The Reconciliation of God

Have you ever watched something unfold and thought to yourself, “That just makes no sense”? Maybe it was a referee’s call, a strange plot twist in a movie, or a decision someone made that left you confused. Now imagine feeling that way about God. Not because He is wrong, but because His grace, mercy, and reconciliation go so far beyond what we can comprehend or think is fair.

That is exactly where Jonah found himself.

Jonah was not confused about who God is. In fact, that was the issue. He says to God, “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster” (Jonah 4:2 CSB). Jonah did not want those attributes extended to the people of Nineveh. He was fine receiving God’s mercy for himself, but he could not stand the thought of God offering that same mercy to people he believed were undeserving.

As we look at Jonah chapter 4, we meet a God whose reconciliation offends our expectations and breaks our categories. It may not make sense to us, but it is the very thing that saves us.

God’s Reconciliation Makes No Sense

1. God’s Reconciliation Drives Us to the Edge

Jonah was furious when God spared Nineveh. The text says, “Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious” (Jonah 4:1 CSB). He was not upset that God spared him from death in the belly of the fish. He was angry that God did not destroy them. In a moment that feels like a spiritual temper tantrum, Jonah tells God he would rather die than live in a world where mercy is given to his enemies.

We do the same. We are not mad when God gives us mercy. But we do get upset when He gives it to someone we do not think deserves it.

Even so, Jonah prays. This is one of the few things Jonah gets right. Even when we are angry, even when we are struggling with what God is doing, we should still go to Him, not run from Him. God responds to Jonah’s anger with a question, not a rebuke. “Is it right for you to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4 CSB). God wants to hear from us even when we are mad at Him.

Pastor Danny Akin once said in a sermon on this passage:

“Unfortunately, God’s children do not always look at a lost world in the same way that God does. We sometimes look down on the lost, forgetting that we were once lost and separated from God. Incredibly, we can become so self-righteous that we believe some people are too bad, too evil, too wicked, and therefore undeserving of God’s amazing grace. The thought of their destruction can actually bring us joy rather than break our heart. The murderer, the rapist, the drug dealer, the prostitute, those who traffic in child pornography, the homosexual, the dope addict, these, and others just like them, are getting what they deserve.”

He concludes:

“Jonah 4 confronts each of us with an incredible truth and a haunting question we cannot escape: lost people matter to God. Do lost people matter to me? Do we long for the conversion and salvation of the lost like God, or do we ignore them or even long for their condemnation and destruction like Jonah?”

2. God’s Reconciliation Is Hard to Accept

Three different times in chapter 4 Jonah says he wants to die (Jonah 4:3, 8, 9 CSB). That is how deeply he hated the idea of God forgiving people who had committed evil. He could not imagine a world where people with moral failures were allowed to change and live.

But that is the story of Scripture. Abraham lied about his wife and fathered a child through a servant. Moses killed a man. Rahab was a prostitute. Gideon was filled with fear. Samson was impulsive and broke his vows. Peter denied Christ. Paul persecuted the church. These are not moral giants. They are people like you and me. And God reconciled with them.

God still reconciles with people like that today. People like us.

3. God Reconciles Whomever He Chooses

Jonah walks outside the city, builds a shelter, and waits. Maybe God will still destroy Nineveh. Maybe there is a chance Jonah will get to watch some judgment fall. “Jonah left the city and found a place east of it. He made himself a shelter there and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city” (Jonah 4:5 CSB).

But no judgment came. God had heard the cries of repentance. God reconciles with those who humble themselves, regardless of who they are. Whether we agree or not, He is God. He will reconcile whomever He chooses.

God’s Reconciliation Is in His Nature

1. God’s Reconciliation Flows from His Character

Jonah says, “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster” (Jonah 4:2 CSB). This is who God is.

Gracious. Compassionate. Slow to anger. Faithful in love. Willing to relent from disaster.

Every one of these characteristics tells us that God desires to reconcile with people. That is true in Jonah’s story. And it is true in yours.

2. God’s Disposition Invites Conversation

God responds to Jonah’s frustration with a question. “Is it right for you to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4 CSB). Later He asks again, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” (Jonah 4:9 CSB). God does not interrogate Jonah. He invites him to consider His heart. This is not just about Nineveh. It is about Jonah understanding the kind of God he serves.

Ezekiel 33:11 says, “Tell them, ‘As I live—this is the declaration of the Lord God—I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live’” (CSB). That is what God wants. Life. Repentance. Reconciliation.

3. God Appoints It All

God appointed the plant that gave Jonah shade. He appointed the worm that killed the plant. He appointed the wind that scorched Jonah (Jonah 4:6 to 8 CSB). And just as He appointed those events, He appointed the opportunity for salvation. He controls it all.

What is striking is that Jonah is grateful for the plant, but not for the God who gave it. He is more upset about the death of a plant than he is about the destruction of people.

God says to him, “You cared about the plant, which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night. So may I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than a hundred twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left, as well as many animals?” (Jonah 4:10 to 11 CSB).

We often care deeply about things—our jobs, our homes, our health, our comfort. But do we care about people? Especially people we do not like? Especially those we do not understand? God does. And if God cares, we should too.

I think of how my wife loves a certain book that I had no interest in reading. But because I love her, I started to care. When someone we love cares about something deeply, it starts to matter to us too. The same should be true with God. If He loves people, so should we.

The Question That Still Echoes

Jonah ends not with a resolution, but with a question. “Should I not care about that great city?” (Jonah 4:11 CSB). God is asking Jonah—and He is asking us.

Do you care about what I care about?

God’s reconciliation will offend our sense of justice if our hearts are not aligned with His. It will frustrate us if we forget that we too were once enemies, now brought near by the blood of Christ. The uncomfortable truth is that God saves people we would not. That is grace.

So here is the real question. When God reconciles with someone you think He should not, do you rejoice or resist? Do you draw near to God’s heart or sit outside like Jonah, angry that mercy got the final word?

God’s reconciliation may not make sense to us. But it is everything to this broken world. Let us stop trying to force God’s grace into our categories. Let us ask Him instead to shape our hearts to look more like His. Because in the end, it is not about who deserves grace. It is about a God who gives it freely. To them. And to us.

This blog post is based on a sermon preached by Wes McGarry to Gospel Community Church.