Jonah followed the same path that Jesus will take
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The men of Nineveh will be resurrected with this generation
By Craig C. White
Can you name one Hebrew prophet who was sent to another nation besides Israel? I can. He’s the Prophet Jonah. Jonah was sent to the Assyrians in the ancient city of Nineveh. The Assyrians were the worst scoundrels of the old world. The Assyrians did unspeakable things to their enemies. The city of Nineveh was the capital of the ancient Assyrian Empire. Today the ruins of Nineveh lie within the borders of Mosul in northern Iraq. Mosul is the hometown and headquarters of ISIS. Many of the horrific things that ISIS has done were learned from their Assyrian forefathers. Today ISIS in northern Iraq is a revived Assyrian state. It’s no wonder why Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh.
So God sent Jonah to the Assyrians in Nineveh. The Assyrians represented the worst among the Gentile nations. Jonah warned Nineveh to repent or God would destroy their city. The Assyrians in Nineveh did repent but several years later they attacked Israel and carried away captives. One of those captives was the Prophet Nahum. Nahum also had a message for Nineveh.
Both Jonah and Nahum prophesied against the same city of Nineveh but their missions were different. Jonah preached repentance to the Gentiles living in Nineveh, while Nahum comforted the nation of Israel. The Assyrians had captured the Jews and brought them to Nineveh. Nahum assured Israel that their captors would soon be defeated.
The book of Nahum is mostly about the flooding and destruction of ancient Nineveh. In 612 BC the Babylonians led a siege on Nineveh. Nineveh was perhaps the greatest fortified city of the ancient world. Nineveh was surrounded by fifty foot tall walls and was situated directly on the Tigris River. After God sent torrential rains that swelled the Tigris River and eroded the foundations of the city walls, then the Babylonians, Medes, and Persians were able to enter Nineveh and plunder it until nothing was left.
Now I am going to tell you that many of the same things that Nahum predicted would happen long ago in Nineveh have recently happened again in Mosul. Remember that Mosul in northern Iraq is Nineveh. The same three armies that destroyed ancient Nineveh have now also defeated ISIS in Mosul. I think that Nahum’s predictions also apply today.
The book of Nahum also contains another story that has been almost completely overlooked until now. The first chapter of Nahum describes Jesus Christ as he comes in a whirlwind of fire to the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights separates northern Israel from Syria and Lebanon. In the book of Nahum, God first scorches the Golan Heights with the heat of his coming, and then he destroys Nineveh with a flood of water. In 612 BC God did destroy ancient Nineveh with a flood but please notice that God has never before burned the Golan Heights with a fiery whirlwind. That leads me to suspect that the book of Nahum is predicting yet future events. My dear friends, I think that Jesus Christ will come to the Golan Heights in a fiery whirlwind to the Golan Heights and then travel to northern Iraq to flood Mosul. These things will happen when Jesus returns to resurrect and rapture his Church!
In the first chapter of Nahum he tells us that God will judge the wicked. Nahum goes on to describe Jesus Christ as he comes in a whirlwind across northern Israel, southern Syria, and southern Lebanon (Bashan, Carmel, and Lebanon). This is the same path that Jonah followed after he was delivered from the sea.
Nahum 1:3-7 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. 4 He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. 5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. 6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. 7 The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
Nahum tells us that Jesus will fight on the Golan Heights. In Nahum verse 7 it says that God will protect believers in that day of trouble. Could this be telling us that the Resurrection and Rapture will happen when Jesus returns to the Golan Heights to repel Israel’s enemies?
Jonah was living in northwestern Israel when God commanded him to go to Nineveh. But Jonah refused to go. Instead he boarded the first boat headed for the nearby Island fortress of Tarshish. Jonah was trying to hide from God. Tarshish was located just one mile off of the shore of Tyre in southern Lebanon (Isaiah 23:10). You probably know the rest of the story. Jonah was swallowed by a great fish and spit out on dry land somewhere between Joppa and his desired destination of Tarshish. Jonah began his trip to Nineveh from the Mediterranean seacoast somewhere between northern Israel and southern Lebanon. That puts him right at the Golan Heights! Amazingly the events that are described in the book of Nahum follow the same path that Jonah traveled on his way to Nineveh. I think that Jesus will follow this same path when he returns. Jesus will fight against a Turkish led invasion on the Golan Heights and then travel eastward towards Mosul to wipe out one last ISIS uprising in Mosul. Jesus will gather Christians at that same time.
