God Of The Second Chances

 

Starry Starry Night - Australian Academy of Science

'When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is mankind the you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?' Psalm 8:3-4

The Book of Jonah depicted a merciful God and told the story of a God of the Second Chances. 

God sent Jonah to Nineveh to warn the city of the impending doom if they did not turn from their wickedness. The Assyrian empire were extremely cruel. Their victories were followed by violent slaughter, enslavement and barbaric torture. The reluctant prophet Jonah, did not expect that the people would heed the warnings and repent of their evil deeds. Even so, Jonah did not expect God to be so merciful. Yet, dramatically and unexpectedly the Ninevites repented.

'And the people of Nineveh believed God's message, and from the greatest to the least they declared a fast and put on burlap (sackcloth) to show their sorrow.' Jonah 3:5 (NLT)

Nineveh

The king of Nineveh declared

"People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change His mind and hold back His fierce anger from destroying us." Jonah 3:8,9 (NLT)

God gave them a reprieve, a second chance

'When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, He changed His mind and did not carry out the destruction He had threatened.' Jonah 3:10

The Bible is replete with accounts of the many times the people of God rebelled, worshipped false gods and created idols for themselves. Time and time again God relented, gave them many chances when they humbled themselves and turned to him.

Exodus 32 recorded the great sin of the Golden Calf at the time when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. The Israelites turned against God and to idolatry. God had said that His anger will burn against them and that He may destroy them. But Moses sought favour with God and in the end it was recorded in Exodus 32:14, almost to the letter, as in Jonah 3:10,

'Then God changed His mind and did not bring to His people  the disaster He had threatened.' 

God relented.

Repentance and revival occur with communities and churches; it also can occur for us in personal encounters. This was Jonah's experience in the belly of the fish. Jonah had refused to obey God's call, ran away from Him only to be brought to the depths of despair. In that desperation Jonah came to his senses, 

'Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. He said, "I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and He answered me. I called to You from the land of the dead, and Lord, You heard me....But you, O Lord my God, snatched me from the jaws of death! As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord." Jonah 2:1 and 6b, 7a (NLT)

Mr Guan Yeow Kwang, speaking at the Charis Methodist Church on the 26 June 2022, described this second chance as being rescued from the ultimate low, plucked out of the watery grave. Guan said, when we repent we will

• Remember God
• Receive God's Grace
• Rediscover God's Intimacy

This was King David's experience too and he eloquently described this in Psalm 51.

'Have mercy on me, O God, because of Your unfailing love. Because of Your great compassion, blot out the stains of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognise my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.

Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from Your presence, and don't take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and make me willing to obey You.

The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.'

Amazing Grace! Timothy Keller dedicated his book on Jonah (Ref 1), The Prodigal Prophet to John Newton. Keller wrote

'In gratitude to God for the life and ministry of John Newton (1725-1807) who also turned back to God during a storm, and became a pastor who has taught us, and untold number of others, the beauty of amazing grace'

Amazing grace how sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

and grace my fears relieved;

how precious did that grace appear

the hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares

I have already come:

'tis grace has brought me safe thus far,

and grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,

his word my hope secures;

he will my shield and portion be

as long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

and mortal life shall cease:

I shall possess, within the veil,

a life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,

the sun forbear to shine;

but God, who called me here below,

will be forever mine

We should gaze at the night sky, consider the stars and the heavens; then realise how fortunate and privilege we are, recipients of God's mercy and grace.

'But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.' John 1:12

Lionel

Ref 1: Timothy Keller, The Prodigal Prophet, Jonah and the Mystery of God's Mercy. Hodder and Stoughton, 2018

Was blind but now I see

'For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God.' Ephesians 2:8 

The hymn 'Amazing Grace' was the signature tune of the Evangelical Movement in the UK in the 1700s and is still very popular among Christians today. The romantic notion about its writer John Newton, was that he turned from being a captain of a slave ship to a minister of the Gospel after he was converted to Christianity. 

However, I discovered having read the book 'The Trader, the Owner, the Slave' by James Walvin (Ref 1) that this was not quite the whole  truth. In Part 1 of this book Walvin wrote of John Newton, as a slave trader, then a preacher, a hymn writer and finally an abolitionist not sequentially but concurrently. He had cut his sea-legs working in the Atlantic Slave business plying between the shores of Sierra Leone to the Caribbean islands and passing though the port of Liverpool. He became a Christian after escaping a shipwreck and was a pious Christian with an interest in theology but he continued to engage in the slave trade eventually becoming a slave ship's captain. Christians at that time probably saw nothing wrong with slavery.  

Walvin wrote, “Everyone involved in the world of Atlantic slavery, from the captains of the ships through to slave owners in America and the British-based shippers – all of them measured in their thousands, were lured by the hope of profit." But few of them seemed to have any moral or religious qualms about what they were doing. That it wreaked misery on an epic scale for untold millions barely registered among people like Newton who profited from such a business. He would discharged his human cargo, made a handsome profit, then proceeded to discuss God’s word in his cabin and stepped ashore without a scruple.

