109.約拿書3:4

109. The Ninevites' Repentance

And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Jonah 3:4
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. — Matthew 12:41
OUR Lord never lost patience with an audience, and never brought railing accusation against any man: his rebuke was well deserved.
Nineveh under Jonah was indeed a reproof to the Jerusalem of our Lord's day, for the Jews, though favored with his divine ministry, did not repent, but wickedly crucified the Messenger of peace.
Might not our Lord rebuke the unbelievers of our day in the same way? Is not Nineveh a reproach to England?
Let us see.
The men of Nineveh repented, and turned to God; and yet—

I. THEIR CALLS TO REPENTANCE WERE NOT MANY.

Many unbelievers have been warned and entreated times without number, and yet they remain impenitent; but:

  • Nineveh enjoyed no privileges: it was in heathen darkness.
  • Nineveh heard but one prophet; and he was none of the greatest, or most affectionate.
  • Nineveh heard that prophet only once; and that was an open-air sermon, very short and very monotonous.
  • Nineveh had heard no word of good tidings; she heard the thunder of the law, but nothing else.

Yet the obedience to the warning was immediate, universal, practical, and acceptable, so that the city was spared.

II. THE MESSAGE Of THE PROPHET WAS NOT ENCOURAGING.

1. He proclaimed no promise of pardon.
2. He did not even mention repentance; and consequently he held out no hope to the penitent.
3. He foretold a crushing and final doom: "Nineveh shall be overthrown." His message began and ended with threatening.
4. He mentioned a speedy day: "yet forty days."

Yet out of this dreadful message the people made a gospel, and so acted as on it to find deliverance; while to many of us the rich, free, sure promise of the Lord has been of no force through our unbelief.
Those who heard the teaching of Jesus were, like ourselves, highly favored, for "never man spake like this Man"; and, like us, they were grievously guilty in that they repented not.

III. THE PROPHET HIMSELF WAS NO HELPER TO THEIR HOPE.

Jonah was no loving, tender pastor, anxious to gather the lost sheep.

1. He disliked the ministry in which he was engaged, and no doubt discharged it in a hard, harsh manner.
2. He uttered no word of sympathetic love, for he had none in his heart. He was of the school of Elijah, and knew not the love which burned in the heart of Jesus.
3. He offered no prayer of loving pity.
4. He was even displeased that the city was spared.

Yet these people obeyed his voice, and obtained mercy through hearkening to his warnings. Does not this rebuke many who have been favored with tender and loving admonitions? Certainly it rebuked those who lived in our Lord's day, for no two persons could afford a more singular contrast than Jonah and our Lord.
Indeed, a "greater," better, tenderer than Jonah was there.

IV. THE HOPE TO WHICH THE NINEVITES COULD REACH WAS SLENDER.

It was no more than, "Who can tell?"
1. They had no revelation of the character of the God of Israel.
2. They knew nothing of an atoning sacrifice.
3. They had received no invitation to seek the Lord, not even a command to repent.
4. Their argument was mainly negative. Nothing was said against their repenting. They could not be the worse for repenting.
5. The positive argument was slender.

The mission of the prophet was a warning: even a warning implies a degree of mercy: they ventured upon that bare hope, saying, "Who can tell?" Have we not all at least this much of hope? Have we not far more in the gospel? Will we not venture upon it?

Monitions

I saw a cannon shot off. The men at whom it was leveled fell fiat on the ground, and so escaped the bullet. Against such blows, falling is all the fencing, and prostration all the armor of proof. But that which gave them notice to fall down was their perceiving of the fire before the ordnance was discharged. Oh! the mercy of that fire;, which, as it were, repenting of the mischief it had done, and the murder it might make, ran a race, and out-stripped the bullet, that men (at the sight thereof) might be provided, when they could not resist to prevent it! Thus every murdering-piece is also a warning-piece against itself.
God, in like manner, warns before he wounds; frights before he fights "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Oh, let us fall down before the Lord our Maker! Then shall his anger be pleased to make in us a daily pass-over, and his bullets leveled at us must fly above us. — Thomas Fuller

