Thayer Thursday – What God wants from the wicked
Two weeks ago, I wrote that one of the things we would find out through the book of Jonah is that the popular distinction of a “God of Wrath” in the Old Testament and a “God of Grace” in the New Testament is a misreading of scripture. This week, in Jonah 3:10 (an Old Testament Book) we see the powerful grace of God displayed.
As far as we can tell from the story, Jonah didn’t tell the Assyrians that if they repented they would be spared – he just tells them that because of their wickedness, in 40 days they are going to be destroyed.
After the Assyrian people heard this message, they turned from their evil ways. In a sign of their sincerity they fasted and sat down in the dust. The writer of Jonah then tells us: 10“When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.”
This sounds remarkably like what the prophet Ezekiel would later write in the 18th chapter of his book in the Bible:
21 But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. 22 None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. 23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
As we have learned the past two weeks: the people of Assyria did tremendously evil acts. Their warfare was brutal. Things had gotten so bad that God (who is always incredibly concerned about justice), was going to destroy them.
He sent Jonah to tell the people of Assyria this.
The Assyrians repented. They turned. They stopped doing evil.
Then God, showing His tremendous grace, relents.
His anger gives way to His compassion.
As Jonah & Ezekiel show us, this is not just something we see from God in the New Testament. It’s contained in the Old Testament too! God’s character, His heart, has never changed.
God is just. He will not stand idly by and watch injustice without acting. He has also always been, and always will be, radically concerned for the well-being of his creation.
His desire is not to destroy them.
His desire is for His creation to turn toward Him and receive life, for them to live as He created them to live.
He desires this so much that 700 years later He would send His own son, in some mysterious way God in the flesh, to die on a Roman cross to rescue humanity.
Chris Thayer
Sermon Link: http://gsumc.org/Media_Resources.ihtml?id=686621
Categories: Biblical Theology, Blog, Hebrew Bible, Theological issues