We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Ah Jonah, Jonah, Jonah...God had given him the mission to go to Nineveh to deliver a prophetic warning, “In forty days Nineveh [will be] annihilated!” But Jonah, in an effort to outrun God’s will, left immediately for Joppa in order to set sail from there to Tarshish, which was 2,000+ miles away from Nineveh.
Jonah, having failed to outrun the will of God, earned a three-day ‘time out’ in the belly of an enormous fish/whale, during which Jonah repented of his disobedience. He was then vomited onto dry land and, as requested, finally delivered God’s message. Upon hearing the prophecy, the Ninevites repented immediately and spent the next forty days fasting and mourning the evil they’d done. God saw their sincerity, forgave and spared them.
Why was Jonah so upset about being a potential agent of salvation to the Ninevites? Jonah had earlier enjoyed great prestige for accurately predicting God’s judgment on Assyria, which had ended their ruthless raids on the northern borders of Israel. Assyria was Israel’s arch-enemy at the time; Nineveh was Assyria’s capitol. Jonah knew there was the possibility the Ninevites would repent, causing God to relent; thereby rendering Jonah’s prophecy false.
Deuteronomy 8:22 (NLT) states, “If the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name, but his prediction does not come true...the Lord did not give that message.” In other words, such a prophet is a ‘false’ prophet.
Jonah had a huge emotional investment in his prophetic reputation. In Jonah 4:2b-3 (NLT) he whines, “I knew you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You’re eager to turn back from destroying people. ‘Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead...if what I predicted will not happen.’” Jonah dreaded becoming an object of scorn after being celebrated as Israel’s hero.
Nineveh was the cult center for the worship of the fertility/war goddess Ishtar. Nineveh derived its name from her (‘Nina’ was the original Sumerian name of Ishtar). To the Jews, Nineveh was a city where idolatrous abominations were constantly being promoted and committed.
The ruins of Nineveh are in modern-day Northern Iraq, east of the Tigris River, just beyond the suburbs of the city of Mosul. Two-thousand-plus years later, the conflict between Israel and surrounding nations rages on. The US and its allies have lost too many of our beloved military personnel and civilians there, as well as on US soil, in this conflict. Countless innocents, and even the land itself, have paid the terrible price of endless warfare.
God, however, has other plans; his ways are not our ways. God is as relentless an agent of redemption, new life and freedom as the Assyrians were of destruction, death and domination. Our God is radically unwilling that any of the souls he created be lost. The Israelites were rigorously ethnocentric. Every nation But Israel and Judah were the ‘Not chosen’ to be shunned and/or annihilated. The concept of God’s universal love for all humankind collided with Jonah’s worldview.
God showered Jonah with incredible mercy and patience even as he disciplined him. He’d rescued Jonah from the depths of the sea to give him a second chance to fulfill his prophetic calling, but when the Ninevites repented, thereby causing God to relent, Jonah whined,
“Didn’t I say before I left home that you’d do this, Lord?...I knew you were a merciful and compassionate God...eager to turn back from destroying people. Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead if what I predicted won’t happen!”
God’s reply is remarkably mild, “Is it right for you to be so angry about this?” Jonah immediately went outside the city walls to wait to see if God might yet destroy Nineveh. God raises up a castor plant to give Jonah relief from the scorching sun, but at dawn he sends a worm to eat through the stem; the plant withers and dies. Again Jonah whines, “Death’s better than living like this!”
God asks Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died? Jonah retorts, “Yes, even angry enough to die!” (Jonah 4:9 NLT) (If ever there was an invitation for God to smite someone, this is it.)
The Lord finally rebukes Jonah saying, “You feel sorry for the plant, though you did nothing to put it there...but Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness who don’t know their right hand from their left. Shouldn’t I have compassion on such a great city?” [The book of Jonah ends abruptly here, but we suspect Jonah experienced a major attitude adjustment regarding who’s eligible for salvation and who’s in charge of the universe.]
We’re impressed by God’s gentleness with his flawed prophet. Though Jonah was presumptuous, prejudiced and quick to anger, his story shows God is always willing to work with his children to refine their characters so they might become ever-more-effective instruments of God’s grace.
The story of Nineveh confronts us with the great scandal of God’s unmerited love: Jesus’ death on a cross for those the world considers ‘worthless’. It challenges our notion of who is eligible for salvation. God is unwilling that any should be lost. The good news is that absolutely no one will ever be worthy, but everyone is eligible: every race, nationality and class; prodigals and fools, lovers and haters, criminals and executioners, workaholics and slackers, presidents and paupers...the whole motley, confused mess that is fallen humankind...and yes, most especially those the world judges as worthless and disposable.
We’re all made in the image of God but need the Holy Spirit’s help to purify his image in us so we can fulfill God’s purpose for our lives. No one is saved to lord it over others; we’re saved to be agents of hope and restoration for others.
Who do You believe to be beyond the forgiveness of God? Who would you bar from heaven? Maybe it’s time to discuss your choice with the One who made and loves us all.
