Bible Reading: 1 Chronicles 19 & 20; 1 Peter 1; Jonah 3; Luke 8
Jonah 3:8-9 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
We need a Biblical definition of repentance! If God is said to repent then it cannot mean to be sorry for sins because God has no sin to be sorry for! Repentance means to change the mind and there are times when God’s judgment is accompanied with a proviso. He says he will being judgment unless the people repent. The king of Nineveh heard the message of God’s coming judgment that Jonah brought and believed the Word of God. He ordered the people to mourn and to cry out to God. He told them to turn from their evil ways. He said, maybe God would decide to show mercy instead of judgment. This pagan king’s words sound familiar. There was another king who said something similar during a time of God’s judgment upon him.
When people saw the behavior of David change after the death of Bathsheba’s child, they asked him why he fasted and mourned while the child lived but he washed and ate after he learned of the child’s death. David replied:
2 Samuel 12:22 And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?
Who can tell? For David, there was no change – God’s judgment was final. For Nineveh, God saw their repentance and he stayed his judgment. Many times in Scripture God does this. He says he will bring judgment unless the people change. Not only did the people change their wicked behavior, but they believed on God to salvation. Jesus said:
Matthew 12:41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
Jesus wants us to look to the men of Nineveh as an example. When they heard the preaching of Jonah, they repented and were saved. We will meet these men in heaven! We need to be more like them when we are confronted with the Word of God. If our lives do not line up with Scripture, we must change! God is gracious and he invites us to repent and trust him.
In Christ,
Rody
