The book of Jonah began in a surprising way. Yahweh called Yonah to go to Ninevah, and Yonah disobeyed. This is not what prophets do. Prophets obey. But Yonah ran the wrong direction, to the end of the known world, at Tarshish. When that didn't work, he chose death over Yahweh. He refused to cry out to Yahweh. Wouldn't do it. He would rather die, than open his mouth, and ask Yahweh for help. He showed total resolve, and determination, in this.
But all of that changed in chapter 2. Yonah realized that Yahweh and Yonah now have a shared goal in life-- neither one of them wants anything to do with the other. Yahweh was driving Yonah away from his face, and he was doing a much better job of it than Yonah did. Yahweh threw Yonah off the side of the boat, and held him under water. At that point, Yonah had two choices-- he could embrace the death he desired, or he could cry out to Yahweh.
And it was then, as Yonah was dying, that he realized he'd made a mistake. And so Yonah opened his mouth, and called to Yahweh-- and Yahweh sent a great fish to save him.
So there Yonah sits in the great fish, for three days and nights, presumably thinking about what he'd done, and what Yahweh had done for him, and about whether or not he's happy to be alive. And it's only at the end of those three days and nights, that he decides he's truly grateful to Yahweh for saving him. He decides he's going to be Yahweh's faithful servant, and do what Yahweh wants him to do. And so, after three days and nights, he finally opens his mouth, and offers this prayer, starting in 2:3:
(3) and he said,
"I called from my distress to Yahweh,
and he answered me.
From the belly of Sheol I cried for help.
You heard my voice,
(4) and you threw me deep into the heart of the seas,
while the ocean currents were surrounding me.
All your breakers and your waves, over me they passed,
while I said,
"I have been driven away from before your eyes.
However, I shall again look on the temple of your holiness,"
Waters encircled up to the neck.
The premaeval sea was surrounding me.
Seaweed was wrapped around my head.
(7) To the base of the mountains I went down.
The earth/underworld-- it's bars were around me forever,
and you brought up from the pit of Sheol my life, Yahweh my Elohim/God.
(8) When my life/neck was growing faint, Yahweh I remembered,
and my prayer came to you, to the temple of your holiness.
(9) The ones revering worthless idols, their loyalty they are abandoning/forsaking,
(10) while I with a sound of thanksgiving shall sacrifice to you.
What I vowed, I shall fulfill.
Salvation [belongs to] Yahweh,
And it's only after Yonah has prayed this beautiful prayer of commitment to Yahweh, that Yahweh lets him out. Yonah is finally broken, finally committed to Yahweh, and so Yahweh does this, in verse 11:
(11) And Yahweh spoke to the fish,
and it vomited Jonah onto the dry land.
And the story then continues, chapter 3, verse 1:
(1) And the Word of Yahweh came to Yonah a second time, saying,
(2) "Rise!
Walk! to Ninevah the great city,
and call! to it the message that I am telling to you,"
(3) And Yonah rose,
and he walked to Ninevah according to the Word of Yahweh.
So at the beginning of chapter 3, we find ourselves right back where we started. Nothing in the first two chapters should've been necessary. Our story would work just fine without them being there, right? Which makes us wonder, why are they there? What is it that we are missing? And why did Yonah flee from the face of Yahweh?
Maybe now we will find our answer, and find out what made Yonah run from God's presence. Because now, Yonah is obeying Yahweh-- Yonah rises, and he walks to Ninevah in obedience to Yahweh. And there is something about all of this that we know Yonah doesn't like.
Our story continues:
Now, Ninevah was a great city to God, a three day walk,
(4) and Yonah began to go into the city, a one day walk,
and he called out,
and he said,
"Another forty days, and Ninevah shall be overturned/destroyed,"
When we flip back to the start of the book, the message the Word of Yahweh gave Yonah was this, in 1:1-2:
(1) And the word/Word of Yahweh came to Yonah the son of Amittai, saying,
(2) "Rise!
Walk! to Ninevah the great city,
and call! against it
that their evil has come up before my face,
The message Yonah gives to Ninevah is different than what Yahweh first told Yonah in chapter 1. In chapter 1, the focus is on what Ninevah did wrong. In chapter 3, the focus is on what is going to happen to Ninevah.
There's two ways to understand how these messages are related. One option would be that Yonah in chapter 3 is deliberately withholding the full message from Ninevah for some reason. He tells them they will all be destroyed, but he doesn't give them anything else. Nothing about Yahweh. Nothing about sin.
This is possible, but I don't think it's right. I assume that Yonah is obeying Yahweh here. I assume he's fulfilling the vows he made to Yahweh; he is showing loyalty.
