Disasters Are Upon Us: How to Imitate the Ninevites’ Repentance to Gain God’s Mercy
It is recorded in the scriptures that the people of Nineveh were so evil and corrupt that God could not bear to witness them. Thus, God commanded Jonah to tell the Ninevites, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). In 40 days, all the Ninevites, from the king down to the commoners, sincerely repented to God and finally received God’s mercy and survived. Now various disasters are happening around us. How can we imitate the repentance of the Ninevites?
God’s word says, “After hearing God’s declaration, the king of Nineveh and his subjects performed a series of actions. What was the nature of these actions and of their behavior? In other words, what was the essence of their conduct in its entirety? Why did they do what they did? In God’s eyes they had sincerely repented, not only because they had made earnest entreaties to God and confessed their sins before Him, but also because they had abandoned their wicked conduct. They acted in this way because after hearing God’s words, they were incredibly frightened and believed that He would do as He said. By fasting, wearing sackcloth and sitting in ashes, they wished to express their willingness to reform their ways and refrain from wickedness, and they prayed to Jehovah God to restrain His anger, entreating Him to withdraw His decision and the catastrophe bearing down upon them. If we examine all of their behavior, we can see that they already understood that their previous wicked acts were detestable to Jehovah God, and we can see too that they understood the reason why He would soon destroy them. This is why they all wished to make a full repentance, to turn away from their evil ways and abandon the violence in their hands. In other words, once they became aware of Jehovah God’s declaration, each and every one of them felt fear in their hearts; they discontinued their wicked conduct and no longer committed those acts that were so detestable to Jehovah God. Additionally, they entreated Jehovah God to forgive their past sins and to not treat them according to their past actions. They were willing to never again engage in wickedness and to act according to Jehovah God’s instructions, if only it were possible to never again infuriate Jehovah God. Their repentance was sincere and thorough. It came from deep within their hearts and was unfeigned and intransient.”
When the Ninevites heard that God was about to destroy them, they perceived that they had done too much evil which disgusted God. They feared God in their hearts and thus repented and confessed their sins before God, no longer doing evil things. Their sincere repentance won God’s mercy and changed their fate of being destroyed. Now disasters are growing in scale. Do you know how to repent so as to win the mercy of God? Click here to discuss with us.
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