Redemption

Redemption (def) - the act, process, or result of buying back, saving, or clearing something. It broadly means to recover, pay off, or make up for something lost, broken, or owed.   I wrote about agreements yesterday, and agreements are meant to be lasting, but lo and behold, agreements are broken between people.  But God does not break His agreements with His people, His creation.

Praise God He doesn’t give up on me, because I certainly disappoint Him on a daily basis, and His grace draws me back to a place of repentance.  God is there waiting for me to admit it, and then get right.  1 John 1: 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The above verse is a good place to begin as I delve into the life and commitment of one of God’s prophets, and his name is Jonah.  I first want to tell a little about the Assyrians and specifically the city of Nineveh.  When God called Jonah to tell the city of Nineveh to repent, Scripture says in Jonah 4:^{1, "}But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals." Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”

God would not just wash His hands of this massive amount of people who needed to hear the message of God to repent or be destroyed, and God chose Jonah to take that message to the large city.  One problem.  Jonah couldn’t stand the Assyrians, and he refused to go when God called.

When God called Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and warn them of God’s impending destruction, Jonah went the other way to Joppa.  One fact looms out from these verses, and that fact is “these people were evil,” and Jonah had no burden or love for them, but God chose him alone to be the bearer of the bad news and the good news.  Jonah thought He could run from God, and God would use someone else to preach the message He had from Jonah.  The message was a message of redemptiion, and Jonah apparently did not believe in redemption for those people.

Keep in mind, redemption is for all!  We are the ones who try to put qualifications on who gets this redemption, and all of that comes from our selfishness and prejudice.  Paul wrote this in Ephesians 1: ^7: He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.   The Psalmist said it this way in Psalm 30: ^7: Israel, wait for the Lord; For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption.  Just like Jonah, we cannot place restrictions on the people of Israel, but we pray for them to change and come back to God, whether we love them or not.

Jonah is a strong reminder to surrender to God’s call and run where He wants us to run and not in the opposite direction, because His plan is perfect.  Tomorrow I will write on how God held Jonah to His call and how important it is for us to hold to our call.

The Pilgrimage Continues

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David Warren