Passover to Tabernacles - Part Fifteen Feb 27, 2022 by: John Herbert | Series: Passover to Tabernacles Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T012_20220227.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Mt. 16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed. We will continue to look at the sign of the prophet Jonah today The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday February 27th 2022 Passover to Tabernacles Part 15 1). Mt 16:1 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed. We had seen last time that there are two occasions recorded in the Gospel of Matthew when Jesus was asked for a sign by the Jewish religious leaders despite having signs already shown to them, and that Jesus had responded to their request by letting them know that the sign of the prophet Jonah was the only sign that would be given. a). The sign of the prophet Jonah, which is also a type for us, works on a dual level. Jonah is a sign/type of the Lord – Mt 12:40 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 resurrection of the Lord is the eighth and final sign recorded by John in his Gospel – Jn 20:30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. The religious leaders would have known that Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights before God returned him to dry land. And Jesus had alluded to this with respect to His own experience recorded in – Jn 2:18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” 19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. According to v22, the Lord’s disciples believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said after the Lord had risen from the dead. But this would not be the case for the religious leaders of the nation. Again, something the Lord had already made known to them through the parable of the rich man and Lazarus – Lk 16:27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ” The sign of the prophet Jonah, with respect to Christ’s death, burial and resurrection cannot be seen by the Jewish nation apart from national repentance, but it will be seen and understood in that future day when the Jewish nation look on Him whom they pierced – 2 Co 3:14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. And then there is the second part of the sign, which is the primary part, the type for us, in which Jonah is a picture of the Jewish nation. A nation which had been brought into existence to be God’s witnesses to the Gentiles and the bearers of the spiritual blessings promised through Abraham’s descendants. b). Jonah had rejected his calling and tried to flee from the presence of the Lord to Tarshish, and the Jewish people have been walking in a contrary direction to their calling throughout their history. But according to that seen through Jonah’s experience, this is about to change – Jon 1:1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. 4 But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. As we had also seen last time, these opening verses of the Book of Jonah take us from the birth of the nation in Moses’ day to the mid-point in the Tribulation. And we know that God has always used one method only to bring His chosen people to repentance, persecution at the hands of the Gentile nations over whom Israel had been called to rule. This was done by either allowing the Gentile nations to subjugate the Jews in the land or by completely removing the Jews from the land. c). And Jonah going down into the ship provides the picture for Israel returning to the land following their prior removal. A return to the land from captivity had happened at the end of the seventy years of the Babylonian captivity when a remnant had gone back in three groups over a period of about one hundred years under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. And it was the descendants of these remnants who were in the land under Roman occupation at the time of the Lord’s first Advent. The ones to whom the Lord had given the sign of the prophet Jonah. d). Now, we know the events of the Lord’s first Advent, and at the end of a forty-year period that began with the ministry of John the Baptist, the remnant of Jews in the land were driven out into the Gentile nations again, this time by the Romans in 70AD. And that’s where they stayed until 1948, when another remnant began to return to form the nation that we now know as, Israel. c). At the end of the Babylonian captivity, God had told the Jews He would allow them to return to the land, but He had said nothing to those who began returning to the land in 1948. Nothing except of course, the sign of the prophet Jonah, given at the Lord’s first Advent. d). And if those in the land today could see the sign, then they would know what is coming next. A great wind will come upon the sea and there will be a mighty tempest. e). The great wind seen in Jonah, is not blowing yet as God is not dealing with His wayward son at this time. The great wind awaits the completion of this dispensation when the Holy Spirit will leave with the Bride and the rest of the body of Christ - 2 Th 2:6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. But once all restraint has been removed, then the ‘great wind’ will blow, and a ‘mighty tempest’ will be seen. 2). Jon 1:5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.” 7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” As we have previously noted, the turmoil and violence that is rampant among all the nations in this present time, is not the ‘great wind’ that God is to send upon the ‘sea’, but a precursor to it. It is the setting of the stage to prepare all things for the entrance of the man of sin. And when God resumes His dealings with the Jewish people, to complete the final seven years of their dispensation, Daniel’s seventieth week, the time of Jacob’s trouble, so the ‘great wind’ seen in Jonah Chapter 1 will begin to blow, and by the time the first 3 ½ years of the final seven years are completed, so the ’great wind’ will become ‘a mighty tempest’ resulting in those on the earth being just like those on the ship in Jonah’s day, ‘the mariners were afraid and every man cried out to his god….’ a). And this will happen because God’s attention will then have turned back to His wayward son, the end of Man’s Day will almost be at hand and the Jewish people must be brought to repentance at the hands of the Gentile nations. And this can only be accomplished when those Jews in the land today by their own endeavors, in rebellion against the Lord, are driven out to join the rest of the Jews throughout the world, in the Gentile nations – Le 26:27 “And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, 28 then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. In the centuries that followed the diaspora of AD70 many Jews who were separated from the promised ‘rest’ of God became content with the lives they had created for themselves in and around the capital cities of Europe. This was a way of living that no longer relied upon their Messiah, replacing Him with the things of the world, as they once more decided to do what seemed right in their own eyes. However, all this perceived success and prosperity changed dramatically in the 1930s. The change of one leader in Germany, brought the work of their own hands crashing down to nothing, and instead of ‘rest’ this people were herded into the cattle trucks that sped them to the gas chambers - Zec 2:8 For thus says the LORD of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple [pupil] of His eye. Let us always remember though, that as the Jews suffered these unspeakable horrors, God Himself was in their midst, suffering right along with them, just as He will be during the time of the Tribulation. b). And we know by now that six million Jews died during the Holocaust of these years. But this did not bring national repentance. c). And following the end of WW2 the Jewish people, the survivors of the Holocaust from Europe, could conceive of no place of safety and rest other than the land covenanted to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the land of Israel. And so, by their own efforts, contrary to their own Scriptures, they began to return, forming a predominantly secular and ‘pseudo-religious’ society today, that looks to the gun as their means of protection and deliverance rather than Messiah – Isa 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, And rely on horses, Who trust in chariots because they are many, And in horsemen because they are very strong, But who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, Nor seek the LORD! And in the midst of this perceived ‘safety and protection’ will come a man who will change everything for the last time – Lk 21:24 And they 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. 25 “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. The Holocaust in Europe did not bring Israel to national repentance but the worldwide Holocaust to come, because the fiery furnace will be heated seven times hotter than before will. Approximately nine million Jews will die in the final 3 ½ years of Daniel’s seventieth week, bringing the one third left face to face with the fear of national extinction. With their land gone, their temple gone, their religious practice gone, their national identity gone, and their lives being extinguished in unbelievable numbers, they will come to the very end of everything, left with only one place to turn – 2 Ch 7:13 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. We will return to this later. 3). Jon 1:10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. 11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous. 12 And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.” 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they cried out to the LORD and said, “We pray, O LORD, please do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and took vows. It is interesting to see, that Jonah knew that the great tempest was because of him, he knew that it was because he had boarded the ship to escape from his calling and flee from the presence of the Lord. And the mariners were also aware of this because Jonah had told them. a). And Jonah also knew that the only way for the sea to become calm, was for him to be thrown into it. b). Despite knowing this, and this being what God had said, the mariners seem not to have believed Jonah, and tried to resolve the matter themselves instead, ‘Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return the boat to land, but they could not….’ c). In the antitype, we would have to see the Jewish people as being in ignorance of the cause of the chaos around them. Ignorance is something though that cannot be used as an excuse. The Jewish people have the Scriptures, and this one small Book alone, Jonah, would not allow for ignorance to be claimed. And then they have the evidence of their history from the Exodus onwards. This would not allow for ignorance either. In this sense the Jewish people, as Jonah did, know ‘that this great tempest is because of me.’ d). And what would we say of the Gentile nations? Well, they know that there is a problem in the Middle East concerning Israel, that has ramifications for the entire world, but they have no idea why. And consequently, they keep trying to ‘row hard’ to find a solution to the problem that has no human solution– Hos 5:13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah saw his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb; Yet he cannot cure you, Nor heal you of your wound. 