Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, “In 40 days Nineveh will be demolished!” The men of Nineveh believed in God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth — from the greatest of them to the least.
The turning of a rebellious heart back toward God is nothing short of a miracle – the miracle of true repentance motivated by faith. Only God Himself could spark such a response of faith in such a rebellious place by means of a message of coming destruction. The straightforward preaching of God’s truth about sin and rebellion brings miraculous results whenever God is at work.