This blog post is adapted from a sermon I recently preached. Unfortunately, the sermon was not recorded.
Did you know that the sinfulness and lostness of people are not always apparent to the naked eye?
John MacArthur says it like this:
“Many outwardly religious, moral, and decent people say they believe in God and are kind and helpful to others. Even completely irreligious people sometimes live law-abiding lives and behave as good neighbors. Sometimes the kindly attitude and good works of unbelievers even put the behavior of some Christians to shame.”
He continues, “Many of them speak well of God, have high behavioral standards, are loving husbands and wives, caring parents, fair employers or employees, good citizens, and faithful friends.”
In other words, on the outside, many people appear to be what we would call good people. It is hard for us to imagine that these same people who may be our neighbors, family, friends, or even us could actually be separated from God and in danger of eternal hell.
The reality is that the most important evidence of godliness in our lives is not our behavior, but our attitude toward Jesus Christ. A person can look great on the outside, but at the same time can be an enemy of God.
In our passage (Matt 12:38-42), we see these kinds of people. We see devoted religious people who believed in God but were still looking for a sign.
What is a sign? A sign points to something greater than itself.
Consider a road sign. Road signs are important today, but they were even more important before GPS and Google Maps. When I was a boy, our family would often visit St. Louis during the summer. As we made our way from Arkansas into Missouri, we would of course look for road signs that told us how many miles we needed to travel to arrive at our destination. But there was always a sign that we looked for to know we were getting close – the Gateway Arch. Once we saw the big arch, we knew that we were drawing near.
Similarly, the Pharisees were men who were looking for a sign or evidence that would (dis)prove that Jesus was the Messiah, the Anointed One prophesied about in the Old Testament.
Sermon Text: Matt 12:38-42 (click link for text)
Context
When this dialogue occurred, Jesus had been ministering for at least several months or perhaps even a year or more.
During Jesus’ ministry, He had started to become somewhat famous for a number of reasons:
- His teaching – He taught with authority.
- His healings – He physically healed people.
- His exorcisms – He cast out demons/unclean spirits.
- His power to raise the dead.
Jesus had become popular with the common folk of Palestine, but he had received some negative attention and criticism from the Pharisees.
Up until now in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus had a few recorded interactions with the Pharisees. But in chapter 12, things had started coming to a head.
Look at Matt 12:22-24
22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”
After Jesus healed a man that was blind and mute, in v. 23, notice that the people begin to wonder if Jesus is the Messiah, the prophesied Son of David. But look at how the Pharisees responded in v. 24 – they attributed Jesus’ power to demonic power.
Now, back to verse 38.
Matt 12:38
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
The Pharisees were the religious leaders in Jesus’ day. They were zealous students and teachers of God’s law as found in the Old Testament. They sought to apply God’s law to every single detail of life.
The problem with most of the Pharisees is that they were legalists, meaning that they believed they could earn God’s favor by their obedience to the law. They thought that if they studied enough to understand God’s law and tried hard enough to obey God’s law, then they could be righteous before God.
The Pharisees burdened people with their demands. They added to the requirements of the law. For example, if the law said you couldn’t travel on the Sabbath, they would ask, “What is traveling?” They would then get together and come up with a pharisaical law.
In so doing, they often missed the heart of the law. One example is found right here in this chapter – Matt 12:9-14. The Pharisees were angry with Jesus because He healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. In their minds, Jesus was guilty of breaking the Sabbath.
The Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign – “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
In chapter 9, the Pharisees had seen Jesus heal a paralytic (9:1-7) and a mute man (9:32-34). Here in chapter 12, the Pharisees had seen Jesus heal a man with a withered hand (12:9-14) and a demon-oppressed man who was blind a mute (12:22-24).
And yet, the Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign to prove that He is the Son of David. In essence, they were demanding Jesus to prove that He was the Messiah. The scribes and Pharisees were the uncontested experts on the law, and they figured that the common people would look to them to be able to properly determine if Jesus was the Messiah. Thus, any “sign” that Jesus offered they would be the authority so as to disprove
So, what happens? Jesus refuses to play their game. One thing you have to remember about Jesus was that He did not come just to be an on-demand miracle worker. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Mark 1:38; Luke 19:10). He performed miracles out of love and to validate his message, but He would not be manipulated by those who had ulterior motives.
39
But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
What Jesus means by the phrase “evil and adulterous generation” is that the spiritual state of Israel is such that they are unfaithful to God and unresponsive to Jesus. In other words, this generation asks for a sign in the midst of Jesus’ obviously supernatural ministry, even after 400 years of silence between Malachi and Jesus.
Jesus continues, “no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”
If you remember, Jonah was an Old Testament prophet who was called by God to go to Nineveh. Jonah disobeyed God and fled to Tarshish. God sent a storm to get Jonah’s attention and eventually Jonah was thrown overboard by pagan sailors.
Now, after Jonah was thrown overboard, he began to sink down into the sea (Jon 2). When Jonah was near death, God spared Jonah’s life through a fish (Jon 2:10).
