Good Cop, Bad Cop

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the LORD said, “Do you do well to be angry?” (Jonah 4:1-4 ESV). Some of the crime drama on television features a cross examination technique we have come to know as “good cop, bad cop.” This is where two investigators question a suspect and one is nice and the other is mean. The way some people talk about God you would come to believe they think God has that kind of split personality. In fact, sometimes people will say they believe in the God of the New Testament, but not in the God of the Old Testament. In their perception, the God of the New Testament is gracious and loving and merciful, while the God of the Old Testament is unforgiving, mean, and angry. We must never forget that the God of the Old and New Testament is one and the same. He is the true and living God, and we see Him demonstrating love and forgiveness in the Old Testament as well as the New. Take, for example, the story of Pharaoh when he was confronted by Moses. Moses told Pharaoh to let God's people go, and if he didn't, then a series of plagues would come his way. And that is what happened. A plague would come, Pharaoh would beg for mercy, mercy would be extended, and Pharaoh would harden his heart. This went on and on and on, and Pharaoh hardened his heart again and again. Thus he experienced the repercussions. But God gave him chance after chance. When Noah built the ark, the flood did not come straightaway. There was a lot of time for the people to repent and turn to God. The Bible says, to the point, that Noah was a preacher of righteousness (cf. 2 Peter 2:5). That means Noah told people what was true. He told them how to get right with God. But they laughed at Noah. It became a form of entertainment to watch crazy Noah build his boat. That is, until the first drops of rain began to fall. Our reading today shows us the case of Nineveh. It was one of the most wicked cities that ever existed; yet the people repented and turned to God, and God forgave them. God not only is presented to us in Scripture as good and loving and merciful, but also as righteous and just. We should remember that God is full of love and mercy; and, he always just with his mercy and grace.