<p>11:32 <i>The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it- </i>We must read in an ellipsis, &lsquo;the people of this generation&rsquo;. For individuals and not entire generations will be judged. 'Standing up' is possibly an allusion to the resurrection of the responsible at the last day, but more likely the figure is of a judge arising in judgment to state the verdict; which in this case, is condemnation. The Lord in :19 has spoken of how the children of the Jews would judge those Jews in the last day. The Lord clearly seems to envisage the judgment process as having a public dimension to it. The fact one person was spiritually responsive, given a similar or harder set of circumstances than what another has had who did not respond, will therefore as it were be the judgment of the person who didn&rsquo;t respond. It clearly won&rsquo;t be merely an awards ceremony nor a yes / no decision, but rather will context and precedent from others be taken into account. &lsquo;If&nbsp;<i>they</i>&nbsp;responded and&nbsp;<i>you</i>&nbsp;did not, given similar circumstances, then&nbsp;<i>they</i>&nbsp;will condemn&nbsp;<i>you</i>&rsquo;- that seems to be the Lord&rsquo;s reasoning.</p><p>The truly righteous among the remnant &quot;shall tread down the wicked... (as) ashes under the soles of your feet&quot; (Malachi 4:3). &quot;The wicked&quot; are those of Malachi 3:18 and 4:1 - the unspiritual element amongst the latter-day Jewish 'remnant' in Jerusalem. This implies that in some way the spiritual Jews acceptable to Jesus will mete out judgment on the rejected ones.&nbsp;Perhaps in similar fashion the men of Nineveh will condemn the first century Jews at the judgment (Luke 11:32), and we will judge Angels (1 Cor. 6:3). In this way the righteous remnant shall &quot;discern (judge) between the righteous and the wicked&quot; (Malachi 3:18). The men of&nbsp;Nineveh will condemn first century Israel, just as the folly of the rejected will be made manifest unto all men (2 Tim. 3:9). This is not so as to simply humiliate the rejected. It is so that the faithful&nbsp;<i>learn&nbsp;</i>something too. This was all foreshadowed in the way that Israel experienced their judgments in the sight of the nations, so that God's principles would be taught even to the Gentile world (Ez. 5:8,15). Indeed, the idea of God executing judgment on His people&nbsp;<i>in the sight</i>&nbsp;of others is quite common (e.g. Ez. 5:8; 16:41). But we can learn the principles of God's judgments right now, from His word.</p><p><i>For they repented- </i>The Lord has explained that initially the people had responded to John&rsquo;s message- the demon had been as it were cast out and the house of Israel left swept and cleaned. But both John and Jesus appealed for repentance, in the very same words: &ldquo;Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand&rdquo; (Mt. 3:2; 4:17). But they had not really repented; they had responded to a religious message but not really repented. And the challenge comes down to us- as to whether our repentance, along with any spiritual act, is indeed the real thing or a mere appearance.</p><p><i>At the preaching of Jonah, and behold, a greater than Jonah is here</i>- This effectively is a noun, referring to &quot;the preaching&quot; as in the message of Jonah. What he preached was judgment to come, and the Ninevites repented on hearing it. The Lord was teaching not only judgment to come, but was making specific the call to repentance implicit within that message, and urging people to accept God's grace. Hence those who heard Him were even more guilty before the Ninevites. Jonah's preaching occurred&nbsp;<i>after</i>&nbsp;he had been three days within the whale; after the Lord had been three days in the earth, He too would preach mightily, through the ministry of those 'in Him' who were effectively His representatives and appealed on His behalf. But He reasons as if that appeal was already being made- as if in essence He had already passed through the cross and resurrection. This is not the only time He reasons in this way; in proclaiming Himself Lord, the serpent lifted up on the pole, the One who had already &quot;overcome the world&quot;, He reasoned as if the successful outcome of His death had already occurred. Such was His faith that He would come forth triumphant.</p>