The Sign of Jonah
The Sign of Jonah
And the Three Days
By
Pastor F. M. Riley
July 16,
2014
“Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying,
Master, we would see a sign from Thee.
But He answered and said unto them, An evil
and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and
and there shall no sign be given to it,
but the sign of the prophet Jonah:
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so
shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and
shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold,
a greater than Jonah is here.
The queen of the south shall rise up in the
judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the
uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a
greater than Solomon is here.”
Matthew 12:38-42
Introduction
This week (July 6th
thru 12th) has been a most amazing week where Bible prophecy is concerned. Those readers who pay attention to world
events occurring should already know that the ancient city of Nineveh and
Jonah, the prophet which the Lord God sent to warn Nineveh of coming
destruction, were back in the world news
this week. I will give the
details of this momentarily in this study, but the question that came to me
when this news was reported was, Why
Nineveh and Jonah? and, Why now at this specific time in history?
Now our readers
know the subject matter of this study.
Let’s begin…..
The
Story of Jonah
Nearly every
individual you speak to, both lost people and believers, are familiar with the
story of Jonah recorded in the Bible.
The account of Jonah is one of the Bible stories which fascinates
people, both young and old, and having heard the story they always remember it.
I have no way of knowing, but I would
suggest that the story of Jonah is one of the best known stories in the Bible,
likely second only to the story of Christ Himself.
Therefore when the world news media focuses attention on the story of
Jonah in real life in modern history, it ought to be important enough to
require the careful attention of God’s people.
Significantly, there have now been two recent major events which
have drawn attention to the story of Jonah.
First, on May 8, 2010 a
magnificent, great white whale suddenly appeared in the Mediterranean Sea off
the coast of Israel. These great white whales are presumed to be capable of swallowing a human being whole,
and therefore are presumed to
be the species of whale which swallowed Jonah. Such great white whales had not
been reported in either the Atlantic Ocean or the Mediterranean Sea since the
1700’s and therefore were presumed
to be extinct in either body of water.
It is needless to say, that the sudden, unexpected appearance of this
great white whale revived interest in the subject of Jonah and the whale again.
But there was more to follow…..
Second, this very week
the ISIS Muslim terrorists fighting in Iraq, having captured the city of
1
MOSUL [ancient Nineveh], went to the burial tomb of Jonah, and, taking
sledge hammers, began to destroy Jonah’s Tomb. This was reported on briefly by
the major news media outlets all over the world, and was carried as “big time”
prophetic news on the Internet. So let’s
begin this study by re-acquainting our readers with the prophet Jonah.
The
Character of Jonah
If our readers will carefully read the Book of Jonah in the
inspired Word, it is glaringly obvious that Jonah, in refusing the Lord’s
request to go to Nineveh, was something of a rebel, somewhat similar to
Samson, who had lived centuries before Jonah, as recorded in the Book
of Judges.
As God’s people study the Book of Jonah, the background
behind God’s call of Jonah by the Lord should be recognized and kept in
mind. The inspired Word tells us that Jonah
first appeared in God’s Word in the days
of Jereboam, the son of Joash, who ruled over the northern kingdom of Israel for 41 years, 2 Kings 14:25. This
Scripture also reveals that Jonah was of the city or village of “Gath-hepher.” If our readers will consult their
Bible maps, Jonah’s home town was located in the northern Israelite Kingdom of
Samaria a short distance west of the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. Jereboam
was a very evil ruler, and took the children of Israel ever deeper into sin and
wickedness and ever farther away from God.
The result of their wickedness was that the Lord God raised up the
Kingdom of Assyria to invade Samaria as judgment for Israel’s wickedness in
turning away from the Lord God of Israel.
The Assyrians totally destroyed Samaria, the northern kingdom of Israel.
Jonah had likely been an eye-witness to all of this carnage, and no
doubt was forced to flee to the southern kingdom of Judah in order to save his
own life. Jonah may have even seen his
own home and family and loved ones destroyed by the invading Assyrian army.
There is little question that Jonah had been an eye-witness to the merciless
brutality of the invading Assyrian armies upon his people. He might have seen Israelite women and girls
brutally and repeatedly raped and murdered, some of them made to serve as
prostitutes for the Assyrian soldiers, and little Israelite children brutally
and senselessly killed without mercy, homes robbed, looted, and burned, and all
the treasures of the Kingdom of Samaria carried away into Assyria along with
thousands of Israelite captives which were forced to serve as slaves in
Assyria.
