Mat 12:38-42, The Inexplicable Responses of Mankind.
length: 75:13 - taught on Feb, 23 2025
Class Outline:
Sunday February 23, 2025
The sign from heaven is Him. He is the sign that the kingdom of God is among them. They miss who He is, so they seek after a sign from Him. Miracles alone do not guarantee faith.
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." 39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; 40 for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 "The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 "The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
The Text:
“We want” - epizeteo = to seek after, suggests that this is their m.o. And yet so many signs have been given to them already, including this one that all present witnessed.
Sign from heaven (MAR 8:11; LUK 11:16).
Christ is the sign: the power and wisdom of God. Jews seek for signs and Greeks for wisdom (1CO 1:18-25) - two different ways of wanting to be convinced by empirical evidence seeking proof in power and wisdom.
Day of judgment, MAT 10:15; MAT 11:22, 24 for cities; MAT 12:36 for every worthless word; MAT 12:41-42 witnesses against unbelief.
Judgment is real and will be terrible for the unbeliever, ROM 2:5; 2TH 1:5-6. Judgment for the believer is an uncovering of his or her works and their motives (1CO 4:5; 2CO 5:10).
Jonah was the only reluctant prophet in the Bible.
Queen of Sheba was motivated to travel many miles to hear Solomon.
“Ends” of the earth; peras - end or limit = found in ROM 10:18 quoted from PSA 19:4 below. They didn’t have to travel far to hear. The Son of God came right to them.
The Son of God is obviously greater than any other witness of God, yet, He was not enough to change the unbelieve of the evil hearts.
Some people, even under the best of circumstances, are inexplicably going to reject the greatest gift from God, Christ.
Looking at the passage: Sheba and Jonah
- Queen of Sheba: 1KI 10:1, 6-9
- Jonah, also a traveler, but in the wrong direction. He was not running from God but from his responsibility.
The Jews of Jesus’ day failed to do as well as the Gentiles in the days of Solomon and Jonah.
Jonah’s response to God’s call is inexplicable.
In the book, the reason for Jonah’s fleeing from his obligation to God is not known until chapter 4, and then even there, it is inexplicable.
The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me." 3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
Jonah is a real prophet, not a false one.
which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet,
Jonah is the only true prophet to flee from his responsibility. He is a disobedient prophet.
The real intent of the Book of Jonah is in the last line.
Should I not have compassion on Nineveh
Nineveh is the center of the Gentile world at the time and so it represents all the Gentiles.
Look again at the beginning of this narrative. The writer uses the imagery of going “down.”
So he went down to Joppa,
and went down into it (ship)
But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship
they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea,
Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.
Water encompassed me to the point of death.
The great deep engulfed me,
Weeds were wrapped around my head.
6 "I descended to the roots of the mountains.
The earth with its bars was around me forever,
Running from his responsibility, he goes down, down, down, but then, motivated to pray, God begins to lift him up.
But You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.
The ones who show repentance and faith in this narrative are the Gentile sailors and the Gentile Ninevites.
Jonah reveals that he feared that God’s graciousness would lead to their repentance.
But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord and said, "Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.
Jonah gives a very weak proclamation. Either it is a summary of something longer, or he has a complete lack of enthusiasm.
he cried out and said, "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown." [5 Hebrew words]
Compare that proclamation to the one Jesus has given to the people; His teaching, His multitude of miracles (some of which were unheard of before), His life’s fulfillment of prophecy, John the Baptist’s proclamation, and His own proclamation as the Son of Man.
Just as with Jonah, the reaction of the Scribes and Pharisees is inexplicable.
Application (1):
There are quite a few inexplicable people in the world. Some of them are Christians in the church. They believe things that, if carried all the way through, break the foundations of all things good.
It can be very frustrating. Don’t quit on them, but most importantly, don’t be a Jonah and quit on the assignment.
"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things!"
"Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
And their words to the ends of the world."
The solution is always the same - look to Christ.
Application 2: Mankind is inexplicable.
Keep witnessing, keep seeking for others.
Know that many are going to say no and for ridiculous reasons.
Don’t give up on others, on mankind, because of the unbelievers.
Don’t be shocked, and I would add, don’t try too hard to understand.
Their darkness will become yours if you try to figure it out. In evil be babies, and in good be adults (1CO 14:20).
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