Greetings!

Let's consider how the book of Jonah relates to this present season and the impending judgment on the church. With insight into the sign of Jonah as a reference to the Bride theft, recent events and insights combine to shed new light on the prophetic role of Jonah. Jonah the prophet proclaimed a coming judgment on a Gentile people. "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown" he told them. On March 19, 2008, a gamma ray burst of stunning magnitude was observed in the constellation Bootes as a sign in the heavens. I believe it marked a 40 day countdown to the coming of the Judge at what has been shown to be a sign of Jonah! Nineveh, which means "offspring of ease: offspring abiding" speaks loudly to me of the church, perhaps most particularly the church in America today. Unto whom much is given, much is demanded! The impending judgment on Nineveh speaks to me of the impending judgment another Gentile city faced, one I recently wrote about as a type of the coming judgment on the church: Jericho!

Jonah was the prophet who was famously swallowed up by a great fish. The Lord referred to that event as a type of his death and resurrection.

He told those who would be judged by the Ninevites who repented that they would be indeed be given a sign, a single solitary sign. This sign would be according to the pattern of Jonah. As Jonah was vomited out on dry land, so the Son of Man came forth out of the heart of the earth alive, resurrected from the dead. Three days and three nights were the limit and the full season appointed for their common temporary conditions. Jonah is, then, a type or pattern of the Son of Man. The name Jonah means "dove" and is also a pattern of the Bride. As I show in the study The Sign of Jonah there is more to the sign we should understand. The prophesied sign of Jonah referred to by the Son of Man was convincingly fulfilled in his own death and resurrection. I am persuaded that when the Bride, as a Jonah/Dove rises at her appointed resurrection this will be a sign of Jonah for the church, and judgment, as we see in the context of the sign in Matthew 12, will be visited on upon her. I believe those very men of Nineveh will stand up also with this present generation at the judgment and condemn it. How will they be able to do this? They will have been raised, resurrected, having participated in a better resurrection due to their being found more worthy!

What I really want to look at now is what is recorded from when Jonah did respond in obedience to the Lord's call to proclaim judgment to Nineveh.

There is a clear signal that a resurrection event may be found in the context. When you find the third day, or the third in a series referenced it always signals resurrection. (See Resurrection on the Third Day) This is the case in the seventeenth verse of the book of Jonah.

This, too, is the case in the third verse of Jonah 3.

How is resurrection pictured in chapter 3? Unless you understand that judgment has two sides you might miss it. (See The Jericho Scenario) When judgment comes, what is visited on individuals is what they deserve. If they deserve reward, they get it, and if consequences, they get it. Just like a coin has two sides, so is the reality of judgment. Jonah's message to Nineveh was judgment. The resurrection in view in this context is what is implicit in judgment! When you see one side of a coin, you know there is another side because we understand coins. When you see one side of a judgment, likewise, because we understand judgment. Amen? The proclamation of Jonah "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown" can be viewed from the "other side of the coin" as declaring a 40 day countdown to a resurrection! There are 40 days from March 19, marked by the "Messianic Judge is Coming" gamma ray burst sign in Bootes, to April 28, Aviv 21, a day modeled by numerous resurrection/judgment scenarios in the Bible! Jonah, the Dove has a word for us today.

I'd like to explore the Nineveh-American church connection a little further. Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria. It had vast wealth and was a powerful influence in the world. To me, it compares to "an exceedingly great city" familiar to most: Washington D.C.. The Assyrian capital city was known to the Jews as the land of Nimrod. Nimrod is a renowned type of the lawless one. Another association is the biblical reference to the lawless one as "the Assyrian." Nineveh, which, again, means "offspring of ease: offspring abiding," is a picture of the church that is Babylon and the daughters of Babylon. America as a nation is also a Babylon, and I don't think I'm far off base to see Americans as "offspring of ease" with a standard of living to be envied by most of the population of the world.

It is this composite entity of Nineveh as the church and also as America out of whom comes the one foreshadowed in the Assyrian and Nimrod after the pattern of the other one doomed to destruction: Judas Iscariot.

The Pope who was born and baptized on the thirteenth day of the first month is visiting Washington D.C. in a few more days. Then he goes to New York City. In about ten days, will he baptize one Nimrod, the Assyrian, a Ninevite, one viewed by the world as an American Christian and bring forth a counterfeit sign of Jonah according to the schedule of biblical models on the thirteenth day of the first month? "But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know." Do we know? Watch and pray! We are now in that day when the population of the world has come to number 666 x 10⁷ - fully 6.66 billion. Watch and pray!

It seems to me that there is so much more here to be considered and much more to be revealed. Jonah was more than reluctant at first to do the Lord's bidding. He fled in rebellion before he had the baptism in the belly of the sea monster, then he obeyed. Many of the Bride people are the same. I, too ran from the Lord before I was cornered and finally came to repentance. Where Nineveh responded with repentance and was saved, some will likewise be saved in days to come. Praise the Lord for His great patience and mercy! Yet, many, the vast majority, will not repent. I believe the Lord will yet bring "rank unbelievers" who don't yet know the Lord Y'shua into the ranks of the Bride people in this season. Imagine how convicting this will be to the smug unrepentant religious folk? Don't be one of those, my friend. Humble up. Call on the Lord's mercy. Holy up. Repent of sin right now. Follow the example of the Ninevites and their king.

There's a lot more that can be said about this matter. I'll leave it to those of you with eyes to see to search it out further, according to the witness and leading of the holy spirit. Watch and pray!

I admit I have been wrong before. I have misinterpreted and I have misunderstood, and I have been deceived. Yet, instead of giving up I look at it this way. A watchman posted on the wall as a lookout has to stay alert and report what he sees. If he does not, he is accountable for harm that comes. If I see what looks like people running at the city wall with siege ramps, I'm going to sound the alarm. I can't say for certain what's going to result, but I have to report what I see. If the report is followed by an actual siege, okay, and if not, okay, the report is the same. Beyond that, I am a student of biblical history and a student at the Lord's feet in life. I've been in Patterns and Cycles 101 class, and a few others besides. I'm trying to pass on what I learn so you can learn too, like I see others doing - and I appreciate their efforts! There's so much I don't know, and my eyes are so dim to see what seems so darkly lit. Yet, some light shines, and so while it does I want to say that until we are brought behind the veil to be with Him as He is, let's do what we can with all we've got, for all its worth, let's trim the wick of our lamps up to full bright and hold it up and let it shine! Glory to God!

Bob Schlenker
TheOpenScroll.com