Revival in Nineveh: Preacher, People, and Priorities

Jonah 3 opens with the word of the Lord coming unto Jonah “the second time.” God’s mercy gives a restored man another call, and Jonah rises this time and goes to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. The great city hears a plain, hard word: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” That word is not dressed up, softened down, or turned into entertainment. God bids the preaching, and the preaching goes straight to sin, judgment, and the need to turn.

Revival in Nineveh shows what happens when God takes one obedient man and sends His word into a lost city. Jonah did not like those people, and Nineveh was wicked, violent, and ungodly, but God loved them enough to send warning before judgment. The people of Nineveh “believed God.” They did not merely admire Jonah or respond to personality. They heard God in the word, proclaimed a fast, put on sackcloth, and turned from evil.

Revival is shown as people getting right with God. The fire that has gone cold must be stirred again. The joy, zeal, and tenderness that marked the beginning of salvation must be revived. Revival does not start “out there.” Revival starts in the house of God, in clean hearts, in people who get serious about sin, prayer, and winning others to Christ.

The revival in Nineveh involved a man, but the glory belonged to God. God can use anybody, anywhere, anytime. The weak things, the foolish things, the nobodies, and the insignificant are chosen so that no flesh gets the credit. “But God” becomes the answer to every excuse, every limitation, and every small vision.

The revival in Nineveh involved the word of God. Preaching is what God uses to save sinners, restore homes, pull drunkards and dope addicts out of the ditch, and call a nation to Christ. The whole counsel of God must be preached, not buffet-style Christianity, not smooth things for itching ears, not fog machines and entertainment. The word of God is enough.

The revival in Nineveh involved a miracle and God’s mercy. Salvation is the greatest miracle. God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God did not bring the judgment He had threatened. Mercy met repentance, and a whole city was spared. God’s people are called to get clean, get busy, serve now, and not go to heaven empty handed.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Revival starts with clean hearts Revival is not first a crowd, a program, or a citywide movement. Revival begins when God’s people get thoroughly right with God themselves, putting sin under the blood and getting serious again about holy things. A cold heart cannot carry fire to a cold city. [39:08]
• 2. God uses weak vessels God delights to take nobodies and make His power obvious through them. The excuse of inability collapses under the words “but God,” because the Holy Spirit is not limited by human talent, polish, or confidence. Smallness becomes useful when it is surrendered. [48:10]
• 3. Preaching must carry the whole Word God does not call for smooth sayings that scratch itching ears. God calls for the whole counsel of His word, including sin, hell, judgment, repentance, grace, and Christ crucified. Entertainment may gather attention, but preaching is what God uses to save and change souls. [54:40]
• 4. Repentance turns from evil Nineveh’s repentance was not just sorrow, fear, or religious motion. God saw that the people “turned from their evil way,” and that turning showed a heart that had taken His warning seriously. True repentance changes direction, not merely language. [68:22]
• 5. Mercy answers trembling faith Nineveh did not presume on God, but cried, “Who can tell if God will turn?” That trembling hope was enough to drive the city to fasting, ashes, prayer, and repentance. God’s mercy met them not because they deserved it, but because He is gracious to the guilty who turn. [30:56]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [29:19] - Jonah 3 and the Priorities
• [30:14] - Reading Jonah 3
• [32:22] - The Need for Revival Today
• [35:35] - Nineveh’s Great Revival
• [38:31] - Obedience That Sparks Revival
• [44:05] - God Uses a Restored Man
• [52:04] - Preaching the Word of God
• [63:07] - Salvation Is a Miracle
• [67:37] - God’s Mercy on Nineveh
• [69:33] - Do Not Go Empty Handed
• [73:05] - Invitation and Altar Call

Bible Reading

Jonah 3:1-10
Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. [29:53]

1 Corinthians 1:26-27
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; [47:20]

2 Timothy 4:2-3
Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, [54:40]

Isaiah 55:8-9
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. [33:25]

Observation questions

1. In Jonah 3, what did Jonah actually preach in Nineveh, and how is that message described in the chapter? [01:05:11]
2. What are the visible signs in Jonah 3 that Nineveh’s people took God’s warning seriously, from the greatest to the least? [30:14]
3. According to 1 Corinthians 1:26-27, what kind of people does God often choose to use? [48:10]
4. In 2 Timothy 4:2-3, what is Timothy commanded to do, and what problem is he warned about in the people who hear him? [01:00:13]

Interpretation questions

1. Jonah received the word of the Lord “the second time.” What does that show about God’s character toward a servant who has failed, and how might that shape the way believers view their own usefulness after stumbling? [44:29]
2. Jonah 3 says the people of Nineveh “believed God.” Why does that matter? What is the difference between responding to a messenger and truly responding to God Himself? [01:06:20]
3. Nineveh’s repentance included fasting, sackcloth, crying mightily to God, and turning from violence. What does that suggest about the difference between feeling bad about sin and actually repenting? [01:08:22]
4. If God uses weak and unlikely people, as 1 Corinthians 1 says, why do believers still make so many excuses about what they cannot do? What does “but God” change in that thinking? [48:38]

Application questions

1. Revival starts with clean hearts, not with somebody else changing first. Where has the fire gone low in personal walk with God lately—prayer, tenderness over sin, joy, or concern for lost people? What would it look like to get thoroughly right with God in that specific area? [39:08]
2. Jonah had to obey a second call. Has there been an area where God’s direction has been delayed, resisted, or avoided? What would simple obedience look like now instead of later? [38:31]
3. Nineveh did not just feel alarmed; they turned from their evil way. Is there a sin pattern, attitude, habit, or relationship issue that needs an actual change of direction, not just regret? What would turning look like in practice this week? [01:08:25]
4. God often uses weak vessels so that He gets the glory. What excuses come up most often—fear, lack of ability, past failure, feeling too small? How might “but God” answer those excuses in a real situation right now? [49:17]
5. The word of God is enough. Is there a tendency to want only the comforting parts of Scripture while avoiding the parts that reprove or rebuke? Which truths are hardest to receive right now, and why? [54:40]
6. Mercy met a city that trembled and turned. Is there an area where hope has been small, yet there is still need to cry out to God and seek His mercy? What would humble, serious prayer about that situation sound like? [30:56]
7. There is a warning not to go to heaven empty handed. What is one concrete way to serve Christ now—through witness, prayer, discipleship, giving, or helping others—rather than waiting for a more convenient time? [01:09:33]