I think we are supposed to read this message in chapter 3, as the second half of a two-part message.
So what is Yonah's message?:
(1) Ninevah's evil has come up before Yahweh's face.
(2) Another 40 days, and Ninevah will be overthrown.
As readers, I think we are expected to put these two together. I think that the author of Jonah, for some reason , withheld the second half of the message until now.
So let's talk about the new, second half of the message. "Another 40 days, and Ninevah will be overthrown."
When you read this, I think it should raise two questions for you: (1) If this was Yahweh's plan, what does he need Yonah for? Why doesn't Yahweh just send fire from heaven, and end them? (2) Why will the judgment not come for 40 days? Does Yahweh need some time to work up fireballs? Does Yahweh need time to raise up a foreign invader?
Our story continues, in verse 5:
(5) and the people of Ninevah trusted in Elohim,
and they called a fast,
and they put on sackclothes, from their greatest and up to their smallest/weakest,
The Assyrians' response shocks us. God usually sent prophets to Israel before judging them, to give them a chance to repent. God gave Israel a choice-- they could choose repentance and obedience, and they would live. Or they could choose stubbornness and disobedience, and they would die. And Israel almost always chose death. Israel very, very rarely took the prophets seriously.
Here, the Assyrians repent despite the fact that God doesn't give them this chance. The Assyrians trust in Elohim; they call a fast, and they put on sackclothes-- the standard way to show your remorse and your repentance for what you've done. But there's no reason for them to do all this. God has told them, they are going to be overthrown. End of story.
Verse 6:
(6) and the word reached to the king of Ninevah,
and he rose from his throne,
and took off his cloak from on him,
and he put on sackcloth,
and he sat on ashes,
Let's pause here. Ninevah's repentance went all the way up to the top. The king responds, not by mustering troops, and preparing for a foreign invader, but by repenting. He gets off his throne. He takes off his royal clothes. And he completely, totally humbles himself. He puts on sackcloth; he sits on ashes.
This is not what leaders do. Leaders don't humble themselves. The only time they are humble, is when someone humbles them. The only time kings get off their thrones, and sit in ashes, is if they are defeated in battle, and someone new sits on the throne.
So we find ourselves again in shock.
The king then continues in verse 7 by inviting the nation to join him in repentance. The verbs here are not commands. They are jussives-- they are a call, and an invitation, to join him.
(7) and he cried out,
and he said in Ninevah,
"From the decree of the king and his great ones, saying,
"The human and the animals , the cattle and the flocks:
May they not taste anything.
May they not feed,
while water may not drink,"
(8) and may they be covered in sackcloth, the human and the animal,
and may they call to Elohim with force/strength,
and may each man return from his way of evil and from the violence that [is] in their hands.
What the king would like-- and he is asking, not commanding-- is for the entire nation to join him in repentance.
Sometimes when people pray, they aren't very serious about it. They would like God to do something, but it's not actually all that important to them. They pray because they should. Or they pray because, on balance, they'd like God to do something. It'd be nice if He did what they ask. But if he doesn't, it's not a big deal. And we maybe don't expect God to do anything.
But if we want to pray about something, and we actually care, how can we show God we are serious? How can we demonstrate to him that something is really important to us?
The king of Assyria knows the answer to this. You put on sackcloth. You sit in ashes. You get loud-- you cry out to God with force. You stop eating. God knows you need food to live. He made you that way. So when you stop eating for a period of time, while praying, you are signaling to God that something is important to you. It's so important, you aren't going to take the time to eat. You aren't going to find pleasure in food. Instead, you use that extra time to cry out to God.
And the king doesn't only invite people to join him in all of this. He also invites every animal in Ninevah. His desire is every single animal completely stops eating-- not even stealing a taste--, and that they don't even drink water. Even more amazing, the king's desire is that every animal show its repentance by wearing sackcloth.
Every sheep, every goat, every donkey, every cow should wear sackcloth.
And, most importantly, he invites every human to change how their live. Right now, they are doing evil deeds-- the evil deeds that went up before the face of Yahweh. Right now, they are practicing violence. And they need to stop.
Why does the king of Ninevah do all of this? What's the point?
The king finishes his decree by raising a question-- a possibility:
Who knows?
He may return/relent,
and the Elohim may change his mind,
and he may turn from the heat of his nose, so that we won't perish,"
The king of Ninevah does all of this, because he thinks God sometimes changes his mind. Sometimes, God turns from planning one thing, to doing another. Sometimes, God plans on killing people in judgment, but ends up turning from his anger. And the king says, "Who knows? Maybe this will be one of those times."
