- Gospels and Acts(NT) Matthew 12:38~50
WHY DID YOU INCLINE TO SEEK A MIRACLE?
Question
WHY DID YOU INCLINE TO SEEK A MIRACLE?
Matthew 12:38-50
Key Verse: 12:39
"He answered, `A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a
miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign
of the prophet Jonah.'"
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Read verse 38. How and why had Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in the
previous passage? Why were they now seeking a sign? What were
expectations which came from their history and God's promises? What
was God's real purpose for them (1Pe 2:9)
2. Read verse 39. Why does Jesus called miracle-seeking people wicked
and adulterous? What is the only sign Jesus promised? Read verses
40. In what way was Jonah's experience in the fish a sign of
Christ?
3. Read verse 41. Why should we learn from the people of Nineveh? Read
verse 42. Why did the Queen of Sheba come to see Solomon? (See Kings
10:6-13) In what way is she far better than the people of Jesus
times?
4. Read verses 43-45. What does Jesus teach the Pharisees and all
self-righteous people about the work of evil spirits? What must we
do to keep out the evil spirits?
5. Why did Jesus' mother and brothers come? How did Jesus respond?
Why? What can we learn from this?
Manuscript
Message
WHY DID YOU INCLINE TO SEEK A MIRACLE?
Matthew 12:38-50
Key Verse: 12:39
"He answered, `A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a
miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign
of the prophet Jonah.'"
In the last passage we learned about Jesus' broken shepherd heart
toward a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. In fact, Jesus had
been too harassed to pay attention to this poor creature. But he healed
this demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. And Jesus astonished
people because of his messianic compassion and divine power. Then the
Pharisees, considered the authorities by the people, condemned Jesus by
chiding, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this
fellow drives out demons" (12:24). They were malicious and too vicious
toward the messianic ministry of healing a demon-possessed man who was
blind and mute. What did Jesus do? Jesus was greatly offended by the
Pharisees. But he explained that the chief demon's power is not the
power to save people or give life, but to make people useless and
demonic. Therefore, Jesus was not driving out demons by the power of
the chief demon; he was driving out demons by the Spirit of God so that
people might see the kingdom of God.
Jesus also told them that those who saw and understood the obvious
work of God, but denied the work of the Holy Spirit, would not be
forgiven. All such people will have to give account for their act of
suppressing the truth and denying the work of the Holy Spirit. Their
punishment will come upon them both while they are on the earth, and in
the age to come. There are many miserable people. Most of them are
miserable not because they have no money, but because they speak
against the Holy Spirit and the messianic work in order to justify
their sinful lives. In today's passage we learn why the Jews were so
inclined to seek signs. We also learn what kind of sign we, as
Bible-believing Christians, must seek. First, sign-seeking Jews (38).
Look at verse 38. "Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law
said to him, 'Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.'" In
this short verse we learn that the Jews sought a sign even after
offending Jesus in the last passage. There must be an obvious reason
for this.
When we trace their history, we can clearly see why they were
inclined to seek signs. Jewish people were also called Hebrew people.
Hebrew people were the ancestors of the Israelites. The Israelites were
called Jews. From the beginning of their history to the end, they had
been downtrodden people. They underwent 430 years of slavery in the
Egyptian Empire. They also received wilderness training for 40 years
when, because of their unbelief, they could not enter the promised land
where milk and honey were flowing. They were people chosen by God. But
they were rebellious, traditional and self-righteous. Now, even though
they were under the Roman Empire, they thought they were much better
and richer than the Romans. They had been slaves four times: first to
Egypt, next to Babylonia, then to Greece, and now they were under the
yoke of the Roman Empire. Still, they denied that they had ever been
slaves to any country (Jn 8:33). In a sense they were a great people.
