Read Matthew 12:38–50
Questions from the Scripture text: Who ask for what in Matthew 12:38? What does Jesus say their request says about them (Matthew 12:39)? How many signs will they receive? Which one? How was Jonah himself a sign, and how will Jesus Himself be this sign (Matthew 12:40, cf. Romans 1:4)? What will the Ninevites do, when (Matthew 12:41)? What had they done? Who else will condemn them (Matthew 12:42)? How (cf. Matthew 12:6)? How do Matthew 12:43-45 condemn the Pharisaical idea that they could be free from the devil without being mastered by Christ? Who come, desiring what, in Matthew 12:46-47? Whom does Jesus identify as closer to Him than biological family ties (Matthew 12:48-50)?
What sign does Jesus give that we should believe Him? Matthew 12:38–50 prepares us for the sermon in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Jesus’s resurrection proves His Word about Himself, and about everything else.
Either you recognize Jesus as God, and rest in Him as your only hope of being forgiven every sin and blasphemy (cf. Matthew 12:31), or you will be condemned for those sins (and, most of all, for rejecting Christ!) for all eternity (cf. Matthew 12:32). Rather than yield to Christ, and come to Him for rest (cf. Matthew 11:28), these scribes and Pharisees ask for a sign (Matthew 12:38). Rightly does the Lord Jesus, Who has given such invitations, now condemn these men as evil and adulterous!
But, notice that it was not just the scribes and Pharisees but the generation more generally that Jesus condemns as “evil and adulterous” (Matthew 12:39). Although many are enthusiastic about Him, He knows what is in their hearts (cf. John 2:24–25).
It’s amazing that they would ask Jesus for a sign. How very many signs He had performed! In fact, it was their response to these signs that had instigated this particular conflict (cf. Matthew 12:22-24). But Jesus gave His apostles the ability to do such signs (cf. Matthew 10:1). The one thing that none of them could do was raise themselves from the dead—not just a resuscitation, but a transformed and glorious body.
Jesus refers to this as the “sign of the prophet Jonah” (Matthew 12:39), who had been three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish (Matthew 12:40), and was thus himself his own great sign to accompany his preaching in Nineveh (Matthew 12:41). How dreadful must be the noetic (upon the mind) effects of sin that, despite His historically sure resurrection, many do not repent. Truly, at the judgment, they will be condemned by comparison to Jonah’s Nineveh!
Indeed, we ought to come to Jesus to receive His Word not only about Himself, but about everything—much the same way the Queen of Sheba came to hear Solomon (Matthew 12:42). The idea that we could be liberated from bondage to the devil, without coming under the mastery of God in Christ, is a recipe for becoming more a slavery of sin than ever (Matthew 12:43-45)!
While He is still talking (Matthew 12:46), an illustration of the necessity of hearing and obeying Him presents itself. Who is closest to Jesus? The ones who spent the most years with Him? Whose womb carried him? Whose DNA He shared? No—those who have a new nature from Him, who obey His Father. This is how you know that you are close to Christ: when His own life and character are in you, and your relation to the Father participates in His.
Come to the Resurrected One, and receive His Word about both Himself and everything else!
What place does the resurrection have in your thoughts and mindset toward Christ? Whom do you believe Him to be? How do you receive His Word, and what do you do with it? How are you close to Him?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for declaring Yourself to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Grant that we would believe You to be God, Who became a Man to die for us. And grant that we would listen to You and obey You in all things, we ask in Your own Name, Lord Jesus, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP16B “I’ll Bless the LORD Who Counsels Me” or TPH16A “Preserve Me, O My God”
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