As our readers study the Book of Jonah, keep these things in
mind. Jonah had come through all of that
traumatic experience of seeing his own people mercilessly destroyed before his
eyes. This is the experience that shaped
the character of Jonah. How would such a traumatic experience make any reader
feel towards the enemies who had perpetrated such cruelty upon your homeland
and your own family, loved ones, and
friends? Well…???
And now the Lord God was calling Jonah to go and preach to the Assyrians
in Nineveh. Nineveh was the capitol city
of the Assyrian Empire. If any reader feels that I have overstated the
emotional impact upon Jonah, I suggest you carefully study the inspired
description of Nineveh in the Book of Nahum, and other places in
God’s Word. Jonah, being a true believer in the God of
Israel, knew, as he clearly stated in Jonah 4:1-2 that if he went to
Nineveh and preached, and the Ninevites repented and turned to God, that the
Lord God would be merciful to them and spare their lives, for Jonah knew that
the Lord God of Israel is merciful and compassionate and long suffering, and
has no pleasure “in the death of the wicked,” Ezekiel 18:23; 18:31-32; 33:11. After what Jonah had personally experienced
and witnessed in the invasion and destruction of the northern kingdom of
Israel, Jonah had nothing but hatred and enmity in his heart for the Assyrian
people. Before any reader harshly judges
Jonah, think about how you would feel towards the enemies of your people under
the same set of circumstances. Well…??
Jonah’s
Call
When the Lord
God then called Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh, and “…cry against it; for their
wickedness is come up before Me,” 1:2, Jonah refused to obey the Lord’s
command. It was not a case of Jonah not
wanting to obey the Lord. There is
little question from the context of this book, that Jonah knew and loved the
Lord God of Israel. But Jonah also hated
the Assyrians, and,
2
humanly speaking, with good reason. Jonah disobeyed the Lord for the exact reason
he stated in 4:1-2. Would any reader,
having experienced and been an eye-witness to the same traumatic experience
that Jonah had suffered, done any better?
Be careful how you answer, for the Lord God is listening!
Jonah’s
Preparation
The Lord God, who knows the hearts of all of mankind, knew that Jonah
was not mentally or spiritually prepared to fulfill the call the Lord had given
to him. Therefore the Lord God set about
preparing Jonah to fulfill his call.
Isn’t this true of every one of us who are believers? When we were first saved, most of us were of
no use to the Lord whatsoever. But
across the years the Lord graciously and kindly caused us to grow spiritually
in His Word, and shaped and formed our lives by the trials and troubles and
heartaches that He permitted us to experience. Glory to His Holy Name!
The Lord God permitted Jonah to board a ship going to Tarshish. In ancient times Tarshish was considered to
be “the ends of the earth.” It was a great trading nation whose ships came from
“the
uttermost parts of the earth” bringing many trade goods, and purchasing
goods from the Middle Eastern nations to carry back to Tarshish. Have our readers ever seriously considered
who is being spoken about when the nation of Tarshish is mentioned in the
Bible? Let me give our readers a couple
of clues.
First, over and over again
the “ships
of Tarshish” are mentioned in the Old Testament Scriptures. So there is no doubt that the people of
Tarshish were ship builders, building sea worthy sailing vessels early in human
history, capable of traversing thousands of miles across the seas in order to
carry on commerce by sea. Today, there is only one nation’s navy in the whole
world whose sailors are still referred to as “Tars.” What
nation is that? Hello!
Second, in Isaiah
60:9, the Lord God prophesied the return of the Jewish people to their
ancient homeland. The inspired Word explicitly says that they will return on “the
ships of Tarshish first.” Read it for yourself. For over 400
years the Ottoman Turks had possession of the holy land, and no Jew was allowed
to even enter that land. But the Ottoman
Turks were defeated and driven from the holy land in the First World War in
1917. The holy land was then placed
under British Mandate [control] and
in 1918 the very first Jews were allowed to “legally” return to their
ancient homeland. The very first Jews were brought back to the holy land on
a British ship. So what nation,
often mentioned in God’s Word, was the ancient nation of “Tarshish?” Glory to God! How great and gracious is our God!
However, back in Jonah’s day, the men of Tarshish sailing the ship Jonah
was on, were not at all happy with Jonah.
The Scripture states that “the Lord sent out a great wind into the
sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be
broken,” 1:4. Compare Nahum
1:3. The men on that ship were pagans, yet they had a superstitious
fear that some of their “gods” had brought this storm upon
them, and they prayed and cast lots to see who was the guilty party against
whom this judgment had come? The lot fell upon Jonah, 1:7.
The men then took Jonah and cast him into the sea, “and the sea ceased from her
raging,” 1:15. Were all of these
events just “coincidence?” Sure! When donkeys fly! The God who created the earth and mankind
upon the earth, is able to intervene in human history and the affairs of
mankind at any time and place that He so desires! How big is your God?
