Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I begin this weekend with an important question for every human being: Is Almighty God watching all events among humanity here on earth and does God respond to what He sees taking place here? We know the Bible declares humanity is created by God in God’s image. (Gen. 1:26,27) We understand part of what distinguishes humanity from all other things God has created is our moral and spiritual capacity to understand there is an Almighty, Holy, Creator God who has created our Universe and us, the human race. (Is. 40:25-28)
We also have the capacity to know God; enter into a relationship with God; experience the love and work of God in our lives; communicate with God; and live understanding God’s attributes, including His justice and mercy. (Is. 42:5-9) We understand the Bible teaches us God is Sovereign which means God has authority over all things at all times in all places and God has the ultimate God freedom to act in any way God chooses at any time.(Is.46:8-10) We also understand God has clearly declared every person will stand before God in accountability for his or her lifetime. (Heb. 4:13)
Jonah, the Jewish prophet of God, understood these things and had been obedient to God’s commission to him by going to the great yet wicked city of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, one of the most wicked cities on earth. Jonah had gone to give the people of Nineveh a warning from God. “40 more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” (Jonah 3:4)
The King and the people of Nineveh immediately went into a season of profound and genuine repentance seeking forgiveness from the God of Israel. The King had proclaimed: “Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from His fierce anger so that we will not perish.” (Jonah 3:8,9)
I presume this means the King had called Jonah to his throne room and questioned Jonah to understand as fully as he could, WHO Jonah’s God was; WHY Jonah’s God was so upset with Nineveh; WHY Jonah’s God was giving Nineveh a warning without simply unleashing judgment upon Nineveh. I have no doubt the King earnestly questioned Jonah regarding what Nineveh could do to escape God’s destructive judgment?
Jonah does not give us any record of those throne room conversations which I presume happened but clearly all people of the world understand the concept of repentance for evil and appealing for mercy. That’s what we hope for when a person has harmed us and we long to hear their apology, right?
Jonah, of course, was not able to give the Nineveh King any assurance that God would relent and forgive his wicked city rather than destroy them in judgment. God had not made that promise nor even offered forgiveness as an option. God’s warning through Jonah was that judgment was coming, period! It was the King of Nineveh who called his people to serious repentance, fasting and prayer and the King’s clear statement of hope was: “Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from His fierce anger so that we will not perish.” Perhaps the King of Nineveh had sent his wise advisors on a historical search of Israel’s past and the reputation of Israel’s God to see if MERCY was one of the attributes of the God of Israel. Let’s pause for a few seconds right here friends. What is your understanding of the MERCY of Almighty, Holy God?
“Mercy” means a person does NOT receive the justice judgment they deserve. The God of Israel, in dealing with His people, had repeatedly shown them that “MERCY” is one of His great attributes, but “MERCY” is not arbitrarily given. The “mercy” of God comes in response to genuine recognition of wickedness, remorse for the damage of wickedness and repentance from wickedness.
That was the promise of God to King Solomon, remember? “If MY people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land…” (2 Chronicles 7:14) All Israelites knew and cherished that promise from God made to King Solomon on the occasion of the dedication of the great Temple in Jerusalem.
But Jonah and all Jews saw 2 Chronicles 7:14 as a promise made by the God of Israel to the people of Israel, not anyone else! God has said “If MY people, who are called by MY name, will humble themselves and pray…” In fact Jonah and most Jews would have quickly rejected any notion that this offer of God to His people could be claimed by anyone other than the people of Israel, no matter how repentant they might be.
In Jonah’s heart and mind the wickedness of the Assyrian people, especially those of Nineveh was so bad, so brutal, so vicious, so wicked, it was simply unpardonable. Their wickedness warranted ONLY the harsh but justice judgment of God and in Jonah’s mind I’m sure he imagined it would be similar to Sodom and Gomorrah and there would be nothing but smoldering ashes left of this city and every person within it, when God was finished pouring out His judgment. So I left you yesterday sitting with Jonah in his little shelter, watching and waiting for fire to fall from heaven on Nineveh.
But Jonah’s record makes this clear, simple, bold statement which summarizes God’s Nineveh response: “When God saw what the Ninevites did and how they turned from their evil ways, God relented and did NOT bring on them the destruction He had threatened.” (Jonah 3:10) I wonder if that seems like God justice to you, my friends?
Perhaps it would help if we compared this King of Nineveh and his army to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi army of WWII or Paul Pot and his Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia in the 1970’s. Similar to the extermination camps of the Nazi’s, the ‘killing fields’ of the Khmer Rouge evidenced the brutal slaughter of perhaps 2 million Cambodians! Of course there are many other horrific world examples especially in the 20th & 21st century.
What is the truth in your heart of how you balance God’s justice judgment with God’s mercy when you think of genocide and horrific brutality that defies description in man’s inhumanity to man?
When it became clear to Jonah that God had relented and would not destroy Nineveh, Jonah was deeply troubled, in fact he was angry! Jonah records this to describe his thoughts and feelings: “But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and Jonah became angry. Jonah prayed to the LORD God, “Isn’t this what I said, LORD, when I was still at home? This is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.“ (Jonah 4:1-3)
What? Jonah was not only angry with God’s mercy for Nineveh, Jonah asked God to take his life? Do you remember that the Bible records two other great spiritual heroes who reached the same place of desperation? Elijah (1 Kings 19:3,4) and Moses (Numbers 11:10-15).
Now my friends, we need to pause right here and contemplate this. How can three of the most significant men in Biblical history each come to the place of such discouragement and frustration that they simply want to die? How does that compare to some of the times of deep discouragement you have faced and how has God met you in those dark places? How has God given you hope to keep going?
Let’s pause and reflect here and on Monday we’ll see what God’s answer to Jonah was, and here’s another great worship song to help us consider God’s hope in times of great discouragement.
Today’s Scripture: Jonah 3:9-4:3.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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