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At the time of the eclipse, on 8 April 2024 (Genesis 1:14, created for signs and seasons), I heard very distinctly the words, “These are the days of Jonah.”

As is often the case with such a word, one that comes from nowhere, a bit too big, perhaps made up, interrupting the day, I thought I’d ignore it. But it reappeared. Not just once, but again, and again, and again. Until finally, I got the hint, picked up the Bible, and turned to Jonah. Over the weeks that followed, I read, and as I did, I saw what God was trying to say.

The times that we are living in, this season, we are in a Jonah season. For those who have packed their bags and are waiting to be raptured, it is not that time. God has much to do yet. Although Jonah saw only wickedness and knew the solution must be destruction, God had another plan. His plan was to save Nineveh.

These days that we are in: they are days of revival, not ruin.

This is good news. Let’s take a look and read the story of Jonah together.

Escape

Jonah 1:1-3 ~ The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
“Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry out against it,
because their wickedness has come up before Me.”
But Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

This is a picture of the lukewarm church of the past decades, who sought comfort and fame over truth. Running away from God – she ran towards the world.

She was a scarred bride, from a message of repentance delivered with a heavy dose of condemnation from a day gone by, introduced by a religious spirit, not God. Burdened with shame, this church outright rejected the message of repentance and replaced it with hyper-grace. We are saved, we are free, so we can sin. We are loved, we love all, so we can welcome sin in. Not that anyone put it that bluntly, not initially at least, but the enemy used condemnation and shame to shift the message that way.

Tolerance of sin enabled the church to begin to corrupt the Word in all sorts of ways; the modern-day church began to question marriage as solely between a man and a woman, it began to bless same-sex unions, it came up with good reasons for abortion, it turned a blind eye to sexual immorality, and made divorce the norm. This modern-day church, with drinking at Bible studies, three-point sermons and corporate vision statements, looked kind of like every other corporation.

She became indistinguishable from the world, hanging out there in Tarshish, now far from the presence of the Lord.

Or so she thought… until Covid came. The Lord had another plan. He threw the church off the ship and into the deep.

Repentance

Jonah 2:2-4,9 ~ “I called out of my distress to the Lord,
And He answered me.
I called for help from the depth of Sheol;
You heard my voice.
For You threw me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the current flowed around me.
All Your breakers and waves passed over me.
So I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight.
Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
While I was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
And my prayer came to You,
Into Your holy temple.

….

I will sacrifice to You
With a voice of thanksgiving.
That which I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation is from the Lord.”

With that, the turning, the renewed statement of faith, our loving Lord, He brought us home. He still is bringing His church back home, to Him. This is what we have been seeing, and experiencing, globally since Covid.

He is refining His people, via a process of exposure and repentance. Just like Jonah, He is drawing us back to Himself. He is positioning those who are willing to turn, as pure ones who ascend the mountain of the Lord (Psalm 24).

The purpose is plain.

Proclamation

Jonah 3:1-2 ~ Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,
“Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city,
and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.”

Our Lord wants us to go to the world, the whole world; Iran and Gaza are on His list, as is your local street, the school around the corner and the region in which you live. He has something He wants His church to say.

This is the time, right now, that we are in. This is the season.

And this is what happens next.

Jonah 3:3-5, 8,10 ~ So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.
Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk.
Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk;
and he cried out and said, “Forty more days, and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
Then the people of Nineveh believed in God;
and they called a fast and put on sackcloth,
from the greatest to the least of them.
… and by decree of the king of Nineveh…
people are to call on God vehemently,
and they are to turn, each one from his evil way,
and from the violence which is in their hands. …
When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their evil way,
then God relented of the disaster which He had declared He would bring on them. So He did not do it.

Then, it was Nineveh. Now, God has an exceedingly large world to reach, and a message for the church to deliver.

“Repent. Turn from sin, turn from violence. It will destroy you.”

Darkness                                                     Light

Pause. So why do you think the enemy attacked the message of repentance so aggressively? Why did the enemy make it such a misunderstood word? Why did he manoeuvre to cloak it with condemnation and shame? Thus resulting in lukewarm tolerance or outright rejection of the gospel message.

Because the enemy knows the power of true repentance. When people turn from their wicked ways, they run from darkness into the loving arms of the Father. They leave destruction, and in the other direction, they find life.

Invitation

So, the message of the Lord today:

“These are the days of Jonah; and though you may reluctantly call for the world to repent, nervous about being mocked or put to shame, if you do it, I will help you.

The Holy Spirit will move with this word that I have asked you to proclaim. I will protect it with My spirit of conviction, there will be no more condemnation, no more shame. My spirit of compassion will move with it, and they will know the love of the Father.

This is My revival and I intend to have it.”

This is now, this is our next. Don’t remain in Tarshish, don’t be afraid to invite the world to turn from darkness which will destroy it; do invite them to turn and run into the Son, Who is light, Who is Love, Who is the answer.

Do notice the distinction between a message delivered with compassion and one of condemnation. Compassion says: the strategies of this world will fail you. But it is not a message that judges or accuses, and threatens a person with hell.

It is a message that points out truth, that in the direction they are running, they will not find life. Life requires them to stop what they are doing and turn. This is the message of repentance that we are called to spread.

That’s the good news. But there is a warning too.

Jonah 4:1 ~ But it greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry.

To trust God, means not to simply trust that He can do it, but to trust His timing, purposes and plans. God may move in a way you aren’t expecting. I don’t know the immediate future — for example of the current war in the Middle East — but I can say, if God moves unexpectedly, don’t be angry. Instead, remember the story of Jonah. God had children in Nineveh to save.

Prayer

I thank You, Lord that Your heart is to save souls and that You have not forgotten a generation. I thank You that You are coming, strong in might and glory, that You are very near, and that as Your kingdom falls, many will be saved by the power of a great move of Your Spirit. Thank You Lord for using me as an instrument to speak life, to be love, to reveal truth, that many will know Your name. For the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, Amen.

___

Image courtesy of Daniel Ross.