The many questions we asked during Bible study about Jonah and the way in which the Ninevites responded to God's message simply led me to think - the gospel is wonderful, truly, uniquely strange.
You see,the Bible says this about it's message
"but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling back to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,..." 1 Cor 1:23
Because if you think logically, by accepted social and moral grounds, the message of Christ does indeed appear foolish.
To answer any question beyond our realm, we often use statements like God's reason are beyond us, our minds are finite and we could not possible begin to understand the great mystery that is the Almighty creator. Supported by that is scripture such as Isaiah 55:8-9.
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
And you see that God plans and craft, with a certain logic and reason that is beyond us as human beings. However; it is clear that despite how strange God's decisions sometimes appear, it is certainly not in defiance of logic and rationale.
So why did God create human beings? Because from what I can tell, that was when all problem began.
The Bible says it was His will, His pleasure that we were created. Our creation was not an accident but rather a deliberate and logical enactment of His will.
Were we created to exist?Logically, this seems somewhat senseless and irrational.
Were we created for God's utility?Perhaps God needed to create us because He was lonely and needed to love.
The concept of the Triune God for Christians shows that this is not the case at all.
God existed in a perfect relationship prior to creation.
Perhaps God needed to use human beings in another way.
From what I know about myself, I struggle to see how I could possibly be of utility to God, the creator of all things.
You see because I in all my unholiness could not possibly be of any use to God.
In fact, creation now tainted with sin needed God more than ever, to save us from the judgment of eternal death.
And God in a brilliant but incredibly costly move for Himself solved this problem by sending His perfect son to face God's holy wrath and judgment in our place ( John 3:16, Isaiah 53:3)
In that one move , God was able to demonstrate both His justness and love for His creation.
The redemption of humanity cost God his life, an enormous price to pay for utility.
It would have been easier not to create us, because He did not need to create us.
Were we created for our sake?Maybe God created us so we could experience relationship with Him. To be adopted as sons and daughters into his family.
These reasons all somewhat make sense.
But even then, creation seemed like an unnecessary act.
Christ goes one step further, turning the gospel from unreasonable in the eyes of unbelievers into foolishness.
You see, Christ, as God, made himself man, became obedient to death, not just any death but death on a cross (Phil2:7-8)
And God did not die for friends but He gave Himself up to excruciating death for sinners, enemies.
Such is the amazing, wonderful truly alien concept of creation and redemption of humanity, surpassing all boundaries of moral standards, going beyond all human comprehension and logic.
