Show Us a Sign

Introduction: Are you a sign person? I’m talking about a supernatural sign. Do you need to have a supernatural sign to believe in something, or to move forward in life? Some people are sign people, and they won’t believe, or move forward in life unless they receive a sign.

· Moses received a sign from God (the burning bush) – Exodus 4:1-9

· Gideon was such a person (remember the flees he sat out?) - Judges 6:11-22.

· The people of Galilee wanted to see signs and wonders – John 4:48. Jesus even rebuked them saying, “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders… you will never believe.”

As we approach our text, we discover that the scribes and the Pharisees were sign people. They refused to accept the signs and wonders that Jesus had already done, and they came to Him requesting from Him another sign. However, as we shall discover Jesus condemns them.

I. We want to see a sign from you – 12:38

38Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

As I read through this verse, I saw three very clear thoughts being presented. Let me point them out for you:

1. Look who answered (said to Him or answered).

It was the scribes and the Pharisees that came to Jesus. These are the individuals that had been giving Jesus such a hard time. Now, they are upfront, and they are seeking His attention.

· These are the same religious individuals who accused Jesus and His disciples of breaking the Sabbath (punishable by death) – Matthew 12: 1-14

· These are the same religious individuals who saw Jesus as simply a “fellow” and not the Messiah – Matthew 12:24

· These are the same religious individuals who accused Jesus of doing His miracles through the power of Beelzebub (the ruler of the demons) – Matthew 12:15-30

And now these religious leaders come to Jesus asking Him to do another sign.

2. Look at how they address Jesus.

These religious leaders now call Jesus, “Teacher”. How weird is this? They don’t believe that He is a “Teacher”. The word can also mean, Master or Rabbi. They used this word for a specific reason. They are trying to warm up to Him for a purpose. They are pretending to show Him respect. They wanted something from Jesus.

Have you ever noticed how often a person’s demeanor will change when they want something from you? It appears that these religious leaders were trying to get cozy with Jesus, and they were doing so for a reason.

3. Look at what they ask Jesus for.

“We want a sign from you.”

Talk about wacko jackos – these guys have heard and seen nothing but signs from Jesus Christ. Now, they want to see Jesus perform another sign. The Greek word for “sign” is “semeion.” However, they don’t just want a sign, no, they want Jesus to perform a “made-to-order” miracle, or an “out-of-this-world sensational sign.” They want such a miracle that would remove all their doubt as to His identity.

The Message translates verse 38 like this,

Later a few religion scholars and Pharisees got on him. “Teacher, we want to see your credentials. Give us some evidence that God is in this, How about a miracle?”

II. An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign – 12:39

39But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Now, here in verse 39, we have Jesus’ response to the scribes and the Pharisees’ request. Jesus says two things to them:

1. An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign.

Watch out for those who are always speaking about signs, and those who are looking for signs. Why? Because all they are interested in are the signs. They have no interest in the message or the person of Jesus Christ. For them, it is all about the signs.

· Jesus calls them evil (some translations use the word, wicked). Remember, we just finished looking at the good tree and the bad tree (Matthew 12:33-37). The scribes and Pharisees were the bad tree with rotten fruit.

I have read that the word “evil” carries with it the idea of being morally corrupt and evil.”

· Jesus calls them an adulterous generation. The word adulterous is speaking about Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. Here in our text the scribes and Pharisees “left the true worship of God to follow a man-made set of rules and traditions.” (Got Questions.com). The word generation used here speaks of a specific group or class of people.

2. No sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Jesus made it clear that He wasn’t going to perform a sign for the sake of performing a sign – No MIRACLE shall be given. Jesus is no SIDE SHOW. He is no PERFORMER. He’s not a CIRCUS ACT. In essence, Jesus is saying to the scribes and the Pharisees, you can forget it, it’s not going to happen.

However, Jesus did say that they would witness a sign. The sign of the prophet Jonah. What is the sign of the prophet Jonah? We will pick this up in the next point…

III. The Sign of Jonah – 12:40

40 For 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.

The Story of the Prophet Jonah

Most of us are probably aware of the prophet Jonah. We know that God called him to go to the city of Ninevah and to call the people to repentance. However, Jonah hated the people of Ninevah. They were a wicked and cruel people (They were the Hamas of that period). Instead of obeying God Jonah boarded a ship sailing towards Tarshish. He was heading in the opposite direction. That is, until a great tempest arose and the ship, he was in was being tossed all about. We are told that Jonah was fast asleep in the lowest part of the ship (that is what sin does to you – it lows you to sleep). The captain of the ship awoke him and told him to call upon his God so that they would not perish. The mariners came up with the idea of casting lots to see who was responsible for bringing the storm upon them. When the lot was cast it landed upon Jonah. All eyes were upon him. He had some explaining to do. Jonah told them his story, and how he was disobeying God. He encouraged them to toss him into the sea, so that the storm would stop and that the ship would be spared. They did, and as Jonah landed in the water he was swallowed by a BIG FISH (maybe a whale). And this is where we go back to our verse here in Matthew 12:40,

40 For 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.

A couple of things here. First, Jesus testifies to the truthfulness of the account of the prophet Jonah. There are a lot of people who laugh at the story of Jonah. They say that it would be impossible for a man to be swallowed by a BIG FISH and live through the experience. My response would be, you are correct if there is NO GOD! However, with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26; Mark 9:23; Luke 1:37). There is nothing too hard for God (Jeremiah 32:17. This is a small sign compared to the many signs and wonder we have already read about in the book of Matthew.

