JONAH AND THE WHALE
While this subject does sound very strange, it is the story of every one of us. It speaks of the three degrees of rebirth, or initiation, that make man a Son of God. Jesus the Christ himself made it very plain that it is the story of the initiation, or rebirth, of man as a physical being, a soul being and as a spirit being. When His authority was questioned and a sign of power asked for by some of the Scribes and Pharisees, Jesus answered “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah.
Please see St. Matthew 12: 39-41
Jonah was a righteous man, he was close to God and was chosen as a messenger to carry on the truth to the Gentiles. Jonah was a Jew. The Lord spoke to him and told him he should go to Ninevah. At that time Ninevah was the largest city in the civilized world. It was actually called the capital of the world. It was filled with Assyrians. To the Jews, Assyrians were Gentiles and were not liked by the Jews. So, Jonah decided he was not going to carry the message of salvation to those Gentiles, enemies of God, and help to save them.
Upon reflection, Jonah decided that since he was in a Jewish country and the Lord was there, it might be wise for him to go to a different place. So, he took a ship that would take him to a town that was not in Judea, to run away. During the voyage a terrific storm broke out. Everyone on board was afraid. The sailors tried to throw out a great deal of cargo and began to pray to their God for delivery. Jonah’s thinking, however, was that as he was out of Judea, he was out of God’s sight, so he was going to go to sleep and take it easy. He went deep down inside the ship and fell asleep.
The people on board began to wonder who caused the storm (that was the thinking of the times) so when they found Jonah asleep and resting they woke him up. “ How can you sleep? Arise, call upon thy God”. He told them that he did think he was the cause of it all because he was running away from his God. He said “ Throw me into the sea because I want you all to be saved”. After they prayed, gave vows to God, they threw Jonah into the sea.
Of course, the whale was there and swallowed Jonah. He spent three days and three nights in this belly praying. If you study the structure of a whale, you will discover that there is most certainly an area in a whale’s body in which a person could survive for a limited time.
The Lord heard Jonah’s prayer. When the whale spewed Jonah out at the shore, the order came again. “Go to the people in Ninevah and preach to them to repent and change their ways of living and turn to God that He may save them”. Jonah went and began to preach. Here again we see the sign, as it is written that Jonah travelled three days in that city. At the third day he was through with his preaching because he saw that from the least to the King the people were repenting and turning to God. Jonah left the city and watched and he saw that all was well.
This is the story of every one of us as an inner and outer being. Man as an inner being who reaches a certain state of understanding and development receives the word, and the power, to work on his/her instinctive self, on the outer, physical man and as a soul being, and as an ego or spiritual being. At first the inner man is not interested. The inner voice speaks to us but we don’t listen. Trials come, tribulations come, the sea of life becomes very agitated. We confess to God and those around us our lack. “I engaged in various thoughts, various ideas and to do this and that, thinking the voice of conscious will die in me (my God would not reach me).
It is very difficult. The soul is very sensitive. The physical form, without being guarded will soon surrender to death. The soul when it leaves the body and no longer has the veil of the form’s protection will meet terrific torment. It is much better for human beings to turn to God, to Christ, to truth, today and be purified and change and receive blessings.
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What is the whale in the life of rebirth? Withdrawal to the within, to turn in our minds, our feelings, in our thoughts to God. As Jonah began to pray the minute he got into the whale, not the prayers of someone in the belly of a whale, but of someone who is repenting and turning to God. He spoke of the weeds and things like that covering his head. That is the crown of thorns that crowned Jesus. The thorns that hurt and challenge our best thinking. It is the period of the three cycles of transmutation. The transmutation of the physical, the soul, and the I, or the Spirit within. We must have a period of silence, the three days, or better the three cycles of transmutation that will never take place on the outer unless it takes place first on the inner. If the inner does not change no power on earth or any trials or any whale will change the person. When Jonah was liberated and on the shore again, he was happy, but before he could enjoy this liberty the Lord said to him “Jonah you will go back now and fulfill that mission. Go and do what you are supposed to do as a reborn initiate of Jehovah, go and preach to that city and warn those people, give them the chance to be saved.”
This is the world. This is our story. When we are transmuted within, when we are aware and guardians of the spirits animating the ego, when the soul is full of love and caring, the outer man, the physical man is moving and acting in harmony with God’s Will. We become a light in the outer world.
