From: Dwight and Pam Burford
Why Judge Prophets by
the Spirit of Prophecy - Jonah Part 2
Luke 11:30,31 – When the people
were gathered thick together, he [Jesus] began to say, This is an evil
generation; they seek a sign, and there shall no sign be given them, but the
sign of Jonas [Jonah] the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites,
so also shall the Son of Man be to this generation.
Matthew 28:18,19 – Go ye
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, unto the end of
the world. Amen.
In
the first part of this study series (Jonah, Part 1),[1] we
reviewed why Jonah’s unfulfilled forty-day prophecy did not mean he was a false
prophet. Instead, it meant that Jonah was a true prophet of God.
Why? God validated Jonah’s ministry by pardoning the citizens of Nineveh
when they humbled themselves in response to Jonah’s pronouncement of His
judgment. By this we see that Jonah’s ministry brought God the result He
desired.[2]
This
aspect of Part 1 in this series
highlighted how God’s forgiveness of Nineveh typified an essential principle of
His grace that has been declared throughout the ages by all His true prophets.[3]
Here is how Jeremiah stated this principle:
Jeremiah 18:8 – If that nation
against whom He has pronounced judgment, turn from their evil, I will withhold
the evil that I thought to do unto them.
Part 1 also illustrated how all true prophets
testify of Jesus by the spirit of prophecy, who is the
testimony of Jesus.[4]
This relationship means there was much more to Jonah’s prophecy than simply the
judgment and forgiveness of the Ninevites. As a true prophet of God,
Jonah testified of Jesus Christ and His work of redemption. According to
Jesus, Jonah did so in a rather remarkable way. To better understand this
connection, this next part in the series on judging prophets by the spirit of
prophecy introduces how Jesus tied the principle stated in Jeremiah 18:8 to Himself through
the sign of Jonah.
The Sign of the Prophet Jonah and
the Baptism of Jesus
A
great many generations after Jonah (or Jonas) lived, Jesus Christ confirmed the
validity of Jonah’s ministry and the reliability of his account by connecting
Jonah’s unique experience as a prophet to His own ministry. Jesus did
this directly by linking Jonah’s entombment in a whale to His own
imminent entombment in the earth for three days and nights—between His death
and His resurrection.[5]
Matthew 12:34 - An evil and
adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to
it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas; for as Jonas was three days and three
nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth.
Mark 8:12 – Verily I say
unto you, There shall no sign be give unto this generation, save the sign of
the prophet Jonah; for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's
belly, so likewise shall the Son of Man be buried in the bowels of the earth.
Jesus’
words alone are sufficient to show us that Jonah was not presumptuous when
prophesying over Nineveh. This is highly significant given that Jonah’s
forty-day prophecy went unfulfilled. Why? Moses said that prophets
who state certain things will happen and then they do not happen have
spoken presumptuously and we do not need to fear them.[6]
However,
Moses also said everyone must hear Jesus Christ in all things or be cut off
from God’s covenant people.[7]
It would not be wise on our part, then, to attempt to use
Moses’ words found in Deuteronomy 18:20-22 to condemn prophets like
Jonah. To do so pits Moses against Jesus and His witness of Jonah.[8]
We would be wise, rather, to view Jonah’s ministry as a revelation of how our
Lord’s judgments are part of a greater work, that of His work of seeking
and saving the lost.[9]
By
pardoning the Ninevites, God has shown us how prophecies of His judgment
are not about dogmatically handing out punitive punishments
and then sticking with those punishments regardless of their effect. In
contrast, God-inspired prophecies—including Jonah’s unfulfilled forty-day
prophecy—are about our Lord drawing people back to Himself as part of His work
and glory in bringing to pass their immortality and eternal
life.[10]
I Peter 1:3-5 – Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Hebrews 7:24 – Wherefore he is
able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he
ever liveth to make intercession for them.
D&C 22:23b – … for this is
my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality, and eternal life of
man.
Note
also how Jesus reinforced His connection with Jonah by saying that He (Jesus)
was a sign to His generation like Jonah was a sign to the
Ninevites of his generation.[11]
Luke 11:30,31 – When the people
were gathered thick together, he [Jesus] began to say, This is an evil
generation; they seek a sign, and there shall no sign be given them, but the
sign of Jonas [Jonah] the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the
Ninevites, so also shall the Son of Man be to this generation.
By
teaching about His connection with the sign of the prophet Jonah—Jonah’s
entombment in and release from a whale[12]—Jesus
has shown us how Jonah’s ministry was a manifestation of the testimony
of Jesus or spirit of prophecy.[13]
That is, this unique sign of Jonah prefigured or foreshadowed the sign of
Jesus’ work of redemption by way of foreshadowing His death, burial, and
resurrection. That is, Nineveh was pardoned for Jesus Christ’s sake.
