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The Sign of Jonah in This Generation
#189270
05/05/19 01:17 PM
05/05/19 01:17 PM
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OP
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The only sign that Christ was willing to give to the apostate religious leaders of his day was the sign of Jonah – three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Matthew 12:40. This prophecy was fulfilled in part at Christ's crucifixion but it must also have a future application because it is clear in the gospel accounts that Christ was only two nights in the heart of the earth. Christ said that this sign was a sign for a wicked and adulterous generation which itself is a clue that He was giving it not only to His own generation but also the final one which He said would be like Noah's for wickedness.
In Hebrew reckoning a day begins at sundown and ends at the following sundown. Three days in Hebrew reckoning is therefore 72 hours, the same as our reckoning. But in Hebrew reckoning three days and three nights indicates a longer period, 3.5 days. Christ knew he would not be in the tomb three nights. He also knew that three days and nights is more than double the actual time He spent there. The gospel accounts are clear that Christ's total time in the tomb was about 36 hours. In contrast 3.5 days is 84 hours.
On the one hand, we can't be dogmatic when it comes to future prophecies but on the other, God has given them to us for our study to prepare ourselves and others for their fulfillment. So what I'm about to say is my best attempt to narrow down the possibilities of which of the end-time prophecies contain the sign of Jonah for our generation.
In Revelation 11:7-12 the two witnesses are slain like Christ was slain and they lay, like Christ, for 3 days and nights in the streets of Sodom and Egypt “where our Lord was crucified”, the sign of Jonah in both cases. The two witnesses are the two anointed lamp stands. See also Zechariah 4 where they are called the two olive trees or sons of oil. They are the antitype of the ancient golden lamp stands that illuminated the sanctuary. When they are killed their light is snuffed out and the sanctuary is completely darkened. When this occurs the world is in total spiritual darkness but will celebrate their death, lighting up their buildings in rainbow colors, congratulating and giving gifts to each other and thinking the opposite. After three and a half days, like Christ, God raises them up and they ascend to heaven in the sight of everyone, the sign of Jonah. (It also seems to me that these become the manchild in Revelation 12 that is born of the woman and also taken up spiritually to God and His throne, the throne of David, just before she flees into the wilderness. Compare Rev 11:11 and 12 with Rev 12:5.)
During the French revolution this prophecy was partly fulfilled but Ellen White indicates that Revelation 11 applies especially to the end of time and is a picture of what will take place in the great cities of the world. It is taking place now before our eyes in London, New York, Los Angeles and other cities. Be prepared friends for earthquakes and judgments on the world's cities and let's do our part to warn them.
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Re: The Sign of Jonah in This Generation
[Re: Charity]
#189271
05/05/19 04:11 PM
05/05/19 04:11 PM
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The only sign that Christ was willing to give to the apostate religious leaders of his day was the sign of Jonah – three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Matthew 12:40. This prophecy was fulfilled in part at Christ's crucifixion but it must also have a future application because it is clear in the gospel accounts that Christ was only two nights in the heart of the earth. Christ said that this sign was a sign for a wicked and adulterous generation which itself is a clue that He was giving it not only to His own generation but also the final one which He said would be like Noah's for wickedness.
In Hebrew reckoning a day begins at sundown and ends at the following sundown. Three days in Hebrew reckoning is therefore 72 hours, the same as our reckoning. But in Hebrew reckoning three days and three nights indicates a longer period, 3.5 days. Christ knew he would not be in the tomb three nights. He also knew that three days and nights is more than double the actual time He spent there. The gospel accounts are clear that Christ's total time in the tomb was about 36 hours. In contrast 3.5 days is 84 hours.
On the one hand, we can't be dogmatic when it comes to future prophecies but on the other, God has given them to us for our study to prepare ourselves and others for their fulfillment. So what I'm about to say is my best attempt to narrow down the possibilities of which of the end-time prophecies contain the sign of Jonah for our generation.
