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INJ
'God Repents'
Jonah 3:10
Morning Service
Epiphany III
January 22nd, 2006
Hope Lutheran Church, Aurora, CO
Dear Saints,
“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” [Jonah 1:2] So the Word of the Lord came to Jonah and sent him to be the prophet in Nineveh, the great city and capital of the ancient country of Assyria. We know the history of what happens next, Jonah, instead of going to Nineveh, goes the other way, and gets on a boat to Tarshish. But God would not have it, and in a storm and then in a fish, the Lord redirects the prophet to his commission, to warn the Ninevites of their coming judgment, that, being warned, they would turn from their wickedness to the living God.
And so the great fish hears and listens to God's word and vomits up Jonah on the beach. This is where we pick up our Old Testament text for today: “Then the Word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 'Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.'” [Jonah 3:1] So goes Jonah, the Lord's prophet, to speak the Lord's word, preaching and warning the Ninevites of the coming judgment, saying, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” [Jonah 3:4]
There's not much Gospel in Jonah's sermon, but nonetheless, and much to Jonah's disappointment, the Ninevites listen to his preaching, and they repent, that is, they turn from their wickedness and, most of all, from their worship of idols, and pray to God in their trouble and look to the LORD for all good. The king declared a fast and that everyone wear sackcloth and mourn their wickedness.
And God sees the repentance of the Ninevites. “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened.” [Jonah 3:10] It is this verse that I would like to draw your attention to, Jonah 3:10, here it is in the New King James Version: “Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.” Or, and this is the most straight-forward, from the King James, “ 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.” Did you get that: “God repented”? That's what the text says, “God repented.”
This might sound strange to our ears, but it is not strange to hear in the Scriptures.
When the Lord saw the wickedness of all the nations in the day of Noah, we read in Genesis that “it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” [Genesis 6:6]
When the Lord had delivered the people from the bondage of Israel, He brought them to Sinai, His holy mountain, and spoken to them the Ten Commandments, and then called the prophet Moses up to the top of the mountain to deliver to him the sacraments and the instructions for the divine service and worship that was to go in the tabernacle. The people, nervous that Moses would not return, and falling to the temptation of the devil, prevail upon Aaron to build them a golden calf to worship. God sees and is mad, and says to Moses, “I have see this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them.” [Exodus 32:9-10] But Moses, the prophet, intercedes for the people, he prays for them to the Lord, and, the texts says, “The LORD repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people.” [Exodus 32:14]
There is a text in the prophet Joel, we will hear it again on Ash Wednesday, where Joel, calling the people to repentance, says, “Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.” [Joel 2:12-13]
All throughout the Scripture we hear of this: God's repentance, of God changing His mind, of God planning destruction, but then withholding it and sparing the people. What does this mean? Perhaps the clearest text explaining all this is the Lord teaching Jeremiah by sending him to the potter's house.
“The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 'Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.' Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 'O house of Israel, can I not do with you as the potter?' says the Lord. 'Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will repent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build it and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will repent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.
“Now, therefore, speak to the men of Judah and the the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil ways, and make your ways and your doings good.”'” [Jeremiah 18:1-11]
Not only does the Lord change His mind, but He is quick to change His mind, He even wants to change His mind. He, through the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah, warns the people that He is planning destruction and devastation and disaster, but all of this is prefaced by the teaching that if the people would turn from their wickedness and idols, the Lord Himself would turn and repent from the threats He had made.
God repents. And this, dear people, is good news for us. For we are born under the threats of God. “The wages of sin is death,” and “The soul that sins shall surely die.” So it is, that God's threat of the punishment for our sin hangs over us. We justly deserve His temporal and eternal punishment. Because of our sin God is minded to destroy us and cast us far from His face. Because of our idolatry, our trust in our own riches and wealth, our faith in our wallet and bank account, or our worry about these things, our faith in ourselves to provide all things good, or whatever other god you and I have created or found to worship, so God speaks of us like He did to rebellious and stiff-necked old Israel, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them.” So is God's mind toward our sin, God's mind toward us under the law, and this, indeed, is a terrible word. His purpose for us is destruction.
But like old Israel, we, too, have one interceding for us, on our behalf, asking God not to destroy us, and our intercessor, our Great High Priest, is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Look, dear saints, God repents of the evil that threatens us, He has changed His mind. How? Through Jesus' cross. The cross is where God's mind is changed, where all of His threats are pointed and all of His wrath is spent. For Jesus gets it in our place. All of the threats, the eternal punishment of God's wrath and hell that we had earned are dished out to Jesus.
And so, in Christ, God's mind toward us is changed. No longer angry, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit call us “Forgiven,” “Child,” “Friend,” “Saint.” The Holy Trinity looks upon you, upon us, with tenderness, with loving-kindness, with grace and mercy, with compassion. God repents, His mind toward you is changed, for He looks not upon your sin, but upon Christ Jesus' sacrifice, His death, His holiness and perfection. God repents of the disaster that should be brought upon us, and instead gives us the sure promises of life, salvation and the forgiveness of all of our sins. From threats to promises, and, dear saints, you can be sure that this is God's delight, to have His mind toward you changed in Jesus.
“For,” says the Lord to His people in captivity, again by the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you... thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” [Jeremiah 29:11] Dear saints, may you be comforted in this, the sure knowledge of God's thoughts toward you, that He has repented of the evil that we deserved, and has, in Christ, given us the good things that we have not deserved: His sure and certain promises of the forgiveness of all of our sins, and life, and salvation. Amen.
And now may the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus the Lord. Amen.
Pastor Wolfmueller