Amen. That was good singing.
Turn with me tonight in your Bible to Matthew chapter 12
Short Bible reading 5 verses. Matthew chapter 12 will commence
reading at verse 38. Let's hear the word of God for
those online the words will come up and scream.
Matthew chapter 12 will read from verse 38.
Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered,
saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
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 3 days and three nights in the wheels
belly, so shall the Son of Man be 3 days and three nights in
the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in
judgement with this generation, and shall condemn it because
they repented at the preaching of Jonas.
And behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
Amen. We know God will stamp with His
own approval and blessing this short reading of His own
precious and infallible. Now my text tonight is taken
from Matthew chapter 12, and it's really from verse 38 right
through to verse 41. And my theme this evening I've
simply entitled The Sign of the Prophet Jonas.
It's not what the Lord Jesus said, but he answered and said
unto them, verse 39 look at the book.
An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,
but there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the
prophet Jonas. Now according to the context of
this passage of holy inspired scripture, the fight, the
scribes and Pharisees came to the Lord Jesus and said, Master,
we would see a sign from thee. Now young people understand
this, the scribes were the doctors of the law.
They were well versed in the Holy Scriptures and certain
members with them were called Pharisees.
They belong to a very strict religious sect who tried to
fulfil or live out the law according to the dictate of the
scribes. And here they are.
They come to the Lord Jesus. Notice they dress Him as Master
and they demand a sign from Him. This demand for a sign didn't
arise from faith on their part, Rather it rose, I believe, from
a spirit of unbelief. They had already seen his
miracles. The blind were healed, the lame
were walking again, devils had been cast out, even the dead had
been raised. And still they refused to
believe. This fact, of course, reveals
the true state and condition of their heart.
See, no amount of evidence, no matter who presented it, no
matter the way in which that evidence was proclaimed, will
convince a natural heart that's unwilling to accept and believe
the evidence that needs a special work of the Holy Spirit.
It's called in theological terms, regeneration, or more
colloquially, we know it as the new birth.
Jesus said to Nicodemus, Marvel not that I say unto thee, you
must be born again. Now notice this, the Lord Jesus
refused to perform signs and demand.
Instead he points them to one supreme Old Testament saying,
namely the sign of the prophet Jonah.
Now the prophet Jonah is not a a fictional character as some
allege, but a factual one. We would have to believe in the
historicity of the prophet Jonas.
We would have to believe in the literal Life and Times of such a
one called Jonas or Jonah. Why?
Because that individual is fully endorsed and proclaimed and
believed in by the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
And on top of Christ's endorsement of the prophet Jonah
and the story of him being 3 days and three nights in the
wheels belly, the Lord Jesus points that the sign of the
prophet Jonah being 3 days and three nights in the wheel's
belly is a prophetic picture of the death and the burial and the
resurrection of himself. You see, that day he declared
something striking. Notice what he said.
Behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
The Old Testament prophet Jonah pointed forward.
But Christ, of course, in his person and work is the
fulfilment of Jonah's foreshadowing.
Now as I looked at this text of scripture and wrestled with it,
there's three things come to mind.
First of all, the sinful seekers seeking signs.
You know, I like a letter reason the sinful seekers seeking
signs, the Lord Jesus called them verse 39, an evil, an
adulterous generation. Why such strong language?
You see, they were seeking a sign and it wasn't because of
the lack of factual evidence. Factual evidence abounded in the
Old Testament. Think of the character of Jonas,
his Life and Times, what he foreshadowed and pictured.
Factual evidence abounded in the New Testament.
See I believe tonight in two Testaments and one Bible and in
the Old Testament, Christ is foretold and foreshadowed often
times and types and characters. And in the New Testament, Christ
is fully revealed as the Son of man, Son of God.
In the New Testament, Christ is no longer foretold.
Christ is fulfilling the words of prophecy.
Here's for all true revelation begins.
