Day 395: Is forgiveness free? Jonah 3 vs 1 - 10

1-2 The Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.” 3 This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all.  4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” 

5-9 The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow. When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city “No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.” 10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the disaster which He had declared that He would bring upon them. And He did not do it. Jonah 3:1-10 New Living Translation paraphrase and the Amplified Bible

How wonderful that God speaks 'a second time' to servants who've been disobedient. “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times?” asked Peter, the disciple of Jesus. To which Jesus replied “I tell you, not as many as seven, but seventy times seven!” (Matthew 18:20-22) The wideness of God's mercy is something even God's people find difficult to fully grasp. But mercy and forgiveness are not to be taken for granted. How did the people respond to the preaching of Jonah that their city was under God's wrath and imminent judgment? (vs 5-9)

There was heartfelt repentance - from the King on the throne to the farmer in the field. All the people of that huge city (as described in vs 3) humbled themselves in the hope of mercy. And, as vs 10 tells us, they 'turned form their wicked ways'. We're not told if the miracle of Jonah's three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish had gone ahead of him. Many years later Jesus referred to that as 'the sign of Jonah', and He spoke of how the people of Nineveh 'repented at Jonah’s preaching.' (Matthew 12:40-41) So perhaps they had heard of Jonah’s experience, and that was one reason why, instead of scoffing at his message, they saw him as a true prophet from God and believed. And we read those encouraging words: “When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the disaster which He had declared that He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.”(vs 10)

God's mercy is truly wide, and, yes, freely given – just as ours must be to “my brother or sister who sins against me.” But saying sorry and turning from wickedness is also involved. John 3:17 says: “God didn't send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Anyone who believes in him is not condemned.” Then vs 36 adds :“But the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.” Forgiveness needs to be sought.