Posted by Steve (Billy Steven Crider) on February 16, 2008, 9:12 am, in reply to "welcome to Sabbath School..."The Sign of Jonas.""
(...continued)
Have you ever obsessed over a thing uncontrollably for days, out of guilt perhaps, or maybe fear?
I have, and I am almost certain that before Peter ever saw his Master, maybe even before but certainly after hearing rumors of a resurrection, may well have recounted his Masters words finding consolation in the fact that he who had once walked on water with the Messiah, had not only denied Christ out of fear, but had done so in fulfillment of prophecy. And as this realization sunk in, I am sure that the torment of three days of going back and forth between the different emotional extremes of guilt, anger and frustration which certainly must have twisted his gut into a knot, grinding at his soul, grinding at his mind, grinding the joy out of his life, grinding at every fiber of his being, almost “to sift” him “as wheat,” if you will, must have no doubt been replaced with shear excatsy sight of his Messiah, not standing before him offering his wound to Thomas’s scrutiny, but looking him right in the eye, through his memory, through time and space and telling him that surely “before the cock crow thrice, you shall deny me thrice.” And the very words which once just days prior caused Peter great agony, must have then at that time been his hope.
So was the sign of Jonas a miracle? resurrection? Was it a message? The first message I would hear at the Branch Davidian Church, at the chapel which had been built for the survivors by the community in an effort to bring healing, the message brought by Clive Doyle, on Sabbath School was on the Sign of Jonas. But it was not the first message I recall receiving there as I had been to the site on at least three occasions prior. I remember first speaking to Amo Roden and Edna Doyle members of two opposing factions of the Branch Davidian church. I remember Mrs. Doyle, a member of the survivors of the group who had went through the siege in 1993, comforting me, after I told her, “ these things keep happening, and I don’t know why, it scares me” pointing to several articles in my hands reporting of earthquakes, plane crashes, and other events which took place in the early months of 2001. I remember her explanation of the “light” of understanding, and how people had different levels of it, and I remember her advice as she told me not to worry about things, that God would do what he would do, and understanding would come in time.
So was the sign of Jonas a message? A resurrection? A miracle? It may well have been all these things, but what is it today? What is the sign of Jonas?
Perhaps as I said in my opening statements, it is an undeniable fact, one which will not go away, one which “will be given them.” Shortly after Pentecost I would imagine that Pilate must have certainly comforted himself in the fact that he washed his hands that day. Some 40 years or so later, at the fall of Jerusalem in 70 a.d. The same generation that of Jews that put Christ on the cross fulfilling prophecy, must have certainly had surviving members of their generation left as they who had once deemed Christ a blasphemer, now began to view him as a Prophet. As the movement continued to grow, and persistent persecution reigned in opposition, Even Ceasar himself would acknowledge Christ, as an undeniable force that would not go away. As nearly 280 to 300 years after Calvary, Constantine would take a Roman empire that was divided into four ruling factions, and a people divided into greater factions and unite them into one unified empire again in his acknowledgement of Christ. A unification the would be short lived as events of the beginning of Daniel chapter 7 which he had fulfilled at least in type, would give way to great controversy and division and fulfillment of passages of scripture at the end of Daniel chapter 7, again at least in type, as Constantine would in an effort to further unify the Empire, do just the opposite in the minds of many at the Council of Nicea, in 325 A.D. as he sought to change the times and the laws.
And the book of Daniel from which Christ was recorded to make reference many places in the new testament including Matthew chapter 24 would further testify of Christ to the world, through the rise of the Catholic church, protestant movements, Anabaptists’, Adventists’, Kingdom Churches, As an undeniable sign which would not go away. Even an atheist would have to admit as does the Pagan villain in the movie the Da Vinci code, that at least the name of Christ continues, if they deny his divinity, they at least must recognize the resurrection of his name by virtue of defending their own logic.
So was the sign of Jonas a person? Well we know that Jonah was a person, and that there is a section in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, and in the Hebrew book of the Prophets dedicated to him, and perhaps we should look there.
We are told that sign of Jonas would be given to a wicked generation, we know it would be considered miraculous to some and a curse to others, we know that it may well have been a resurrection, and syntax dictates that it is certainly a message.
So who was Jonas?
When I was in Bible College, I heard Jack Schaap teach on Jonas. He recounted the event in a vivid story like fashion, pointing out facts along the way. In my memory I will paraphrase to the best of my recollection.
“So here you have Jonah, he has just been spit out onto the beach from the belly of a whale. After spending three days in that whales belly, having his body being attacked by the digestive juices of that animal, all the hair must have been removed from his flesh eaten away by the whales stomach acids, his skin must have been bleach white with no pigmentation color at all, and here he is spit out on the shore of Assyria, Nineveh was still a 3 day journey on foot, and he’s been “slimed”, and he stands up on the shore, could you imagine what the Assyrians must have thought?
I mean here this guy is, He’s probably naked, his skin is white as snow, he has absolutely no hair on his body, and he has been spit out onto the shore by a fish, to a country who worshipped a pagan fish-god. Now he has to walk for 3 days to get to Nineveh to deliver his message, can you imagine the rumors that preceded him, as he walked, not stopping to speak to anyone as you know he hated the ninevites, and he’s walking into this kingdom to a city which had a particularly cruel reputation for dealing with strangers, impaling them on posts, stripping the flesh from their bodies, to this city he continues to walk, naked, bleach white with no hair on his body, knowing that they worship a fish-god as he trudges step by step into the kingdom of Assyria, everyone pointing and whispering, wondering who is this man, where does he come from, where is he going ? I mean the King of Nineveh had to have been scared out of his wits by the time Jonah finally arrived. And then when Jonah delivers his message, it’s no wonder the whole kingdom repented.”
There must have certainly been some confusion in that country, Here is Jonah, arriving out of the belly of a fish to a kingdom that worshipped a fish god, to prophesy on behalf of Jah’, their imminent destruction.
(conintued...)
  |
|
Message Thread:
|