Revelation begins with the acceptance of the Bible as the
infallible, inerrant word of God.
I can ask tonight, what saith the Scriptures in any subject?
And I believe that what the Scriptures says, God says, and
what God says in the Tri unity of his person is fully revealed
for us in the fully in the Holy Scriptures.
Remember Paul says all scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction in
righteousness. Second Timothy 316, the word
translated inspiration means God briefed and you see every word
of the Bible including its grammar, including the context,
the letters as a direct result of the very breath of God.
I believe tonight that every word is pure, every word is
precious, every word is powerful, and every word is
plain, and of all Scripture is God breathed.
Then the Scripture cannot be broken, the Scripture cannot
contradict itself. And every apparent and seeming
difficulty and every apparent seeming discrepancy that
so-called scholars flag up must be resolved not by the opinions
of men, not by church councils, not even by preachers, but by a
careful understanding of the text and its context.
You see, remember on the resurrection day, when the two
were going back to Emmaus from Jerusalem, He said unto them on
the road, O fools and slow of heart, to believe all that the
prophets have spoken. Luke 24, verse 25.
Listen to verse 26. Ought not Christ you have
suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto
them, and all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself.
And later in the upper room with His disciples, he said unto
them, These are the words which I speak unto you, while I was
yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which are
written in the law of Moses. That's the first five books of
the Old Testament and then the prophets, major and minor, and
then the Psalms. That's the writing.
Five books are involved in that concerning me.
You see these people that were looking a sign, demanding a sign
for Christ. He called them an evil and
daughter's generation. It was not that they were
lacking evidence because the factual evidence was abounding
in the Holy Scriptures. Why then come seeking a sign?
Why demand a sign from the master?
Because they were lacking faiths experience.
Imagine this. Imagine a man out for a walk and
I'm not picking any man. It's a great day, it's not
raining. Hallelujah.
That's what we'd be shooting, wouldn't we?
And you're walking in the power of the sunlight of heaven.
We'll see. It's noontime.
This man has a friend with him. And this man says to his
friends, can you prove to me the sun exists?
Well, well, you would laugh, wouldn't you?
You'd, you'd have him in derision.
You see, the issue is not the absence of light, but it's the
absolute refusal to see and rejoice in that light.
And you see many today refused to see and believe the evidence.
For example, they refused to believe that the Bible is the
word of God. They they exclaimed, that's a
book full of errors and contradiction.
That's a lie that they're believing a lie.
They're convincing themselves that that's true.
And yet the Lord Jesus said in John 12 and 37, But though he
had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not in
him. And remember the story of the
rich man in Lazareth. Abraham told, if we are to
believe that the rich man was called Davies, if that was his
name, he said this. They have Moses and the
prophets. Let them hear them.
In other words, let your five brothers listen to the word of
God. Let them learn from the Old
Testament Scriptures. Davies argued, this is what he
said. Nay, father Abraham, but if one
went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
In other words, they'll recognise their sin, they'll
repudiate it, they'll repent of it.
They they'll receive Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Listen to Abraham's reply. If they hear not Moses and the
prophets, that's a reference to the Old Testament scriptures.
Neither will they be persuaded. The one rise from the dead.
Thomas Watson said unbelief was not a defect of reason, it's the
depravity of the will. See, the scribes and Pharisees,
they didn't need more signs. They had got an abundance of
signs, the messages, the miracles, the mercy of Christ.
They needed new hearts, they needed to be born again.
They needed to be savingly joined to Jesus Christ through
faith. See, let me ask you this
question. Is that your experience tonight?
Many today say to us in the Church, if only I saw a miracle,
I would believe the blind be given sight, the lame walking
again, the dead raised, the devils cast out.
Let me tell you, you wouldn't. Why do I know that?
Because God has already given the greatest of all miracles and
the person of Christ, the miracle of his incarnation, the
miracle of his crucifixion on Yonder tree, and the miracle of
the resurrection, the proof of the anti tomb.
