Sign of Jonah

God can really fix a hopeless situation. Jonah—hopelessly unwilling to minister to the city of Nineveh—became willing to do it God's chosen way. Nineveh—presumably hopelessly disiterested in anything Jonah might have to say—was now very attentive to this missionary who had just been coughed up by a great fish. Remember Nineveh's religious proclivities with Dagon—their god of half man and half fish.

This is really the point of the story of Jonah, isn't it? God sent a storm to convince His own unfaithful servant to do the work he's been assigned to do—and in so doing, God set up the circumstances for an effective presentation of truth to a very wicked city.

Fast forward to when Israel's long looked-for Messiah came onto the scene. It was heaven's purpose to turn the chosen people into missionary bands to take the everlasting gospel to the cities of the world. Jesus said, "I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent."   Luke 4:43.

God had assigned to Israel the work of warning the world of judgment. For generations she had refused to do the work she had been given to do. Her time was running out. While she was bantering around about signs and about who's who, Christ was warning her that the morning skies where getting red. A storm of judgment was coming and it was aimed directly at them. Like Jonah's storm, Israel's storm was calculated to get them to do thier job. Notwithstanding that the whole people, (the diciples apparently included) were stubbornly persisting in rebellion and insubordination—a storm was coming that would aggressively boot them (as many as would) into the very position that they had been running away from.

And in the calm after the storm (on the day of Penticost)—a purified group of people would emerge upon whom the spirit of God could fall in abundant rain. In that day, the early Christian church closely followed the prototype established by the Master Evangelist and Great Physician. Using the techniques of the Galilee Protocol they reached the entire world in a single generation.

Of all this, the sign of Jonah spoke. It would be that final sign to that unfaithful generation. And of all this, the sign of Jonah speaks! Just as a storm prepared Jonah for his work, and just as the storm prepared the disciples for the outpouring of the Spirit at Penticost—there is a storm coming to prepare Adventist to do the work they should have done when things were better. Of that storm, Sister White says, "This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place."   2SM 380.