...to save a guilty, sinful, and unholy people. In the first couple verses of Jonah, God commissions Jonah saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me." A few things stick out to me here:
First, Nineveh is a great city and with a lot of great cities comes great iniquity.
Second, their evil has come up before the perfectly holy LORD who's wrath comes against all ungodliness and unrighteousness (Romans 1:18)
Third, God's response to their evil is not pouring out his just wrath, but graciously sending a prophet to call out against that city, warning them of the judgement to come.
God desires to save a sinful people. He desires that all men come to a knowledge of the truth, that all men repent and return to him, and that none should perish. It's is not because we are worth saving, but because he is merciful and abounding in steadfast love.