The inspired Word then tells us that the “Lord had prepared a great fish
to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and
three nights,” 1:17. Even
many believers today who read this, really do not comprehend that Jonah’s time
spent in the belly of that great fish was the Lord’s way of preparing Jonah
in order to prepare the hearts of the citizens of Nineveh to listen to
Jonah’s preaching when Jonah would finally arrive in Nineveh.
How many of our readers have ever seriously meditated upon and thought
about this? I have been in the Lord’s
ministry for 60 years and preached all over this country. I could today go to any large city in this
nation and began preaching practically the same message Jonah preached, and the
people would think I was crazy and likely have me locked up and put away. Isn’t
that so? Think about it!
But that is not what happened when Jonah entered Nineveh! When Jonah entered that city, the
3
entire population of Nineveh “believed
God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them
even to the least of them,” 3:1-5. Even
the king ruling over Nineveh “arose from his throne, and he laid his robe
from him, and covered him [self]
with sackcloth, and set in ashes,”
3:6. And being in the position
of ruler over the city, he commanded the entire population of the city, along
with their beasts, their herds and flocks, to fast and be covered with
sackcloth, “and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil
way, and from the violence that is in their hands,” 3:7-9.
Folks, there are still a few good “hell fire and
brimstone” preachers today, but none of them have this kind of power in their
preaching. They can only wish that their preaching had such power to bring
about this kind of conviction among those to whom they preach. What was so different about Jonah’s preaching
that it provoked such a reaction among the inhabitants of Nineveh? I’m so glad you asked!
Jonah
in the Fish’s Belly
I am appalled at how many “professing Christians” today, including many
preachers and pastors, when discussing
Jonah, tell everyone who will listen, loud and long, about the great miracle
performed by the Lord in keeping Jonah alive in the belly of the great
fish for three whole days and nights.
Such shallow Bible study on the part of those claiming to be true
“Christian believers” makes me want to weep with Jeremiah, for it is a shame to
God’s people.
Without apology to any reader, the Lord God of Heaven DID NOT keep
Jonah alive in the belly of the great fish for three days and three
nights. Don’t some readers even pay
attention to what they read in the wonderful word of God?
In 2:1 it is explicitly stated [in the present tense] that Jonah prayed to the Lord “out
of the fish’s belly.” But then
in 2:2
[in the past tense] Jonah
refers to a prayer that he had previously prayed “out of the belly of hell [sheol].” Sheol
is the place in the underworld where the spirit or soul of the deceased went
while humanity was still living under the Old Covenant. Further, Jonah described in detail exactly
how he had died after being cast into the sea.
Jonah plainly stated that “The waters compassed [encircled] me about, even
to the soul: the depth closed me
round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head,” 2:5. It should be obvious to any reader
that water does not enter into our soul, unless we have drowned.
When any reader takes a bath or a shower, the water is used to cleanse the skin
or outward surface of our body. There is no way we could honestly say that the
water entered into our soul, unless we possibly slipped in the bathtub, knocked
ourselves unconscious, and drowned in the bath water. Notice that Jonah further said, “the
weeds were wrapped about my head.” If
the sea weeds were wrapped tightly about Jonah’s head, he would have suffocated.
Whether Jonah drowned or suffocated, Jonah died in the belly of the
fish. PERIOD!
In 2:3 Jonah explicitly stated that the Lord had cast him “into
the deep” [abyss…bottomless pit]. Compare the wording of this Scripture with
what is prophesied about the Lord Jesus Himself in Psalm 42:6-7 and 88:1-18. Jonah was a type of Christ!
This is clearly set forth by the Lord Himself in Matthew 12:40-42. Now let’s see this truth
demonstrated…..
When Jonah was swallowed by the “great fish,” body and soul, Jonah’s
body spent three days and three nights in the belly of that fish, while
Jonah’s soul went down into sheol in the lower parts of the earth. Any reader who has ever studied even a little
bit about the digestive system of living creatures should know that the
digestive system breaks down the food received into the stomach by means of
small amounts of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. I think the stomach of a great white whale
would contain much more hydrochloric acid in it, than the stomach of a mere
human being. For three days and three nights the hydrochloric acid in the
stomach of that great white whale burned the body of Jonah. While the Lord kept the body of Jonah from
being destroyed, nevertheless Jonah’s body was seared with the stomach acid of
that great fish. Think about it!
