The Sign of Jonah

Posted 10/11/13 by Donald Barnhouse

Image previewThe Sign of Jonah

"An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah: for as Jonah 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).

The Lord Jesus knew their hearts and all their motives.  This is why He answered them in these words which must have intensified their hatred and which must have confirmed some of His friends in the idea that perhaps He was out of His mind.   Here again was the announcement of His death and His resurrection.  They should have no other sign but that.

And certainly that was enough.  Mohammed is dead and his tomb is known, Buddha and Confucius are dead and they shall not live again until the last judgment, but the Lord Jesus Christ is not dead.  Three days was all that His body could be held by death, and that length of time only because it had pleased Him to set that time upon it, announcing it plainly in advance on more than one occasion.

Let us never forget that every week we celebrate the day of resurrection.  Every week, we celebrate the fact that the living Lord Jesus Christ is the stone upon which our whole faith is built, as it is also the stumbling stone of all unbelief.  This is the sign that is given to men who have doubts in their minds.  This will measure the inner life of any man.  It is a plough that goes deep into the hearts of men.  Every time a man expresses an opinion about Jesus Christ, he is revealing what he is within himself.  No other sign is given to men.  No other miracle is necessary.  If a man will not believe the evidence concerning the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is nothing that can ever move his evil heart of unbelief.

Dr. Barnhouse’s words are a reminder to us that the doctrine of the resurrection is the key sign that men must believe for salvation.  Any evangelism that weakens or removes this truth offers false hope to the hearer.

Further Reading: Matthew 12:38-42