Signs?

But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. – Matthew 12.39-40

This section kind of caught me by surprise. In the middle of Jesus’ charge to the disciples about their service for Him someone asks the question ‘Lord, show us a sign.’

I am not sure what they meant. Was it a sign that He really was Messiah? Was it a sign that He really was sending them? Was it something else?

Because of Jesus’ response I think they were asking for a sign that He really was the one and true Messiah. Plenty of false messiahs had risen up and fallen away. They did not want to be taken in again.

But Jesus would not give them a sign. He told that only an ‘evil and adulterous’ generation seek after a sign. He said no sign would come other than one they already had in the Bible. The proof of His messiahship would be that just as Jonah had spent three days in the heart of the whale He would only be three days in the earth.

I can’t imagine what went through their heads or what that meant. He goes on the say that after that the city of Ninevah would repent but that after He spent the three days in the earth He would still be rejected.

That’s it. Nothing spectacular. No dreams or visions or bright lights or anything. Just check your Bible and see what happens. We have the full word of God.

The word of God is all we need.