What
about us? What significance do the signs of Jesus and of Jonah hold for
us in our generation? Consider water baptism. Is not Jesus’ burial,
His entombment, manifest in every baptism that is born as a fruit of His
Spirit?[14]
Romans 6:3-7 – Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized
into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life. For if we have been planted together in the
likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his
resurrection; knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the
body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
For he that is dead to sin is freed from sin.
After
a similar manner to baptism, Jonah was brought to die to the sin of his
rebellion against God by being carried into a watery tomb within a whale.[15]
And just as Jonah was not able to escape his watery grave without God
intervening on His behalf, we too cannot save ourselves without Him. It
is truly good news, then, that Jesus came into the world and died for our sins
so He could intercede on our behalf. For there is nothing we can do
without Him that will bring our heavenly Father the fruit[16] that
He is seeking from our lives, including baptism.[17]
John 15:1-5 – I am the true
vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it,
that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word
which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As
the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more
can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the
branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing.
Amazingly,
we can now be grafted into Christ to live in the hope and expectation of the
newness and power of His resurrected and eternal life.[18]
Entering into Jesus’ death to sin by way of repentance and baptism—as the
first-fruits of repentance—opens the way to us to live in this precious hope
of the glory to be revealed in us by
Him when He returns in glory.[19]
In
this way, water baptism is prophetic just as Jonah’s entombment was
prophetic. It reveals Jesus Christ and His work of reconciliation within
us.[20]
For although it does not yet appear what we shall be in Jesus Christ, God’s
love assures us that we will be like Him. In being made pure like Jesus
(by becoming dead to our sin as Jonah was caused to die to his sin), we too can
become instruments or members of His righteousness to God’s glory.[21]
I John 3:1-3 – Behold, what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God; therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we
shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him
purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Romans 6:13 – Neither yield
ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield
yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness unto God.
Romans 8:18,19 – For I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be named with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest
expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons
of God.
Baptism
is also prophetic when observed in the likeness or figure (example, type, or shadow)
of the resurrection of the dead.[22]
When observed after this manner and for this purpose, it serves as a witness or
sign to others of our hope in Jesus Christ and our willingness to covenant with
Him to dwell eternally at peace in His kingdom.[23]
We
become united with God in a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ by dying to
sin so we may be one with Him. Moreover, if we are truly one with Him in
His death to sin, He becomes our advocate, the One who intercedes for us before
God’s throne of grace forever.[24]
I John 2:1-4 – My little
children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. But if any man
sin and repent, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous; And he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but
also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know
him, if we keep his commandments [including repenting]. He
that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the
truth is not in him.
Hebrews 7:24 – Wherefore he is
able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he
ever liveth to make intercession for them.
Baptism
inspired after this manner is born of the true faith of the gospel that is
founded in the power of Christ’s atonement and of His resurrection.[25]
It reveals the Comforter’s assurance of our hope in Jesus
Christ and the evidence of the Father’s work taking place
within us in this world in preparation of the life to come.[26]
Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is
the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen.
Colossians 2:10-12 – And ye are
complete in him [Jesus Christ], which is the head of all principality and
power; in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ; buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him
through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Galatians 3:26,27 – For ye are all
the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. For as many of you
as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
As
a final consideration, note how Jesus emphasized baptism before ascending into
heaven. When instructing His disciples about the work He was setting
before them, Jesus told them to go into all the world teaching and
baptizing all nations. This emphasis of teaching and
baptizing brought clarity to their vision regarding those things to come.
It especially pointed to the prophetic role of baptism in the life of each
member of His church.[27]
Matthew 28:17-19 – And Jesus came
and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, unto
the end of the world. Amen.
Mark 16:14,15 – And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is
baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned.
Luke 24:44-47 – Then opened he
their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto
them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise
from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye
are witnesses of these things.
By
placing baptism for the remission of sins at the very heart of
their message and work,[28] Jesus
gave His disciples prophetic guidance to follow as they labored to bring the
gospel to the world. Wherever they would teach and practice His commands,
Jesus was assuring them that they should expect baptisms according to the
pattern given—those which show the sign of His burial and resurrection in the
lives of individuals who believed their words.[29]
Matthew 5:4 – Yea, blessed
are they who shall believe on your words, and come down into the depth of
humility, and be baptized in my name; for they shall be visited with fire and
the Holy Ghost, and shall receive a remission of their sins.