We don’t like to change. It is difficult on human beings to change but after we get into the change to live a God pleasing life we love it so much we would never let it go. The truth and wisdom behind the story of Jonah and the Whale is the mystery of the three days of initiation, the rebirth of man the way Jesus the Christ told Nicodemus, as a physical being, as a soul being, and as the I that becomes a Son of God.
The information under this section will be drawn from the works of the
Christian Adept H J Doumette
HIS FIRST MIRACLE
Metaphysically speaking a miracle indicates the transmuting WILL of God active in the world through man in order to establish His Kingdom in earth and does not connote a magical performance. This understanding sets the emphasis on the importance of the first miracle worked by Jesus. It marks his mission with its true greatness. This entire event indicates Christ mission of replacing the cycle of descent, the Old Testament, with the New Testament and the Jehovistic consciousness with the Christ consciousness.
St. John introduces the performance of Jesus in Galilee when He turned water to wine as the beginning of His miracles and the manifestation of His glory in the world and he adds “and His disciples Believed on Him.” It is therefore only reasonable to study this historical occurrence according to its spiritual meaning and significance.
Thanks to the Jehovistic regime that ruled the world with the Name of the One and Only God, Jesus could enter and receive the reigns of evolution, and begin the ascent and to transform the Old Testament to the New, the age of the soul to the age of the spirit, and the instinctive man to the spiritual man.
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“And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there” The coming of Christ brought on the grand cycle of human ascent. The descent of humanity was ruled by the Jehovisitc presence. In this event the mother of Jesus represents the soul of the Jehovistic regime through which Christ entered the world.
And both Jesus was called, and His disciples to the marriage.” His six disciples represent His celestial powers active in the spiritual counterpart of evolution. The six disciples that were called later represent the powers that work on the physical world.
“And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto Him, They have no wine.”
Wine represents love and the spirit, while water indicates the soul. In speaking these words the mother of Jesus enacted the role of the guardian of the Jehovistic mysteries. As the last word in the regime of the soul she is about to surrender to the kingdom and dominion of the spirit. One power does not surrender easily to another dominion. Even the soul with all its loving feelings are not willing to surrender itself to the Spirit. The desire is to always receive greater and greater power, without, however, submission, transmutation, or change.
“Jesus saith unto her, Woman what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come.” It is the nature of Christ to give light, life, love and immortality directly from the Godhead, not influenced by the past nor founded upon the law of the flesh. “His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.” At the declaration of the Christ Name, purpose, and mission all powers of the past are made to surrender to Him as to the Father. “And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece”
This purified water was used to sanctify the worshippers and baptize them with the Holy Spirit. The mentioning of these pots indicates that the marriage was at a place of Worship, and not an ordinary abode and classifies the proceedings as a spiritual event. To this day the use of purification in temples, synagogues, and mosques by washing the hands and arms to above the elbows then the forehead and back of the neck with holy water is to liberate the soul from sin and destiny of the past and to sanctify the self.
“Jesus saith unto them, fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim” The old and unbridled living of instinctive man had exhausted the life of the soul. The life of the soul was misused, it had surrendered its higher love to desire and spiritual dominion to the physical world. The time was ripe for the coming of Christ to rescue and liberate mankind, to refill the waterpots- the life and consciousness of the soul. But now the contents must be made wine, not water. Love, goodness, and universality must flood the soul of man.
“And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bear it”
“When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was; (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,
“And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning set forth the good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.”
How true are the contents of these verses. A common worldly attitude is to offer the best first, until faith, trust and respect have been gained. Then the reverse is practiced. But spiritual life and the Heavenly Gift are conferred upon us with increasing blessing and according to our greatest good.
“This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifest forth His Glory; and His disciples believed on him”
Moses, at the beginning of his mission as the Jehovistic messenger of the law of descent, changed water to blood. He established in the life of the soul the consciousness of the damage of worldly division, egoism, and strife. The word was: live these commandments and you are blest, otherwise you are cursed. But in His first miracle Jesus Christ turned water to wine. He brought spirituality, love, forgiveness and redemption to the soul. Through this miraculous event Jesus the Christ made manifest His mission in the world. He brought the cycle of ascent, light, salvation, and love. “And His disciples believed on Him” He established His power in earth as it is in Heaven.