Why do I think that Turkey will invade the Golan Heights? There are three reasons. 1) Ezekiel chapter 38 describes a Turkish led invasion into Israel. 2) Every nation that is listed in Ezekiel chapter 38 is fighting in Syria. 3) Turkish President Erdogan has called on the Islamic nations to take the Golan Heights away from Israel. I think that Turkey will destroy Damascus and then lead the forces that are now fighting in Syria into northern Israel just thirty miles away.
Read Jonah chapter 2 below. This describes Jonah’s trial as he sunk to the depths of the sea while inside of a great fish. These verses are repeated in several Psalms. They also describe Jesus Christ’s descent into the depths of the earth at his death. Jonah illustrates the death, burial, and resurrection of the believer.
Jonah 2:1-10 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly, 2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. 3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. 5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. 6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. 7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. 8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. 10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
The book of Jonah points to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and also to the resurrection of every believer. The resurrection of Church age Christians happens on one particular day. I think that Jonah is telling us when. It will be when Jesus returns to repel Israel’s enemies on the Golan Heights and then travels eastward to Mosul to destroy it with a flood.
Now look at Matthew chapter 12. Jesus promised to give Israel one sign that he was truly their Messiah. Jesus would give them the sign of Jonah. In verse 41 Jesus points to the day that the men of Nineveh would rise from the dead. So the resurrection of Gentiles will be a sign to Israel that Jesus has power over death. Like the book of Jonah; the sign of Jonah also directs us to the day of resurrection.
Matthew 12:38-41 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. 39 But he answered and said unto them, 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: 40 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. 41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
Since the resurrection of Gentiles is embodied in the sign of Jonah and is illustrated by the city of Nineveh, then we should probably look to Nineveh concerning our own resurrection. Jonah and the book of Nahum both follow the same path. They start at the Mediterranean Sea. Then they travel across northern Israel to Nineveh in northern Iraq. This could be the same path that Jesus will follow when he returns for his Church. I think that the Resurrection will happen when Jesus returns to judge Nineveh (which is modern day Mosul). According to Nahum chapter 1 the flooding of Mosul is preceded by God as he comes in a whirlwind of fire to the Golan Heights. It seems that today the Turkish Army is headed towards the Golan Heights by way of Damascus.
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Dec 13 2020
Branch of David
December 13, 2020
Branch of David
Photo credit: epSos.de
Nazarene is Netzerite
Acts 24:5
By Craig C. White
The Branch of David is a term used in the Old Testament to describe a decedent of King David. The Branch of David was also a popular concept in New Testament times. Even Roman governors understood that Jesus was the Branch of David. In Acts chapter 24 the Jewish religious leaders brought the apostle Paul to court in front of Felix the governor in Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. A man named Tertullus was the spokesperson for Ananias the high priest. Tertullus accused Paul of being “of the sect of the Nazarenes”.
Act 24:5 For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:
The word translated “Nazarene” should rather be translated “Netzerite”. Netzer is a Hebrew word meaning descendant or branch. Netzerite means “people of the branch”.
According to Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries “Netzer” is defined as:
nêtser
nay’-tser
a shoot; figuratively, a descendant: – branch.
BRANCH is a prophetic name for the messiah. God promised that he would raise a descendant of King David to be ruler in Jerusalem over all the earth. So the messiah is the BRANCH of David.
Isa 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
Jer 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
Zec 3:8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
Zec 6:12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
Jesus was the descendant or BRANCH of David. So when the apostle Paul was called a Netzerite in Acts 24:5 he was being called a follower of David’s descendant!
Here is another verse where the word Nazarene actually means Netzerite or Branch.
Matthew 2:23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
According to Matthew several Old Testament prophets said that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene. Problem is that nowhere in the Old Testament does it say that the Messiah will live in Nazareth. However several Old Testament prophets do say that he will be called THE BRANCH or netzer.
As you can see from the Hebrew spelling these two words are very similar. You read Hebrew right to left.
Nazareth – נָצְרַת, pronounced Natz’rat
Netzer – נֵ֫צֶר, pronounced ne·ṣer
Netzer meaning branch is the root word of Nazareth. By living in Nazareth Jesus was called a Nazarene or branch, thus fulfilling the prophecy given by the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah (above) that he would be called THE BRANCH.
Read Jesus Claimed to be God in my book God’s Great Expectations
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