After “three days and three nights” in the belly of the great fish,
Jonah was finally “vomited out” by the fish, 2:10. The Lord God had brought
Jonah’s soul back into his body and restored life to Jonah’s body,
2:6. Now there is the
great miracle that needs to be associated with Jonah, the miracle
4
of the resurrection. Which is greater, keeping Jonah alive in the
belly of the fish, or resurrecting Jonah’s dead body back to life? Well…??
Jonah would then have been absolutely grotesque in appearance. All of Jonah’s hair would have been burned
from off his body by the stomach acids of the fish. He would not have had a hair left on his body
anywhere. Even his eyebrows would be gone, causing him to look totally
different from other men. Jonah’s flesh, from the top of his head to the soul
of his feet, would have been seared by the stomach acids of the fish, so that
parts of Jonah’s body would have appeared as deep bloody red, other parts deep
bruised purple or blue, deep ghastly green, or some parts snow white. Jonah’s appearance would have been absolutely
hideous to the men of Nineveh. He would
have literally looked like a monster of a man who had been to hell and back,
and had returned from the dead. At that
point in human history, I would suggest that the body and face of Jonah
appeared, similar to the Lord Jesus Christ after him, “marred more than any man,”
Isaiah 52:14. Remember that the
Lord Himself set forth Jonah’s whole experience as a type of the experience of Christ, Matthew 12:40-42. The Lord God had prepared Jonah to
preach to the inhabitants of Nineveh, so that Jonah’s very appearance would
compel the citizens of Nineveh to listen to him.
Jonah
in Nineveh
When Jonah then entered into the city of Nineveh, with a little
sanctified imagination, I can even imagine that the little children playing in
the streets, upon setting their eyes upon Jonah, ran screaming to their mothers
and fathers in absolute terror of Jonah.
Then when Jonah opened his mouth and began preaching [crying out] to the citizens of Nineveh, “yet
forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed
God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them
even to the least of them,” 3:5. It
is obvious that the Lord used both the Word preached by Jonah and the
appearance of Jonah as a powerful message to instill Godly fear in the
people of Nineveh. Again, remember that
Jonah was a type of Christ.
After the
resurrection of Christ, the Lord appeared numerous times to His disciples. Time after time it is recorded in the
Scriptures that even His disciples fell on their faces in fear and trembling
before Him, not because of any grotesque appearance of the Lord, but rather
because they realized that they, still dwelling in a corruptible body of sinful flesh, were in the presence of absolute
Holiness, Purity, and Righteousness, Acts 9:3-9; Revelation 1:17. And so shall we New Covenant believers bow
before Him when we see Him for ourselves at the resurrection and rapture. Glory to God!
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
As Jonah preached in Nineveh, the entire city of Nineveh repented of
their wickedness and turned to the Lord.
What a soul winning revival occurred in Nineveh at that time! I can almost envy Jonah for the power of God
set forth in his preaching. Preachers, true men of God, would it not be
wonderful to preach with such power that an entire city would turn to the
Lord? You know it would!
Yet Jonah was not the least bit happy about it. And Jonah’s unhappiness is what led to…..
Jonah’s
Death in Nineveh
Yes, men have often discussed what happened to Jonah after he had
preached to the inhabitants of Nineveh.
I have been told many times that God’s Word does not tell us about the
remainder of the life of Jonah or his
death, and Biblical history only speculates about what happened to Jonah
after his experience in Nineveh. I beg
to differ!
Jonah is the classical example of a believer who becomes mad at God. I have met Christian people across the years
who for some reason had become mad at God. What utter foolishness! What a futile waste of time and energy.
But Jonah was not just mad at God. Jonah was absolutely outraged at God for
having shown such mercy to the bitter enemies of Jonah and his Israelite
people. In 4:1-2 Jonah told the Lord
why he had fled from Him when the Lord first commanded Jonah to go to
Nineveh. Then in 4:3, Jonah asked the
Lord, “Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech [beg] Thee, my life from me; for
it is better for me to die than to live.” Jonah, on this occasion,
was a perfect example of the hypocritical inconsistency of men. Jonah, being cast into the sea and swallowed
by the fish began begging God to spare his life.
5
And God did! But then Jonah became so angry with God, that
he begged God to take his life. D-u-u-h!
The Lord at that time mildly rebuked Jonah, asking Jonah if he was doing
well in being angry, 4:4. At that time Jonah did not
answer the Lord, but rather went out of Nineveh and built himself a “booth,”
[Succoth].
The “booth” may or may not be an indication of the time of the year
on the Jewish calendar that this took place. I don’t know the answer to that
question.