"I have heard," says Mr. Daniel Wilson, in a sermon of his, "of a certain person whose name I could mention, who was tempted to conclude his day over, and him- self lost; that, therefore, it was his best course to put an end to his life, which, if continued, would but serve to increase his sin, and consequently his misery, from which there was no escape; and seeing he must be in hell, the sooner he was there the sooner he should know the worst; which was preferable to his being worn away with the tormenting expectation of what was to come. Under the influence of such suggestions as these, he went to a river, with a design to throw himself in; but as he was about to do it, he seemed to hear a voice saying to him, 'Who can tell,' as if the words had been audibly delivered. By this, therefore, he was brought to a stand; his thoughts were arrested, and thus began to work on the passage mentioned: ' Who can tell? (Jon. 3:9) viz., What God can do when he will proclaim his grace glorious. Who can tell but such an one as I may find mercy? or what will be the issue of humble prayer to heaven for it? Who can tell what purposes God will serve in my recovery?' By such thoughts as these, being so far influenced as to resolve to try, it pleased God graciously to enable him, through all his doubts and fears, to throw himself by faith on Jesus Christ, as able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him, humbly desiring and expecting mercy for his sake, to his own soul. In this he was not disappointed; but afterwards became an eminent Christian and minister: and, from his own experience of the riches of grace, was greatly useful to the conversion and comfort of others:' — Religious and Moral Anecdotes

Charles Hadden Spurgeon

109．尼尼微人的悔改

「約拿進城走了一日，宣告說：『再過四十日，尼尼微必傾覆！』」——約拿書 3:4 (4約拿進城走了一日，宣告說：「再等四十日，尼尼微必傾覆了！」)
「當審判的時候，尼尼微人要起來定這世代的罪；因為尼尼微人聽了約拿所傳的就悔改了；看哪，在這裡有一位比約拿更大的。」
——馬太福音 12:41 (41當審判的時候，尼尼微人要起來定這世代的罪，因為尼尼微人聽了約拿所傳的就悔改了。看哪，在這裏有一人比約拿更大！)
我們的主從不對聽眾失去耐心，也從不對任何人發出辱罵的控訴；祂的責備乃是當得的。
在約拿時代的尼尼微，確實成了主耶穌時代耶路撒冷的責備；因為猶太人既蒙祂神聖的事奉，卻仍不悔改，反而惡意地把和平的使者釘在十字架上。
難道我們的主不能用同樣的方式責備今日的不信之人嗎？尼尼微豈不也成了英格蘭的羞愧嗎？
讓我們來看看。
尼尼微人悔改，歸向神；然而——

一、他們蒙召悔改的次數並不多

許多不信的人被警告、被勸勉無數次，仍然不肯悔改；但——

  • 尼尼微毫無屬靈特權，仍在外邦的黑暗之中。
  • 尼尼微只聽見一位先知；而且他既不是最偉大的，也不是最慈愛的。
  • 尼尼微只聽那先知講過一次；而且是在露天，信息極短，又十分單調。
  • 尼尼微沒有聽見任何好消息；她只聽見律法的雷聲，除此之外一無所有。

然而，對這警告的回應卻是即刻的、普遍的、實際的，且為神所悅納，以致整座城得以存留。

二、先知的信息毫不令人振奮

  1. 他沒有宣告任何赦免的應許。
  2. 他甚至沒有提到悔改，因此也沒有給悔改的人任何盼望。
  3. 他預言的是徹底而終極的審判：「尼尼微必傾覆。」他的話從頭到尾都是威嚇。
  4. 他指出了迫近的日期：「再過四十日。」

然而，百姓竟從這可怕的信息中讀出了福音，並按此行動而得拯救；反觀我們，對主那豐富、白白、確實的應許，卻因不信而毫無反應。
那些親耳聽過耶穌教訓的人，與我們一樣，是極其蒙恩的——因為「從來沒有像祂這樣說話的」；但他們也與我們一樣，因不悔改而犯了極大的罪。

