THE GLORIOUS RESULTS AMONGST THE PEOPLE 1. King forsook his throne and royal ways. How submissive, verse 6. 2. How publicly he displayed his repentance. Verse 6. 3. He endorsed the message of Jonah. Verses 7-8. His proclamation. The sins for which Nineveh was known and to which she later returned, Nahum 3:1. 4. The faith displayed. Verse 9. 5. The fervent prayer offered. Verse 8. THE RESPONSE OF GOD TO NINEVEH'S REPENTANCE "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not," Jonah 3:10. Calvin explained these words as meaning: "Now as to what Jonah adds, that God was led to repent, it is a mode of speaking that ought to be sufficiently known to us. Strictly speaking, no repentance can belong to God: and it ought not to be ascribed to his secret and hidden counsel. God then is in himself ever the same, and consistent with himself; but he is said to repent, when a regard is had to the comprehension of men: for as we conceive God to be angry, whenever he summons us to his tribunal, and shows to us our sins; so also we conceive him to be placable, when he offers the hope of pardon. But it is according to our perceptions that there is any change, when God forgets his wrath, as though he had put on a new character.