judgment, knowing all along what the Ninevites’ response would be.[55]

Such was the response of sinners in Jonah’s day to his powerful preaching, and so it can be today, to varied degrees, to the timeless method of preaching the Word in this generation.

The Need of the Hour

Evangelical churches need to recapture the power of biblical preaching—preaching that is courageous, compelling, confrontive, and compassionate, as exemplified by Jonah. When Charles Haddon Spurgeon witnessed the decline of dynamic preaching in his day, he pleaded for the Lord to raise up a new generation of biblical preachers.

We want again Luthers, Calvins, Bunyans, Whitefields, men fit to mark eras, whose names breathe terror in our foemen’s ears. We have dire need of such. Whence will they come to us? They are the gifts of Jesus Christ to the Church, and will come in due time. He has power to give us back again a golden age of preachers, and when the good old truth is once more preached by men whose lips are touched as with a live coal from off the altar, this shall be the instrument in the hand of the Spirit for bringing about a great and thorough revival of religion in the land.

I do not look for any other means of converting men beyond the simple preaching of the gospel and the opening of men’s ears to hear it. The moment the Church of God shall despise the pulpit, God will despise her. It has been through the ministry that the Lord has always been pleased to revive and bless His Churches.[56]

May God raise up such proclaimers of His divine truth who will preach with growing confidence in the power of His Word to perform its sacred work. May Christ give to His church again an army of biblical expositors who will proclaim the Scriptures boldly in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Notes

1. For further reading on the anemic condition of preaching in the evangelical church, see Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2000), 21–42; John H. Armstrong, ed., The Compromised Church (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1998); and Alistair Begg, Preaching for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1999).
2. Billy K. Smith and Frank S. Page, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1995), 257.
3. For further discussion on the call to the ministry see Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981), 18–39.
4. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971), 9.
5. Merrill Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody, 1981), 2:1836.
6. The word גְּדוֹלָה (“great”) here means large, great in size (H. L. Ellison, “Jonah,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1985], 7:380).
7. John D. Hannah, “Jonah,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament, ed. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1995), 1468.
8. Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, 2:1838.
9. Louis Jonker, “קרא,” in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, ed. William A. VanGemeren (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 3:971.
10. Leonard J. Coppes, “קָרָא,” in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., Bruce K. Waltke (Chicago: Moody, 1980), 2:810.
11. Jonker, “קרא,” 3:972.
12. Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, 2:1836.
13. Smith and Page, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, 258.
14. Hugh Martin, The Prophet Jonah (London: Banner of Truth, 1978), 253.
15. See also Gerald B. Stanton, “The Prophet Jonah and His Message: Part 2,” BibliothecaSacra 108 (October-December 1951): 431.
16. Smith and Page, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, 259.
17. John R. W. Stott, Between Two Worlds (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 299.
18. Philips Brooks, Lectures on Preaching (New York: Dutton, 1877), 59.
19. Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994) 6:190–91.
20. Richard Baxter, quoted in John Blanchard, comp., Gathered Gold (Durham, UK: Evangelical, 1989), 236.
21. Ibid., 237.
22. Ibid.
23. Martin Lloyd-Jones, quoted in ibid.
24. Victor P. Hamilton, “הפך,” in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 221; and Robert B. Chisholm, “הפך,” in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 3:1049. This Hebrew root, together with its derivatives, appears more than one hundred times in the Old Testament and is primarily found in association with the expression of God’s awesome anger and fierce wrath unleashed on the unrepentant; such as Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:21, 25, 29; Deut. 29:23; Isa. 13:19; Jer. 20:16, 49:18; 50:40; Lam. 4:6; Amos 4:11). It was used to describe God’s overturning the wicked through judgment. In fact the word also described God’s power in the natural realm, causing earthquakes to overturn mountains (Job 9:5), sending floods to destroy the land (12:15), turning the waters of Egypt into blood (Exod. 7:17, 20; Pss. 78:44; 105:29) and driving locusts into the sea (Exod. 10:19).
25. K. Seybold, “הפך,” in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, ed. G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 3:424.
26. Michael Green, ed., Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997), 301 (italics added).
27. Adrian Rogers, “The Triumph of Truth,” Berean Call, December 1996, 3.
28. Hannah, “Jonah,” 1469.
29. Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, 2:1837.
30. Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah, Word Biblical Commentary (Waco: Word, 1987), 489.
31. Daniel Block, “Block Lists Several Reasons Evangelicals Must Recover the Old Testament,” Southern Seminary 65 (July 1997): 27.
32. Hannah, “Jonah,” 1469.
33. Smith and Page, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, 265.
34. Patrick Fairbairn, Jonah:His Life, Character, and Mission (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980) 123.
35. According to William L. Holladay, “This word takes on deeper meaning when used in the hiphil form (he’emin) as found here in Jonah 3:5. The meaning changes to trust, believe and with the preposition ‘in’ (be) the meaning develops ‘to trust in’ or ‘believe in’ (A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988], 20).
36. The verbal form found in Jonah not only implies the acceptance of what someone says is true, but it also “has the added sense of acting in response to what is heard with trust or obedience” (R. W. L. Moberly, “אמן,” in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 1:431).
37. Wayne G. Strickland, “Isaiah, Jonah, and Religious Pluralism,” Bibliotheca Sacra 153 (January-March 1996): 32.
38. Alfred Jepsen, “אָמַן,” in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, 1:305.
39. Hannah, “Jonah,” 1469.
40. Ellison, “Jonah,” 382.
41. Smith and Page, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, 266.
42. Stuart, Hosea-Jonah, 489.
43. Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, 2:1837.
44. Smith and Page, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, 492.
45. Stuart, Hosea-Jonah, 492.
46. Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, 2:1837–38.
47. Ibid., 1838.
48. Smith and Page, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, 270.
49. G. Herbert Livingston, “רָעָה,” in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 2:856.
50. R. Laird Harris, “חָמָס,” in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 1:297.
51. Ellison, “Jonah,” 383.
52. John N. Oswalt, “שׁוּב,” in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 3:56–57.
53. Victor P. Hamilton, “שׁוּב,” in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 2:909.
54. Marvin R. Wilson, “נָחַם,” in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 2:571.
55. For discussions on God’s omniscience and immutability see Bruce A. Ware, God’s Lessor Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2000); Norman Geisler, Creating God in the Image of Man? (Minneapolis: Bethany, 1982); Thomas R. Schreiner and Bruce A. Ware, Still Sovereign (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000); and Michael S. Horton, A Confessing Theology for Postmodern Times (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2000).
56. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Early Years, vol. 1 of C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography (London: Banner of Truth, 1962), v.