The Sign of Jonah (and What That Means for Us)

Jonah has been on my mind.

It’s a short story in the Bible and worth far more than the few minutes it will take you to read it. I encourage you to read it straight from God’s Holy Word. But until you do, here’s my quick take on it…

God called Jonah to go to a broken people and warn them of their impending destruction. Why? Not because God wanted to smite them. Not at all. But because of God’s big heart and mercy for those people. Yet, Jonah did want to smite them, it seems. Jonah didn’t want to warn them because he knew that would mean God would save them. What kind of hardness of heart causes such resentment—to not want a people group to be saved when you have the power to show them the way?

Jonah was given the honor and job to call the Ninevites to repentance. Yet, Jonah seemed pretty bitter about the whole thing. His actions show us his preferences clearly.

This all leaves me baffled. I want to know. Who in Nineveh caused Jonah so much pain? Why condemn a whole city?

I mean God throws him a softball here, and instead of taking a pinch-hit homerun, he just storms off the field, puts others in his own path of destruction (the sailors), throws a hissy fit (the broom tree), and wishes condemnation on an entire city!

And yet, God is so kind.

To both Nineveh, a wicked people and to Jonah, a resentful prophet. God saves Nineveh despite Jonah’s malice. And he gently asks Jonah a question to the effect of, “Wow, son. Is being this angry doing you any good?”

Jonah has been on my mind.

And it guts me to say this. But my guess is, you and I are just like him. Maybe his vicious anger and resentment looks more like a shade of passivity or apathy in our lives. But how many times have we been face to face with someone who needs to hear the warning of impending destruction? How many times have we had an opportunity to invite someone into repentance but didn’t? Isn’t it the kindness of the Lord that brings us to repentance?

Maybe you and I are not standing on street corners saying, “You’re all going to hell” as basically Jonah did when he finally entered Nineveh. But what’s the difference really if we just smile politely and carry on with our day when someone is clearly crying out for salvation who we run into in the store or the restaurant or the workplace or even the pew next to us.

The rule-loving religious of the day, the Pharisees and Sadducees, came up to Jesus demanding a sign of when the end times are near, to trick and test him. (Read more in Matthew’s account of Jesus answering the religious leaders who asked publicly for signs, in chapter 12 and chapter 16.)

To the Testy: No Sign But the Sign of Jonah

When I read that passage in Matthew 16, I always cocked my head sideways and never really understood what he meant. We want wisdom to interpret the signs of the times.  And yet we don’t want to be conspiracy theorists. We don’t want to be extremists, right? And part of us just keeps going numb when we hear of destruction after destruction. Do we even weep anymore when we hear of mass shootings or bombs dropping on entire cities?

If we do not carry the disdain of Jonah, we certainly have shared in his indifference.

Oh! Father, that guts me! Forgive us, Lord. Have mercy on us, Lord. And give us your heart of mercy for the people who are lost in great darkness. Not just abroad but our own people too, our neighbors, family, friends.

To the Sincere: The Signs of the Times

But to the sincere questions of his disciples, when they ask Jesus privately for signs of the end of times, He responds with details and also comfort, saying, “Do not panic when this happens,” (Matthew 24:6). The “birth pains” of all creation are definitely coming closer and closer together. Wars and rumors of wars. Earthquakes, famines, on and on. Just this last week, we literally see mountains crumbling in to the sea as Hurricane Helene that washed out the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. Another sign of the times Jesus gives us is that “because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold. But the person who endures to the end will be saved,” Matthew 24:12-13.

Eclipses and Shadows of Things to Come

Something in me wanted to look up all those eclipses lately. And for “some reason” I just googled both words eclipse and Salem. Holy Spirit sent me straight to some fascinating revelation. The path of the eclipse surely seems to be speaking. There’s no way man can plan this, nor can man call this coincidence.

Look at the paths of recent eclipses:

Salem is a short way of saying Jerusalem. City of Peace. It means Peace.

Corpus Cristi is Latin for “The Body of Christ.”

Jonah. Our guy. His path represents the calling every believer has right now (RIGHT NOW) to invite the wicked and the lost into repentance and salvation.

Nineveh, a huge, powerful “mighty” people group. Evil and wicked. Shedding innocent blood as we have in our nation on our own soil for far too long. Nineveh is a symbol of REPENTANCE. A call to repent, confess, fast and pray for mercy. The Ninevites, wicked as they may have been, humbled themselves and prayed and God healed their land. This was possibly the biggest revival recorded in all of scriptures. (I don’t know for sure. But it was a massive town with 120k people (Jonah 4:11)! All fasting and all saved at once!)

And look where the crossroads of both eclipse pathways end up. The crossroads of Salem/Salem/Salem/Salem/Peace/Peace/Peace/Peace AND Jonah/Nineveh/Nineveh/Nineveh/Nineveh/Repentance/Repentance/Repentance/Repentance intersect right at:

1. The Cross of Peace (Jesus Christ, our salvation, saved by grace through faith)
2. The Ark (which is a symbol of the baptism of water and Holy Spirit), and
3. A town called Rapture (the path to the promised land).

This is the gospel written in the sky and translated on earth below.

“The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky proclaims His handiwork,” Psalm 19.

Part of me wants to overcomplicate this and deep dive and do more research and fact checking and geek out on all of this. The other part of me knows it’s the simple straight up Gospel spelled out in the sky. Turn from your wicked ways. Confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord. Be baptized in water and in fire. The Lord is faithful and just and will forgive all who cry out to Him.

John the Baptist was the forerunner before Jesus first came to walk the earth. His message was simple, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near, at hand, within reach.” (See Matthew 3:1-12 about repenting and baptism of water and fire).

The sign of Jonah is the forerunner before Jesus comes back again. His message is simple, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near, at hand, within reach!

As I consider all of this, the only thing I know to do is:

1. Cry out for mercy.
2. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem, old and new. The original and those grafted in.

Jonah has been on my mind.

And I hope Jonah will now be on your mind too.

As much as it kills me to see my indifference mirrored in his disdain, it allows light to expose and drive out the darkness that’s been trying to harden the outer edges of my heart. The sign of Jonah allows you and I to begin with this prayer: