The Sign of Jonah
Notes
Transcript
At the beginning of this series I made reference to Jesus speaking of Jonah as if Jonah is a real person, as a manner to dismiss the idea that Jonah is just a person of myth or legend. Jesus speaks of Jonah as historical figure, as he does Nineveh, and he does the Queen of the South.
Bartering with God is generally a dangerous path to make.
Yet a well known instance in Church history it ended up working out for one figure…
Martin Luther did this. And in a miraculous evidence of God’s mercy he used that. Luther was traveling home from school and was caught in a thunder storm and cries out “Saint Anne! Saint Anne!” Church tradition has stated that Saint Anne is Mary, the Mother of Jesus’ mother, “If you save me from this thunderstorm I will become a monk.” Bold move to barter with God for a sign… but the Lord spared him from this thunderstorm and then he did indeed go to be a monk. However, Luther’s time as a monk was miserable to him… for much of the time that Luther was a monk he wasn’t even a Christian… but the Lord used this to prepare him for his work in the protestant reformation.
And yet many of us have tried to make a deal with God… “God, If you would just do this miracle… then I will do this?”
And in this text we see that the Pharisees and Scribes - are trying to make a deal with Jesus… show us a sign and then we will believe in you… but in Jesus’ response he relies on the story of the prophet Jonah
This text is like an onion… it has layers.
The Request
The Request
The Scribes and Pharisees come to Jesus demanding a sign. But if you look back in this text, Jesus has already given them SEVERAL signs. But the Pharisees have come to Jesus as a crowd comes to a performer looking for him to do tricks.
Now it isn’t necessarily wrong for them to look for a sign. There are other places in the Bible where someone asks for a sign and they are not chastised. Gideon, though we don’t necessarily view him positively for this - the Lord does not chastise him. Abraham also asks for a sign in Genesis 15. However, it is the Pharisees intent behind asking for a sign. Mark and Luke’s accounts of this narrative tell us that they are looking got a sign that they might test Jesus.
Yet, this isn’t the only time in Matthew that the Pharisees demand a sign. They ask again in Matthew 16:9 - and Jesus responds to them the same way. He tells them twice in the Gospel of Matthew that the only sign that they will receive is the sign of Jonah.
Jesus is not some performer, or magician. He is not a magic genie who gives everyone on the planet 3 wishes. He does not have the desire to constantly prove himself to people who are asking. If that is the case, he will always have to prove himself to another skeptic. And if God has to prove himself to man - what does that say about God and man?
Jesus does not do tricks on demand.
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There’s danger in this - because it elevates the one bargaining and diminishes God. Similarly, how many of you have heard a friend or a loved one who has made the statement “I would believe in God if only he did something miraculous in my life,”? The Scribes and Pharisees are saying the same thing… yet if we look at the context we will see that they have already seen signs. Earlier in this chapter Jesus heals a man with a withered hand in the Synagogue (9-14), and then he also heals a demon oppressed man man who was blind and mute (22-23). They have received signs - just not one that they deem good enough. So as we often see in the Gospels the requests of the Scribes and Pharisees are not sincere requests but another attempt to test or trap Jesus.
The Response
The Response
Jesus responds to their requests - and he declines to give them a sign but he also promises them something better but than what they are asking for. They are asking Jesus for a parlor trick - and we see this through the gospels a lot… John 6 is in short “Hey Jesus, we saw what you did back there with the fish and the bread… how about you do that again?”
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.
Jesus has very strong words for the generation that demands a sign. He calls them an evil and adulterous generation. He calls them evil - not unlike Nineveh who are doers of evil.
Jesus also calls them an adulterous nation.He is referring to their spiritual adultery, rather than their literal adultery. He is comparing their lack of faith to a lack of faithfulness in marriage. A common picture in the Old Testament is to compare Israel to a bride who has been unfaithful to her husband - this is all throughout Isaiah and most specifically Hosea. Jesus continues this imagery here. Jesus will pressed the statement against their unrighteousness by the comparison to Nineveh, the wicked city, and by comparison to a gentile queen.
The Sign
The Sign
Jesus doesn’t merely tell them that they wont get a sign - he tells them what sign they will get - and he also tells him what it means.
He tells them that they will receive the sign of the prophet Jonah - then in verse 40 he explains that he is referring to his death and his resurrection.
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.
But there is more to this reference than simply Jesus foretelling his own death and resurrection.
Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights
The Son of Man will be in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.
Keeping in mind that the men of Nineveh were a wicked nation, and Israel - especially the Pharisees thought of themselves as a righteous people. They would have taken offense at the comparison in verse 41. Where Jesus tells them that the men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment and condemn this generation.
Reason: Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah.
But Jesus then also states that there is One better than Jonah is here. Jesus is stating that he is greater than Jonah. And after the past few weeks you might be thinking, “well Jonah doesn’t seem all that great with how pastor Brian spoke of him.” But remember that Jonah likely wrote the book - so we know all the bad things because of him are because he told us. (That requires humility.) But I digress…
Jonah preaches to the wicked city of Nineveh, they repent, and turn from their evil and wicked ways.
