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Royalty and Ruin
Christ referred to the preaching of Jonah and compared the in-
habitants of Nineveh with the professed people of God in His day:
“The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this gen-
eration and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of
Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.”
Matthew 12:41
. Into
the busy world where people were trying to get all they could for
themselves, Christ had come; and above the confusion came His
voice, asking, “What will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Mark 8:37
.
Jonah’s Day, and Ours
Like the people of Nineveh, the cities today are in need of knowl-
edge of the true God. Christ’s ambassadors are to point sinners to
the nobler world. According to the Scriptures, the only city that
will endure is the city whose builder and maker is God. Through
His servants the Lord is calling on men and women to secure the
immortal inheritance.
Because of the steady increase of determined wickedness, an al-
most universal guilt is coming rapidly on the cities. Every day brings
fresh revelations of strife, bribery, fraud, violence, lawlessness, in-
difference to human suffering, and brutal destruction of human life.
Every day testifies to increasing insanity, murder, and suicide. Peo-
ple boast of our age’s progress and enlightenment, but God sees the
earth filled with iniquity and violence. Many declare that the law of
God has been done away with; as a result, a tide of evil is sweeping
over the world. To gratify their lust for forbidden things, people
barter away nobility of soul, gentleness, and piety.
With patience and tender compassion God deals with the trans-
gressors of His law. And yet, we are rapidly approaching the end of
God’s restraint concerning those who persist in disobedience.
Should anyone be surprised over a sudden change in the dealings
of the Supreme Ruler with the inhabitants of a fallen world? Should
they be surprised that God would bring destruction on those who
have become rich through fraud? Many have chosen to remain
under the banner of the one who started the rebellion against the
government of heaven.