What is the sign of Jonah? I like to share the answer as someone who was taken to heaven and this person asked that question.
When Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days, it was in that torment that he repented fiercely giving thanksgiving and said he would pay that which he had vowed.
Jonah 2:9-10 But as for me, I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation and deliverance belong to the Lord! 10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 12 that the men of Nineveh will stand up with the judgment of this generation and condemn it. The people of Nineveh had repented but someone Greater was here and they were not repenting.
Matthew 12:41-42 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, Someone more and greater than Jonah is here! 42 The queen of the South will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, Someone more and greater than Solomon is here.
Salvation today in many cases has become nothing but an assembly line for this generation. They are told to just "believe" but they are not told nor reminded to REPENT! To Repent is to Believe! How many of those who confess to know the Lord have repented with all our hearts as Jonah had? Must we be in such a dark belly of our own to become contrite? How many of us there have actually been broken or experienced brokenness? Many are told just to believe but nothing has changed for them. They are still living as heathens but able to quote a few verses of Grace.
How many Christians out there are really spending the time on their knees and drawing on the deeper things of God to know the depth of His Grace? How many spend the time in HIS Word to know the history of His rebellious people and the depth of His Mercy and Grace as many of them repeatedly forsook God but HE still continued to forgive and receive those who had repented. Is praying one minute over a meal sufficient to experience God?
Are we also that evil and adulterous generation as well that suppose to know Jesus but many stubbornly will NOT REPENT! If we have repented then why are many of us still living like heathens and still living in SIN? Why are the many of us not a separated people from the world reflecting His Glory. But rather, the many of us are still swimming in the dung of the world.
Jonah knew God. Jonah left the presence of God willingly as he ran from his calling. When God sent the storm and Jonah was in the dark belly of the whale, he had to fiercely repent. Perhaps, many of us are still in our dark bellies because we have yet to repent.
Fire of God
Steve Yong Kim
April 14, 2012
Amen! Good word from God. Lord touch my heart, convict me of everything In me that displeases you, and bring me to my knees in repentance.
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