And yet despite the factual evidence of these great miracles
that God has revealed, all found in the Holy Scriptures, the vast
majority of people still refuse to believe.
You see, it's not a new sight, it's a new sight.
It's a sight of Christ. We should pray, Lord, not only
open the King of England's eyes, pray for King Charles that the
Lord opens his eyes and Prince William as well, but open the
people's eyes. People in, carried off and
beyond people within our family circles and beyond, people that
we rub shoulders with. We should pray, Lord, open their
eyes. Why?
Because they're spiritually blind, they're spiritually dead
to their sin, their need of Christ, they're spiritually
diseased. They, they, they don't love the
Lord Jesus Christ and truth by the Lord of mercy.
I want you to think secondly tonight, not only the sinful
seekers seeking signs, but think of the sovereign Saviour showing
signs. Now look at our text.
It says in verse 39 an evil an adulterer's generation seeketh
after a sign, but there shall no sign be given to it but the sign
of the prophet Jonas. OK, so the Lord Jesus said I'm
only going to give you 1 sign, the sign of the prophet Jonas.
So he's pointing them back to the Old Testament scriptures.
Notice what He says for us. Jonah Jonas was 3 days and three
nights in the whales belly. So shall the Son of Man be 3
days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
And that corresponds exactly to Jonah chapter 1 and verse 17.
Let me read it to you. Now the Lord had prepared a
great fish to swallow up Jonah. The Lord Jesus called the great
fish a whale, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish 3 days and
three nights. That's not accidental, that's
historical, that's literal. That's factual.
You see, the Lord Jesus believed in the prophet Jonah.
There was such an historical character who lived in Old
Testament times. The Lord Jesus believed that the
prophet Jonah spent three days and three nights in the whale's
belly. The Lord Jesus believed in the
story of Jonah and the whale. Wow.
It's not a revelation. Scholars deny that preachers
decry against it. But the Lord Jesus, he uttered
these words. He fully believed it.
The words are not only truthful words, they're literal, factual,
and historical. But I'll tell you more than
that. Listen to me carefully.
They're central to the Gospel. Why?
Because Jonah is a type of Christ.
Did you know that Jonah is a real, true Old Testament
character. He really lived.
You know where he lived? He lived in the north of
Galilee. Do you know where he lived?
About four miles from Nazareth, in a wee place called Gath
Heifer. How do I know that?
Well, it says that in the Bible. Second Kings chapter 14, verse
25, you look it up in the days of Jeroboam, that's when he
ministered. I'll tell you something else
about Jonah. He descended into the deep.
Jonah one verse 17, He was in the whale's belly.
Jonah was there in the whale's belly as one dead.
And Jonah emerged after three days and three nights in the
whale's belly. And Jonah was a type of Christ,
and Jonah pointed to Christ, and the Lord Jesus fulfilled the
reality because the Lord Jesus, of course, is a real, true
historical figure. Do you know there's more
evidence for Jesus Christ than there is for the man called
Julius Caesar? And yet these men, atheists and
agnostics, they don't come forward and many others and deny
the historicity of Julius Caesar.
And then they had the cheek to say, well, well, I don't believe
in a man called Jesus of Nazareth.
I'll tell you something else. He not when he was a real true
historical figure, but Christ descended into the heart of the
earth. You've got to think about the
time that he spent in the tomb of Joseph of Ourmathea, the
Gardenton. And Christ truly died literally,
physically, the horrible death, the crucifixion.
And of course, Christ rose again, literally and bodily and
tangibly in power and glory. And I, I preached in that this
morning the proof of the empty tomb.
Now here's a question, and I was asked this question of the
recent Bible study. How can the Lord Jesus Christ
have been dead for three days and three nights if he died on
Good Friday and was raised before Sunday morning?
And how could he fulfil the type of Jonah literally?
Now let me answer that. I believe the Bible and I
believe that Christ's words are literal and precise.