We read this, and we shake our heads. We think, "That poor king. He doesn't know God very well. We know God doesn't change his mind. The Bible tells us this."
And when we google it, we find two places where the OT says God doesn't change his mind.
The first is in Numbers 22-23.
The Israelites are coming out of the land of Egypt, and they absolutely wiped the floor with some Amorites who fought them (22:2). A Moabite king named Balak heard what Israel had done, and he was wetting his pants over this. He knew he was next. So what he did was find a prophet named Balaam, and pays him cold hard cash to curse the Israelites.
The prophet Balaam warned him, he could only say what Yahweh wanted him to say. If Yahweh wanted him to bless Israel, he would bless. If Yahweh wanted him to curse, he would curse. He can't go against Yahweh. But King Balak didn't care (22:18).
It turned out that Yahweh wanted was to bless his people, and the prophet Balaam could only offer blessings.
When this happens, King Balak is furious, and this is how Balaam responds to him, starting in 23:18:
18 And Balaam took up his discourse and said,
“Rise, Balak, and hear;
give ear to me, O son of Zippor:
19 God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
20 Behold, I received a command to bless:
he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
21 He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob,
nor has he seen trouble in Israel.
The LORD their God is with them,
and the shout of a king is among them.
22 God brings them out of Egypt
and is for them like the horns of the wild ox.
23 For there is no enchantment against Jacob,
no divination against Israel;
now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,
‘What has God wrought!’
24 Behold, a people! As a lioness it rises up
and as a lion it lifts itself;
it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey
and drunk the blood of the slain.”
25 And Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.” 26 But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the LORD says, that I must do’?” 27 And Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.”
So what do these verses teach? When Yahweh has made up his mind about something, He's not going to change it. He's not a human, that he should lie. He's not a human, that he should change his mind.
And we read these verses, and we find ourselves nodding. We find ourselves saying, "Preach it! Amen!"
The second place the (English) Bible says God doesn't change his mind is in 1 Sam. 15, starting in verse 10 (NIV):
10 Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the LORD all that night.
12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”
13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.”
14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”
15 Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”
16 “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.”
“Tell me,” Saul replied.
17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. 18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ 19 Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?”
20 “But I did obey the LORD,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21 The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”
22 But Samuel replied:
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the LORD?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
he has rejected you as king.”
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the LORD’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. 25 Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD.”
26 But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel!”
27 As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. 28 Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. 29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”
Verse 29 couldn't be more clear. He who is the Glory of Israel doesn't lie or change his mind. He's not like a human, that he should change his mind.
But that same verb, "change his mind," is also found in verse 10:
“I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.
If we read this consistently--and we should-- verse 11 should say this: "I change my mind about making Saul king, because he has turned away from me."
Most English translations, with the exception of the KJV, translate verse 11 differently than verse 29. Which is really unhelpful, to say the least.
The story began with Yahweh saying, "I change my mind about making Saul king.
And the story ends with Yahweh saying, "I'm not going to change my mind about rejecting Saul as king."
So does Yahweh change his mind? 1 Samuel 15:11 says he does. And 1 Samuel 15:29 says he doesn't.
What do we do with this? Usually, Christians simply grab 1 Samuel 15:29 and Numbers 23:19, and say, "God doesn't change his mind." But it must be more complicated than this.
I think the answer is, "God does change his mind, but he doesn't change it willy-nilly. He doesn't change his mind lightly, without reason." In Numbers 23:19, Yahweh isn't going to arbitrarily let someone curse his people. That would be ridiculous. They are HIS people, under HIS protection. Yahweh will kill Balaam, before he lets him curse his people.
In 1 Samuel 15, Yahweh changes his mind about making Saul king because Saul disobeyed (he didn't kill a Nephilim king). Yahweh's mind was made up about this, at this point, and He forever rejected Saul as king.
Yahweh isn't a flip-flopper, that he will change his mind about Saul a second time.
So does Yahweh change his mind? He does, sometimes. When there is good reason. When circumstances change.
Now, all of this is often explained a different way. Some people will argue that the Bible uses anthropomorphic language here to describe God. Which is a big word, that basically means that the Bible describes God using human language, to help us understand him. For example, God is described as having a nose, and ears, and mouth, and a right hand. And the argument goes, God doesn't actually have any of those things. God is Spirit, and doesn't have a form at all. He's more like a formless, invisible vapor. But the Bible uses language about God having ears, because God hears us. God is talked about as having a right hand, because He uses that right hand to fight for us. God is talked about as if he has a mouth, because he speaks.