Rather, the Scriptures here most certainly indicate that this event in
the life of Jonah occurred during the spring or summer growing season, for the
Lord caused a gourd vine to grow up over the head of Jonah to shade Jonah from
the heat of the Sun. Notice carefully
that Jonah “was exceeding glad of the gourd,” 3:6.
A little serious Bible study will reveal that this “gourd”
is a type of the
future anti-christ, under whose shadow Israel and the Jewish people will
rejoice for a season, John 5:43.
Notice that the Lord caused this “gourd” to come up “in a
night, and [it]
perished in a night,” 4:10. This
is exactly what is prophesied in God’s Word about the anti-christ coming on the
world scene. The anti-christ will be
revealed in the first half of the Tribulation, and will perish in the
last half of the Tribulation, which are the two darkest hours of this world’s
night, Revelation 3:10. For
further insight into this subject, feel free to request my study entitled The Two Hours.
Then in 4:8 the inspired Word explicitly states that Jonah “wished
in himself to die, and said, It
is better for me to die than to
live.” Once again, the Lord
asked Jonah, “Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?” Jonah then answered the Lord, “I do
well to be angry, even unto death.” Notice this statement
carefully. The word “unto” as used in both
the Old and New Testaments literally means “into
the very state of.” In other words,
Jonah was so angry with God that he willed himself into the very state of
death. And Jonah died! Right there in
the city of Nineveh.
Even many Christian people are
not aware that Jonah, at the conclusion of his ministry to Nineveh, died in the
city of Nineveh and was buried there. Read Jonah 4 again, and this time pay
careful attention to verse 3, and verses 8-9 and remember that you
are dealing with the Divinely Inspired
Word of God. Jonah had become so
enraged over God showing such mercy upon the bitter enemies of Israel and the
Jewish people, that Jonah had no desire to even live any longer, and willed
himself into the state of death. The exact
cause of Jonah’s death is not stated in the Scriptures, but Jonah was so
emotionally enraged at God that he likely went into cardiac arrest and died,
and this time the Lord God did not see fit to spare his life.
Jonah’s
Tomb in Nineveh
Even while Jonah was raging in anger against God for sparing the
Ninevites, the people of Nineveh were rejoicing and thanking God for sending
Jonah to them. The citizens of Nineveh at that time, were so grateful for the
grace and mercy of God poured out upon them by Jonah’s preaching, that they
built a beautiful tomb for Jonah’s burying place and buried Jonah right there
in the heart of the city of Nineveh. I have now seen video pictures of Jonah’s
tomb in the city of Nineveh. The casket or sarcophagus was made of stone and
the lid or top was covered in a beautiful green glazed mosaic of some sort. It
must have taken much effort and money on the part of the citizens of Nineveh to
build such a beautiful tomb for this wild looking prophet of the Lord whose preaching
had resulted in the salvation of the entire population of Nineveh, and kept
them and their city from being destroyed by the anger and righteous judgment of
the Lord. Jonah may have been a poor prophet of the Lord God during his life
time, but the citizens of Nineveh back then saw to it that he was buried in a
rich man’s tomb. Another vivid type of
Christ! Read Matthew
27:57-60. Hello! Glory to God!
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
That should have ended the story of Jonah, but it didn’t! The experience of Jonah was continued in:
The
Experience and Resurrection of Christ
In Matthew 12:38-42 it is recorded how the scribes and Pharisees
came to the Lord Jesus Christ asking for Him to show them a “sign”
as proof that He was their long awaited promised Messiah. The Lord God replied to them by telling them
that no “sign” would be given to them except the “sign of the prophet Jonah,” 12:39. A careful
study of this account will be a blessing to any true believer.
6
Basically, the Lord pointed out that
what had happened to Jonah would also happen to “the Son of man” [Christ Himself]. And it did!
Just as Jonah spent three days and three nights in Sheol [the place of departed spirits in the
underworld], so likewise Christ would spend “three days and three nights in
the heart of the earth,” Matthew 12:40. Compare
Psalm
16:9-10, 18:1-6, 86:12-13, 88:1-8, Acts 2:25-32 and Ephesians 4:9.
Then just as Jonah was resurrected back to life and vomited out of the
fish’s mouth as the three days and three nights he had spent in the
fish’s belly came to an end, so the Lord Jesus Christ was bodily and visibly
resurrected as the three days and three nights ended that His body had
been in the tomb. Glory to God!
By the way, the “three days and three nights” that
Jonah was in the belly of the fish, and the Lord’s own statement about being “three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth,” in like manner to
Jonah, not only confirms the truth about Jonah, but it also refutes the
“false teaching” of the Roman church [religion]
that Christ was crucified on Friday and raised on the Jewish Sabbath. Such a wicked
claim is unadulterated HOGWASH! Remember
that when comparing the Jewish calendar with our Gentile calendar, each new day
on the Jewish calendar begins at Sundown the previous day. Christ Jesus our Lord was crucified on
Wednesday, and His body was placed in the tomb by or before 6 p.m. that day
when Wednesday ended and Thursday began.