14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue. 15 I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” The condition Israel finds itself in today and will find itself in, in the very near future, is in God’s hands alone. He has acted and will yet act, in faithfulness to His Word, and only He can bring an end to the problem, again in faithfulness to His Word, ‘I will return to My place TILL they acknowledge their offense’ – Hos 6:1 Come, and let us return to the LORD; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. Zec 1:3 Therefore say to them, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the LORD of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts. The day will come though at the end of the first 3 ½ years of Daniel’s seventieth week, when the ministry of the two witnesses is complete and the one hundred and forty four thousand Jewish evangelists have been sealed and taken into heaven, when those in the land pictured by the mariners, will take Israel and throw her into the sea – Lk 21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24 And they 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. Re 12:1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5 She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. That which is prophetically described in the verses from Luke Chapter 21, is seen again in Revelation Chapter 12, using figurative language and metaphors. The command to ‘flee to the mountains’ in Luke 21:21 is described in Revelation Chapter 12 as ‘the woman fled into the wilderness.’ e). Both the ‘mountains’ and the ‘wilderness’, figuratively portray the same thing as Jonah thrown into the sea. The Gentile nations/kingdoms that surround Israel. And as we have seen, it is out among the nations that Israel will be persecuted to the point of repentance and out among the nations that national Israel will be protected, Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. And both the persecution and the protection are seen through the experience of Jonah in the belly of the great fish – Jon 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 2:1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish's belly. 2 And he said: “I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, And He answered me. ‘Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice. 3 For You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ 5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head. 6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD, my God. 7 “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple. 8 “Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.” 10 So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. In the account of Jonah, once he had been thrown into the sea, the sea stopped raging, but we would be wrong to think that once the Jewish people in the land are carried away among the nations, that this brings a period of peace and calm, far from it. f). The sea ceases to rage in relation to why the tempest came in the first place, the Jews in the land before the time. But the ‘tempest’ continues after another fashion, in relation to the judgment of the Jewish people and the judgment of the nations as the opening of the seven seals on the seven sealed scroll along with the trumpet and bowl judgments are completed. We will continue with this next time – if we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed. Passover to Tabernacles - Part Fifteen Feb 27, 2022 Speaker: John Herbert Series: Passover to Tabernacles Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T012_20220227.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Mt. 16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed. We will continue to look at the sign of the prophet Jonah today The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday February 27th 2022 Passover to Tabernacles Part 15 1). Mt 16:1 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed. We had seen last time that there are two occasions recorded in the Gospel of Matthew when Jesus was asked for a sign by the Jewish religious leaders despite having signs already shown to them, and that Jesus had responded to their request by letting them know that the sign of the prophet Jonah was the only sign that would be given. a). The sign of the prophet Jonah, which is also a type for us, works on a dual level. Jonah is a sign/type of the Lord – Mt 12:40 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 resurrection of the Lord is the eighth and final sign recorded by John in his Gospel – Jn 20:30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. The religious leaders would have known that Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights before God returned him to dry land. And Jesus had alluded to this with respect to His own experience recorded in – Jn 2:18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” 19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. According to v22, the Lord’s disciples believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said after the Lord had risen from the dead. But this would not be the case for the religious leaders of the nation. Again, something the Lord had already made known to them through the parable of the rich man and Lazarus – Lk 16:27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ” The sign of the prophet Jonah, with respect to Christ’s death, burial and resurrection cannot be seen by the Jewish nation apart from national repentance, but it will be seen and understood in that future day when the Jewish nation look on Him whom they pierced – 2 Co 3:14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. And then there is the second part of the sign, which is the primary part, the type for us, in which Jonah is a picture of the Jewish nation. A nation which had been brought into existence to be God’s witnesses to the Gentiles and the bearers of the spiritual blessings promised through Abraham’s descendants. b). Jonah had rejected his calling and tried to flee from the presence of the Lord to Tarshish, and the Jewish people have been walking in a contrary direction to their calling throughout their history. But according to that seen through Jonah’s experience, this is about to change – Jon 1:1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. 