The Sign of Jonah (Luke 11:29-32)

When Jesus drove a mute demon, some of them accused that He drove out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. Others tested Him by asking for a sign from heaven. Our Lord Jesus taught them that He drove out demons by the finger of God and if they believed it the kingdom of God would come upon them. Then our Lord Jesus responded to the challenge to perform a sign by telling the story of Jonah.

As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here.” (Luke 11:29-32)

Jesus calls this generation a wicked generation. Jesus once calls it an unbelieving and perverse generation (Luke 9:41). What does it mean? It means this generation is evil and perverse. Jesus says so because they keep on asking a sign from heaven although there have already been a sign manifested among them. They have been blind not to see the true sign what they desperately wanted because they search for a sign which does not exist out of illusion and delusion. There is no doubt that the Jews have still intently and enthusiastically been searching for a mightily powerful Messiah like King David who will conquer the world in submission and establish a dominantly lofty state. In the first century when they saw a man who seemed to have mighty power and authority they were excited and tried to make Him a king by force (John 6:15).

Prophet Isaiah delivered a message to King Ahaz to ask the Lord a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights. But the king didn’t ask a sign, so the Lord God gave a great sign to the people of Israel. 

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

This is still a wicked generation because all people look after a false god like sex, automobile, bodily ecstasy, and mafia’s mind. Apostle Paul diagnoses so pertinently about this generation in the Epistle of Romans that they deliberately suppress the truth by their wickedness although they know God whose eternal power and divine nature marvelously has been manifested in the creation of the world.

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20)

Jesus responds rather sternly and resolutely to the test of performing a sign that He will not give any sign except the sign of Jonah. As Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.

Jonah is one of the famous stories in Sunday school class. It’s not a fish story, but the story of God’s second chance for the fallen race. Jonah was sent out to the magnificent city of Nineveh where one hundred and twenty thousand people lived with many animals. He was sent out to deliver the message of the judgment of God. But he knew that God would forgive the people of Nineveh if they repented. He understood and assessed the character of God accurately and didn’t like that.

So, Jonah didn’t go to the great city of Nineveh but took a sailboat, fleeing away from the call of the Lord. But soon he got into a big trouble on the sea that he was thrown into the sea where a big fish swallowed him up. After three days and three nights the fish dumped him out on the shore. When he delivered the message of God’s judgement, the whole city of Nineveh from the king to the salves mourned and repented of their sins.

Jesus says that just as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites so He is a sign to this wicked generation. As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of fish so Jesus was crucified and buried in the cold tomb of stone. On the third day, our Lord Jesus rose again from the dead. The cross of Calvary is a timeless and eternal event. The bloody and rugged cross where our Lord the Son of God was hung stands forever for all people to see. This is the sign for the wicked and perverse generation that they can enter into the kingdom of heaven through the repentance of sins.

On that day the people of faraway south and Nineveh will rise to judge the unbelieving generation. But here is something greater than Solomon who has been known as a wisest and wealthiest man on the face of the earth and Jonah who stirred up the great city of Nineveh with the proclamation of God’s message. Jesus Christ is greater than anyone else because although He was the Son He obeyed Father even to the point of death. There was no reason for Him to die like a condemned criminal but our Lord Jesus obeyed the Father and His divine program through which all people may be saved.

Some seven hundred years before our Lord Jesus was crucified, Prophet Isaiah prophesied the death of the Messiah, the Son of the most blessed God. We are healed by His wounds. When we were gone far astray, He was despised and punished by the Father for our transgressions and wrongdoings and faults. Is it not a more-than-enough sign for us to believe in Him? 

“Who has believed our message

   and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

   and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

   nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by mankind,

   a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

   he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain

   and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

   stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

   he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

   and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

   each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

   the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted,

   yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

   and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

   so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

   Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

   for the transgression of my people he was punished.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

   and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

   nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

   and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

   and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

After he has suffered,

   he will see the light of life and be satisfied ;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,

   and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,

   and he will divide the spoils with the strong,

because he poured out his life unto death,

   and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

   and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:1-12)