A.All of history is filled with rich lessons for us, and no history is richer in lessons than that which is contained in God’s word.
B.Presently, let us consider the fall of the great city of Nineveh and what its story teaches us today.
II.THE STORY OF NINEVEH
A.Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire.
1.Nineveh was founded by Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah (Gen. 10:6-12), and was located in Upper Mesopotamia near the Tigris River.
2.Assyria was a significant nation in the ancient world from around 1300 to 600 B.C.
a.The Assyrian Empire became the dominant nation from around 850 to 650 B.C.At its height, it controlled territory from Mesopotamia to all the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea to the south through Egypt and to the east through Babylon.The vassal nations were forced to submit to Assyria’s rule and pay tribute to Assyria’s kings.
b.The Assyrians were notorious for their cruelty (Nah. 3:1-3).
i.One of their kings kept this record of his conquests: “I conquered the cities…I caused much slaughter, I destroyed, I devastated, I burned.I took their fighting men prisoners and impaled them on sharpened stakes in full view of their cities.”
ii.Assyria used its reputation to intimidate other nations into submission (they attempted this in Judah during Hezekiah’s reign – Isa. 36-37).
c.The Assyrians were an idolatrous and pagan people who worshipped nature (gods of the sun, the moon, thunder, etc.).Their chief god was Assur, for which Assyria was named.
3.Nineveh became a massive fortress city.
a.In Jonah 3:3, Nineveh is called “an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk,” meaning that it would take three days for a traveler to walk around its perimeter.It was also a one day’s journey through the city’s center (Jon. 3:4).
b.Various archeological findings have indicated that Nineveh’s walls were up to 100 feet tall and wide enough for three chariots to ride side-by-side.In addition, there was a moat around the city 150 wide and 60 feet deep.
c.By the time of Jonah, Nineveh possibly had a population of 600,000 (if the 120,000 persons in Jon. 4:11 refers to children).
B.Around 760 B.C., God sent the prophet Jonah to preach a message of condemnation to Nineveh, which provoked them to repentance.
1.Jonah resisted God’s mission at first because Assyria had pillaged Israel for many years.
a.Jonah wanted nothing to do with Nineveh, so he fled toward Tarshish (Jon. 1:3).
b.God, through the means of a great storm and a great fish, turned Jonah back toward Nineveh.
2.When Jonah finally reached Nineveh, his message was simple: “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown” (Jon. 3:4).
a.When the people of Nineveh heard the message, they all fasted by the king’s decree and put on sackcloth in an attempt to avert God’s wrath (Jon. 3:5-9).
b.When God saw the people’s repentance, He relented from the calamity He intended (Jon. 3:10).
C.In 722 B.C., Assyria besieged Samaria and captured the northern kingdom of Israel.
1.The repentance of Nineveh was short-lived, and soon they were back to their ways of cruelty.
2.King Shalmaneser of Assyria led the siege of Samaria and carried Israel away captive (2Ki. 17:3-23), a blow from which the northern kingdom never recovered.
D.Around 660 B.C., the prophet Nahum announced the coming destruction of Nineveh by the hand of God.
1.One-hundred years after Jonah preached to Nineveh, Nahum brought a similar message as Jonah but with a much different result.This time, there would be no repentance by Nineveh and no relenting by God.
2.Nahum prophesied of how the great, cruel, and wicked city would fall.
a.Notice 1:8 – “But with an overflowing flood (God) will make a complete end of its site, and will pursue His enemies into darkness.”
b.Also notice 2:6 – “The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.”
E.In 612 B.C. Nineveh was destroyed.
1.Nineveh’s destruction is foretold in the Bible, but the historical events are known to us through secular sources.The Bible’s prophecies have been proven by archeology.
2.After a three-month siege of Nineveh, an alliance of Medes, Babylonians, and Scythians was able to enter the city when the Tigris and Khoser rivers flooded their banks and weakened the city walls.The sun-dried mud blocks of the walls and buildings were dissolved in the flood just as Nahum prophesied.
3.The invaders utterly destroyed the city so that it was completely ruined.
a.It was so completely destroyed that explorers did not find the location of Nineveh until A.D. 1842.
b.Again, the prophecy of God was proven, for Nahum said to Nineveh, “You will be hidden” (Nah. 3:11).
III.LESSONS
A.God is willing and able to save anyone.
1.Despite the exceeding wickedness of Nineveh, the word of God through Jonah still led them to repentance and salvation.
a.Jonah’s message of destruction to Nineveh provoked the people’s genuine, godly sorrow that led to their repentance.
b.God’s compassion shows how He loved the people of Nineveh in spite of Jonah’s disapproval (Jon. 4:1) and their ignorant wickedness (Jon. 4:11).
2.Likewise, even the worst of sinners can be saved through the gospel of Christ.
a.God does not desire “for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2Pet. 3:9; see also 1Tim. 2:4).
b.God has sent forth His word to provoke sinners to godly sorrow and repentance that leads to salvation (2Cor. 7:9-10).Just as it was a harsh message of destruction that saved Nineveh, sometimes it is the harsh message of hell that saves sinners.
c.Every sinner can be saved through Christ (consider Paul – 1Tim. 1:12-16).No one should be considered beyond the reach of the gospel or undeserving of hearing the gospel.
B.God is slow to anger, but the guilty will not go unpunished.
1.Nineveh delayed its destruction for a time, but its return to wickedness brought God’s wrath.
a.When Nineveh turned from its wickedness, God relented from the calamity that Jonah had preached.However, this did not give Nineveh permission to return to its sin.
b.One-hundred years later, Nahum brought this message: “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished” (Nah. 1:3).
2.Likewise, a sinner may repent and be saved, but a return to sin will still bring sin’s wages.
a.“Once-saved-always-saved” is a lie that denies the plain truth of the gospel.Repentance from sin is a condition of salvation that must be maintained for life (Rom. 6:2-13).
b.Those who return to sin after obeying the gospel are said to “again crucify to themselves the Son of God” (Heb. 6:4-8).Their final estate is said to be worse for them than before they knew Christ (2Pet. 2:20-22).
C.Nineveh’s repentance leaves us without excuse.
1.Nineveh, as wicked and godless as any city the earth has known, repented because of the simple message of Jonah.
a.Jonah’s message did not even command the people to repent.Instead, their hearts were tender enough that they came to repentance on their own.
b.Jonah’s message did not offer the people of Nineveh any hope, but they were faithful enough to hope for God’s compassion.
2.Today, we have the full gospel of Christ and His abundant grace.If we will not repent, then we are worse than Nineveh, and we are beyond help.
a.Jesus said, “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here” (Matt. 12:41).
b.The superior message of the gospel declares the compassion of God and commands all men to repent (Acts 17:30-31).If we will not respond to the gospel, then our wickedness is greater and our hearts are harder than that of the men of Nineveh.
