The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In the gale and the storm is His way, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.” Nahum 1: 3
Some people do not know this, but Jonah was not the only prophet to speak to Nineveh; the prophet Nahum prophesied to Nineveh, as well. If you remember, when Jonah preached God’s message to the people of Nineveh, they listened and repented. Years later, when Nahum spoke to the same city, the people were worse than ever. They were killing each other with no regard for God’s commands; in fact, the Bible describes the place as full of lies and people were trampling on top of dead bodies. Their change of heart did not last but one generation. Their hearts were unchangeable, so God decided that now He was not going to send them a message of repentance, but rather a message of punishment. God had been extremely patient with them, expecting them to come to their senses and repent. However, they refused, and now God would not let the guilty go unpunished.
The lesson we can learn here is, unless a person repents, they will not receive forgiveness from God. A person may not repent unless they see and understand that they are doing something wrong, and a person may not realize that they’re doing something wrong unless they actually listen to God. Thank God for being patient with us!