The Pity of God

Jonah 4:11 ~ "And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?"

Do you think that God has no pity upon those who dwell on the earth? The Almighty God holds back wrath and restricts His judgment in order to bring His mercy to light upon a people living in sinful darkness. If you are reading this and you have come to know the salvation mercy of Christ, then you are a living testimony of the pity of God. 

This idea of God's pity is akin to His compassionate heart to redeem those who will believe. It does not rest upon the worthiness of the individual, but it is squarely set upon the heart of God to make His salvation available to all who believe.

As we consider our text for today, we must reconcile in our hearts who are the inhabitants of Nineveh. The city was known for its wanton wickedness. It was the enemy of Israel and feared or hated by most. It was a lawless place--a seedbed of hostility to the surrounding nations. And these, my friends, are the people that God will pity.

How often do we come against those who are rancid in their lives--wicked, rebellious men or women that live licentiously, without any sense of honor before the LORD? We, much like Jonah, would prefer to not deliver any message to those who we deem too far gone from God for any hope of restoration. How could God, who is holy and righteous take pity on such a human infestation as Nineveh? But He does.

Yet God's pity begins with His warning. God had a message He wanted delivered by Jonah, and it was not a message of hope or a greeting with a promise of a better tomorrow. He did not send Jonah into the city to speak of how much Divine love would change them--He sent Jonah to tell them that they were to be destroyed.

In Jonah 1:1-2 we read, "Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 'Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.'" God sent Jonah to call out AGAINST the city. The evil of Nineveh had become so vile that it reached, as it were, to heaven. God, as Judge, set the charge against them--they were guilty.

Next God tells Jonah to speak to the city the words He commands. It will be words of judgment, a sentence to be carried out against them for their wickedness. Jonah proclaims those words in Jonah 3:4, "Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, 'Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!'" It was a three-day journey across the city and Jonah stopped each day to tell them they were doomed.

Have you ever noticed that God's grace for you began with His sentence against you? No one ever seeks the grace of God or His pity or mercy without first coming to understand that there is a great judgment waiting for them--one that will not be missed unless God relents from His sending calamity. Do not reject the sense of guilt that is found when sins are rampant in your life. God will first convict before He offers mercy. Jesus said of the Holy Spirit that when He comes, His first encounter will be to convict the world of sin (see John 16:8). 

And the pity of God is experienced by the repentant of heart. Consider what it says in Jonah 3:5, "And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them." They believed God and that belief moved them to respond in repentance as seen in their fasting and wearing sackcloth. And that is where the pity of God is received, for God saw their response to His warning and did not send the disaster.

Dear ones, our God is a merciful God, sending His Son to be the means by which He can fully and freely pardon your sins. For the King of kings took upon Himself your guilt and bore your punishment on the cross. He will have pity on any who truly repent and desire to be redeemed. Hear His warning, and be moved to call out to Him. Our Savior awaits all who seek Him.

In His Grace,
​Pastor Michael

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