三、先知本人並未成為他們盼望的幫助

約拿並非一位充滿愛心、溫柔牧養、渴望尋回迷羊的牧者。

  1. 他不喜歡自己所從事的事奉，毫無疑問，是以冷硬、嚴厲的方式完成使命。
  2. 他沒有說出任何同情的話，因為他心中沒有憐憫；他屬於以利亞的學派，卻不認識燃燒在耶穌心中的愛。
  3. 他沒有獻上任何充滿慈憐的代求禱告。
  4. 當城得以存留時，他甚至感到不悅。

然而，這些人仍然聽從他的話，因聽信警告而得著憐憫。這豈不責備了那些蒙受溫柔、慈愛勸戒卻仍不悔改的人嗎？這對主耶穌時代的人更是極大的責備，因為約拿與我們的主，實在形成了最鮮明的對比。
的確，那裡有一位比約拿更大、更好、更溫柔的。

四、尼尼微人所能達到的盼望極其微弱

他們所能說的，不過是：「或者（誰知道呢？）」

  1. 他們對以色列之神的性情毫無啟示。
  2. 他們不知道任何贖罪的祭。
  3. 他們未曾領受尋求耶和華的邀請，甚至沒有被明確命令要悔改。
  4. 他們的推論主要是消極的：沒有人說悔改是錯的；悔改總不會使情況更糟。
  5. 他們的正面理由極其薄弱。

先知的使命是警告；而警告本身就暗含一分憐憫。他們正是冒著這僅存的盼望說：「誰知道呢？」
我們至少也有這樣的盼望吧？我們在福音裡所得的，豈不遠超過此？我們豈不更該憑此冒險一試嗎？

勸戒（Monitions）

我曾看見一門大炮發射。那些成為目標的人立刻俯伏在地，便躲過了炮彈。面對這樣的打擊，俯伏就是全部的防禦，降卑就是最好的盔甲。而使他們得以及時俯伏的，乃是他們在火藥點燃、炮彈發射之前，看見了火光。啊！那火光的憐憫，彷彿後悔將要造成的傷害，竟跑在炮彈前面，讓人來得及預備，在無法抵擋時仍能得救！因此，每一件殺人的兵器，也同時成了警告自己的器具。
神也是如此：祂先警告，後擊打；先驚嚇，後爭戰——「再過四十日，尼尼微必傾覆。」
噢，讓我們俯伏在耶和華——我們的造物主面前吧！如此，祂的忿怒必樂意天天在我們身上施行逾越；那原本指向我們的子彈，必要從我們頭上飛過。——湯瑪斯．富勒（Thomas Fuller）

丹尼爾．威爾遜先生在一篇講道中說過這樣一件事：「我聽說過一個人——我可以說出他的名字——他被試探而認定自己此生已經完結，自己注定沉淪；因此他以為最好的路就是結束生命，因為若活下去，只會增加罪惡與痛苦，而又無路可逃；既然必定下地獄，越早到那裡，就越早知道最壞的結果，總好過被對未來的恐懼慢慢折磨。帶著這樣的念頭，他走到河邊，打算投河自盡；正要跳下去時，彷彿聽見有聲音對他說：『誰知道呢？』彷彿是清楚地說出來一般。這聲音使他停住腳步，思想被攔住，開始反覆思量那段經文：『誰知道呢？』（拿 3:9 9或者神轉意後悔，不發烈怒，使我們不致滅亡，也未可知。」）——也就是說：誰知道神在何時會彰顯祂榮耀的恩典？誰知道像我這樣的人不能得憐憫？誰知道謙卑向天禱告的結果會如何？誰知道神要在我復原的事上成就什麼旨意？這些思想使他下定決心嘗試；神便施恩，使他在一切疑惑與恐懼中，憑信心投靠耶穌基督，相信祂能完全拯救凡藉著祂到神面前來的人，並為自己謙卑地祈求、等候憐憫。結果他並未失望；後來成為一位卓越的基督徒與傳道人，並因自己親身經歷神豐富的恩典，大大幫助了許多人的歸信與安慰。」——《宗教與道德軼事集》

——查爾斯．哈登．司布真
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