“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
There’s a widespread myth in our culture about God, a myth based in deep ignorance about the Old Testament. This myth claims that in Old Testament times, God was always angry, always smiting, and acted in a manner inconsistent with the message of grace and love found in the New Testament. The pervasiveness of this myth, even within churches, can make the Old Testament a stumbling block to faith.
This myth is not true! This misunderstanding of God’s nature is grounded in three things: failure to actually read the Old Testament thoughtfully, failure to understand the extremely long time periods addressed in the Old Testament (decades and centuries rather than months and years), and failure to understand how truly vile and awful sin is.
The repentance and restoration of Ninevah described in Jonah is a wonderful example of God’s consistent mercy. The Assyrians were a vicious, cruel, pagan people who’d done terrible things to numerous peoples, including the people of God. When God sent Jonah to Ninevah to prophesy its coming destruction, they fully and completely deserved it.
Yet, when they heard that message, they responded immediately with sorrow and repentance. They didn’t presume to deserve mercy and didn’t expect to receive any. Nonetheless, they humbled themselves in the hope that perhaps they might receive mercy. Because God is fundamentally merciful and gracious, always has been and always will be, loving all people created in His image and desiring to restore and reconcile all peoples, God showed them mercy. In this, He pointed forward to His greatest mercy – the willing sacrifice of His Son Jesus on the cross to restore and reconcile all who believe in Him. God’s mercy and grace shine through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, if we’re careful to actually read it. Thankfully, He has not changed!