It is December 11th, 2024. Rain is on the way according to the forecast and Christmas is 14 days away! This morning I read Luke 11. The Scriptures remind me of the certainty that Jesus is the Messiah.
There were crowds gathering to hear what Jesus was going to say. As they did, Jesus said, “this generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” The crowds wanted a sign, and even demanded a sign at times, in order for Jesus to prove he is the Christ, the Messiah. Nothing has changed from then to now. People still want proof that Jesus is who he claims to be. As if the many miracles he did, as recorded by eye-witnesses, were not enough. Jesus told them that the only sign they were getting was the sign of Jonah.
Jonah was a prophet whom God called to preach the message of repentance to the Ninevites. Upon doing so Jonah fled. However, no one can flee the Lord. To shorten up the story a bit, Jonah ended up being swallowed by a great fish, we believe it was likely a whale of some kind, where he spent three days and three nights in its belly. On the third day, Jonah was delivered up to the shores of Ninevah. That alone was a sign to the people of Ninevah that Jonah was sent by God. He preached the message God gave him, “Forty days from now Ninevah will be destroyed”. That’s eight words in English, five words in Hebrew. The people of Ninevah heard that, considered the miraculous way Jonah was delivered to them, and repented. God spared them.
That’s the sign of Jonah that Jesus was speaking of. You see, the same amount of time Jonah spent in the belly of the great fish is the same amount of time Jesus spent in the tomb dead. Yet, on the third day, by the miraculous power of Almighty God Jesus was raised from the dead according to eye-witnesses. Jesus’ resurrection is the sign of Jonah. It’s the sign that Jesus was sent by God. It’s the sign that Jesus is indeed everything he ever claimed to be – the Christ & only Son of God.
Jesus said that as Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh, so he was and is still today a sign to us. Jesus came preaching a message of repentance. That message is enforced by the resurrection. The people of Ninevah listened to Jonah because of the incredible, and impossible way, he went to them. One who is greater than Jonah has come (Luke 10:32). One who died upon a cross, was placed in a tomb, and on the third day rose from the dead. His name is Jesus. The sign that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior of the world, is the resurrection. Are we listening to him the way the people of Ninevah listened to Jonah?