Jonah 03: The Unthinkable Happens

A prophet walks into his enemy’s capital, speaks a single stark warning, and watches an empire kneel. That’s the shock of Jonah 3—and the heartbeat of this conversation: simple obedience meets unthinkable mercy, and the result is a city changed from the throne to the livestock.

We revisit Jonah’s second chance and why it matters for anyone who has ever run the other way. Then we step into Nineveh’s streets to hear the blunt message—“Forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown”—and watch the most unlikely audience believe. The king trades robes for rags, a decree calls the city to lay down violence, and even the animals wear burlap in a raw, communal cry for mercy. Beneath the humor is a serious claim: humility moves history, and God sees when people turn from evil.

Along the way, we pull two threads you can carry into your week. First, obedience is the doorway to impact you cannot engineer. Jonah didn’t craft a strategy; he took the next faithful step, and God did the rest. Second, no one is beyond reach. If you’ve written off a person, a family member, or even yourself, Nineveh stands as a witness that God relents when hearts repent. We close with encouragement for “impossible” situations and a prayer for courage to act while trusting God with outcomes.

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Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Today’s Focus
• 1:28 Recap: Jonah’s Wild Journey
• 3:08 Reading Jonah Chapter Three
• 5:00 Nineveh’s Radical Repentance
• 6:30 The “Unthinkable” Miracle Explained
• 7:45 Two Takeaways: Obedience and Mercy
• 9:05 Encouragement for Impossible Situations
• 10:20 Prayer and Closing Preview

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us. Let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

