A secret agent was told to go to a certain foreign city on a most unusual assignment. He was to warn the people of a coming catastrophe.
This capital city on the eastern bank of a river sat in the heartland of earthquake territory. Its 120,000 inhabitants were a proud people, but they were also ruthless, corrupt and barbaric. They were the terrifying enemy of the man’s own nation and had often made raids on his people, raping and pillaging every town in their path.
The man knew of the violence in this foreign city and figured the people were so bad, they didn’t deserve to hear the warning of the pending disaster. Let them die, he thought. Because there was nothing appealing about his assignment, or the people to whom he was to deliver the warning, he secretly decided to forgo it altogether. He boarded a ship bound for another city several hundred miles away.
A raging storm arose on the high seas, and all on board were about to die. But then, the secret agent was rescued. He had no choice but to go with his rescuer. Three days later, the man was dumped off at a beach. He realized he was brought to the very city from which he was fleeing.
His commander told him a second time, “Go into the city and warn the people.” These wicked people will probably be spared, the man thought. But, he sullenly obeyed.
For three days, the man on the run walked through the city telling the news of the coming destruction. He even told the king. He spoke matter-of-factually; not with the urgency one would expect in the face of a coming catastrophe.
To his chagrin, the people listened!
Everyone from the king to the lowliest adhered the warning and turned from their wickedness. Destruction was averted.
You probably recognize that this allegory is taken from the book of Jonah in the Bible. Jonah is the secret agent, God is the Commander, the rescuer was a fish specially prepared by God, and Nineveh is the city Jonah to which was to go. What a testimony of God’s immeasurable mercy to an undeserving people!
Are we any different today? We are undeserving of God’s mercy and we are disobedient when we disobey God when He tells us through His Word to do certain tasks – the foremost of which is to love Him above all else, and the second is to love others as He loves them. We can run like Jonah tried to do, but there is no place to hide. Jeremiah 23:24 says, “Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the Lord.