However, years later, Newton did repent. He regretted and recanted of his past and wrote Amazing Grace, a hymn of repentance, confession and testimony of a life once lost but saved by the grace of God. 

'Amazing grace

How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost

But now I'm found

Was blind, but now I see

'Twas grace that taught

My heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers

Toil and snares

I have already come

'Twas grace hath brought me 

Safe thus far

And grace will lead me home

When we've been there

Ten thousand years

Bright shining as the sun

We'll have no less days

To sing God's praise

Than when we first begun'

In the 1780s, slavery had become a political issue in England. William Wilberforce having been acquainted with him sought his counsel but Newton still maintained his silence on the issue. Finally, Wilberforce persuaded him to take a public stand. In 1788, John Newton published his 'Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade' and explained, “I am bound in conscience to take shame to myself by a public confession, which, however sincere, comes too late to prevent or repair the misery and mischief to which I have, formally been an accessory.”  After this, his sermons followed the theme of “Amazing Grace”. They were laced with anecdotes of his past life and sins but with much remorse. 

Since then Christians have lived through Hitler’s Germany, the Rwandan massacre and many other such tragedies, oblivious to injustices done to their fellow men and sometimes even perpetrating them. Our Christian conscience can be blind-sighted, our behaviour laced with 'holier than thou' attitudes and our minds prepared to rationalise evil intentions. The heart can be deceitful and desperately wicked.

We can repent. The Bible in Acts 3:19 states 'Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.' No matter what he had done, there was reconciliation and final resolution between John Newton and his God. The same is true for us no matter how ugly or bad we think our sins are. Amazing Grace. 

Philip Yancey wrote a book 'What is so Amazing about Grace.' The grace of God, Yancey wrote, separates the sinner from the sin, grace does not excuse sin but it treasures the sinner. 

For Charles Wesley the hymn writer, grace became the background music of his life. He wrote

"Long my imprisoned spirit lay

fast bound in sin and nature's night

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray.

I woke. My dungeon flamed with light.

My chains fell off, my heart was free

I rose went forth and followed Thee."  

 

Newton's tombstone reads, "John Newton, Clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy."  Truly amazing

Lionel

Ref 1: James Walvin, The Trader, the Owner, the Slave. Random House 2007

First published 12 August 2007.  

When God Ran

Rembrandt - "Prodigal Son"

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

The Parable of the Prodigal Son could also be renamed the Parable of the Prodigal Father. Prodigal means extravagance. Taken in the light of the son, it is a story of an extravagantly wasteful person, who took his inheritance prematurely from his father and squandered it. However, it also told a story of a father's extravagant love for his son, who in spite of the grievous insults done him, was profusely abundant in forgiveness and reconciliation. 

In one of his last paintings, Rembrandt captured this moment of Christian mercy with solemnity. This picture now hangs in the Hermitage Museum at St Petersburg. Bathed in light against a dark background, viewers of the painting are drawn to the two characters and the emotional homecoming. The son has an appearance of an outcast. Ruined and repulsive, he returned after wasting his heritage in foreign lands. His old father, dressed in rich garments hurried to meet him and received this long-lost son with gentle fatherly love. Henri Nouwen said that Rembrandt painted father and son, compassion and misery, God and humanity.

In a more modern rendition of the event, this amazing grace of a prodigal father was put to song by Benny Hester and John Parenti, “When God Ran". 

Almighty God, the Great I Am

Immovable Rock, 

Omnipotent, Powerful Awesome Lord,

Victorious Warrior 

Commanding King of Kings, Mighty Conqueror

And the only time

The only time run I ever saw Him run

Was when He ran to me

Took me in His arms

Held my head to His chest

Said “My son's come home again"

Lifted my face

Wiped the tears from my eyes

With forgiveness in His voice

He said "Son do you know I still love you?"

It caught me by surprise

It brought me to my knees

When God ran

It might sound strange, but God wants to find us as much as we want to find God. God is not the patriarch who stays at home, doesn't move, and expects his children to come to him, apologise for their aberrant behaviour, beg for forgiveness and promise to do better. On the contrary, he leaves the house, ignoring his dignity by running toward them, pays no heed to apologies and promises of change, and brings them to the table richly prepared for them. Nouwen (Ref 1)

How blessed and fortunate we are! When you next read the parable of the prodigal son, think of the image of a repentant sinner leaning against his father's breast and the old father bending with outstretched arms over his son. This is homecoming, the darkness of human existence, weary and sinful, taking refuge in the illuminating shelter of God's mercy. We are like that, we are walking step by step toward God and He awaits us with open arms to embrace us as we step into the light. 

Lionel

Ref 1: Henri J.M. Nouwen The Return of the Prodigal Son, Image Doubleday 1992