So in reference to the Jewish calendar, the body of Christ was in the
tomb Thursday night, Thursday day, Friday night, Friday day, Saturday night,
and Saturday day. Christ arose from the
grave precisely as Saturday was ending and Sunday was beginning, Matthew
28:1. Exactly 72 hours!
Significantly, I have in my personal library a Greek Interlinear New
Testament, Textus Receptus, Dr. George Ricker Berry’s edition. In Matthew 12:39 where Christ Jesus
began speaking about Jonah, and extending through 12:41 where Christ last
mentioned Jonah, the Lord used exactly 72 Greek words to make His Statement.
Glory! Get a copy and check this out for
yourself. In other words, the statement
of the Lord harmonized perfectly with the 72 hours His body was in the tomb and
His soul was in “the heart of the earth.” So
much for the rotten theology of Rome!
The resurrection of Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord stands right today
as the “sign” which sets Christianity apart from every other so-called
“faith” of religious men on earth. Each man made religious system on earth
today has its own “god” and system of worship, but true Bible believing
Christianity is the only form of worship on earth today which has a
risen living Savior. Glory to God! Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord! The “sign
of Jonah” lives today!
The
History and Experience of Israel and the Israelite People
The Apostle Paul plainly states in the inspired Word that everything
that happened to Israel and the Jewish people were “examples” [tupos…types] for New Covenant
believers, and were “written for our admonition [instruction] upon whom the ends of the world [aion…age] are come,” 1 Corinthians 10:1-11. There is not the slightest doubt in
my mind that this inspired statement includes what happened to Jonah.
Being an Israelite himself, Jonah definitely represents Israel and the
Jewish people. Therefore we should be
able to see in Jonah a type of
what happened to Israel. Let’s see…..
Before Jonah was cast into the sea and swallowed by the “great
fish,” Jonah was in rebellion and disobedience against the Lord
God. Likewise, before Israel and the
Jewish people were cast into the sea of humanity they had become rebellious and
disobedient towards the Lord God. Read Isaiah
57:3-19 and compare 1 Samuel 15:22-23.
Because of their rebellion against the Lord God, the
Lord then cast the Israelite people into the sea of humanity, Isaiah
57:20-21; Revelation 17:15. Having
been cast into the sea of humanity, the Israelites were then assimilated [swallowed] into the “world order” made
up of the nations into which they had been scattered. The dispersion of the Israelite people began
when the Assyrian armies came against Samaria some 2,700 years ago, but their final
dispersion into the sea of humanity occurred in 70 A.D. when the Roman armies
drove them from the holy land. Thus the
Israelites as a people have been absent from their land more than two days
in God’s Great Week.
7
It is clearly stated in Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 that “one
day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one
day.” Therefore, in God’s Great
Week in regards to Israel and the Jewish people, “three days and three nights” are
equivalent to the 3,000 years that Israel and the Jewish people have been in
the Sea of Humanity and in the belly of the Great Fish [the world order].
Jonah was cast into the sea and swallowed by the “great
fish,” spending “three days and three nights in the fish’s
belly,” Jonah 1:17. Likewise,
the nation of Israel and the Jewish people were cast into the sea of humanity,
and ultimately swallowed up by the wicked world order, which for centuries has
been planning and working towards bringing into existence a whole “New World Order.”
The
Resurrection of Jonah
But resurrection day for Jonah finally arrived! At the end of “three days and three nights” in
the belly of the fish, Jonah was finally “vomited out” by the fish. Likewise, Israel and the Jewish people have
now arrived at the “appointed time” [Acts
17:26] in human history to be “vomited
out” by the planners of the New World Order.
Folks, look at the world situation carefully! Where does Israel and the Jewish people stand
in the sight of the whole world order today?
Practically the whole world order today despises modern Israel and the
Jewish people. Why?
Because modern Israel is, consciously or unknowingly, following the
agenda assigned to them by the Lord God of Heaven, and is refusing to conform
to the desires of the United Nations and those world leaders promoting the New
World Order. The modern nation of Israel
makes the world planners sick to their stomach, just like Jonah sickened the
great fish. It is time for Israel to be “vomited out” by the New World Order system, just like Jonah
was vomited out by the great fish. Will
this actually happen?
