#94 Lu. 11:29-32 THE SIGN OF JONAH THE PROPHET Introduction: I want to show you the connection between this verse and the preceding events that we have recently studied. I. The preceding events Back in verse 14 of this chapter Jesus cast a demon spirit out of a man who could not speak. According to Matthew the man was also blind. After Jesus cast the demon out of the man he was able both to speak and to see. The great masses of people were amazed at the power of the Lord that He was able to order demons and that demons obeyed His commands. There were others of that day who practiced exorcism through lengthy ritualistic ceremonies, but Jesus just spoke and the demon was gone instantly. He spoke and instantly the demon obeyed. The people all stood in amazement. They stood in awe of such great power. They began to say to one another, "Is this not the Son of David, the Christ?" The great masses of people were on the verge of acclaiming Jesus to be the Christ whom God had promised through the Old Testament prophets. It was at this point that the scribes and Pharisees had spoken up and falsly accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, that is, by the power of Satan. In verse 16 some of the scribes and Pharisees also called upon Jesus to show them a sign from heaven that He is the Christ. They pretended that if Jesus would only show them a sign from heaven that they would believe that He is the Christ. Luke says that they were not at all willing to believe that Jesus is the Christ. Luke says that they were tempting Him. That is, they were hoping to show Him up. They were hoping that He would actually attempt to do some heavenly sign and would fail. A failure on His part would only give them further excuse for rejecting Him as the Christ and for denouncing Him to the public as they had already done. Either that or they hoped that He would acknowledge that He was unable to produce the sign which they wanted. Either way, they still planned to denounce Him. Before Jesus could answer their demand for a sign from heaven a woman interrupted Him in a loud voice. She cried out and said, "Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou has sucked." Jesus then turned away from to the scribes and Pharisees to answer the woman. He pointed out to her that even though it would be a blessing to give birth to the Christ child and even though it would be a blessing to give suck to the Christ child yet it is more blessed---more important---to be saved. It is more important to be saved by the Christ than to be the one to bring the Christ into the world. It is more important to have the Christ in the heart than to have Him in the womb. It was more important to have the Christ as Savior than to have Him as a son. By this time the crowd had gathered in tightly around Jesus. They were still greatly attracted to Him. In spite of what the Pharisees' denunciation of Him, they were still amazed at the mighty power of Jesus to cast out demons and heal the sick and afflicted. There was, however, now a new spirit of reluctance. They had been on the verge of proclaiming Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God. But now that their religious leaders, the scribes and Pharisees, spoke out so viciously accused Him, they were reluctant to say anything else about the possibility that Jesus might be the Christ. They were not yet fully persuaded one way or the other. They were not yet persuaded that the scribes and Pharisees were right about Jesus. Neither were they willing to break from the scribes and Pharisees as their religious leaders and proclaim Jesus to be the Christ. II. The demand by the whole generation for a sign Jesus, knowing their reluctance to break from the scribes and Pharisees, and knowing their reluctance to accept Him as the Christ, rebuked the whole multitude of people. Yea, He rebuked not only the Jews who were present there at that time, but He rebuked the whole generation of Jews who lived at that time. V. 29, "And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign..." It was not evil to want a sign in order to be right. It was not evil to want to be sure that He is the Christ. If they had been honest in their request for a sign, they might have gotten one. But they never asked for a sign in order to find out the truth. They asked a sign for the purpose of tempting Him---for the purpose of showing Him up---for the purpose of persuading the people that He is not the Christ. This kind of dishonesty was evil. This kind of deceit was evil. This kind of rejection of Him without even a desire to find out if they might be wrong was evil. However, you will note that Jesus not only called those who openly demanded a sign evil, but He called most of the other people in that great crowd and most of that whole generation evil also. Jesus knew that those who spoke up demanding such a sign were speaking the sentiments of most of the people in that crowd and most of the peopleof that generation. They had been momentarily swayed toward accepting Jesus as the Christ by the great power that He had displayed, but they had been swayed right back in the other direction by the scribes and Pharisees who had accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub. The real sentiment of their hearts was the same as those who had demanded a sign from heaven. It was not as if they had been given no sign at all. They had seen the great miracles that He had done. He had caused the blind to see. He had caused the dumb to speak. He had caused the lame to walk. These were the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. Jesus was doing the very things that Old Testament prophets had said the Christ would do. That surely should have been sign enough. If they had believed the Scriptures, that would have been sign enough. In addition, He had calmed the storm. He had fed a multitude with five loaves of bread and two fishes. He had walked upon the waters of the Sea of Galilee and that during a storm. He had cured lepers. He had stopped funerals and raised the dead back to life again. If they wanted signs, they had an abundance of signs. They had signs that should have been most convincing. But the problem with them was not the lack of proof that He was the Christ. Their problem was their own failure to believe the signs they already had. This was the problem with the scribes and Pharisees who spoke out and demanded a sign. This was the problem with the majority of the crowd of people who were packed in so tightly around Him. This was the problem with virtually the whole generation of