The Sign of Jonah

I know there are some of you Biblical literalists out there who will say that the prophecies in Revelation and Daniel must come true, they are inevitable. Destruction and upheaval are foretold and will happen (see previous post).

But hold on a minute! There are a couple things I want to say about that.

First, those two books especially, are written in a genre called apocalyptic. There is a lot of symbolism, numerology, literary conventions which go with apocalyptic writing. In today's world we don't always understand all of this; and we certainly do not often take it into account. So we must be very careful about interpreting these writings. There are thousands of preachers out there declaring confidently that "this" is what they mean. And they come up with a thousand different interpretations all proudly proclaimed as God's Word. Please, please, please, dear reader. When you encounter one of these, take the words with a huge grain of salt, if you take them at all.

The second thing I want to say is scriptural. Jesus says, "No sign shall be given to [this generation] except the sign of Jonah." (Luke 11.29)

Jonah is an "Old" Testament prophet sent to the evil city Nineveh to proclaim judgement on it. His message (at least what is recorded of it in scripture) was one line:  "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" (Jonah 3.4) This prophecy was not proclaimed as conditional, as in, "If you don't repent, you will be destroyed." Nope. It was, "Destruction is coming." Period.

Well, the people repented, and God relented.

And Jonah got angry! He wanted to see the destruction of Nineveh.

I believe the "sign of Jonah" principle still applies today. I believe that no matter how certain seem the prophecies outlined in scripture, if people repent, even a small percentage (a "tipping point"), God will not bring about his judgement. We have a part to play in our future. It is not set in stone. The Earth does not necessarily have to endure all the dire predictions proclaimed so vociferously by so many. God is still the Source who is full of grace, who still relents.

And, as in Jonah's story, I believe there will be Christians today who will get resentful if these prophecies don't happen in the way they anticipate. Get a grip, people! What is more important here? Our "precious" little interpretations of scripture, or what God chooses to do?

As I have said before, we live in interesting and exciting times. I look forward to seeing what Source has in store for us! I want to have an open mind to see God at work, not be so close-minded that I miss him when he appears (the problem of the pharisees).