For the answer to this question, let’s look at Ezekiel’s vision of the “Valley
of dry bones” in Ezekiel 37:1-14. A careful study of Ezekiel
37 reveals that Israel and the Israelite people are to experience a spiritual
and bodily resurrection, just as Jonah experienced centuries ago. Read it for yourself in Ezekiel 37:12-14. But Jonah’s resurrection occurred at
the end of “three days and three nights” in the fish’s belly. So when is Israel’s resurrection going to
occur?
For the answer to that question, let’s go again in God’s inspired Word
to Hosea
6:1-3. In this portion of
Scripture we read,
“Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will
heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up.
After two days will He revive us: in the third day He
will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: His going
forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the
latter and former rain unto the
earth.”
Do our readers see this truth? No!
Then let’s do the math…..
Two thousand years ago, or two days in God’s Great Week, Israel
rejected and crucified their promised Messiah and Savior, and were then
swallowed up by the wicked World Order. During
this past 2,000 years the Lord has been graciously dealing with the Gentiles,
exactly as He poured out His mercy and blessings upon the citizens of Nineveh
in the days of Jonah. If our Gentile calendar is even close to being correct, these 2,000 years are
now past! We Gentile believers are
now living in 2014. This is 14 years
into the third day, and it is time for the Lord God to spiritually “revive”
and “raise up” [spiritually
resurrect] the nation of Israel again. Glory to the God of Israel, and to
the God of us who are New Covenant believers.
Yes, we are living today in 2014; 14 years into the third day in
God’s Great Week of Years. Quite significantly, “fourteen” is the Bible number
signifying “salvation and/or
deliverance.” “Three” is also the Bible number signifying “the resurrection and/or Trinity.” This
is the year when the Lord’s New Covenant Church will be removed from the
world scene by the resurrection and rapture, exactly as the scene in the Book
of Jonah at the end of chapter Three shifts from the citizens
of Nineveh back to Jonah himself; who was a type
of Israel and the Jewish people. Glory
to God! Hallelujah! Praise
8
the Lord! We New Covenant believers are going “HOME” to
glory!
The Spiritual
and Literal Resurrection of Israel
Before leaving Ezekiel’s vision of the “Valley of Dry Bones,” there is
another important point in that vision I want to call to the attention of our
readers. Notice 37:10, “So I prophesied as He
commanded me, and the breath [spiritual
life] came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an
exceeding great army.”
This statement is the fulfillment of a number of
prophecies about Israel in the Old Testament.
If our readers will carefully read Jeremiah 51, it will be
obvious that the chapter is a judgment against Babylon. But in this chapter, beginning in 51:15
Jeremiah begins to give praise to the Lord. The praise of Jeremiah continues right
through 51:19. In 51:19 Jeremiah was inspired of God
to say, “The portion of Jacob is not like them [Babylon]; for He [Christ] is
the former [Creator; Maker] of
all things: and Israel is
the rod of His inheritance: the Lord of hosts is His name.”
Then in 51:20 the Lord Himself begins to
speak of Israel, saying, “Thou art My battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee [Israel]
will
I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms:
And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; [compare Revelation 6:1-8] and
with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;….” Compare Zechariah 6:1-8.
This judgment, using Israel as His “battle
axe” continues to be spoken by the Lord right on through 51:35.
Study this carefully and see
this truth for yourself.
The
Consequences of the Sign of Jonah Today
As previously mentioned in this study, two events have now occurred
pointing to “the sign of Jonah.” First,
the sudden and totally unexpected appearance of a great white whale in the
Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel on May 8, 2010. And now, just last Thursday, July 11, 2014,
the ISIS Muslim terrorists stupidly breaking into the Tomb of Jonah in Mosul [ancient Nineveh], and attacking Jonah’s
tomb with sledgehammers in an attempt to destroy Jonah’s Tomb.
Why did these Muslim terrorists attack Jonah’s Tomb, and why right at
this very time in human history? I am
sure they wanted to erase every evidence of the Bible being true as set forth
in the Book of Jonah. The
Muslim religion has been Satanic from its very beginning, and is nothing less
than an instrument in the hands of Satan to force the worship of the false
God, Allah, upon all of mankind.
What these dumb Palestinians and ISIS terrorists do not realize is that
Almighty God is using them to set His own chosen people, Israel, free from
their unbelief and sin. And when Israel
is set free from their unbelief and sin, the Jewish people will be the
mightiest force for good and for God on the face of the earth. Just as Jonah’s preaching converted the
entire Gentile city of Nineveh to the Lord God of Israel, so the
preaching of the 144,000 Jewish “remnant” will convert millions of Gentiles to Christ during the first half
of the coming Tribulation period, Revelation 7:1-17. Glory to the God of Israel!
