Jamin Bradley

Many view God as an angry and wrathful entity that’s doing everything he can to hold himself back from killing us all for our sin and disobedience. The Bible, however, has a very different perspective. He didn’t bring about the flood until the whole world had turned their hearts toward evil except for one man. He didn’t destroy Sodom and Gomorrah until he found that the entirety of the city had lost their way. Destroying them was not something he wanted to do—indeed, when Abraham asked him to spare it if he could find ten righteous people there, God agreed without resistance. His heart is to save, not condemn. His hope is for the righteousness of a few to change the wicked, not for the wicked to change the righteous.

Many Christians miss this and act like Jonah instead of Abraham. Whereas Abraham argued with God in the direction of his gracious character, Jonah argued against him. All the way to the bitter end, Jonah wanted God to turn Nineveh into a new Sodom and Gomorrah. It truly was a wicked place, and he didn’t care if there were any good people there. He wanted nothing more than to take a seat and watch it all burn.

But God had labored over Nineveh and cared about the people there. He didn’t want it to be destroyed. Furthermore, there were thousands upon thousands of innocent children there who didn’t deserve such a fate.

God remains patient all the way to the bitter end. No matter how dark the Book of Revelation gets, he consistently sends the gospel out through humans and angels alike. He refuses to bring about a global destruction event until he knows that there’s no one left who will receive the gospel (a scenario that I’d suggest were a long, long way from). God’s lovingkindness and patience is so long lasting that Jesus eventually has to draw his attention elsewhere. He starts to tread a winepress that I suggest represents the martyr’s blood. When God sees how much injustice has been poured out on his children over the generations, his heart is then compelled to say, “I will not allow anymore of this.”

God cares deeply about injustice. But he is a hopeful God. He is always patiently hoping for redemptive stories to come out of wicked people. His hope is for restoration, not for destruction. We must see God more as Abraham did and less like Jonah.