What should we do when we recognise the sign of Jesus? How can we come to a saving knowledge of Christ? The story of Jonah sheds some light on how God relates to us, and how we can respond to Him. In particular, in our experience of faith, we use different “orders” of language—first and second.
When Jonah was near death in the belly of the fish, he began praying to God as a last resort. The sailors, too, turned to desperate prayer as the wind and waves threatened to capsize their ship. This is first-order language. Prayer is the most basic order because it arises from circumstances in life—our hearts cry out to God when we are struggling and suffering.
After crying out to God for help and receiving an answer, Jonah then made the theological statement that “Salvation comes from the LORD” (Jonah 2:9). And the sailors, having seen the way God worked in the natural world, also said, “You, LORD, have done as you pleased” (1:14). These are examples of second-order language.
When we pray and witness how God responds to us, and what He does in our lives, we begin to reflect on God, who He is, and what He wants from us, employing second-order language to make such statements about God.
But our experience of God does not stop there. After he declared God’s salvation, Jonah realised that God saves for a purpose, and spoke about a sacrifice and a vow he had made to God to serve Him (Jonah 2:9). The prophet’s prayer in Jonah 2:2–9 thus speaks of prayer (request of the heart), theological expressions of faith (reflection of the mind), and ministry (response of the hands).
Paul reminds us that we are saved by God’s grace, not our works. But we must also recognise that God saves us to do good works (Ephesians 2:8-10) in honour of His name. We must respond to His grace and serve Him out of gratitude. After our first and second-order languages comes action. These elements are interconnected and essential for true Christian discipleship.
Furthermore, we need to point others to the sign of Jesus. If we truly recognised the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection as signs of His identity—the Son of God—then we would not only want to experience repentance and salvation through Him, but also to share this astounding discovery with others, that they too might respond the same way.
This is where we can be signboards. Signboards, like those we see by the roadside or on buildings, give directions or instructions, prohibit an action, or declare a truth.
They tell us how to get to our destination on a highway or help us to find our departure gate at the airport. If Jesus is the sign for the world, then we are His signboards, so that He will be seen and recognised in our lives.
The problem with signboards is that they can become useless if they are blown over by strong winds, made to face the wrong direction, or obscured by grime and dust.
Likewise, Christians can be poor or faulty signboards when they fail to point people in the right direction, pass on the good news about Jesus, or carry God’s encouraging words to someone who needs them.
A man who has worked in the same place for many years without any of his colleagues realising that he is a Christian, for instance, is like a signboard fallen over or covered with thick dust. And a woman who does not show God’s love is like a faulty signboard that no longer points to the sign of Christ.
If you recognise Jesus as the sign for the world, are you being His reliable signboard? Are you pointing to Him at home, in your office, at your church, around your neighbourhood, and among your friends and relatives?
Consider this:
How important is Jesus’ death and resurrection as a sign to our present generation? Reflect on being a “signboard” for Jesus. How are you fulfilling—or failing—this calling? How well is the church fulfilling its function as a signboard for Jesus?
Excerpted and adapted from God in Pursuit by Robert Solomon. © 2017 by Robert Solomon. Used by permission of Discovery House. All rights reserved.