I point this truth out to emphasize that when Jonah, at the end of “three
days and three nights” was resurrected from the fish’s belly, no one in
Nineveh was able to resist and stand before Jonah’s preaching. And when Israel is resurrected and restored
to God’s favor “in the third day” [the
period of time we are living in RIGHT NOW] the nation of Israel
will set forth the mightiest army ever fielded in the history of humanity. It
likely will not be the biggest army, but it will certainly be the
most powerful. During the Tribulation and following, the nation of Israel
will literally become the “Superpower” nation of the whole earth, both
spiritually and politically. Every nation on earth will ultimately submit
themselves to the nation and people of Israel, or will be destroyed by
Israel.
What these “willingly ignorant” Palestinian and Muslim terrorists are
doing right now, is setting free the greatest fighting force, and the greatest
evangelistic force, in human history, which will result in the total
destruction of the Palestinians and the total eradication of the Muslim
religion from the face of the earth. Little David is not yet through bringing
down the Goliaths of this present evil world!
From this time forth those who place their trust in the God of Israel
can sit back and pray for Israel and
9
watch it all happen. All glory to the God of Israel! Praise the Lord!
Conclusion
There is so much more which I could write about in connection with this
subject, but I must close. Folks, we are
living in “the third day,” Hosea 6:2. The
type of the “three
days and nights” set forth in the Book of Jonah are concluded, and it
is time for the Lord’s church to be removed and Israel to be resurrected and
redeemed to her rightful position in the service of the Lord.
I don’t really care how many “prophecy teachers” want to place the
coming resurrection and rapture in the yet distant future. This is the year of the resurrection and
rapture of New Covenant believers, and if the appearance of “the
sign of Jonah” on Thursday of this very past week is not convincing
enough, the very near future will prove
it so [like perhaps today, tonight,
tomorrow, or REAL SOON].
The question I leave with every reader…..Are you
ready? If the rapture was to occur today,
tonight, tomorrow, next week, or even in the next thirty days, would you be
ready? The Lord Himself told those He
preached to during His personal ministry, “Therefore be ye also ready, for in
such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh,” Matthew 24:44. The Lord did not say, “Get
ready,” as I am appealing to every reader in this study. The Lord said, “be ready!” Folks, when “the Lord Himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of
God,”1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, it will be too late to get ready
in order to be taken in the rapture. Too
late! Too late! Let those words echo through your heart, your
mind, and your soul. Too late!
“…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” 2 Corinthians 6:2.
“Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him
while He is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will
have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon,”
Isaiah 55:6-7.
“For whosover shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,”
Romans 10:13.
What more can I say?
The Lord God placed a love for lost souls in my heart when I surrendered
my life to His ministry. Yet my arm of flesh is limited. I have poured out my soul in this study in an
attempt to warn God’s people [true
believers] and the unsaved about where we are at on God’s Great Prophetic
Time schedule for mankind. I know no
more to do! Ignore this message at the
risk of your own eternal soul.
I would truly like to meet every reader in glory, perhaps today, or if
not, then within a few more days.
Please, please, don’t disappoint me!
Any reader who truly needs and wants spiritual help, may feel free to
contact me. By the grace of God, I know I’m saved, and I know Him who is the
way, the truth, and the life, John 14:6.
<<<<<<< O
>>>>>>>
Permission is granted to any true
believer or Bible believing Christian ministry to reproduce this study
to share with others, or to quote from it in
context as written.
Thank you again, beloved brothers and sisters in Christ and dear
friends, who have enabled me to carry on this ministry by your prayers and
gifts. May your rewards be great in glory, and may you be made to rejoice in
glory with the souls that have been brought to Christ through the Word of God
sent forth by this ministry.
Please address all comments, questions, and correspondence to: Pastor
F. M. Riley, Last Call Gospel Ministry, 184 County Road 108, Harrisburg,
Missouri 65256, or I can be contacted by email at:
<<<<<<< O
>>>>>>>
An
Outline
Text:
Jonah 1:17 – 2:10
The
Experience of Jonah typified:
A. The
experience & resurrection of Christ
Matthew 12:38-42
B. The
disobedience & blindness of Israel
1. Paul Acts 9:1-9
a.
Blind for three days
b.
The three days, Psalm 90: 4 2 Peter 3:8
2. Before the appointed time 1 Corinthians 15:8
3. A Pattern
1 Timothy 1:16
C.
The resurrection & redemption
of Israel
1. The Dry Bones Vision Ezekiel 37:1-14
2. The Revival of
Israel Hosea 6:1-3
Comments
Post a Comment