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Jonah 3:10 God relents Day 328

Good afternoon friends,

We now find Jonah at Nineveh and the Ninevites respond in faith to God's warning given by Jonah.  We have another "God changed his mind" situation to deal with. I would be happy to talk with you if you have a limited view of God's sovereignty.  Please make a comment if you do.

Blessings

Jeff

Isn't it wonderful that pagans can get God to change his mind by just putting on sackcloth and ashes?  This is how some think about salvation.  If I just decide on my own to "turn from my evil ways" that God will not destroy me.  But let us probe this point of view a little.

What prompted the people of Nineveh to change their ways?  If Jonah had not come and warned them, would they have done this?  Clearly not.  They were perfectly happy with "the violence that was in their hands".  The Assyrians were notoriously brutal and were dominant military power.  Their evil deeds were what got them to prominence. They would never have changed without Jonah's very simple warning. 

Okay, so people need to be informed about God's wrath before they change their ways, but it is still their choice to change isn't it?  If this was the case, then people would chose to change the first time they heard about God's wrath.  However, this just doesn't happen.  People reject warnings of destruction all the time.

So why did the Ninevites change?  Again, we hear the argument that "God would never violate man's free will".  Threatening destruction sounds pretty coercive to me.  But if God changes the heart first, then they would admit that they are on the wrong side and the external acts of repentance would follow.

Of course the audience for Jonah is Israel as he lived in the time of Jeroboam II.  God sends a messenger to a pagan nation who will one day conquer  the northern kingdom.  That pagan nation repents while the Israelites refuse to repent.

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