"When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that He had said he would do to them, and He did not do it." (Jonah 3:10)How was it possible that God "relented"? Isn't God unchangeable? Isn't His Word irreversible? Isn't that one of the great promises we have that God's Word is not capricious?
Are we to believe that just because a few prayers are made and some people have a religious experience God calls the punishment off? Is that what happened?
What Jonah reports is true. God did relent of the calamity He promised to do. But this does not mean that justice wasn't served.
One of the struggle we humans have is that our lives are framed by time. God's existence isn't. He lives in the eternal present without any boundaries of time and space. He is infinite in His existence. So although God changed His mind concerning the immediate punishment He did not have an overall change of mind about justice. In the eternal present reality of His existence, His Son Jesus was nailed to the Cross for sin in the past, present and future. Although Jonah didn't see it and the people of Nineveh didn't realize it - God did. He knew that justice would be served through the death of His Son who bore sin.
The deep mercy of God in not bringing disaster to the Assyrian sinners meant that God had determined to bring disaster to the pure and perfect sacrifice - Jesus Christ. This is the gospel and it is the only hope for sinners like us.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Amen and Amen - and I am so thankful that God did or else there would be no hope for a sinner like me. Thank you Lord!
ReplyDeleteA question about Jonah though. You mentioned that Jonah said to throw him overboard because he was the cause of the storm - to commit suicide. Yet why did he tell the sailors to do it. What didn't he just do it himself if he knew he was the cause? I always wondered about this.
Thanks for the great message and thoughts. Appreciate it especially at this time of year!