This phrase from the book of Jonah is describing one of the most important future events for the Captive Ones of Jacob! Currently it represents a very unimaginable situation for the vast majority, but its fulfillment will be a vital part in the process of setting the captives free!
After Jesus had been talking to his disciples about the harvest of the last days, he made a statement at Matthew 12:39 that should really warrant complete investigation! He said, “The only sign our generation would be given is the Sign of Jonah.”
For those who have not read the 3rd Thunder, the sign of Jonah is an event that will occur only one time and is exclusive to the last days of this system. This rarely understood event will never be explained from the altars of men… because it’s all about their own destruction and downfall! (Revelation 17 & 18)
The act of Jonah being thrown overboard into the watery deep, symbolizes the time period when people dedicated to men’s religions undergo a shocking reality they would never have imagined in their wildest dreams. They will become faced with an unbelievable fact; their places of worship have been shut down! The churches and organizations they had placed all their hopes and trust in, have gone through pestilences, bankruptcies and abandonments. What a devastating moment!
The thought of being cast out of God’s sight will cause a very confused time period for many people! Making the decision to forget lifelong beliefs and turn to God’s flourishing end-time truth will create a confusing dilemma for every devout individual. This total confusion is ingeniously portrayed by Jonah’s desperate lament; “Weeds were wrapped around my head.” (Jonah 2:3-9) 
The reason Jesus said the sign of Jonah would be the sign of our times is very obvious. The separation of righteous people from unrighteous people (wheat from the weeds) is the most important and necessary action of the end-time harvest. If God did not create a situation that would eliminate the opportunity to participate in this world’s false ways of worship, the majority of people would remain captivated in them. They would never see any need to repent, or change their thinking!
Presently, there is a tremendous lack of interest in pursuing bible knowledge beyond men’s established traditions.
This lack of interest keeps rolling along because there is no urgency to make a change! However, when the prophesied events begin to occur that will lift the skirt and expose the falsehoods found in all of men’s religions…. There will be urgency indeed!
We will then see exactly why Jesus said, “Indeed, something greater than Jonah is here.” He was referring to the very set of circumstances that will begin the harvest of the last days. The gathering of God’s true people will be instigated by His intervention into their lives. By creating situations that cause people to abandon men’s institutionalized worship, God will set His people free from the captivity of men’s traditions, which is their yoke of bondage. This act of the last days will cause an urgency to look directly to Him and the end-time truth that will prepare and unify them for life under His Kingdom’s rule. Righteous people will realize an intimate relationship with God and His Word does not depend upon memberships, the building you’re in, or who you’re with… it’s established through each individual’s heartfelt love for Him. (Ezekiel 14:20) Through the sign of Jonah, God Himself will create a people of His own and cause to become; the greatest change in worship this world has ever known!
Those who refuse to believe the true meaning of this sign of our times should read the 42nd chapter of Psalms. It gives us a detailed scenario of the quandary the sign of Jonah will create among the people. Most people have been taught this chapter is merely about a yearning for God in the midst of a normal distress. It is however, specifically referring to a loss of worship opportunity and what must be done to overcome a seemingly lost relationship with God.
“As the deer pants for the water brooks. So my soul pants for You, O God.” “My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, where is your God?”
“When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me.” “For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.”
“Deep calls unto deep at the noise of your waterfalls; all your waves and billows have gone over me.”
The 3rd verse of the next chapter gives the only solution to being in the confused state of the watery deep.
“Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your tabernacle.”
It’s very easy to understand how this prophecy harmonizes with, and relates the intended meaning of Jonah. Being awakened and becoming aware of this prophecy before its fulfillment begins will be extremely beneficial. It will put us in a much better position than the many people who are pictured by Jonah’s symbolic tumble of confusion through the waters of the deep. As we recall, he was sound asleep immediately before he was thrown overboard. The ones pictured by Jonah will escape the watery deep, because, like Jonah, they will change their disobedient ways and begin to teach God’s blossoming truth to others. However, being spiritually awake beforehand will prevent a surprising plunge into confusion!
Everyone in the world knows about the story of the flood in Noah’s day, but very few know why it was told. Did it have a significant meaning? Every ancient event in God’s word sheds light on mankind’s final salvation… this famous ancient catastrophe actually foretells and symbolizes the most important chain of events destined to occur during the last days of this system! (Luke 17:26, 27)
As the story goes, God was very grieved in His heart over the continuous evil of the men on earth. He was even sorry He had created them… but then there was Noah, a man who found favor in the eyes of God. (Genesis 6:6-8) God instructed Noah to warn the people about the coming flood and even designed a way for Noah and his family to survive the deluge. The survivors multiplied and filled the earth, exactly as they will at the end of our age.
That literal flood of destruction was the original pattern for the symbolic deep waters of the sign of Jonah!
The people of that time were pursuing all the traditions of the world without looking directly to God, identically as they are doing today. The people of today are taught obedience to God is accomplished through the organizations and beautiful churches men have built. When God takes all of these “looked to hopes” away, all the devout church goers and organization idolizers will have their backs to the wall, not knowing which way to turn. (Isaiah 27:9) (Luke 21:25)
In the pattern, the righteous were separated from the unrighteous by a literal flood of deep waters. During the harvest of the last days, the righteous people will be separated from the unrighteous people by a symbolic flood of deep waters! The unrighteous will sink into oblivion as they did in Noah’s day, the righteous will rise up and begin to understand that God wants heartfelt love, not traditional routines. This is why Jesus repeatedly said no sign would be given to the last generation, except the sign of the prophet Jonah! (Matthew 16:3, 4)
The 69th Psalm provides a modern-day vision about the sign of Jonah even the most ardent skeptics would have trouble denying.
“Save me, O God! for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God.”
“Those who sit in the gate speak against me; and I am the song of the drunkards.”
“But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of your mercy, hear me in the truth of your salvation.”
“Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.”
This is the situation of the last days every righteous person will eventually meet head on! When the sign of Jonah hits…. The yoke of bondage will be torn off…. The captives will no longer be chained to false teachings! They will have the choice to remain in the confused oblivion of the watery deep…. Or turn to God’s truth of salvation and rise up out of the deep…. Exactly like Jonah!!!
“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered THE LORD; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple.”
“As for those who observe idols of untruth, they forsake their own mercy.”
“But as for me, with the voice of thanksgiving I will sacrifice to You. I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation belongs to THE LORD.” (Jonah 2: 7, 8, 9)