1. Matthew 14: The Feeding of the 5,000
1. Matthew 14: The Feeding of the 5,0002. Acts 2: The Day of Pentecost
3. Jonah’s Preaching in Nineveh
4. Moses’ Leading Israel Out of Egypt
ANSWER: Strongest case #3.
Among the historical events recorded in Scripture, the strongest case for the largest number of people is found in Jonah’s preaching in Nineveh.
While the greatest revival is still future, as Revelation 7:9 describes a multitude “which no one could number” coming to God during the Tribulation, the Book of Jonah records one of the largest mass responses to God’s message in the Bible.
After Jonah preached in Nineveh, the people responded with repentance, from the greatest to the least. The king himself humbled himself before God and called the entire city to repentance (Jonah 3:5-9).
The final verse of the book offers an intriguing clue about the city’s size: “And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much livestock?” (Jonah 4:11).
Many Jewish and Christian commentators have understood the 120,000 to refer to young children too young to distinguish right from left. If this interpretation is correct, Nineveh’s total population may have approached 600,000.
While we cannot know exactly how many truly came to faith, the repentance of Nineveh remains one of the greatest spiritual awakenings recorded in Scripture. An entire city responded to the preaching of a single prophet in a matter of days. Indeed, Jonah was a “whale” of an evangelist!