Similarly, it's sometimes argued that God doesn't actually have emotions, at all. God is "impassable," which means he doesn't actually ever get angry, or having feelings of love, or compassion, or anything. If God is unchanging, then He can't feel. But the Bible uses anthropomorphic language about God, to help us understand him.
So some people, reading Jonah, will say something like this:
The book of Jonah describes God as changing his mind, and course of action, in response to the repentance of the king, his people, and his animals. And when the book of Jonah does this, it does so not uniquely in the OT.
After the golden calf, God tells Moses that He will wipe out Israel, and start over with Moses. But Moses seemingly persuades God to not do this, appealing to his reputation, and God changes his mind about Israel.
Now, how should we understand this? This group of theologians will say, this isn't literally, actually what happened. God had never planned on wiping out Israel, and starting over with Moses. God had never planned on wiping out Assyria, and bringing judgment on it. God announced judgment on Assyria through Jonah, but he knew the people would repent, and he knew that he wouldn't bring the threatened judgment on Assyria.
So why does God announce a judgment on Assyria, if He had no actual plans to do so? Why does God tell Moses he's starting over with Moses, and wiping out Israel, when He knows He's not going to do that?
God wants people to think that their prayers matter, and that they have a real, dynamic relationship with God. God wants us to think that He will treat us better if we are faithful. He wants us to think that God sometimes responds to our disobedience, by disciplining us.
And from our perspective, that's how it looks. But the argument goes, from God's perspective, none of this is literally, actually true. Nothing that we do actually persuades God of anything, or changes his mind, or his plan. Everything is set in stone, locked in place. God had never planned to wipe out Assyria, or Israel. God had never planned to have Saul be king for very long (contrast 1 Samuel 13:13). God didn't actually "regret" making Saul king (same verb-- it has a sort of wide semantic range; 1 Samuel 15:35), because he knew it would lead to David.
If you find yourself taking this position, and believing this, I have no desire to debate it. If you disagree with me, I'm comfortable with that.
I will admit that my own bent, is that of a biblical scholar, and not a systematic theologian. I think of myself as a simple Bible-believing Christian. The book of Jonah teaches, very clearly, that God reacted to the Assyrians' repentance, by not bringing judgment. The book of Exodus teaches, very clearly, that God reacted to Moses' prayer, by not destroying Israel. The book of Samuel teaches, very clearly, that God rejected Saul as king because of his disobedience. Based on these books, God wants me to think that He is flexible, that my relationship with him matters, and that He values my input. God will treat me differently, based on how I live.
And so that's what I believe. I don't pretend to understand how to put it all together. I'm happy living as Jesus' disciple, without having a perfectly ordered theological system. If you want to say that God wants us to think that He changes his mind and actions in response to how we live, but at the same time, we need to be careful to not really believe what God teaches through his word, it's up to you. If you want to think that your prayers don't actually do anything, it's up to you. If you want to think that nothing you do actually matters for God's plan, that's up to you. If you think you need to be careful to not actually believe what the Bible says, it's up to you.
But I believe what the anthropomorphic language teaches. God has feelings. God shows emotions. God has eyes that He sees me with, ears that He hears me with, a mouth that He uses to talk to me, and a strong right hand that He uses to fight for me. I believe that my prayers matter, that sometimes I don't have because I don't ask.
Actually, let's read one more passage. Amos 7 (NIV):
7 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king’s share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up. 2 When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, “Sovereign Lord, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”
3 So the Lord RELENTED.
“This will not happen,” the Lord said.
4 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: The Sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land. 5 Then I cried out, “Sovereign Lord, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”
6 So the Lord RELENTED.
“This will not happen either,” the Sovereign Lord said.
Again. If you want to think none of this is literally true, and real, feel free. But I think God values Amos's input, takes him seriously, values him as his prophet, and that God relented from his judgment because of Amos's plea.
The bottom line, is that I believe what the king of Assyria believed. Sometimes, God threatens judgment, but He "relents" from that judgment when people repent. I believe as long as people are still standing, there is the possibility that God will show grace and mercy and forgiveness.
The question, when we return to Jonah 3, is how this will all play out. The king knows that Yahweh will "perhaps" change his mind, and course of action. But will He? Verse 10:
(10) And the Elohim saw their deeds,
that they turned from their evil ways/roads,
and the Elohim changed his mind concerning the evil that he spoke to do to them,
and he didn't do it.
This entire chapter has been a shock, but nothing prepares us for this. When Yahweh sees their repentance-- that they turned-- he changes his mind, and/or course of action, about the evil he spoke to do to them. The author of Jonah then repeats himself, using the negative, to make sure we don't miss this.