I'm not just taking the three days and three nights according
to Matthew chapter 12 verse 40 literally.
I'm taking them seriously. I think of the plea and literal
statement of Christ here. 3 days and three nights.
That matches Jonah 117. I've already read it literally
and exactly. If Jonah's time was exact and
literal, then so must the Lord Jesus time be literal and exact
as it is. If not, then we would have to
say, well, the same breaks down, the same requires you to agree
with me the exact fulfilment. Let's think not beyond the plain
literal statement of Christ. Let's think of the period in
view. See, to understand what occurred
between the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it
is vital that you keep the Jewish time or the Hebrew
reckoning of time in view. You see in Scripture, when does
the day begin? The day begins at sunset.
When is sunset? It's at 6:00 PM.
Day doesn't begin at midnight. Do you know when Genesis 1 and
five we read, and the evening and the morning were the first
day? Each day contained an evening
followed by a morning. And did you know that during the
Passover week there were two Sabbaths that week there was a
high Sabbath, the holy Sabbath. And then of course, that was
followed by the weekly Sabbath. How do I know that?
Well, you see, when we compare Scripture with Scripture, listen
again to the Word of God. And we're reading from John 19
and verse 31. The Jews, therefore, because it
was the preparation that the body should not remain upon the
cross on the Sabbath day. For that Sabbath day was a high
day. So it's not the weekly Sabbath,
besought Pilate, that their legs might be broken and that they
might be taken away. OK, underline those words.
For that Sabbath day was an high day.
It was the Passover Sabbath. Now that is different and
distinct from the weekly Sabbath.
Did you know that the Feasts of the Lord each contained an
additional Sabbath? That day was called a holy
convocation. The Feast of Unleavened Bread or
the Feast of Passover always began on the 15th day of Nyssa,
and on the first day it began. That day was a Sabbath.
And John refers to this directly concerning the crucifixion.
John 1931. For that Sabbath day was an high
day. The high day was the annual
festival Sabbath of Unleavened Bread.
And that year. Now listen to me carefully.
That year in AD 33, it failed this high day, this holy
convocation. It failed in the day after the
crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, which produced 2 Sabbaths in the
same week. The High Sabbath was on the
Thursday and the normal weekly Sabbath on the Saturday.
And that distinction is key to the reconciliation of every
Gospel reverence concerning Christ's crucifixion and
resurrection. Once the High Sabbath and the
weekly Sabbath are both recognised, then the timeline
aligns perfectly with Christ's statement of literal fulfilment.
As Jonah was 3 days and three nights in the Wales belly, so
shall the Son of Man be 3 days and three nights in the heart of
the earth. It coincides with what Paul
said. Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures, and he was buried and he rose again
the third day according to the scriptures.
Young people, the timeline or the timetable was not random.
It's real. It was written long before the
Lord Jesus entered in to Jerusalem.
And we could link up these references.
I haven't time to open up them all.
Jonah 117, Hosea 6 and two foretold, After two days will he
raise us up, and then the third day he will raise us up.
Psalm 16, verse 10. Exodus 12.
Leviticus 23 prescribed that the Passover lambs were slain on
Nissan 14 and that the following day Nissan 15 began the Feast of
the Unleavened bread with his own special Sabbath day.
And Paul, remember, later identified Jesus as the real
saying beside behind the symbol of the Passover when he said
Christ our Passover was sacrifice for us.
First Corinthians 5 and seven. Now let's just think very
quickly of the precise blueprint here.
Tuesday was Nissan 13AD33, the Lord Jesus publicly preached for
the last time in the temple. You can read about that Matthew
chapter 23 right through to Matthew chapter 25.
In the middle was the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24 to his
disciples that evening after sunset.
You've got to think about Tuesday evening.
Now we're coming into the 14th because remember, the day began
at 6:00 PM. From 6P on PM onwards, the 14th,
the Lord Jesus and his 12th disciples gathered to celebrate
the Passover meal, and there, of course, he instituted the Lord's
Supper. Later that night they went to
the Garden of Gethsemane and there he prayed in deep agony.
And then Judas arrived with armed men, sometimes probably in
around 12:00, and the Lord Jesus was arrested around midnight.
How do we know? John chapter 18, verses 3
through to 12. And Christ was taken to Annus
and then to Caiaphas to his house, where he endured a night
of false accusation, where he was beaten, where he was put
into prison. You can read all about this in
Matthew chapter 26, verses 57 to 68, John 18313 right through to
verse 24. He was held overnight in the
prison cell During that night. Remember Peter denied the Lord
with those in cursings. And remember, as the Lord Jesus
come up out of the prison cell and was coming across the
courtyard, he didn't speak, but he just looked at Peter and
Peter wept bitterly as he came up those steps.
It was Wednesday morning, Nissan 14.
The Lord Jesus was officially condemned by the Sanhedrin
Council and sent to Pontius Pilate.
Matthew chapter 27, verses 1 and 2, Mark 15 and one after
interrogation, Pilate sent him to Herod.
And then he, he was sent from Herod back to Pilate.
Pontius Pilate examined him and said, I find no fault in him.
The mob cried out, crucify him, crucify him.
And about 9:00 in the morning of Nissan, the 14th, he was led to
Golgotha outside the city. And from Wednesday midday to the
afternoon, that's noon to 3:00 PM, the Lord Jesus was crucified
on the cross. Darkness covered the land.
Near the end of 3:00 PM, he cried, My God, my God, why hast
thy forsaken me? Finally at 3:00 PM, he bowed his
head and said, it is finished. The Bible tells us he bowed his
head and gave up the ghost. It was the 9th hour, 3:00 PM,
exactly the same time that the Passover lambs were slain in the
temple. And at that precise moment, the
veal in the temple was torn in two.
And it's Wednesday now. It's late in the afternoon.
There's going to be a burial before sunset.
Luke 2354. The evening approached.
That day was preparation, and the Sabbath drew on.
Remember, that's the high Sabbath.
Joseph of Armathea requested the body of Jesus Christ be taken
down from the cross. He and Nicodemus together
wrapped it in linen, spiced it up a little bit, and placed it
in Joseph of Armathea's new tomb hewn out of rock.
And you can read about this Matthew chapter 27, verse 57 to
60, John 1938 to 42. And the Lord Jesus was buried
before sunset on the Wednesday, and that marked the close of
Nissan 14 and when the sunset at 6:00 PM, the High Sabbath of the
Feast of the Unleavened Bread began.
Now that night, listen to me carefully.
Wednesday's sundown to Thursday sundown was the first night and
the first day that the Lord Jesus was in His tomb.
And that explains, of course, John 19, verse 31.
The High Sabbath corresponds to the first day of the feast,
fulfilling Leviticus 23 and verse 7.
The people rested. The woman who had followed Jesus
could do no work. It was a special holy Sabbath,
not the weekly Sabbath. The Lord Jesus remains sealed in
the tomb of Joseph Armathea. This was the second night and
the second day of His burial. Thursday sundown to Friday
sundown and when the High Sabbath ended at 6:00 PM on the
Thursday evening normal activities began.
Commerce resumed when we were out in the land of Israel after
the Sabbath was ended at 6:00 PM on the Saturday normal commerce
took place. The shops were opened.
So that's the picture Mark 16 verse one that says and when the
Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of
James and Shalom had bought. I'd never seen this before.
It doesn't say brought. It says bought.
And that purchase took place on the Thursday night between 6:00
PM or early Friday morning or the late afternoon up until
Friday at 6:00 PM when another Sabbath was about to kick in.
The weekly Sabbath. Luke 2356 says the woman then
prepared the spices. They rested the Sabbath day
according to the commandment. So this Thursday, 6:00 PM,
Friday to 6:00 PM was the work period between the two Sabbaths.
The Lord Jesus remained in the tomb Friday daylight, Then He
entered the third night after Friday at sunset.
So Friday at sunset. Saturday sunset, 6:00 PM was the
weekly Sabbath day. And now we come to Nissan 17 On
the weekly Sabbath, the body of the Lord Jesus lay undisturbed.
Meanwhile, the chief priest went to Pilate, requested guard for
the tomb. Matthew chapter 2763.
Sir, we remember that Deceiver said after three days I'll rise
again. So they sealed the tomb.
They said a watch. And the Lord Jesus remained in
the tomb through the 3rd day. And after the Sabbath ended at
6:00 PM on the Saturday night, the Lord Jesus had completed 3
days and three nights in the tomb.
And I believe that's the moment that the resurrection arrived.
Just as sunset marked the beginning of the first day of
the new week, Sunday remembers the first day of the week.
The woman came to the tomb around dawn.
The Lord Jesus had already risen, and the Gospel testifies
to this literal timeline. And when you account for the two
Sabbaths, a High Sabbath, and a weekly Sabbath, then the literal
timeline kicks in. I'm well aware there's a
traditional timeline, and if you believe that the Lord bless you.
I'm well aware that many believe that Jesus was crucified on the
Friday and was resurrected on a Sunday morning.
That's fine. I I understand that because of
the Jews reckoning a method of counting time, it's different
from ours. Any part of a day can be counted
as a whole day. That's why many believe he was
crucified in Good Friday and resurrect at an Easter Sunday.
But as I'm saying to you, I believe this The resurrection
had occurred at the close of the Sabbath, sometime after, not
precisely at sunrise. On the Sunday it was before
sunrise. He'd already risen when the
woman came to the tomb, and once the events are sequenced
correctly, that Jesus was buried just before sunset.
And Wednesday. The three nights correspond to
Wednesday, Thursday, Thursday, Friday, Friday, Saturday, the
three days, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
And then you've got sunset at 6:00 PM and then you have the
beginning of the new day, the Sunday, the 1st day of the week.
And that corresponds precisely to three days and three nights
corresponds to what Paul said the third day since the
crucifixion because he was using the Hebrew or Jewish
understanding of time. Christ himself said, after three
days I will rise again. One final thing, you've been
very patient. The time has gone, the solemn
sayings of the Scripture sign. Look again at our text.
It says the men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgement with this
generation and shall condemn it because they repented at the
preaching of Jonas. Behold a greater than Jonas's
Here the men of Nineveh stand as a powerful warning.
They had a reluctant prophet with a brief message, yet 40
days and none of us shall be destroyed.
They repented at the preaching of Jonas.
But there wasn't a reluctant prophet in Christ.
There was a redeeming prophet, the Son of God himself.
He came with a powerful message, a message of grace and mercy.
He came performing many mighty miracles.
He came with clear teaching, repent and believe the gospel.
Yet they rejected him. The Bible says He came unto his
own and his own received him not Why?
Because they refused to repent. They refused the voice of King
Jesus. The men of Nineveh believe God,
and yet the people of Christ day and the people in our day, even
though they've got greater light.
The Bible asked this question, How shall ye escape if you
neglect so great salvation? You see the sign of Jonas is a
call to repent and believe because a greater than Jonas has
come and the solemn saying of the scripture saying is set to
the one side and rejected. So here we have a sinful seeking
after a sign, and here we have a sovereign Saviour providing a
sign, a literal sign fulfilled by himself of three days and
three nights in the belly of the earth.
And that literal sign points to the saying of the Scripture.
Repent ye and believe the gospel.
Have you repented? Have you believed the gospel?
Are you trusting in Christ? Do you believe the Bible?
See, once we come to that conviction and we're convinced,
then we'll come. We'll come as he calls.
We'll leave it there. We pray the Lord will take these
few thoughts and bless them to our heart.
We're going to sing in closing a couple of verses of 140.