4 But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. As we had also seen last time, these opening verses of the Book of Jonah take us from the birth of the nation in Moses’ day to the mid-point in the Tribulation. And we know that God has always used one method only to bring His chosen people to repentance, persecution at the hands of the Gentile nations over whom Israel had been called to rule. This was done by either allowing the Gentile nations to subjugate the Jews in the land or by completely removing the Jews from the land. c). And Jonah going down into the ship provides the picture for Israel returning to the land following their prior removal. A return to the land from captivity had happened at the end of the seventy years of the Babylonian captivity when a remnant had gone back in three groups over a period of about one hundred years under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. And it was the descendants of these remnants who were in the land under Roman occupation at the time of the Lord’s first Advent. The ones to whom the Lord had given the sign of the prophet Jonah. d). Now, we know the events of the Lord’s first Advent, and at the end of a forty-year period that began with the ministry of John the Baptist, the remnant of Jews in the land were driven out into the Gentile nations again, this time by the Romans in 70AD. And that’s where they stayed until 1948, when another remnant began to return to form the nation that we now know as, Israel. c). At the end of the Babylonian captivity, God had told the Jews He would allow them to return to the land, but He had said nothing to those who began returning to the land in 1948. Nothing except of course, the sign of the prophet Jonah, given at the Lord’s first Advent. d). And if those in the land today could see the sign, then they would know what is coming next. A great wind will come upon the sea and there will be a mighty tempest. e). The great wind seen in Jonah, is not blowing yet as God is not dealing with His wayward son at this time. The great wind awaits the completion of this dispensation when the Holy Spirit will leave with the Bride and the rest of the body of Christ - 2 Th 2:6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. But once all restraint has been removed, then the ‘great wind’ will blow, and a ‘mighty tempest’ will be seen. 2). Jon 1:5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.” 7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” As we have previously noted, the turmoil and violence that is rampant among all the nations in this present time, is not the ‘great wind’ that God is to send upon the ‘sea’, but a precursor to it. It is the setting of the stage to prepare all things for the entrance of the man of sin. And when God resumes His dealings with the Jewish people, to complete the final seven years of their dispensation, Daniel’s seventieth week, the time of Jacob’s trouble, so the ‘great wind’ seen in Jonah Chapter 1 will begin to blow, and by the time the first 3 ½ years of the final seven years are completed, so the ’great wind’ will become ‘a mighty tempest’ resulting in those on the earth being just like those on the ship in Jonah’s day, ‘the mariners were afraid and every man cried out to his god….’ a). And this will happen because God’s attention will then have turned back to His wayward son, the end of Man’s Day will almost be at hand and the Jewish people must be brought to repentance at the hands of the Gentile nations. And this can only be accomplished when those Jews in the land today by their own endeavors, in rebellion against the Lord, are driven out to join the rest of the Jews throughout the world, in the Gentile nations – Le 26:27 “And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, 28 then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. In the centuries that followed the diaspora of AD70 many Jews who were separated from the promised ‘rest’ of God became content with the lives they had created for themselves in and around the capital cities of Europe. This was a way of living that no longer relied upon their Messiah, replacing Him with the things of the world, as they once more decided to do what seemed right in their own eyes. However, all this perceived success and prosperity changed dramatically in the 1930s. The change of one leader in Germany, brought the work of their own hands crashing down to nothing, and instead of ‘rest’ this people were herded into the cattle trucks that sped them to the gas chambers - Zec 2:8 For thus says the LORD of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple [pupil] of His eye. Let us always remember though, that as the Jews suffered these unspeakable horrors, God Himself was in their midst, suffering right along with them, just as He will be during the time of the Tribulation. b). And we know by now that six million Jews died during the Holocaust of these years. But this did not bring national repentance. c). And following the end of WW2 the Jewish people, the survivors of the Holocaust from Europe, could conceive of no place of safety and rest other than the land covenanted to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the land of Israel. And so, by their own efforts, contrary to their own Scriptures, they began to return, forming a predominantly secular and ‘pseudo-religious’ society today, that looks to the gun as their means of protection and deliverance rather than Messiah – Isa 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, And rely on horses, Who trust in chariots because they are many, And in horsemen because they are very strong, But who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, Nor seek the LORD! And in the midst of this perceived ‘safety and protection’ will come a man who will change everything for the last time – Lk 21:24 And they 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. 