Therefore,
my prayer is that Jesus Christ will continue this work which He began with His
apostles and disciples on the day of Pentecost, starting in Jerusalem where
people from all nations were living.[30]
May He again show the prophetic nature of baptism in all the world,[31] and
may those who believe in Him and the reason for His death and resurrection show
this unique sign with their very lives as in days of old.[32]
[1] https://hisworkmanship.net/why-judge-prophets-by-the-spirit-of-prophecy-jonah-part-1/
[2] Jonah 3:10 with Jonah 4:9-11
[3] Psalm 86:5, Isaiah 55:7, Ezekiel 18:32, Joel 2:13, Micah 7:18, Zephaniah 2:3, etc., with II Chronicles7:12-14
[4] cf. I John 4:1-3 with Revelation 19:10; cf. III Nephi 5:27,33,37-38 with I John 5:7-12 & III Nephi 9:60-62
[5] Luke 11:30-33 with Matthew 12:33-36 & Mark 8:11-12
[6] cf. Deuteronomy 18:20-22 with Luke 11:30-33
[7] cf. III Nephi 9:60-63 with Deuteronomy 18:15-19 & Acts 3:22-26
[8] This statement
will be explained more fully in Part 3 in this series.
[9] cf. Luke 19:10 with Luke 15:4,5 & John 10:7-13;
cf. Alma 14:37,38 & Alma 19:25-27 with Helaman 3:50-54 & Ether 5:16
[10] John 3:14-17 with I Peter 1:3-25 & Matthew 18:23-34; cf. Alma 19:84-94 with Hebrews 4:7-16
[11] cf. Hebrews 2:3,4 with Luke 11:30,31
[12] Jonah 1:17: Jonah was likely dead while in the great
fish or whale just as Jesus was dead in the tomb;
see, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fktX1EY8IJ0
[13] Revelation 19:10, Acts 2:38-40, I John 5:9-12 & III Nephi 9:60-63 with I Corinthians 12:3 & 14:32
[14] cf. Romans 6:12-18 & Ephesians 4:3-6 with Romans 6:3-7, John 3:7 & I Peter 1:22,23; cf. Moroni 8:29 & Genesis 6:63 with Revelation 19:9,10; cf. D&C 76:5b with D&C 76:6c,6g, D&C 76:7b & D&C 76:4d
[15] cf. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fktX1EY8IJ0 with Luke 11:30,31 & Romans 6:3-7
[16] cf. Moroni 8:29 with II Nephi 13:24, Alma 4:2 (Alma 6:11, Alma 7:41, etc.), III Nephi 3:68 & Moroni 6:2
[17] cf. John 15:1-8 with Colossians 1:16,17 & Galatians 5:22-26; see also John 8:31-36 with II Corinthians 3:17
[18] e.g. D&C 17:7d with John 1:11-18, Romans 8:19-25 & Hebrews 6:17-20
[19] cf. Revelation 22:11-14 with I Corinthians 15:40-58 & Colossians 1:25-29;
see also Acts 26:20 with Jonah 3:10
[20] II Corinthians 5:17-21 & Philippians 2:1-16 with II Nephi 6:10-37 & II Nephi 7:40-44
[21] cf. Romans 6:9-14 & I Corinthians 12:4-31 with Jeremiah 23:6 & Jeremiah 33:16
[22] cf. I Peter 3:20-22, Mark 16:14-21, I Corinthians 10:1-14, Hebrews 8:5, Mosiah 1:109-113, Mosiah 8:90, Ether 6:6, etc.
[23] D&C 17:7a-7d with Mosiah 9:38-50 Alma 5:25-28; cf. Matthew 24:32 & Hebrews 2:4 with D&C 39:2b
[24] Hebrews 4:15,16 with I John 1:5-10 & I John 2:1,2
[25] II Nephi 13:4-32 with II Nephi 7:42-44 & Matthew 28:17-19
[26] John 6:44, Philippians 2:12-16 & I Corinthians 12:13 with Alma 9:41 & D&C 83:7a-e
[27] While not all
teach, every member needs to be baptized with Christ unto sin to become one
with Him.
[28] cf. Luke 24:44-47 with Acts 2:37-39; see also Mark 1:1-16 with II Nephi 13:3-32
[29] cf. D&C 52:4b-5b & Mark 16:13-21 with Mormon 4:85-95 & Ether 1:114-117
[30] Acts 2:5-12 with Acts 2:38,41 & III Nephi 5:24
[31] D&C 16:5a-5g with D&C 17:7a-7d & 21a-21d
[32] Mosiah 9:38-50 & Alma 5:25-28 with Mark 16:14-21, III Nephi 3:68, Ether 1:115 & D&C 83:10c-11f
No comments:
Post a Comment