Sabbath 27/3/38/120

Dear Friends

Christ said in Matthew 12: 39 ... "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 
41 The men of Nin'eveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 
42 The queen of the South will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.  (cf. also Mt. 16:4 ff; Lk. 11:29 ff). 

This was the only sign given to the ministry of Christ and that of the Christian faith.  If it is the only sign then it behoves us all to understand and explain this sign.  It is quite a significant and prophetic event.  Yet we have seen even long standing ministers of the Churches of God have no idea as to the true extent of the sign.

The keys to the sign are contained firstly in the Book of Jonah itself. The steps are outlined in the paper Commentary of Jonah (No. 021E).  It is not simply three days and three nights in the belly of the whale or the earth in the case of Christ.  Christ was sent to Judah following on from John the Baptist and the entire nation was judged by him.  The sign was on a year for a day basis as it was with Jonah.

Just as Jonah travelled a day’s journey into Nineveh and spoke for two days so John spoke for the one year day and then was imprisoned after the Passover. Then Christ spoke for two year days and they did not repent and killed him.  Then they were given 40 years to repent on a year for a day basis to Nineveh’s 40 days and they did not repent.

The prophecy of Jonah was tied into the Seventy weeks of years of Daniel 9:25. The Trinitarians have mistranslated the text to make it appear that it ended with the death of Christ but it meant no such thing.

The Seventy weeks of years went from the Second Year of Darius II the Persian and there were two anointed ones, neither of which was the Messiah but rather one was Nehemiah at the end of the Seven Weeks of Years and the other was James the brother of Christ who was killed at the end of the 69 weeks of years in 64CE.  It was then the church knew that they had to abandon Jerusalem and relocate to Pella.  Had they not understood the Sign of Jonah and its link to the Seventy Weeks of Years the church would have been destroyed along with Jerusalem.

The link in the prophecies is explained in the paper The Sign of Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 013).

Much of the significance is lost in the Trinitarian worship of the Mother Goddess cult of Easter or Ishtar and the denial that Mariam wrongly called Mary had other children to Joseph.  We have even seen members of the Churches of God swallow the propaganda and lose sight of the prophecy.  Had they have been there in 64 CE they would have been destroyed and destroyed the church along with themselves.  The text in Matthew goes on from the Sign of Jonah to deal with the issue of his mother and brothers.

46 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. 
47 * [No text] 
48 But he replied to the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" 
49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 
50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother."

It is beyond doubt that Christ had brothers and sisters and they were born to Joseph and Mariam.  They were Yakob, incorrectly called James in the English, Joseph, Simon and Judas.  They are referred to in Matthew 13:55.

Mat. 13: 53 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, 
54 and coming to his own country he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 
55 Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 
56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?"
57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house." 
58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

The Greek word rendered Mary in English is Mariam. Maria in the Greek was her sister, the wife of Clophas.

So we have his brother Yakob and Yoseph named for his earthly father and Simon and Yudas or Judas.  His cousin was also Simon, the son of Clophas.  Judas or Jude wrote the Book of Jude also.

References to Christ’s brothers including James are at Mat. 27:56; Mk. 6:3; Mk. 15:40; 16:1; Lk. 6:16; 24:10; Acts 1:13; 12:17; 15:13; 21:18; 1Cor. 15:7; Gal. 1:19; 2:9,12; Jas 1:1; Jude 1.

The angel who appeared to Joseph commanded him not to know his wife for a limited time, that is, until after the birth of Jesus.
Matthew  1:24-25  states:
24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife,
25  but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.

The time limit expressed but knew her not until shows that after the birth of the Christ, Joseph as a legitimate husband of Mariam was permitted to have children, and the Scriptures say that they had children.

Only an illiterate would deny their existence in the Bible (cf. notes by Strong under James the brother of Jesus.

It is important that we all know the sequence of the Sign of Jonah.  It goes on to the destruction of the Temple as a forty year sign from 30 CE to 70 CE when at 1 Abib the Roman Army under Titus surrounded Jerusalem and laid siege to it (cf. the paper War with Rome and the Fall of the Temple (No. 298)).  And then on to the end on a Jubilee for a Year basis from 27 CE which saw the start of the church from the baptism of Christ and the Apostles to the jubilee of 2027 which is the 120th jubilee from the closure of Eden and the end of the 6000 year rule of Satan.  Although that rule will be cut short and Satan imprisoned and then released again at the end of the Millennium.

It is important that we understand the sequence and what is to happen to us over the sequence.

Wade Cox
Coordinator General.