In Revelation 11:7-12 the two witnesses are slain like Christ was slain and they lay, like Christ, for 3 days and nights in the streets of Sodom and Egypt “where our Lord was crucified”, the sign of Jonah in both cases. The two witnesses are the two anointed lamp stands. See also Zechariah 4 where they are called the two olive trees or sons of oil. They are the antitype of the ancient golden lamp stands that illuminated the sanctuary. When they are killed their light is snuffed out and the sanctuary is completely darkened. When this occurs the world is in total spiritual darkness but will celebrate their death, lighting up their buildings in rainbow colors, congratulating and giving gifts to each other and thinking the opposite. After three and a half days, like Christ, God raises them up and they ascend to heaven in the sight of everyone, the sign of Jonah. (It also seems to me that these become the manchild in Revelation 12 that is born of the woman and also taken up spiritually to God and His throne, the throne of David, just before she flees into the wilderness. Compare Rev 11:11 and 12 with Rev 12:5.)
During the French revolution this prophecy was partly fulfilled but Ellen White indicates that Revelation 11 applies especially to the end of time and is a picture of what will take place in the great cities of the world. It is taking place now before our eyes in London, New York, Los Angeles and other cities. Be prepared friends for earthquakes and judgments on the world's cities and let's do our part to warn them. You are GREATLY mistaken. Jesus said, " For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to THIS generation." Luke 11:30. Not a future one, but the one of Christ Himself.The sign of Jonah rising from the depths of the sea, defeating death, stirred the faith of the Ninevites so that they believed his word and repented. In much the same way, Jesus was going to rise from the dead and be preached as having risen and many would repent for "who has heard of such a thing as a resurrection? It's a miracle from God!" Why an evil and adulterous generation? Well, they rejected Christ, cast him out and gave Him up to be crucified. Such is an evil generation. They loved the things of this world instead of God their Creator. Such is an adulterous one. But the resurrection from the dead would be the sign to them that they had rejected God, the act that would seal their fate --- unless they repented. It is NOT the time period that is of consequence but the defeat of death. Look carefully how Jesus interprets his own words (in the second paragraph). - "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with THIS generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with THIS generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here."
-- Mat. 12:39-42
I'm always struck by how SDA are so hell-bent on applying their own meaning to scripture instead of listening to Christ. They are like a horse that is led to a well for water, but which strains at the rope to gallop into the desert at the site of a mirage of an oasis. ///
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Re: The Sign of Jonah in This Generation
[Re: Charity]
#189272
05/05/19 07:23 PM
05/05/19 07:23 PM
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SDA
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Does the title "this generation" always refer to the people living at the time? If so, how should we understand the following passage?
Matthew 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
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Re: The Sign of Jonah in This Generation
[Re: Charity]
#189273
05/05/19 07:25 PM
05/05/19 07:25 PM
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I've heard Jesus' night in Gethsemane was His first night in the heart of the earth.
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Re: The Sign of Jonah in This Generation
[Re: Mountain Man]
#189274
05/05/19 11:43 PM
05/05/19 11:43 PM
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OP
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I've heard Jesus' night in Gethsemane was His first night in the heart of the earth. That's how I used to reconcile the sign of Jonah with the crucifixion account, but just recently I noticed that three days and three nights seems to be 3.5 days. If so that amount of time is still significantly longer even if you add Thursday night. Add Thursday and you have total length of about 60 hours (36 from the gospels plus another 24), and that's short of 84 hours by a full day. I agree though that it does work if you use inclusive reckoning which seems to be common in Bible time reckoning. The other weakness of adding Thursday is that while it's clear that Christ began to experience the sufferings of death then (and God forbid that anyone minimize that) no matter how you slice it, our Savior was not dead or in the earth physically on Thursday. But I confess that I still think the spiritual interpretation is a good one - that Christ was indeed spiritually in the heart of the earth Thursday, Friday and Sabbath, three days and three nights.
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Re: The Sign of Jonah in This Generation
[Re: Mountain Man]
#189275
05/06/19 12:11 AM
05/06/19 12:11 AM
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Does the title "this generation" always refer to the people living at the time? If so, how should we understand the following passage?
