The Sign of Jesus

Jesus performed many miracles. He fulfilled numerous prophecies and angels proclaimed him.

Q. How many signs were given?

1. None
   

   “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
   Mark 8:12 ESV

2. One
   

   “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.”
   Luke 11:29 ESV

3. Many
   

   So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.”
   John 11:47 ESV

These choices include a specific sign: the sign of Jonah.

Q. What is the sign of Jonah?

1. Jonah
   

   For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
   Luke 11:30 ESV

2. Three days and three nights
   

   For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
   Matthew 12:40 ESV

Which of these signs was given to Nineveh?

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.”
Jonah 3:2 ESV

Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
Jonah 3:4 ESV

How does this sign apply to Jesus?

“The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”
Matthew 12:41 ESV
(Luke 11:32)

Something greater than Jonah is Jesus. Jesus is the sign for this generation.

The men of Nineveh knew their wickedness and accepted the message of divine destruction from Jonah.

And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
Jonah 3:5 ESV

Do we recognise our sinfulness and accept the message of divine salvation from Jesus?

The scribes and Pharisees who came to Jesus asking for a sign were not willing to accept his message.

“If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”
Luke 16:31 ESV

Three days and three nights in the heart of the earth is not a sign to convince the scribes and Pharisees.

Jesus provides many reasons to believe in him.

Q. What convinces you?