SPEAKER_01: 0:23

Well, hello everyone. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Jonah chapter three, and today's title is The Unthinkable Happens. The Unthinkable Happens. Look, there are so many things about this chapter. It is a short chapter. There's so many things about this that I find absolutely hilarious. And I just I can't wait to get into it. And you know, you would think that, you know, a guy who is a prophet given his life to honor God's word, and he goes the opposite way when God tells him to go somewhere else. You'd think that would be the most unthinkable thing. No, no. Then you would think there would be a storm. And they'd throw this Joker overboard. That's unthinkable. No. Then he gets eaten by a fish. Nope. That's not it. And then from the belly of the fish, he prays. And then he gets vomited upon the shore. That's the most unthinkable thing. Nope. That's not it yet. We're gonna find out about it today. It is gonna be great. I can't wait to get into it. So get your Bibles, get your popcorn, get your coffee. It's gonna be great. While you're doing that, make sure you also like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast. It really does help. And make sure you're going to the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. It's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job. And as always, the more we dig, the more we find. And you can get the hub of all of that at the Biblebreakdown.com. It's been with us the past couple of days. We've been talking about the book of Jonah and it's the beauty of salvation. It is this wonderful thing that all along the way, God is working salvation in so many different ways. Chapter one, he was working salvation in that he is wanting Jonah to go preach to the people of Nineveh. These horrible people, according to the Israelites, very prejudiced. The Israelites were very prejudiced against Nineveh, but don't worry, the Ninevehes were very prejudiced back to them. I mean, they hated each other, and there were good reasons. They were not nice to one another. So once again, imagine the worst enemy you can think of. And then God says, I want you to go witness to them. Witness your salvation story. Testify to them of what God's done in your life. How quickly would you go do that? Or would you be like, Well, God, I don't really want you to save them. You know, that's kind of what Jonah was saying. And so God is offering them salvation. Well, then He ends up uh really saving all of the people in the boat after they threw over Jonah. Because when they saw that the wind and the wave stopped, they gave their lives, they vowed to serve the Lord. So the beauty of salvation there. And then God saves Jonah from the fish. Well, now in chapter three, we're gonna see how God does the absolute unthinkable. And there's so many funny things about this chapter. So we're gonna read this, and then we're gonna just have some fun with this. Here we go. First of all, I love that the Bible says, and this is imagine Jonah years later is writing back, and it says in verse one, then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time. So it's like, we're gonna try this again, Jonah. Have you learned your lesson? Yes, sir. All right, here we go. Chapter uh verse two. Get up, go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you. This time, this time Jonah obeyed the Lord's command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds, Forty days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed. The people of Nineveh believed God's message, and from the greatest to the least they declared a fast, and to put on burlap and to show their sorrow. When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. Then the king and his nobles sent a decree throughout the city. I love this, this is so funny. No one, not even the animals of your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. So even little foul uh Phido, even the birds, even the cats, especially the cats, no one could eat or drink anything at all. The people and those poor animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. Who can tell? Perhaps yet, even God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us. When God saw that they what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction that he had threatened. Okay, so I love this. So, first of all, and we'll get to the the the unthinkable miracle, but first of all, they are so serious about this that they say no one, not even Pookie, Pookie the Chihuahua, not even the cats, not even your goldfish, not your herds, not your flocks, can eat or drink anything at all. And I love this. People and animals must wear garments of mourning. Can you imagine trying to put burlap on the cow? And hey, hey, goat, come over here. I need to put some burlap on you. You know, come come on come on over here, you know. And they they do all of this, but it's just a sign of saying none of us are innocent. All of us are guilty. Here's the unthinkable miracle. Remember, the Ninevites hated the Israelites. And when they saw an Israelite man coming into their capital city, it's a miracle they didn't kill him on the spot. That's already a beautiful salvation. Jonah was allowed to live. And then not only does he come in, but he comes in speaking judgment. He comes in saying, You fools are gonna die. God has seen all you have done. This is the southern interpretation, right? God has seen you fools, and y'all, y'all gonna die. It's over for your kind. You better get ready, because it's over. And you know what they could have so easily done? Dude, you're not from around here. You're from Israel. We're gonna kill you. But instead, they go, Man, the God of Israel is powerful. The God of Israel, He does what he says. He's going to kill us. The best we can do is humble ourselves and pray, and it even says, Perhaps even yet, God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger. So they weren't even certain it was gonna work. But just at the chance, they decided they were gonna humble themselves. That's unthinkable. That is amazing. But you know what? He was sincere and God forgave them. That's powerful. It's powerful, and it's amazing. There's two things I'd like to take away from this for us today. Number one is look what happens when we obey God. Can you can you imagine for Jonah? He's like, listen, these people hate me. I hate them. They're probably gonna kill me. There's no way God can save these people. Here we go. You know that's all God really required of him. He didn't require of him to understand how it was gonna work. He didn't require of him to have it all figured out. He just needed him to be obedient and to take the next step and let God do the miracle. Look at what happens when we are just faithful to do the best we can with what we have. God does the rest, and he can do the most unthinkable things through the most faithful of his servants. And then secondly, look at how much mercy God can have. These are terrible people. They don't serve God. They don't worship God, they are brutal destroyers. But when they humble themselves, no one is beyond the reach of salvation. And so this is what I want to leave with you today. Two things. Number one, is never think that something is impossible. Little is much when God is in it. God doesn't require us to have all the answers. He requires us to turn ourselves fully to Him. Do what we can and trust Him with the rest. Are you in the middle of a situation right now that seems impossible? It seems hopeless. There's no way that this can get figured out. You know what? You're probably right. You're probably right. You know the situation better than anybody else, except for God. And the Bible says with man things are impossible. So maybe you're right. Maybe this is impossible. But that's not where the verse ends. With man things are impossible, but with God all things are possible. So I want to encourage you, do your best, trust God with the rest. But then the second thing is to comfort maybe somebody in here or somebody who's listening to this and to say, no one is outside the reach of God. God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all we could ask, think, or imagine, according to the power of God that works through us. And so it doesn't matter. Maybe you've got a a friend, a relative, an in-law, an outlaw, something in between, and they just seem like, God, I just don't know if you could ever reach them. They're just too far gone. You know, you're never too far gone for the Lord. He's always able to reach. He's always able to go. And if you have enough faith to trust him, he's got enough power to deliver from anything. Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, God, that you're with us and you're for us. And I'm so thankful for your word. I'm so thankful that it stretches us, it encourages us, and challenges us in so many ways. Our job is to trust you and to take the next step, and you always do the miracle. I'm thankful for you today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Anyway, God's Word says in Jonah chapter two, verse nine, salvation belongs to the Lord. And what a beautiful salvation it is. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Jonah chapter four.