Approximately midway through the earth’s second millennia, sin had so permeated human existence that God lamented making man. "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart." (Genesis 6:4-6) In an unprecedented¹, desperate move to salvage a world gone mad, God decided to destroy His creation.

The airport in Amsterdam is fairly large. Shawn had flown through it in the past, but it was new to me. As we made our way past the gates, we came to an extremely long line. Two things caught my attention. First, it was really long. Second, it was not a single-file line. It was something like what you would see at the entrance of an amusement park right before the doors opened—just a mass of people stretching back as far as you could see. As we made our way past this line, we wondered what was going on. Looking toward the front of it, we noticed it was a security checkpoint.

What would you have done if you were in his shoes? The book of Jonah tells a story of God declaring to Nineveh that they would be destroyed in 40 days. Nowhere in the text does it indicate that they had the option to repent. Clearly God had passed judgment on the wicked city and its destruction was inevitable. Or was it? In response to the startling news, Nineveh’s king did something radical. He stepped off the throne and put on sackcloth and ashes. He then commanded that all in the city do likewise and declared a fast for man and beast. They were not to eat or drink!