Jesus continues his conversation with the Pharisees:
40
For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
What does Jesus mean? Just as Jonah experienced a great and surprising deliverance, Jesus will experience a great and surprising (a surprise to the Pharisees, not to Jesus) deliverance in the resurrection. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days, so Jesus will be entombed for three days in the heart of the earth.
As an aside, the phrase “three days and three nights” doesn’t have to mean a literal 72 hours or three complete days. It was an idiom that meant any part of three days.
Once Jonah started sinking, the sailors who threw him overboard thought He was dead. Once the Romans crucified Jesus, the Pharisees through that Jesus was dead for good.
Without a miracle of God, Jonah was dead. If Jesus wasn’t God, He couldn’t have walked out of the tomb on His own power. After raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus proclaimed, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he did, yet shall he live” (John 11:25-26).
The point that Jesus is getting at is this:
BIG IDEA: The resurrection is the decisive sign that shows us Jesus was and is God in human flesh.
The resurrection is the decisive sign that shows us Jesus was and is God in human flesh.
Jesus was telling the Pharisees that they would get a miraculous sign. To anyone with spiritual eyes to see, it would be obvious that Jesus was the Messiah, the ultimate deliverer of Israel and the Gentiles, and the very Son of God. Only God Himself can walk out of a tomb of His own power (not to mention predicting it in advance) and that is exactly what Jesus did.
The same holds true today. While many are seeking a sign from God to know if He exists or if He is good, God has given us the greatest sign. Not only has He given us His Word, the Bible, but God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, became a man. Truly, God became flesh.
- He was prophesied about in the Old Testament.
- He was conceived of the Holy Spirit.
- He was born of a virgin Mary.
- He lived a perfect life of obedience to God’s law.
- He proved his divinity through his miracles.
- He was crucified on a Roman cross as an atonement for the sins of the world.
- He rose from the grave three days later, conquering death.
And one day, He will come again to gather his people and then he will judge the living and the dead.
I say all that to say this. If you refuse to see the sign of Jonah, then you will be condemned just as the Pharisees were condemned. Let’s look at verses 41-42.
If you refuse to see the sign of Jonah (the resurrection), then you will be condemned just as the Pharisees were condemned.
41
The men of Nineveh will rise up 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.”
During Jonah’s day, the Ninevites were enemies of Israel and considered wicked Gentiles. This must have been a gut punch to the Pharisees. You can imagine, the self-righteous teachers of the law being condemned by wicked Gentiles.
Jesus says that the Ninevites will condemn this generation because the Ninevites repented at Jonah’s preaching, and yet God in the flesh stands before them, and they refused to repent. If they continued to harden their hearts, then they will be condemned on judgment day.
Likewise, if you’re reading this article and you will not repent of your sin and trust in Jesus, then you too will be condemned to hell.
And finally, v. 42.
42
The queen of the South will rise up 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.
Jesus uses another example to prove His point. Just as the Ninevites will rise up on judgment day and condemn this generation that refuses to repent, so will Queen Sheba, another Gentile.
In 1 Kings 10, she traveled a great distance (around 1200 miles) to meet King Solomon. She had heard of this wisdom and riches, but she wouldn’t believe it until she witnessed it with her own eyes.
“And behold,” Jesus says, “something greater than Solomon is here.” Solomon was the last king of Israel before the kingdom split. And yet Jesus, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, was standing before the Pharisees clothed in human flesh.
Conclusion
Even though the Pharisees had seen Jesus heal the sick, cast out demons, and forgive sin, they willfully refused to believe in Him despite the undeniable evidence that had been put before them.
The Pharisees rejected Jesus not because a lack of evidence, but because of their spiritual pride. They refused to acknowledge that they were sinners in need of repentance. They refused to acknowledge that their obedience was not sufficient to make them righteous – that they needed God’s grace and mercy as much as the prostitute and the tax collectors.
The Pharisees rejected Jesus not because a lack of evidence, but because of their spiritual pride.
Today, there are still people looking for a sign from God. They are looking for a certain feeling during worship. They wish to hear from God in dreams. They long to speak in tongues. They wish that God would heal their bodies, grant them a promotion at work, or provide a mate. They think that if God would do this, then they would know that God is real and that He loves them.
The Bible says differently. The Bible says that God has already shown us His love through the giving of His Son Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:32 – He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Friends, God has given us all the signs we need. He has given us His Holy Word. In the Bible, we are told of a God who created men and women in His image. Adam and Eve fell into sin. But God did not leave us on our own. He spoke through prophets, and He speaks now through His Son.
Listen to Hebrews 1:1-4
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
As you read this article, you have two options:
Will you harden your heart before God when he has given us the sign of Jesus and His resurrection?
No matter how good your life appears to be on the surface, if you refuse to see the clear signs that God has given and trust in Christ and submit to his lordship, then you, like the Pharisees, will be damned to hell.
Or will you humble yourself before God, knowing that Jesus’ life, death, burial and resurrection was a work of almighty God? Do you acknowledge that Jesus was truly God in the flesh and that He is coming again?