When I was in Bible College I had a professor by the name of Earl Mortlock, and when he walked through the book of Jonah with us, he said, “If God wanted to provide Jonah with an apartment inside the belly of the Big Fish with hot and cold running water, He could have done that.”

Second, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a BIG FISH, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The sign is simply Jesus’ death.

The word “heart” here in this verse denotes the “interior of a thing.” It speaks of the grave. Bible teachers believe that Jonah died inside the Big Fish’s belly (Jonah 2:6-7) and that God raised him from the dead when he vomited out on dry ground. Jonah became a “sign” to the people of Nineveh.

Jesus shares with the scribes and the Pharisees that the ONLY sign they will receive is what will happen in the future when He expires on the cross, is buried in the garden tomb, and after spending three days and three nights in the heart of the earth will come forth alive.

There is NO greater sign than that!

Some people have a hangup when it comes to the amount of time Jesus spent in the heart of the earth (in the Garden Tomb).

Three Days and Three Nights = 72 Hours

Pastor David Guzik writes. “Because Jesus here refers to three days and three nights, some think that Jesus had to spend at least 72 hours in the grave. This upsets most chronologies of the death and resurrection of Jesus and is unnecessary - because it doesn’t take into account the use of ancient figures of speech. Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah (around the year AD 100; cited in Clarke and other sources) explained this way of speaking when he wrote: “A day and a night make a whole day, and a portion of a whole day is reckoned as a whole day.” This demonstrates how in Jesus’ day, the phrase three days and three nightsdid not necessarily mean a full 72-hour period, but a period including at least the portions of three days and three nights. There may be other good reasons for challenging the traditional chronology of Jesus’ death and resurrection, but it is not necessary in order to fulfill the words of Jesus here.”

The Resurrection is the SIGN. Don’t miss this.

IV. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment – 12:41

41The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.

Jesus turns the discussion to the past to teach them a lesson for the present – for that day. He says three important things to them:

1. The men of Ninevah shall rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it.

Why? Because the men of Ninevah heard the preaching of Jonah. And get this, Jonah was a mere man. He was a prophet, but nonetheless a man. The men of Nineveh heard his message.

People need to hear God’s messengers today as well.

2. The men of Nineveh repented when Jonah preached.

What? The men of Ninevah repented. The word “repented” means that they turned from their sin. They stopped sinning. They turned from walking away from the God of heaven to walking towards the God of heaven.

To repent means, to change direction.

Are you aware that it is believed that somewhere around 600,000 people responded positively to the preaching of Jonah? And remember, these were people that Jonah hated, and yet they repented from their sin.

3. There is one greater than Jonah in your presence.

There is someone greater than the prophet Jonah in the presence of the scribes and the Pharisees. If the people of Ninevah turned from their sins by the preaching of a mere man, what was holding the scribes and the Pharisees from repenting in the presence of the Son of God? There is a BIG difference between a Prophet and THE MESSIAH.

What will it take for people today to turn from their sins?

V. The queen of the south shall rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it – 12:42

42The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.

There are also three ideas presented in this verse that I want to point out for us. They are:

1. The queen of the South will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it.

Who is the queen of the south? She is the Queen of Sheba. We read about her in 1 Kings 10:1-13; and 2 Chronicles 9:1-12).

2. The queen of the South traveled a great distance to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

Solomon was a mere man, and yet his wisdom drew people from the furthest distances known to mankind at the time. It is believed that she traveled from the bottom of the Arabian Peninsula (Modern state of Yemen) – the location of the Kingdom of Sheba. I have read that it would have taken her almost two months to reach Solomon.

She came to “hear” Solomon’s wisdom. The word “hear” means to harken, give audience, to come into the ears.

The queen of the South (Sheba) came to learn from Solomon.

3. A greater than Solomon is in your presence.

Finally, Jesus reminded the scribes and the Pharisees that a GREATER than Solomon was standing in their presence. The inference is, why are you not hearing Him?

Changed lives are a result of hearing and taking into the ear the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion: Are you a sign person? I hope not. Instead of signs, we should be quick to hear (take in) the teachings of Jesus Christ. Receive His truth and allow it to alter our lives. Be changed by the truth of God’s Word.

Here are the take-home truths from this section of Matthew 12:

1. Don’t seek the sign, seek Jesus Christ.

2. It is an evil and adulterous generation that seeks after a sign.

3. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the GREATEST sign of all. Jesus Christ is ALIVE!

4. A greater than Jonah is here – Jesus Christ.

5. A greater than Solomon is here – Jesus Christ.

6. Now is the time to repent, to turn from your sin, and to turn to Jesus Christ for salvation.

7. Hear Him – receive His truth.