A Prime Example can be seen as we consider the act of Christ himself recorded in John chapter 4
John Chapter 4: 46-54
46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.
47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.
48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.
49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.
50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.
51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.
52 Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.
53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.
54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.
When did the Noble Mans house believe? Was it when he got back? NO! They knew were he went…the whole house knew the Noble mans son was at the threshold of death and that he sought Christ out when he heard the rumor he had come down to Galilee, and it was when CHRIST SPOKE the words “Thy Son Liveth” that vs 53 records The Nobleman and his whole HOUSE believed! While the Nobleman believed the word and left for home, Christ knew he had sought him out because he heard his reputation, if that Nobleman had exercised true faith, he would never had to leave the house!
Can you imagine the prayer of his whole household, of his own heart as we went to find Christ in Galilee? “God, I sure hope it is really The Messiah!…Please let him heal my son!” And while Christ performed the Miracle for him, his comment was a statement of dissatisfaction!
Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.
WE KNOW THEN, that Christ in addressing his own generation as one which required Signs and Wonders from God, and would get none save “The Sign of Jonas”…was then addressing a group specifically encountering him in his life!
The Testimony of Peter further supports this as Peter declares Christ Yeheshua to have been the fulfillment of Joel chapter 2s latter passages!
But what of later generations, to our Generation, which certainly is wicked, and adulterous, and requires signs and wonders…what of our generation? Are we held to the same standard? The answer is yes.
But then again, it is a matter of PERSPECTIVE! Christ Yeheshua addressed two groups, one who demanded Signs and Wonders and would be given none, and another, who witnessed of his ministry, and later his Disciples, MANY WONDERS, and MANY SIGNS!
In Luke we see recorded of Christ to “An End Time Generation”…the following Counsel:
Luke chapter 21:10-13
10 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake.
13 And it shall turn to you for a testimony.
Luke chapter 21:25-28
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
So “FOR THOSE PAYING ATTENTION”, Christ named MANY SIGNS, and prophecied to that LATTER DAY GENERATION…that they would SEE THESE THINGS COME TO PASS! So, then, to a time of a WICKED, and EVIL AND ADULTEROUS GENERATION THAT SEEKETH A SIGN, and would have none given it SAVE the SIGN of JONAS, there would likewise be a group of FAITHFUL, who did NOT REQUIRE A SIGN, and unto them, by their faith, they are prophecied WITNESS MANY SIGNS!
And these SIGNS will be sent by GOD!
In Revelation we see Two witnesses, they will have power to SHUT the windows of HEAVEN that it RAIN NOT, and they will have power to call for the Plagues of Egypt as often as they choose! This in itself is proof that SOME will certainly behold Signs and Wonders!
BUT How are we to approach the notion of Signs and Wonders? Well…
back to the question asked earlier…how can in one sentence we be told that there shall no sign be given them save the sign of Jonas, and in another be told there will be many signs and wonders? Well for one thing those who witness many signs and wonders will be God’s people during this time. A time where many will say, “ he’s not coming, that’s a fairy tale” or as scripture foretells, “ where is the promise of his coming?” It will be a time of a Wicked generation, one whose mark at least according to this verse, will not be their sodomy, their sorceries, their violence, though all these will likely be present “as it were in the days of Noah.” It will be their attitude, one that requires a sign. An attitude that when given many signs says, “ oh, I don’t believe that, I need further proof, If your God be God, tell him to do this…or ask him that” requiring their own sign, one tailored to their exact specifications so as to remove all doubt. And the answer is that there shall no sign be given them save one, the sign of Jonas.
So what is the sign of Jonas? Is it a miracle? Again that depends on perspective, but Pharaoh had witnessed many miracles at the hand of Moses, specific miracles, yet he still scoffed until one morning he rose to find that his own actions, had not only brought suffering upon the lives of his people, but that as even his own child lay dead with all the first born of Egypt, the realization that the hand of God could certainly reach even him.
All his worldly power could not deliver him from this plague, no hired servants to insure that the palace was swept of frogs and locusts, no reserve of water to alleviate the thirst that parched the land in the presence of rivers being turned to blood, no doctrine to argue whose god was supreme, just the lifeless corpse of his child. What was a miracle to one was a curse to another.
It is commonly taught throughout many denominations, seminaries and even television broadcast that the resurrection of Christ was the sign of Jonas, as Christ’s’ body is recorded spent three days in the grave and resurrected on the third, and Jonah in similar fashion would spend three days in the belly of a whale. Was this the sign of Jonas? Perhaps to that wicked generation, but what of this generation? If there is one universal commonly accepted perception of the sign of Jonas was it the resurrection of Christ. BUT is this the truth? Remember it was a sign to the wicked, and who was it that witnessed the resurrection of Christ? Pilate? Herod? Caesar himself? No, it was the followers of Christ. Were they a wicked generation? We know they were in one, and that Thomas was recorded as a doubter, but did he actually have to thrust his hand into the wound of Christ? I am almost certain Peter was in great remorse during the hours and days following his third denial, but by day three, after he certainly must have agonized in prayer, after he must have certainly obsessed over and over of his own actions, after he must have certainly counted and recounted again and again the crowing of roosters, and at least one in particular, realizing hours after his 3rd denial, that his Master had accurately prophesied to him…do you think he was part of a wicked generation? Perhaps he was set apart, come out of that generation, if only by knowledge and understanding.
Have you ever obsessed over a thing uncontrollably for days, out of guilt perhaps, or maybe fear?
I have, and I am almost certain that before Peter ever saw his Master, maybe even before but certainly after hearing rumors of a resurrection, may well have recounted his Masters words to him at that last supper, and then in that memory finding consolation in the fact that he who had once walked on water with the Messiah, and consoled himself further with the fact that he had not only denied Christ out of fear, but had done so in fulfillment of prophecy. And as this realization sunk in, I am sure that Peter in the torment of three days of going back and forth between the different emotional extremes of guilt, anger and frustration which certainly must have twisted his gut into a knot, grinding at his soul, grinding at his mind, grinding the joy out of his life, grinding at every fiber of his being, almost “to sift” him “as wheat,” if you will, must have no doubt been replaced with shear ecstasy at the very sight of his Messiah, not standing before him offering his wound to Thomas’s scrutiny, but looking him right in the eye, through his memory, through time and space and telling him that surely “before the cock crow thrice, you shall deny me thrice.” And the very words which once just days prior caused Peter great agony, must have then at that time been his hope.
So was the sign of Jonas a miracle? Was it a resurrection? Was it a message?
(Contd NEXT POST)