The sign of Yonah (Jonah)

The sign of Yonah, why mention it?

Well here we are 2014, and I was talking to my wife this morning as we usually do on Shabbat.  The conversation kind of started with the Torah, based on this weeks parasha, and some how it progressed towards the Apostolic writings and today's worldly current affair.  As we usually do on Shabbat mornings conversations, no rush, no need to be making lunches and running after the dogs trying to take them out as we leave in our daily routine.  But on Shabbats, we all chill, we talk, the dogs sleep, and we concentrate on talking Torah.  So what does this got to do with Jonah, you may think?  Well you see it started with the Sh’ma, it followed on with Deuteronomy 11:13 and we ended with Yeshua saying the sign of the son of man is the sign of Jonah.

Here it refers to the son of man what is really saying is the son of the most-high G-d the one which HaShem himself endowed with a special soul to be the one like unto Moses. This is not the aim of this article but rather the concept of the sign of Jonah.  Whilst reading it in context we see that it may refer to the fact that Yonah was in the belly of a sea animal for three days and three nights, right?  But what if there was another message other than the three days and three nights, for example what was the overall message of the Apostolic writings? 

Lets examine that, before we tackle Yonah, before Yeshua even taught anything we find that a close relative of Yeshua, Yohanan the immerser, was on the other side of the Yarden (Jordan) teaching repentance and crying in the wilderness, repent for the Kingdom of G-d is at hand.  There is so much information on this passage that we could have a nice all nigh conversation about this topic.  First of all where was Yohanan when he started his ministry, on which side of the Yarden are we talking about here?  The other side of the Yarden, is Moabite country, the wilderness, going back in time, just as the children of Israel were coming from the wilderness they camped in Moab and received a final address from Moshe, hence the topic of our discussion on Shabbat morning. Here they are recapping the Torah, often referred to as Mishnah Torah (repeating Torah), the topic of our conversation was the fact that in Deuteronomy 6:4 the Sh’ma addresses each individual but in Deuteronomy 11:13 the address is a corporate call to obey in unity.  The “you” in 11:13 in Hebrew is in plural,       (something the English language lacks), that all together in unity are we to obey the Torah. Yohanan, here is re-enacting that which happened in the physical, so many generations past, he now is doing and calling on the same instructions but with a spiritual implication that the Israelites that remained in the land, are called to return to HaShem, to restore the Kingdom because it is near so near. 

Here comes Yeshua he crosses over the Yarden into the wilderness, meets Yohanan and is immersed in living waters, and after the immersion returns to the land, he crosses over (Hebber) into the land, to His ministry of teaching that Kingdom of G-d is at hand, the very same message of Yohanan, same message, in unity with the Torah.  The core of the message is repentance, pure and simple, repent and turn to G-d.  His ministry continues and at a point some people demand a sign, almost to the point of either looking for confirmation of Deuteronomy 13:1-11 or on contradiction of such passage. If they were asking to follow Him for the signs and wonders then they would be in contradiction of the Torah, if they were looking for him to show a sign and wonder and then teach another god then they would have grounds for killing him.  The motive is the key to this passage.  No different than today we have people that are looking and following signs and wonders, instead of the signs and wonders following them.  Yeshua's response was a little puzzling for some of them then and even today it may be a little puzzling, if not looked in cultural context.  Our first reaction is to look retrospectively  and we see the most obvious thing Jonah was swallowed by a sea animal and was later vomited out after three days and three nights. Straightforward case closed, lets move on, this is what has been taught for centuries. Three days and three nights in the belly, three days and three nights in the tomb.

But lets stop for a minute and let us look at what Jonah's message was to Nineveh, current day Mosul in Iraq.  The instructions to Yonah were simple, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach that G-d will utterly destroy them, we know the story, he refused, the sea animal ate him, he survives, he then preaches and they repent. So the message of Jonah was repentance, same message of Yohanan the immerser, the same message of Yeshua.  The sign is repentance, and lo and behold, Yonah was on the news not so long ago.  ISIS has taken over the city of Mosul (Nineveh) and the first thing they did was to destroy the memory of Yonah, the memory that if we turn from our sins we are forgiven.  

The message today is the same repent, turn from our sins, face G-d and in the name of Yeshua the chosen one, the one sent to us for repentance, we are forgiven.  If in the time of Yohanan, the time of Yeshua, the kingdom of G-d was near, how much near is it now?  The footsteps of Messiah can be heard, its time to be found ready, like the wise virgins, with oil ready to enter into the wedding chamber.  There is still time, but do not let time go past for the time is very near.