The book of Jonah is very interesting for several reasons. First, it is about the mercy and grace of God shown to an evil and wicked nation. Second, it is about how God can change the heart of a man to do what he is called to do. And third, it is about a nation turning to God and finding mercy.
The story starts with the LORD calling Jonah to go warn the city of Nineveh that God would destroy them in forty days. What is interesting is that Jonah was hoping that Nineveh would not repent and that God would destroy them. Here is a man that did not take along a song evangelist, he did not have a team go ahead before him and prepare the people, he did not give an altar call, and he did not have them pray the sinner’s prayer, or ask God to save them. He didn’t even taken an offering or sell his latest book. Why? Because he did not want converts, he wanted Nineveh destroyed. Jonah was counting on God to keep his word.
The problem was the people believed the message and called a fast and put on sackcloth and sat on the ashes. Nothing in the entire city was allowed to eat or drink water and they were to call upon God and turn from their wicked ways with the hope that God might withdraw his judgment and that they be spared.
God in his mercy and grace heard the prayers of the people and he spared them his judgment. The entire city was humbled before God and prayed and sought forgiveness. This pagan nation pleaded for mercy and God granted it to them.
The second interesting part of this story is how God changed the heart of a bigoted prophet to save a nation he want destroyed. Nineveh was an enemy of Israel. Nineveh was the ancient capital of the Assyrian Empire located on the Tigris River in northern Iraq, opposite the modern city of Mosul. (Interesting that the same feelings Jonah had for those who are today’s Iraqis, is the same feeling modern Israel holds today. Some things never change.)
Look at Jonah. Jonah was a racist, a hyper-nationalist. He did not want to go to Nineveh because he knew God would have mercy on his enemies. He did not want their repentance; he wanted their doom. Quite contrary to the spirit of Jesus, he did not have good will toward his enemies. He was not about to bless those who used to curse him. He was a hard liner, and God was too soft. So he goes outside the city to sulk.
Jonah has missed the message of God’s grace and mercy. God loves to show mercy and that we his people should "do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God" Micah 6:8. And it's implied in the very word "mercy" that no racial or ethnic or national barriers can disqualify a person from God's love and our love.
We never find out if God actual changed the heart of Jonah to accept the salvation of Nineveh. But Nineveh was spared for a few years.
About 100 years later, the next generation had abandoned the Lord and fallen back into tremendous evil, violence, bloodshed, lies, sorcery and other wickedness. In the Old Testament book of Nahum, we read that the Lord again spoke to the people of Nineveh, this time through a different Hebrew prophet, this one named Nahum. Yet this time the people of Nineveh did not repent. They did not listen to God’s word. They did not plead for mercy. They did not turn from their wicked ways and start praying, fasting and begging God for mercy. And mercy did not come. Instead, the judgment of God came upon the people, and in 612 B.C. the city of Nineveh was utterly destroyed.
Here is a thought. If the wickedness of Nineveh was so great that God was going to destroy it where do we as America stand?
For several years there have been indications of God’s warning to America to repent. Just because biblical prophets in the style of Jonah and Nahum are no longer around to interpret the warnings, does not mean that signs and wonders are not happening all about us. As a matter of fact, prophetic signs are occurring in such numbers and with such frequency that it is difficult to keep up with them.
How we respond to the many warnings God has given will determine how much time before His final judgment. Our country has been invaded by terrorist, earthquakes are more frequent and destructive, storms are more devastating, we are suffering from drought and crop failures, our economic structure is crumbling, our political leaders are deceitful, we have sacrificed our children to wars that benefit only the rich, water is becoming a national concern, and a spirit of discontent has covered our nation.
God has promised that when He has blessed us with prosperity and we sin against Him that he will change our glory into shame. Hosea 4:7. As we see today so many things within America that once were our pride have become our shame. We have gone from the strongest economy in the world to the greatest debtor. We were proud of our freedom and religious heritage. Now those freedoms are being taken away from us on a daily basis. America once had the greatest education system in the world now we have fallen far behind most nations. We are fast becoming a third world nation.
Why is America faced with these problems? Why have we lost the blessing of God? Jeremiah might give us some insight, “Your iniquities have turned away these things (God’s blessings), and your sins have withheld good things from you.” Jeremiah 5:25. When we turn our backs on the LORD and His Word we can no longer tell the difference between good and evil. The LORD told Jeremiah, “. . .people are foolish, they have not known Me; they are senseless children, and they have no understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to good they have no knowledge.” Jeremiah 4:22
America has been drifting down the road to apostasy for several years. We cannot expect God to ignore judgment on America when we have removed his Word from our schools, denied our children the right to life when we abort 1.5 million each year, accept a way of life that destroys the family unit, engage in wars where millions of innocent women and children our killed for the political and monetary gains of the elite, and trample the religious rights of the citizens to worship God without government interference--now wonder God is angry with us.
So, are the natural disasters which are occurring with greater intensity just a cycle or do we have good reason to be concerned? If the warnings of impending doom are ignored what will be our ultimate downfall?
There are people within America who are like Jonah. They are sitting back watching to see if God will destroy America. These people hate America, just as Jonah hated the people of Nineveh. They will do nothing to help America repent, they wish her destroyed. But a lesson from the book of Jonah is the mercy and grace of God.
Just as the people of Nineveh believed the message of destruction and called a fast and turn from their wicked ways, with the hope that God might withdraw his judgment and be spared-- America must do the same. If not, we are a doomed nation. We must never forget of those, whom God has given much, much will be expected.
Our nation has drifted so far from precepts of justice and mercy and walking upright before the LORD that we are face with so formidable a challenge to resolve that which can only be remedied in one way- repent and return to God.
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