Dr. John P. Clark's Sermons & Writings

Series on Luke

IV The Imperatives of the Kingdom

A Increasing Opposition

7 Sign of Jonah

Text: 11:29-32

Introduction

Last week we saw that a number of people reacted to Jesus’ ministry by asking for a sign. This is not an unusual request. People seem to think that God must somehow justify his claim on their lives. There is no appropriate parallel in our experience. These people had been looking for their Messiah to come for centuries. They read about Him in their sacred Scriptures, but they misunderstood the prophecies because of their blind conviction that the Messiah was to physically deliver the nation and reestablish their political preeminence. Thus they were looking for the kind of sign that would demonstrate His power over their enemies. These people were looking for a specific spectacular sign from Jesus to prove that he was from God, and that He was on the mission as they thought of it. it would be a sign literally from heaven so remarkable and so impressive that nobody could reject it. They lacked the insight to know who He was, This text is about that insight. Consider with me the desiring the sign, discerning the sign and despising the sign.

I Desiring the Sign

In verse 29 the people wanted a sign but we read, As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. The signs of Jesus’ ministry were abundant. In verse 20 of this very chapter He says, if I cast out demons by the finger of God (meaning the Spirit of God), then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Obviously Jesus power over the demons to him is a sign, but not to them. When I think of the way people relate to God, I am impressed with the fact that sometimes they say I am sick if you heal me i will believe. Or they say I am in danger if you rescue me I will believe, or perhaps, I am poor if you make me rich I will believe. These people desired this and more. I recall how Jesus spoke to John the Baptist when he asked if Jesus was really the messiah. He said to John’s messengers, in Luke 7, Report what you have seen, the the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the good news is preached to the poor. In the gospels there are so many signs that it boggles the mind. But, you know, people want it to happen to them the way they desire or they are skeptical. The Lord is plain here in His teaching. Who is it that desires a sign? it is  according to Jesus an evil generation. They seek a sign because they are evil and unbelieving. Today we have  a confused church seeking signs to  authenticate or shore up its faith. The message is clear if you need signs beyond those done by Jesus in the gospel record then on the thruway of life you have missed the exit! The signs have been given, and the question is, do we see them?

II Discerning the Sign

What Jesus says in verses 29 and 30 is that no sign will be given them such as they are seeking in their unbelief, None will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. One great sign will be given and that sign is His resurrection. Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites because he appeared there as one who had been sent from God after having been miraculously delivered from the the great fish. Paul recognizes the magnitude of this sign in Romans 1:4 when he says that, Jesus was declared to be the son of God through the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. In I Corinthians 15 he reminds us that the integrity of the gospel hangs on this, If Christ has not been raised your faith is futile, you are still in your sins. The point is that the resurrection is the great sign, the apex, the zenith, the climactic sign. All other signs lead up to this one. I remember doing evangelistic work on the streets of North Philadelphia many years ago and a man came up to me and asked if I had been healed,or prophesied or spoken in tongues and when I replied that I was simply there to tell about Jesus he became angry and basically told me to go home. He was a victim of that school of thought which says now that Jesus is resurrected we should have a great outpouring of miracles, signs and wonders. Do you see that this is exactly the opposite of what the New Testament indicates. There are miracles during the time of the Apostles but they are already much less than what Jesus did, and by the time you get to the later days of the New Testament there is no mention at all of such signs. When Jesus gave the great commission he didn’t talk about signs and wonders but about preaching, baptism and instruction. The reason is simple. the pivotal sign of history is the resurrection. We are to consider the claims of Christ and decide for him on the basis of the gospel. The irony is that they were looking for a sign of power, and what greater evidence of power is there than rising from the dead? Yet they missed it because of their false idea of the Messiah.

III Despising the Sign

The keynote of verses 31 and 32 of this section is to focus again on the importance of the sign God has given, The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. When the Queen of the South, the queen of Sheba, (I Kings 10) rises up in judgment with this generation, the reason is that she did not have this sign and yet she sought the wisdom of God from Solomon. When the men of Ninevah arise in judgment, the reason is that they did not have this sign but nevertheless they repented at the preaching of Jonah. This generation seeks signs but despises the sign God has given because it does not fit their preconceived notions. They are wicked and perverse and deserving of judgment says Jesus. We cannot help but be reminded of the parable Jesus tells in Luke 16, about the rich man and Lazarus, the beggar. The rich man through the poverty of unbelief has ended up in hell and the poor beggar, Lazarus who laid at his gate  untended, has through the riches of faith ended up in heaven. The rich man wishes to have Lazarus be a messenger send to his brothers to warn them of the impending doom. He claims that if someone goes to them  from the dead they will repent and the solemn reply is this, If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets ,they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. This is why Jesus goes on in next week’s text to talk about the light of the gospel shining in our darkness. We must believe the Word of God, the message. This requires that the Holy Spirit open our eyes to see the signs that are already there, and not to look for new signs.

Conclusion

Do you believe the gospel as it is set forth in the Bible, that Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose again. Nothing else matters. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. All the promises of God are fulfilled in Christ. All that we need is provided in Christ because all we need is to know that Jesus loved me and gave himself for me. The answer to all our sins and problems is in the Christ of the cross and the empty tomb. It is our preoccupation with ourselves that destroys us if we do not see this.