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There was never a mission undertaken apparently more unpromising than this of Jonah to Nineveh. Here was. —

I. A MOST UNSUITABLE MISSIONARY.

1. To begin with, he was thoroughly unwilling to go. His reason he gives in Jonah 4:2. He was fearful that the heathen would repent at his preaching, and in that case God would have compassion, and forgive and spare them. What a fear to be entertained by a missionary!

2. Unsuitable because of the self-deception which he could practise on himself, and his moral confusion and compromise. Let us not think worse of Jonah than the case demands. He has his good traits. At least he is honest, and he is as severe on himself as he is on others.

3. It would have seemed unfavourable also that Jonah should be sent on such a mission entirely alone.

II. NINEVEH WAS A VERY DIFFICULT FIELD. Perhaps the most discouraging thing about it was that its people already knew Jonah's country, his race, and his religion, and thoroughly despised them all. It was to the proud metropolis of a resistless empire, overflowing with wealth and numbers, filled with insolence and luxury, that the lonely man from the village of Gath-hepher was sent. And did it not make matters worse that God had bidden Jonah to carry to Nineveh such a disheartening, exasperating message?

III. YET THE MISSION OF JONAH WAS A SUCCESS. A success scarcely paralleled in ancient or in modern times. Nineveh "believed God." It is not possible to tell the extent or the permanence of this national repentance. Learn —

1. All races of men have been in God's loving care.

2. We see the method of God's mercy to the heathen.

3. We may cherish great expectations concerning the hardest fields of the heathen world.

4. The religious use of fear.

5. The moral power of leaders, whether social or political.

6. Learn Christ's own lessons from this history.

(Arthur Mitchell, D. D.)

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KJV: And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,

WEB: The word of Yahweh came to Jonah the second time, saying,