Israelites who lived in that day. It was a problem with the whole generation. There were, of course, those who believed in Him as the Christ, but they were few in number compared to the great masses who rejected Him. III. No sign to be given except the sign of the prophet, Jonah (V. 29), "...and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet." The word, Jonas, is the New Testament spelling of the Old Testament word, Jonah. The Old Testament word was a Hebrew word whereas the New Testament was written in Greek. Therefore the New Testament spelling was different from the Old Testament spelling even though they were the same name. But the point is that Jesus said that no sign would be given them. That is, no sign from heaven would be given to them. He would continue to cast out demons and work the same kind of miracles as He had worked in the past. These would continue to serve as signs to all who were willing to receive them. But there would no sign from heaven be given to them. He would not cause the sun to stand still for them. Neither would He cause the sun to suddenly go down. He would not cause a star nor comet to suddenly appear. He would not cause the moon to disappeared from the sky. No such heavenly sign would be given to them. There would, however, be given to them one sign in addition to the kind of signs He had already shown. The sign of the prophet Jonah would be given to them. V. 30, "For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation." You will note that Luke does not go into any detail as to how Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites nor how Jonah would be a sign to the people of Israel. Matthew, however, records that Jesus told them that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, even so He would be in the heart of the earth from three days and three nights. He was, of course, referring to His death and the fact that He would be in the grave for three days and for three nights. If they had only understood fully what He was talking about, Jesus was telling those Jews that He was going to allow them to put Him to death. He was going to allow Him to lay His body away in a tomb. But after three days and three nights in the tomb He would arise from the tomb. He would arise out of the earth. He would live again. This would be a miracle more powerful and convincing than a sign from heaven. If they would believe at a sign from heaven they should have been all the more persuaded to believe after He arose from the grave. But the Jewish leaders had already made up their minds and the great masses of Jewish people would follow their leaders. They would reject Jesus as the Christ no matter what sign or miracle He might show them. They would reject Him as the Christ even though He would arise from the dead. IV. A special warning about judgment Jesus said that the men of Nineveh would rise up in judgement in testimony against the Jewish people. V. 31-32, "The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here." Yet not only the men of Nineveh, but the queen of Sheba would rise up in testimony against them that they had ample opportunity to be saved. The people of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah. A greater than Jonah was now on the scene in Israel preaching to them. Jesus Christ, the very Son of the Living God was among them performing miracles and showing beyond reasonable doubt that He is the Christ. But those hard hearted Israelites would reject Him. Jesus said, "The men of Nineveh will rise up in judgement and testify that you have had ample opportunity to know that I am the Christ. They will testify that you were without excuse for rejecting me." There is one thing I would like to point out right here. The time of judgment is come for all men. Not all will be judged in one day. The judgment of the saved and the judgement of the unsaved will take place at least a thousand years apart. But they will all be judged. This ought to be a solemn warning to all who are unsaved today. In the judgment there will be no excuse for any man, woman, boy or girl who has rejected the Christ as Savior. But there is one marvelous thing I would like to point out to you about the great mercy and opportunity for salvation that Jesus extended to those Jews. It was necessary that Jesus die. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Without the shedding of His blood there would be no remission of sin. It was necessary that Jesus die in order for the lost to be saved. So God was not inclined to try and stop these haters of Jesus from crucifying Him. All of the great might and power of God just stood back and let them nail Him to the cross. All the great power of God stepped aside and let them lay Jesus in the grave. Then God stepped in and raised Him from the grave. It was then, after they had done there dasterdly deed of crucifying Him that this special sign of Jonah came forth to shine forth to the people of Israel and tell them in the most powerful way possible that Jesus is the Christ. It was then, even after they had crucified the Son of God that God made His most powerful appeal for them to repent, to accept Jesus as the Christ and be saved. In other words, even as Jesus stood before that great crowd and told them about the sign of Jonah that would be given to them, He did not want to do anything that would interfere with the Father's plan for these people to crucify Him. He had come to the world to go to the cross. He would willingly go there and give His life there that all might be saved, but He said to these people, "I am going to give you one last chance. I am going to give you the sign of Jonah. I am going to make one more gigantic effort to get you to repent and be saved. Even after you have put me to death, I will come forth from the grave and make my greatest appeal to you to turn to me and be saved." They were a wicked generation. They were a wicked people. But Jesus loved them. He was willing to die for them. He was willing to save them. Yea, He was more than willing. He was anxious to save them. Conclusion: Let me tell you, my friends, He loves the people of our generation no less! He loved us and died for us. He is willing to save us. He is more than willing. He is extremely anxious to save every man, every woman, every boy and every girl. I am going to ask you who are unsaved to place your faith in Jesus Christ today and call upon Jesus to save your soul. Will you do that right now? Then I a going to ask every man, woman, boy and girl who is saved to give your life in worship and service to God.