The Sign of Jonah - Pt 4

Today we complete our series in the Gospel of Matthew dealing with The Sign of Jonah. Again we come to Matthew 12: Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 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. 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. 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. 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. (Matthew 12:38-42 ESV). John Calvin says: Does Christ address them with such harshness of language, because they wished to have a sign given them? for on other occasions God manifests that He is not so much displeased on this account. Gideon asks a sign, (cf. Judges 6:17) and God is not angry, but grants his request; and though Gideon becomes importunate and asks another sign, yet God condescends to his weakness. Hezekiah does not ask a sign, and it is offered to him, though unsolicited, (cf. Isaiah 38:7-8). Ahaz is severely blamed for refusing to ask a sign, as the prophet had enjoined him to do, (cf. Isaiah 7:11). It is not solely, therefore, because they ask a sign, that Christ makes this attack upon the scribes, but because they are ungrateful to God, wickedly despise so many of his wonderful works, and try to find a subterfuge for not obeying his word. What a display was this, I do not say of indifference, but of malice, in shutting their eyes against so many signs! There was, therefore, no proper ground for this annoyance; and they had no other object in view than to appear to have a good reason for rejecting Christ. Let me reiterate. I am not calling for the belief in the cessation of gifts from the Holy Spirit. I am calling for an understanding that signs and wonders are not the saving word of grace; they are God's secondary testimony to the word of his grace. John Piper says, “Signs and wonders do not save. They are not the power of God unto salvation. They do not transform the heart any more than the inspiring music of worship which may accompany the gospel. Signs and wonders can be imitated by Satan, but the gospel is utterly contrary to his nature. What changes the heart and saves the soul is the self-authenticating glory of Christ seen in the message of the gospel.” We must focus on the Gospel. That Gospel is simple. The Apostle Paul writes: Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4 ESV). That sets you free! That’s something that cannot be counterfeited by our enemy!