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Jonah, the Prophet Who Ran Away
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God’s patience has been so great that we marvel. The All-
powerful One has been restraining His own attributes. God allows
people a period of probation, but His patience is not unlimited. The
Lord bears long with them, giving warnings to save them, but a
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time will come when He will blot out the rebellious element, in
mercy to themselves and to those whom they would influence by
their example.
God is withdrawing His Spirit. Disasters follow one another
in quick succession—earthquakes, tornadoes, fire, and flood. Ap-
parently these calamities are random outbreaks of disorganized,
unregulated forces of nature, beyond human control; but they are
among the agencies by which God seeks to awaken men and women
to a sense of their danger.
God’s messengers in the great cities are not to become discour-
aged over the wickedness and depravity they face while proclaiming
the good news of salvation. In wicked Corinth the Lord gave Paul a
message: “Do not be afraid, ... for I am with you, ... for I have many
people in this city.”
Acts 18:9, 10
. In every city there are many who
with proper teaching may learn to become followers of Jesus.
God’s message for the inhabitants of earth today is, “Therefore
you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you
do not expect.”
Matthew 24:44
. The conditions in the great cities
proclaim in thunder tones that the hour of God’s judgment has come
and that the end of all things earthly is at hand. In quick succession
the judgments of God will follow one another—fire, and flood, and
earthquake, with war and bloodshed. The angel of mercy cannot
shelter much longer those who do not repent. The storm is building;
and those only will stand who respond to the invitations of mercy and
become sanctified through obedience to the laws of the divine Ruler,
as did the inhabitants of Nineveh under the preaching of Jonah.
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