Jesus preaches to the Jews and they nail him to a cross… but still many do indeed repent, believe the gospel and proceed to go to the ends of earth… and Christians continue to do so.
Yet Nineveh within 150 years returns to their sins and are soon after destroyed.
And while some like the Ninevites will return to their sins as apostates - Jesus has promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church.
What Jesus is teaching us, and them, by Jonah and the sign of Jonah shows us how Jonah’s story corresponds with Christ’s story.
This is what theologians have called typology.
Jonah is sent by God to go preach to those in Nineveh. Jesus is sent by the Father to preach the gospel of the Kingdom. Jonah is cast overboard into the Mediterranean Sea. Jesus is cast upon a cross, and overboard into death.
As Charles Spurgeon notes: “The sacrifice of Jonah calmed the sea for the mariners, and our Lord’s death made peace for us.”
Jonah spends three days in the belly of the fish - Jonah even compares this to the belly of the sheol - the grave. Jesus spends three days in the grave… and as the text reads - the heart of the earth. Jonah, though thought to be dead, is spit out from the fish - Jesus, though dead, on the third day rose again and exits the grave.
And to quote Spurgeon again:
The Spurgeon Study Bible: Notes Chapter 12
The man who had come back from death and burial in the sea commanded the attention of all Nineveh, and so does the risen Savior demand and deserve the obedient faith of all to whom his message comes.
Jonah
There’s an extra jab here as Jesus is referring to the wicked Ninevites and stating that they hear, and they repented, and they will rise up in the judgment. And the Queen of Sheba - also a gentile - hears from Solomon and praises God. Jesus is communicating to them that their blood does not provide them with a special privilege in the judgment - but those who repent and believe
Jonah preached and a whole city of 120,000 people and they turned from their sins. In response to this I was looking up how many people Charles Spurgeon preached to in his life: 10m, and Billy Graham is estimated to have preached to 2.2b. And all three of those are large numbers. But Jonah’s sermon lead a whole city to turn from their evil ways… and yet even Spurgeon and Graham didn’t preach of Jonah and his swallowed - they may have preached about Jonah at times - but they preached Christ of him crucified.
Jesus is a better preacher than Jonah. Jesus is a better prophet than Jonah.
Jonah went to a foreign people and they repented. Nineveh heard Jonah and repented - and now Jesus is before the Pharisees and they are demanded a further sign from him. If Nineveh heard grumpy, disobedient Jonah and repented - how much less of an excuse do the pharisees have when Jesus, the sinless savior is before them?
But Jesus continues on to make a comparison to another gentile who heard and praised God.
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.
Queen of the South - Queen of Sheba - 2 Chronicles 9:1-12, 1 Kings 10:1-13.
In 1 Kings 10:9 the Queen of Sheba
9 Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.”
The Queen of Sheba/the South comes from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon in Jerusalem. And when she does she praises God. Jesus came to Jerusalem, demonstrated greater wisdom than Solomon, he spreads that wisdom throughout all of Judea and Samaria - and then he tells his disciples to do the opposite - instead of the ends of the earth coming to them - coming to us - Jesus tells them to go to the ends of the earth proclaiming the gospel.
Jesus is wiser than Solomon.
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,
Jesus is greater than Solomon.
The Sign of Jonah should be enough. God became a man, lived a sinless life, was crucified to provide forgiveness for our sins, died, rose from the dead - appeared to hundreds of people. They reliable wrote those things down in what is the most historically supported in book in history. How arrogant do we have to be to say “that’s not enough - I need something special for just me.” Who do we think we are?
31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
The book of Jonah teaches us about a man who initially resists God’s command to preach a message of repentance to a wicked nation. The Ninevites are people who deserved wrath for the evils that they had committed. Nahum will later describe this city as a city of bloodshed.
The greatest sign that we have from God is the sign of the death and resurrection of Christ. We might find our friends telling us that they want a greater sign - maybe even you here today want a greater sign - but Jesus did something that none of us can do on our own. When we die we do not have the ability to take our lives up again… Jesus laid down his life - and Jesus took his life up again.
17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
Paul tells the Corinthians that when he was among them he was determined to know nothing except Christ and him crucified. But the reason that we boast in the crucifixion of Christ is because he rose from the dead.
And this is the fundamental difference between Christianity and every other religion. No other founder of any other religious system rose from the dead.
The empty tomb - the risen body
Christ has risen and he is reigning until he puts all his enemies under his feet.
The Sign of Jonah, Christ’s resurrection from the dead is the only sign that the generation receives - and yet it that sign is more than enough. It is the most significant event in all of history. Though Jesus died - and our sins were placed on him - he rose from the dead showing that sin is defeated and that he reigns as King.
Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.