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Sign of Jonah
by Phil Maxwell 2/16/02
Mt 12:38-41 “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him, saying,
"Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." But He answered and said to
them, "
An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign shall
be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet
; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea
monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth. "The men of Nineveh shall stand up with this generation at the
judgment, and shall condemn it because
they repented at the preaching of Jonah
; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”
What is the sign of Jonah? What exactly did Jonah offer as a messenger of
Yahweh? He sure wasn’t a testimony of faith. His appearance couldn’t have
been very appealing, either, considering how he’d gotten to Nineveh in the
first place. As a Jew, he was an enemy of the Ninevites. When you get down to
it, Jonah had only one thing from Yahweh to offer – the truth -and their very
existence depended on their reception of his message.
Essentially, Yahweh gave them a final warning in a way that was most UNlikely to
be heard. Their lives depended on their reception of a hard truth – that they
were so utterly wicked that the Almighty Creator was a heartbeat away from
destroying them. He didn’t even offer them the option of rescue, giving them
even less reason to accept Jonah’s message. By virtue of how the message was
delivered, their repentance was clearly demonstrated to be genuine. By design,
there was no other reason for them to hear Jonah except that he spoke the truth.
In spite of their wickedness, they distinguished themselves by hearing the voice
of truth in the midst of an avalanche of "reasons" not to.
Yahshua’s voice is the truth, and the truth is Yahshua’s voice; it is the
unleavened bread from heaven. Like the Jews of long ago, we can either take it
and eat, trusting that it is and always will be enough, or we can starve, or we
can insist upon something more and different and bring a curse upon ourselves.
The truth was enough for the Ninevites, whose faith Yahshua placed over the
“respectable” Pharisees and scribes who nearly everyone wrongly considered
to speak for Yahweh.
The sheep and goats, wheat and tares, good and bad fish – pick your metaphor
– need to be and will be separated. A strong delusion complete with signs and
wonders will accomplish the task, for it will cause all but the very elect to
believe a lie. Signs and wonders have a place in discerning the truth, they just
don’t prove anything themselves except the presence spiritual powers, leaving
the source of the power in question. We should question the source and validity
of all spiritual power, being certain to hold fast only to that which is proven
to be of God.
The Truth is a sword that needs nothing else in order to accomplish its
purposes. It can and will separate the sheep from the goats. Yahshua’s sheep
are those who only heed the authority of their Shepherd, thereby proving
themselves to be His sheep. They hear His voice and His voice only, and it
doesn’t matter whether it comes through Elijah or Jonah. This generation
should be watching for Jonah, though, for if we won’t hear him, we may never
get a chance to hear Elijah. Only those who heard the wilderness rantings of
John the Baptist were even considered to fill Judas’ place. Yahshua is looking
for those who will hear His whisper as clearly as His roar.
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