The Ninevah Revival

    Why was the revival needed?

 If we fundamentalists strictly believe in the inerrancy of God's Word, then let us pay close attention to excatly that which the Word teaches. Jonah 4:2 tells us precisely why God sent this revival to Ninevah. God sent this revival because He is loving and gracious. He wanted to save this generation of Ninevites. The prophet Nahum tells us that God destroyed Ninevah approximately 150 years after Jonah for the sin of apostasy. God did not save the generation of Ninevites before this 150 year window of grace, nor did He save the generation following. Why this particular generation? God does not tell is in detail why.

Who did God use as an instrument of revival?

The Bible plainly states that God used Jonah as His instrument of revival. God's will was to save these Ninevites. The book of Jonah relates that God accomplished His will despite the hardness of the human heart or the freedom of his will. There can be no doubt that the Bible teaches the freedom of the human will because Jonah chose to try to run from God instead of going to Ninevah. If Jonah had not been free, as the Calvinists teach, then he would have been compelled to go to Ninevah despite his hatred for them. Jonah hated the Ninevites because they were a very cruel people who had destroyed thousands of Jonah's people, the Israelites. Jonah was afraid they would repent, and he wanted them to be destroyed. When Jonah finally got to Ninevah and preached, he became angry because they repented and God saved them. The fact that these cruel, idolatrous people were saved bears testimony to the fact that God can and will save anyone no matter how hardhearted they may be. Perhaps, this is the very reason God saved these Ninevites. God wanted to show everyone who reads His Word that He will accomplish His will to save no matter what any sinful man may do.

  What did the revival center upon?

According to God's Word, this revival centered on nothing less than God's will to send this revival. There was no praying for revival. There was no preacher willing to do God's will. There was only God's will. Even after God had severely punished Jonah, causing him to change his mind, Jonah still had rebellion in his heart even as he preached. Jonah got angry with God because the Ninevites repented, and he went out of the city to the east, lay down in the hot sun, and wished to die. Jonah never got right with God in this life, and yet God showed tender love and care for him. This story constitutes a message for all true believers. God loves us and has saved us from our sin despite our sin, heresy, or even faithlessness. II Timothy 2:13. God may punish us, but "He will never leave us or forsake us." Hebrews 13:5.

How can we apply the revival to our own spiritual condition today?

In the third chapter of II Timothy, the Apostle Paul prophetically describes the conditions of the world "in the last days." The Apostle Paul did not blame the Church for the evil conditions of the last days. Jesus severely criticised the Laodicean church in Revelation 3:14-19 for their lukewarmness, but He did not blame them for the evil conditions of the world. In the tenth chapter of the gospel of John, Jesus taught that He knows all of His sheep, and His sheep know Him. This truth makes it manifestly and logically impossible for any souls to go to hell because the Church failed to get the gospel to them. This teaching makes the preaching of the gospel necessary for the salvation of souls, and this cannot be true. The salvation of souls rests solely on the finished work of Christ and has nothing whatsoever to do with the obedience or disobedience of the Church. Jesus taught the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 in order to provide rewards for Christians who would obey Him in getting the gospel message to the world. But Christian obedience has nothing to do with God providing salvation for any believer. Salvation has been provided by Christ alone. 

God provided caring rewards for Jonah because he obeyed God and went to Ninevah. But had Jonah refused to obey God even after being severely punished, this would not have stopped the Ninevah revival. God would have simply sent the revival some other way, and the Bible would have recorded that other way.