God's mercy in the Old Testament

A long, long time ago (about 3.5 years) on a continent far away (from Taiwan, meaning America)...

I was wondering if the God of the Old Testament (OT) was the same as the God of the New Testament (NT). And I came to realize that many people actually wondered if they were the same God. They would say: “Jesus is so loving, but the God of the OT is so wrathful, vengeful and destroys lots of things.” Of course that is true about God because He chooses to be ferociously holy, just and He perfectly hates sin. He is a really good lover, and He is also a really good hater. He completely hates sin and will punish it according.

Yet the God of the OT is so merciful AT THE SAME TIME!!! You know how I know? We just studied the book of Jonah in our School of Biblical Studies. It is not a myth, fairytale or even parable, because Jonah was clearly a historic person who prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II in Israel (793-753 BC, see 2 Kings 14:25) and Jesus himself referred to Jonah as a completely historical person (Matthew 12:39-41; Luke 11:29-32).

So if Jonah is a real person who really walked the same earth that we're standing on, lets do a little research into the historical background of the ancient nation Assyria and its former capital, Nineveh.

Nineveh was the “greatest of the capitals of the ancient Assyrian Empire, which flourished from about 800 to 612 b.c. It was located on the left bank of the Tigris River in northeastern Mesopotamia (Iraq today).” -(HIBD, p. 1192)

Also, about Assyria: “The Assyrians worshipped the vicious god Ashur and a multitude of other gods and goddesses. Assyrian brutality and cruelty were legendary. The Assyrians were known to impale their enemies on stakes in front of their towns and hang their heads from trees in the king’s gardens. They also tortured their captives—men, women, or children—by hacking off noses, ears, or fingers, gouging out their eyes, or tearing off their lips and hands. They reportedly covered the city wall with the skins of their victims. Rebellious subjects would be massacred by the hundreds, sometimes burned at the stake. Then their skulls would be placed in great piles by the roadside as a warning to others.” (HIBD, p. 942)

Clearly these were terribly evil people, so evil that Jonah didn't even want to prophesy to them at all! Yet God was so in love with even this wicked nation that he got in the way of Jonah's attempt to escape his duty by sending a storm, then a fish, and after Jonah's disobedience He even allowed Jonah a second chance at prophesying His message to Nineveh! (Jonah 1-2) Then after Jonah goes and declares the word of the LORD to Nineveh (calling them to repent) Jonah, most likely the author of this book writes:

“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.” (Jonah 3:10, ESV)
And in the last verse of the book, God says: “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”” (Jonah 4:11, ESV)

What an amazingly merciful God! He extends the opportunity to repent to even the most wicked of nations! He will have mercy on everyone that will simply repent!
I hope this is encouraging to everyone reading this. God is the same, He never changes. He has always been loving and merciful, and always will be loving and merciful. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8, ESV) That means He is always just, merciful, compassionate, holy and loving, and He will never change. FOREVER!!! Praise God!



If you want, you're welcome to pray this prayer or one like it in response to this amazing truth:
Jesus Christ, thank you so much for revealing God to us through your life. Thank you that you paid the ultimate price of your life to pay the debt we owed God because of our sin. Jesus you're so merciful and so just at the same time. I ask God that you would fill your church with revelation of just how great, how holy, how just, how merciful you really are. God let us be like Jesus, who is the Faithful Witness. God anoint us with power to preach the gospel and tell people of the amazing message of reconciliation that we have through your Son Jesus. Amen!

Here is the source from which I got the historical information (cited as HIBD):

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen & T. C. Butler, Ed.) (1192). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.