Matthew 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. The reason many have trouble understanding Mat. 24 is because they view it in hindsight without the benefit of a Jewish mind. When Jesus pointed out that the temple would be utterly destroyed, it was to the Jew the end of all things. Think of it like someone attempting suicide. Loss drives them to such despair that, for them, their world has surely come to an end: THEIR world and not the world, but the two in their mind are inextricably linked. Hence the famous double-edged question, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" Mat. 24:3 The fall of Jerusalem was sure. The end of all things was sure. But look how Jesus responds to the disciples just before His ascension. They asked Him much like they asked before, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:6-8 Luke has an interesting parallel. "And [the Jews] will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles ----- UNTIL the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." Luke 21:24 In short, the fall of Jerusalem would be the end of the world for the Jews, the Jewish dispensation if you will, but that fall would signal the countdown to the end of the world. And those of Jesus' day, HIS generation, would witness the signs portending the beginning of that doom: one that inextricably ties the earthly Jerusalem to the world at large.************* As I said at the beginning, we are reading Jesus' words in hindsight; but for a while imagine driving along a highway with signs on the side. The signs as you approach them appear VERY close together in the distance, but as you get nearer, you discover that they are actually very far apart. In hindsight, you gain a better understanding of what you saw in foresight. ///
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Re: The Sign of Jonah in This Generation
[Re: Mountain Man]
#189276
05/06/19 12:36 AM
05/06/19 12:36 AM
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NON-SDA
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I've heard Jesus' night in Gethsemane was His first night in the heart of the earth. It was NEVER prophesied that Jesus would spend three days and three nights anywhere. Repeatedly, Jesus Himself said otherwise, even according to the testimony of those who hated Him. - Mat. 27:62-66
... the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, "Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise.' Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, ..."
But it is within the purview of God to shorten the time, if He wills; isn't that so? As Jesus Himself said in another place, "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened." Mat. 24:22. Now consider the dramatic testimony of Hezekiah, in the days of Isaiah the prophet. - Isaiah 38:1-8
In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, "Thus says the Lord: 'Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'"
Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, and said, "Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, "Go and tell Hezekiah, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.'
And this is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing which He has spoken: 'Behold, I will bring the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down with the sun on the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.' So the sun returned ten degrees on the dial by which it had gone down."
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Re: The Sign of Jonah in This Generation
[Re: Charity]
#189279
05/06/19 02:56 PM
05/06/19 02:56 PM
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SDA
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Active Member 2019
20000+ Member
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Posts: 22,256
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James, thank you for addressing my questions. Would you elaborate on the context of "this generation" (verse 34). It seems clear that "this generation" includes people living on the earth at the time Jesus returns.
Matthew 24
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
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Re: The Sign of Jonah in This Generation
[Re: Charity]
#189280
05/06/19 02:59 PM
05/06/19 02:59 PM
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SDA
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Charity, the idea that Jesus' prophecy regarding spending three days and nights in the heart of the earth can be reapplied to future events is something I've never heard before. It's also interesting to note that Jonah was not dead while dwelling in the belly of the whale.
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Re: The Sign of Jonah in This Generation
[Re: Mountain Man]
#189281
05/06/19 05:02 PM
05/06/19 05:02 PM
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OP
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Charity, the idea that Jesus' prophecy regarding spending three days and nights in the heart of the earth can be reapplied to future events is something I've never heard before. It's also interesting to note that Jonah was not dead while dwelling in the belly of the whale. It's new to me too. And I'm not aware of anyone else on the planet who believes this. About Jonah not being dead, no he wasn't dead but he knew he was as good as dead unless God supernaturally intervened. I think you're touching on an important aspect of the sign of Jonah. Christ, while living knew in the Garden of Gethsemane that He was as good as dead if He allowed Himself to become sin for us. He did it anyway at the risk of eternal death. Amazing love! The prayer of Jonah from the belly of the fish is a window for us of what it was like for Christ to go into the belly of the earth for us. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
Jon 2:6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars [the bars of death]was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.
Jon 2:7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
Jon 2:8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
Jon 2:9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
Jon 2:10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. But notice what Jonah prays in verse 9. From the belly of the fish he praises God! [isn't there some kind of lesson there for us?] and immediately or soon after that God speaks to the fish and it vomits him onto dry land.
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