Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
After warning of overthrow in forty days cried through the city, the king and inhabitants humbled themselves in trembling, and their question expresses humble hope for mercy rather than a demand that God must relent. That hope was joined to concrete turning, with fasting and prayer, sackcloth and ashes, crying to God and turning with all their might and heart from the evil way and violence. God saw their turning from evil, withdrew the announced disaster and spared the city, showing Him merciful and compassionate and long-suffering toward transgressors, lengthening probation and waiting for the fruits of humiliation. A threatened judgment is therefore a conditional warning and test that can lead to repentance, not an unconditional prediction that must fall even when people repent. Their repentance lasted only for a season before they returned to idolatry and wickedness until destruction later came, so the plea now calls every church member to repent with all the might and believe with all the heart in conversion and spiritual regeneration, looking to the One mighty to save that He may turn away fierce anger.
Nineveh's Humble Plea
The cry that in forty days the city would be overthrown was carried through the wicked city of wealth and magnificence for three days and nights until the message reached the inhabitants. Multitudes trembled because of their sins and repented in deep humiliation. The king believed the warning and humbled himself and his people before the Lord.
The words who can tell are a humble hope and plea that God might turn and relent from His fierce and burning anger so that they would not perish. It is an appeal for mercy rather than a claim that mercy can be demanded. Their question follows their turning, expressing hope that the judgment announced against them might be withheld and destruction spared.
That hope was joined to fasting and prayer, to humbling in fasting and sackcloth and ashes, and to crying to God. They turned with all their might and heart from the evil way and from the violence in hope of saving the city.
God's Merciful Reprieve
When He saw that they had turned from their evil way, He did not bring upon them the announced disaster. The threatened punishment was withdrawn, the city's doom was averted, and its inhabitants were spared.
The plea reveals a God who grants opportunity to repent and who is merciful, compassionate and long-suffering toward transgressors. He gives warnings and exercises forbearance while repentance remains possible, accepting humiliation, turning away fierce anger, lengthening the days of probation and waiting for the fruits of humiliation. That lengthened probation was granted as forty years in which to show genuine repentance and turn from sin.
A threatened judgment of this kind is a conditional test and warning that can lead people to repent and prepare, not an unconditional prediction of what must happen. A prophet's threatened judgment need not occur when the people repent. The unfulfilled threat is none the less His message, and it accomplishes His purpose.
The repentance of Nineveh lasted only for a season and was temporary. Afterward the people returned to idol and image worship and to conquest, and became more deeply wicked despite the light they had received. Their sins reached to heaven, and the destruction at first averted later came upon them.
Warning for Later Generations
The lengthened probation granted to Nineveh parallels the disappointment of 1844, for when proclaimed judgment does not fall as expected the message was still of God and the delay is mercy to let the warning be heard more widely and to test people with greater light. As with Nineveh, God in mercy grants the world longer time to prepare for His coming, turning away fierce anger and waiting for the fruits of humiliation. Disappointed servants should therefore lay aside selfish sorrow over personal humiliation, as shown by Jonah's grief at mercy when he focused on his own humiliation rather than on compassion for a repentant city, and should rejoice at the reprieve and labor patiently to bring sinners to repentance and salvation.
The verse calls God's people and every church member now to repent with all their might and believe with all their heart as Nineveh did, so that God may turn away His fierce anger from them. This humbling means conversion and a work of spiritual regeneration, putting no confidence in men but looking to the One who is mighty to save all who come to Him. When they humble themselves as Nineveh did, God will fill them with His Spirit, fitting them for His work.
The same sparing mercy is now given to cities whose lives have been wonderfully preserved, giving them opportunity to repent and acknowledge the Lord's mercy with heartfelt repentance. That opportunity means entirely abolishing the liquor saloons and preparing to meet death with armor on. Continuing to legalize and carry on the liquor traffic and continuing the wicked works that brought the cities under rebuke and the chastening hand of God will bring the next stroke to destroy life, for God's forbearance gives time to repent but continued evil may bring destruction.
Their response to the warning made them an example of accepting mercy and becoming sanctified through obedience, leading the heathen world to revere God's law and honor the God of Israel. Their humbling themselves and crying to God stands in contrast to the generation that rejected Christ's preaching, though He was greater than Jonah. Because Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, the men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, while their response is also what Eli failed to do when given a warning and a chance to act. The account of Nineveh before its overthrow places its pre-destruction condition among the examples of societies whose state resembled the world's condition.
