“Stay safe!” Multiple urgent warnings, minute upon minute reporting, and hour upon hour projections come our way when satellite images prove a storm is near.
Plans are made to prepare.
Well, there’s a storm on the horizon. Haven’t you heard?
Are you in search of proof? A visual image?
The Bible recorded a “test” for Jesus when the religious leaders asked Him for a “sign from heaven.”
Jesus answered,
“When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
Jesus, not so “mild and meek,” continued,
A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.”
Jesus then left them and went away (Matthew 16:2-4).
The sign of Jonah? (Does this indicate the Bible account is actual and not a fairy tale. This is the only sign we get, according to Jesus.)
I see five pictures in this “sign of Jonah,”
Five Pictures:
- Jonah disobeys God and runs in the opposite direction. (We all have disobeyed God and run in the opposite direction, Romans 3:23).
- Jonah’s rescue: A great storm and realization. “Throw me overboard,” cried Jonah. (When we “see” our waywardness brought a storm.)
- God’s grace and salvation is given through a very large fish who swallows Jonah. (“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is . . . )
- Three days of revelation for Jonah to bring about repentance. God gave life to Jonah, undeserved, unearned favor. (“. . . the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord, Romans 6:23.)
- Regurgitated resurrection life in Jonah and a call to obey God for hope and peace!
We see 1. A storm. 2. A gracious whale. 3. Hot revelations and repentance. 4. A resurrected life.
This is all we get, minus the gracious whale. Instead, when we believe, we’re received and accepted by a gracious Lord Jesus.
He’s the only safe place for you and me and all the people of the world, today. Jesus, He’s the Rock we can stand on. He never changes.
To be saved, or un-saved, this is the “safe” question:
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” Matthew 7:24-27, NIV.
There’s a storm coming. Make wise plans. God’s report is 100% accurate!