God relented

And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. – Jonah 3.10

Ninevah was one of the most evil empires in history. I won’t go in to any more details here, but look into the way they treat conquered and captive peoples. It is no wonder that Jonah ran.

But now Jonah was there and he had preached the message of repentance. And, lo and behold, the Ninevites turned to God. Not only did they turn to God, but the turned from the evil deeds and their new works were obvious. Revival well and truly broke out in Ninevah.

When they turned from their evil way and gave up their sin God relented from the evil He had said would come to them. The older translation of ‘repent’ is hard for our modern ears to grasp, but it really only means to ‘turn from.’ God turned from the judgement He had pronounced and poured out His mercy instead.

God is not willing that any should perish, but that everyone would come to repentance. This wicked nation, fully deserving of God’s wrath, was spared because they turned to God.

There is no group today too bad for God to save. No one is too hard for God to reach. Jonah finally went, even with a sorry attitude, and preached God’s word. God’s word was more powerful than Jonah’s attitude and a whole city turned to Him. Not that I can condone the attitude, but we can be assured that if God could use Jonah He can surely use us.