25 “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. The Holocaust in Europe did not bring Israel to national repentance but the worldwide Holocaust to come, because the fiery furnace will be heated seven times hotter than before will. Approximately nine million Jews will die in the final 3 ½ years of Daniel’s seventieth week, bringing the one third left face to face with the fear of national extinction. With their land gone, their temple gone, their religious practice gone, their national identity gone, and their lives being extinguished in unbelievable numbers, they will come to the very end of everything, left with only one place to turn – 2 Ch 7:13 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. We will return to this later. 3). Jon 1:10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. 11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous. 12 And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.” 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they cried out to the LORD and said, “We pray, O LORD, please do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and took vows. It is interesting to see, that Jonah knew that the great tempest was because of him, he knew that it was because he had boarded the ship to escape from his calling and flee from the presence of the Lord. And the mariners were also aware of this because Jonah had told them. a). And Jonah also knew that the only way for the sea to become calm, was for him to be thrown into it. b). Despite knowing this, and this being what God had said, the mariners seem not to have believed Jonah, and tried to resolve the matter themselves instead, ‘Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return the boat to land, but they could not….’ c). In the antitype, we would have to see the Jewish people as being in ignorance of the cause of the chaos around them. Ignorance is something though that cannot be used as an excuse. The Jewish people have the Scriptures, and this one small Book alone, Jonah, would not allow for ignorance to be claimed. And then they have the evidence of their history from the Exodus onwards. This would not allow for ignorance either. In this sense the Jewish people, as Jonah did, know ‘that this great tempest is because of me.’ d). And what would we say of the Gentile nations? Well, they know that there is a problem in the Middle East concerning Israel, that has ramifications for the entire world, but they have no idea why. And consequently, they keep trying to ‘row hard’ to find a solution to the problem that has no human solution– Hos 5:13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah saw his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb; Yet he cannot cure you, Nor heal you of your wound. 14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue. 15 I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” The condition Israel finds itself in today and will find itself in, in the very near future, is in God’s hands alone. He has acted and will yet act, in faithfulness to His Word, and only He can bring an end to the problem, again in faithfulness to His Word, ‘I will return to My place TILL they acknowledge their offense’ – Hos 6:1 Come, and let us return to the LORD; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. Zec 1:3 Therefore say to them, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the LORD of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts. The day will come though at the end of the first 3 ½ years of Daniel’s seventieth week, when the ministry of the two witnesses is complete and the one hundred and forty four thousand Jewish evangelists have been sealed and taken into heaven, when those in the land pictured by the mariners, will take Israel and throw her into the sea – Lk 21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24 And they 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. Re 12:1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5 She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. That which is prophetically described in the verses from Luke Chapter 21, is seen again in Revelation Chapter 12, using figurative language and metaphors. The command to ‘flee to the mountains’ in Luke 21:21 is described in Revelation Chapter 12 as ‘the woman fled into the wilderness.’ e). Both the ‘mountains’ and the ‘wilderness’, figuratively portray the same thing as Jonah thrown into the sea. The Gentile nations/kingdoms that surround Israel. And as we have seen, it is out among the nations that Israel will be persecuted to the point of repentance and out among the nations that national Israel will be protected, Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. And both the persecution and the protection are seen through the experience of Jonah in the belly of the great fish – Jon 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 2:1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish's belly. 2 And he said: “I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, And He answered me. ‘Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice. 3 For You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ 5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head. 6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD, my God. 7 “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple. 8 “Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.” 10 So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. In the account of Jonah, once he had been thrown into the sea, the sea stopped raging, but we would be wrong to think that once the Jewish people in the land are carried away among the nations, that this brings a period of peace and calm, far from it. f). The sea ceases to rage in relation to why the tempest came in the first place, the Jews in the land before the time. But the ‘tempest’ continues after another fashion, in relation to the judgment of the Jewish people and the judgment of the nations as the opening of the seven seals on the seven sealed scroll along with the trumpet and bowl judgments are completed. We will continue with this next time – if we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed.