Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 6:07 pm Post subject: Sign of Johah
Quote:
Matthew 12:39-42 (New International Version)
39He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41The 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 one[a] greater than Jonah is here. 42The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.
Would you explain in a nutshell what He is talking about?
Jesus is speaking of the Jewish nation. The scribes and Pharisees were the religious leaders of the nation, and they failed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, nor did they receive his teachings. They were not humble enough to recognize that Jesus taught the spirit of the Law, and instead insisted upon the forms and ceremonies taught in the Talmud - therefore Jesus' teachings were at odds with theirs, and so they did not heed his preaching.
In the case of Jonah, he preached repentence to the men of Ninevah, and even though they were an adulterous people who did not even worship God, they repented of their evil. Jesus was a much greater preacher than Jonah, and yet those who professed to believe in the One God did not accept his teachings, nor were they humble enough to admit they themselves were wrong. The fact that the men of Ninevah repented and showed reverence to Jehovah while they were yet heathen men stands as a judgment against the scribes and Pharisees, who knew Jehovah and his Law, and yet failed to repent of their evil, and recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
Likewise, the Queen of the South (Queen of Egypt) came to pay homage to Solomon and his God, even though she was not a Jew - not a worshipper of Jehovah (and therefore a heathen according to the Jews). She recognized the greatness and power of Jehovah as demonstrated in the success of the Jewish people through Solomon. Contrast this with the attitude of the scribes and Pharisees who professed to know and love God, and yet they failed to recognize that Jesus was God's representative - the Messiah. The heathen, ignorant of God's Laws and of all his wonderfull providences on behalf of Israel, could recognize that Solomon was blessed of God - and yet the leaders of the Jews could not recognize God's spirit in Jesus. Thus the example of the Queen of the South stands as a judgment against the Jewish leaders who claimed to know God and yet rejected Jesus.
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