This Sunday, the Lectionary has us considering passages that are all to do with eschatology—the “end” of all things. In the end, what will have the last word, death or life? That's the question posed by eschatology.

Interestingly, one of the Old Testament readings (one I won’t preach on, but sheds an interesting light on the eschatology passages we will consider) is Jonah 3:1, “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time." This passage, about "the word" coming to Jonah a second time, shows us what eschatology is all about.

As you may remember, “the word” came to Jonah the first time while he was in the promised land. While enjoying the peace and security of Yahweh’s presence, he was told to prophesy to the Assyrians. In a sense, Jonah was called to extend the boundaries of Yahweh’s rule from the little territory of Israel to the “exceedingly great city” of Nineveh.

From here, we know the story. Jonah rebels against the initial word. He goes down toward Tarshish, he goes down in the ship, he goes down in the fish, and is finally “driven from the sight of the LORD.” While in the belly of the fish Jonah laments the fact that he’s far from the temple, far from the presence of God. Rebellion against the first word brought exile from the temple; it brought spiritual death.

Jonah 3:1 reveals the eschatological thrust of Scripture. In the beginning, God created the world through his word. Adam and Eve received the good creation brought about through this “first word.” Like Jonah, they lived in the peace and security of Yahweh’s presence. The land in which they lived functioned as a little “temple-garden.”

Their mission was to extend the boundaries of the garden over the face of the earth. They were called to bring the order of the inner garden to the entire world, just as Jonah was called to bring the message of God’s order and justice to this foreign nation. Though Adam and Eve didn’t experience immediate physical death when they rebelled against the first word, they were driven from the Lord’s presence. No, they weren’t in the belly of a fish. But they were banished from the garden-temple. This was their “going down,” this was their death, just as it was Jonah’s.

God would’ve been perfectly just to end the story there. He was under no obligation to speak his creative word the first time, let alone a second. God could have destroyed his creation. Yet, in his grace and providence, he established a plan to inaugurate a “new creation.” How was this new creation to come about? The same way in which the old creation came into existence: through the word. Inexplicably, the word came to mankind a second time.

No, a second spoken word didn’t come. Rather, the same word—the word by which God had crafted the world—came again, this time in flesh and blood. Jesus Christ had a clear mission: extend the temple presence of Yahweh over the face of the whole earth. God sent his incarnate Word into the world so that all things might be new, that salvation might explode over the face of the earth.

This expansive mission is what the returned word to Jonah was all about. The rest of Jonah 3 tells the story of a foreign people, including their king, repenting and “believing God” (Jonah 3:5). To Jonah’s surprise (and dismay), God had plans for the world that didn’t end with Israel.

This “returned word” had a much bigger scope than Jonah had anticipated. It accounted for the far-off city of Nineveh. Indeed, it even accounted for Nineveh’s cattle (Jonah 4:11). This was an expansive, inclusive, all-encompassing word.