The mysterious men of Nineveh

The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here. Luke 11:32

Interesting people, the “men of Nineveh”…

They figure in the Old Testament as enemies of God’s people, Israel. Their famous city was the capital of Assyria which, like the other Old Testament super-powers – Philistia, Babylon, Persia and the rest – eventually became just another empire that has risen and fallen.

So it’s fascinating - even slightly startling - to find them right here in the Gospels (Luke 11:29-32 and Matthew 12:39-42). And even more fascinating to find them mentioned by Jesus in a favourable light. He portrays them as playing a part at the final judgment (how surprising is that!) when they will, he says, stand up to condemn his own contemporaries (and how surprising is that!).

The key, of course, is the strange story of Jonah, God’s runaway prophet. When Jonah eventually decided to fall in with God’s plan (albeit very grumpily) it seems his preaching sparked a revival throughout Nineveh: “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened” (Jonah 3:10). And so, says Jesus, at the judgment day they will be better placed than many members of God’s own people.

Where is this little-known saying of Jesus taking us?

Well, we are used to thinking – and rightly, of course – that it is only through the work of Jesus that anyone can have any hope of being saved at the final judgment. He explicitly stated, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Simon Peter echoes this in the immediate aftermath of Pentecost, proclaiming “Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

For obvious reasons, the Ninevites never heard the name of Jesus: indeed, the message they did hear was purely a warning about destruction to come (Jonah 1:2 and 3:4); certainly no “gospel”! So it seems that their standing before God is doubtful, to say the least. And yet Jesus spoke in this very positive way… What’s going on?

We may say, of course (and I personally would say), that Jesus’ words are not to be taken literally: they are his dramatic way of pointing out to the people of his own time that pagan people who know nothing of God’s word put them to shame. But even if that is right, the fact remains that Jesus himself puts such people in a better light than those who have received the word of God over many centuries.

This raises an intriguing question: Is it possible for someone to be saved through Christ even though they have never heard his name?

Could it be that God, in his grace, applies the benefits of Christ’s atoning death and resurrection to people who, through no fault of their own, have never had the opportunity to hear the gospel message? Not that they are saved by their own works; but that the blood of Jesus is accepted for them?

Different Christians will take differing views on that. But as far as I am aware, even the most literally-minded Bible-readers accept that the Old Testament “saints” are saved, even though they never heard the name of Jesus. Elijah and Moses, for example, appeared “talking with Jesus” on the mount of transfiguration, which would seem very strange if they are in fact eternally lost (Mark 9:2-13). Not to mention Hannah and David and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Hezekiah… plus untold numbers of faithful Israelites whose names are not known to us.

Somebody might say, “But hang on a minute! What about faith? Doesn’t the New Testament tell us that ‘it is by grace we have been saved, through faith’ (Ephesians 2:8), and how can anybody have faith in Jesus if they have never heard of him?”

But that makes faith sound more like a threatening condition we must fulfil – “You’d better have faith or you will be eternally condemned!” - rather than a loving invitation offered – “If you are fearful of being eternally condemned, simply put your faith in what Jesus did on the cross”.

In other words, the call to trust in Jesus is an invitation for those who know their need of forgiveness and who have been told about him; it isn’t a threat for those who have never heard of him.

Of course, we have no way of knowing about the eternal destiny of those Ninevites Jonah preached to. (As a matter of fact, the Old Testament as a whole doesn’t show very much interest at all in matters of life beyond death.)

But what we do know is that God loves all whom he has made, and “does not want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). And everyone means everyone – those who lived before Christ, and those of us who have come after; those of us who have had the privilege of hearing the good news of Jesus, and those who for whatever reason haven’t.

I can’t say for sure, of course, but I can’t help wondering: Will there be people who wake up on judgment day, open their eyes blinking in wonderment, and ask “How did I come to be in this glorious place?” And perhaps a nearby angel will point them to a man with wound marks in his hands and feet and side, and will say “How? That’s how…”

If we get chatting with them (assuming that chatting with people will be part of the life of heaven) and ask them where they came from, they might reply, “From a big city called Nineveh. In its time it was the greatest city in the world. But it was, oh! nothing like this…”

Father, thank you for Jesus’ intriguing word about the men of Nineveh, and for the hope it gives us even for those who have never heard the name of Jesus. May this prospect make us more eager, not less, to make that name known wherever and whenever we can. Amen.