"He didn't do it."
There was nothing in Yonah's message that suggested this was a possibility. Ninevah was never offered a chance to repent. Ninevah was never offered an alternative. Yahweh had every intention of doing what he promised.
And yet he didn't. He changed his mind when he saw their repentance.
As we think about this passage, I want to back up, and come at it from a different angle. I think many people would call themselves Christians. In some sense, they've confessed their sins. In some sense, they believe in God, and in his son Jesus. And when they go to church-- which they maybe do every week-- they've been told over and over that they are saved. They are told they have eternal life with God, because there are verses that say "you" do. They are told that God loves them unconditionally, and that He has showered them with blessings.
But many of these same people know that in some sense, everything feels like a sham. God feels very distant. It feels like he really doesn't do very much, for good or bad. And it feels like it really doesn't make much difference to God how you live. And truthfully, depending on your church and your pastor, this is maybe exactly what you've been taught.
I think, if I'm describing you-- if you have this vague sense of discontent, if you feel like everything in Christianity is a sham-- if this is you, a lot of this feeling is probably based on a flawed view of God. You don't accept-- you don't believe-- that God changes. But at the same time, you have this vague sense of unhappiness about that. It doesn't sit well.
I am happy to tell you this morning that God's character doesn't change. God is faithful, dedicated, loyal, and committed to his people. And He expects the same from you-- faithfulness, dedication, loyalty, commitment. God's character doesn't change, but how He relates to you absolutely changes.
When you live in unrepentant sin, God will usually be patient for a time. But your prayers will be hindered (1 Pet. 3:7; James 5:16). God won't bless you. If you choose not to forgive people, He won't forgive you (Matt. 6:14-15). And eventually, He will become irritated and angry with you, with judgment to follow (1 Cor. 10:1-14). Eventually, God will change how he thinks about you, and how he acts toward you, if you choose to remain in your sin. God will change his mind about you. God will change how he planned to act toward you. This is what He did with King Saul.
But if you confess your sins and repent, all of that changes. God will change how he relates to you. The punishments he threatens, he will change his mind about. God doesn't enjoy punishing people. He doesn't want to come against you in judgment (Ezekiel 18:23). And if you repent, he doesn't need to.
What all of this means, is that your relationship to God is dynamic. This is how genuine relationships work. They are dynamic. And how God treats you next in life, depends on you. Will you be faithful, or not? Will you continue persevering, or not?
None of this should be controversial. None of this should bother you. God changes how He thinks about you, and acts toward you, depending on your faithfulness (2 Chronicles 15:1-2). When you live rightly, God answers your prayers far more powerfully (James 5:16-18). When you give generously, God will richly repay you (2 Cor. 9:1-10). And to those who persevere, out of their loyalty (=faith) to King Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, God ultimately gives eternal life (Gal. 6:6-8).
For some of you, you've spent your entire Christian lives in church being told, over and over, that God loves you unconditionally. That He will never change how he feels about you, or thinks toward you. That He showers you with nothing but blessings. And you look at your life, and you wonder, "Is this really all that God does for his people?" You don't feel blessed. You don't feel God's presence.
And maybe you aren't blessed. Maybe God isn't really present with you. Maybe your pastors have been teaching you this for years, and it's a lie. Maybe, the truth is that God is actually frustrated with you. Angry with you. Because He knows how you live. "Your evil has come up before his face."
Know this: If you are living an unsurrendered life, God is not giving you his best. There is so much more God would like to do for you, if you repent. If you surrender everything to God. How God thinks about you, and acts toward you, can be so much better-- so much more-- than it is right now.
The Assyrians understood all of this well enough to know that, just maybe, God sent Yonah to give them a chance to repent. Maybe, God gave them this 40 day window of time in order to give them time to repent. And maybe, if they turn from their evil and their violence, God will change his mind about them.
And this is exactly what God did. Our God is a God of mercy, who takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked .
So in chapter 1, when the sailors cry out to Yahweh, asking him to save them, Yahweh shows them mercy and stops the storm.
In chapter 2, when Yonah cries out to Yahweh, asking Yahweh to save him, Yahweh shows him mercy and sends a great fish.
And now in chapter 3, when the Assyrians cry out to Yahweh, fasting and repenting, Yahweh shows them mercy and changes his mind about the promised judgment.
How you live, will change how God treats you next in life. He will change how He thinks about you. He will change how He acts toward you.
The king of Ninevah understood this, and took it to heart. The question is, do you?