After warning of overthrow in forty days cried through the city, the king and inhabitants humbled themselves in trembling, and their question expresses humble hope for mercy rather than a demand that God must relent. That hope was joined to concrete turning, with fasting and prayer, sackcloth and ashes, crying to God and turning with all their might and heart from the evil way and violence. God saw their turning from evil, withdrew the announced disaster and spared the city, showing Him merciful and compassionate and long-suffering toward transgressors, lengthening probation and waiting for the fruits of humiliation. A threatened judgment is therefore a conditional warning and test that can lead to repentance, not an unconditional prediction that must fall even when people repent. Their repentance lasted only for a season before they returned to idolatry and wickedness until destruction later came, so the plea now calls every church member to repent with all the might and believe with all the heart in conversion and spiritual regeneration, looking to the One mighty to save that He may turn away fierce anger.
Nineveh's Humble Plea
The cry that in forty days the city would be overthrown was carried through the wicked city of wealth and magnificence for three days and nights until the message reached the inhabitants. Multitudes trembled because of their sins and repented in deep humiliation. The king believed the warning and humbled himself and his people before the Lord.
The words who can tell are a humble hope and plea that God might turn and relent from His fierce and burning anger so that they would not perish. It is an appeal for mercy rather than a claim that mercy can be demanded. Their question follows their turning, expressing hope that the judgment announced against them might be withheld and destruction spared.
That hope was joined to fasting and prayer, to humbling in fasting and sackcloth and ashes, and to crying to God. They turned with all their might and heart from the evil way and from the violence in hope of saving the city.
God's Merciful Reprieve
When He saw that they had turned from their evil way, He did not bring upon them the announced disaster. The threatened punishment was withdrawn, the city's doom was averted, and its inhabitants were spared.
The plea reveals a God who grants opportunity to repent and who is merciful, compassionate and long-suffering toward transgressors. He gives warnings and exercises forbearance while repentance remains possible, accepting humiliation, turning away fierce anger, lengthening the days of probation and waiting for the fruits of humiliation. That lengthened probation was granted as forty years in which to show genuine repentance and turn from sin.
A threatened judgment of this kind is a conditional test and warning that can lead people to repent and prepare, not an unconditional prediction of what must happen. A prophet's threatened judgment need not occur when the people repent. The unfulfilled threat is none the less His message, and it accomplishes His purpose.
The repentance of Nineveh lasted only for a season and was temporary. Afterward the people returned to idol and image worship and to conquest, and became more deeply wicked despite the light they had received. Their sins reached to heaven, and the destruction at first averted later came upon them.
Warning for Later Generations
The lengthened probation granted to Nineveh parallels the disappointment of 1844, for when proclaimed judgment does not fall as expected the message was still of God and the delay is mercy to let the warning be heard more widely and to test people with greater light. As with Nineveh, God in mercy grants the world longer time to prepare for His coming, turning away fierce anger and waiting for the fruits of humiliation. Disappointed servants should therefore lay aside selfish sorrow over personal humiliation, as shown by Jonah's grief at mercy when he focused on his own humiliation rather than on compassion for a repentant city, and should rejoice at the reprieve and labor patiently to bring sinners to repentance and salvation.
The verse calls God's people and every church member now to repent with all their might and believe with all their heart as Nineveh did, so that God may turn away His fierce anger from them. This humbling means conversion and a work of spiritual regeneration, putting no confidence in men but looking to the One who is mighty to save all who come to Him. When they humble themselves as Nineveh did, God will fill them with His Spirit, fitting them for His work.
The same sparing mercy is now given to cities whose lives have been wonderfully preserved, giving them opportunity to repent and acknowledge the Lord's mercy with heartfelt repentance. That opportunity means entirely abolishing the liquor saloons and preparing to meet death with armor on. Continuing to legalize and carry on the liquor traffic and continuing the wicked works that brought the cities under rebuke and the chastening hand of God will bring the next stroke to destroy life, for God's forbearance gives time to repent but continued evil may bring destruction.
Their response to the warning made them an example of accepting mercy and becoming sanctified through obedience, leading the heathen world to revere God's law and honor the God of Israel. Their humbling themselves and crying to God stands in contrast to the generation that rejected Christ's preaching, though He was greater than Jonah. Because Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, the men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, while their response is also what Eli failed to do when given a warning and a chance to act. The account of Nineveh before its overthrow places its pre-destruction condition among the examples of societies whose state resembled the world's condition.