Also, they were very stubborn and obstinate people. When we review
world history, we can see that God gave them the book of the Law,
beginning with the Ten Commandments and many kinds of literature, poems
and prophecies, and these works formed their culture. In the midst of
suffering they always longed for the coming of the Messiah who would
destroy all the enemy nations. And they wished that the Messiah would
establish an earthly messianic kingdom to rule all peoples and all
nations of the world and make Zion the capital city of the world. Their
miracle-seeking mentality came from their longing for the Messiah's
final victory. However, God's purpose in sending the Messiah was not to
make Israel the only world power nation, but to make them a kingdom of
priests and a holy nation. 1 Peter 2:9 says, "But you are a chosen
people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God,
that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness
into his wonderful light." When the Jews rejected God's mission, their
historical background made them miracle-seeking, and at the same time,
it produced Hebraism, one of the streams of culture in world history.
As we have studied, Hebraism emphasizes literature, miracles and the
spiritual world. There is another stream of culture, that is,
Hellenism, which is rooted in Greek philosophy. Hebrew people started
their thinking about people and the world from God. But Greek people
started their thinking about people and the world from human reason; we
call it Hellenism. Hellenism is good and realistic. Their ancestor
Socrates indoctrinated people to have high moral standards. This is the
reason he was imprisoned. He died saying, "Pay back my neighbor for a
hen that I ate." Until the Industrial Revolution, Hebraism dominated
the world. After the Industrial Revolution, Hellenism began to dominate
the world. Today, even in America, teachers cannot teach Creation faith
in the classroom, but they encourage the study of evolution diligently.
Hellenist thought is based on logic, mathematics and moral code. But
they had a problem. Their problem was serious: they were not confident
about epistemology, the origin of knowledge. Without true knowledge
they still had to develop their thinking. So they were confused. Then
they began to think about more delicate things. As a result, they
produced mountains of myths about women's beauty, the nose of
Cleopatra, and so on. Still, Socrates' motto, "Know Thyself" is the
Bible of Hellenism.
When we carefully study world history, Hebraism and Hellenism were
always streaming as the undercurrents of human culture. Now America is
ruled by the current of humanism, with the past experience of Hebraism.
As a result, people are totally confused and helpless. Paul, the
greatest philosopher of East and West, summarized in 1 Corinthians
1:22: "Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom..."
Here, `miraculous signs' are related to spiritual realities, and
wisdom is limited to human knowledge. That's the difference between
Hebraism and Hellenism. So far we thought about why the Jews liked
miracles so much.
Second, the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart
of the earth (39-41). Jesus answered, "A wicked and adulterous
generation asks for a miraculous sign!" (39a) This is a rebuke to the
Pharisees. Here, wicked people are lazy people. They didn t do
anything, but only wished that the Messiah would come and establish an
earthly messianic kingdom and make them rulers of all peoples of all
nations. They are similar to many factory boys. One factory boy, who
later became a night shift truck driver, graduated from high school as
a valedictorian. He became proud. He thought it was not necessary to go
to college and that he could fix up the world, be a multi-billionaire
and have a foxy wife and a nice house in the suburbs. But it did not
work as he had hallucinated. This person is wicked because of his empty
pride. There are many sign-seeking people who are wicked, living in the
stream of Hellenism. In the ivory towers of this nation, the halls of
learning, white Americans have become a minority. Most people in the
best academic programs of schools throughout the country are
foreigners; very few Americans are in these ivory towers. So one
American who entered a Ph.D. program gets a higher stipend as a
minority. Those who have big dreams but do not work hard and study hard
are miracle-seeking people and wicked people. They are also adulterous
people. Look at verse 39. "He answered, `A wicked and adulterous
generation asks for a miraculous sign!'" Why are miracle-seeking
people adulterous people? This is a rebuke to the Pharisees. They were
supposed to be servants of God as a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation. But they abandoned their mission and became miracle-seeking.
Miracle-seeking people do not have life direction. Miracle-seeking
people do not have purpose of life. Miracle-seeking people do not have
faith to live for the glory of God. As a result, though they may attend
some school or do something, they are always groping in the darkness
without any clear purpose of life or glorious mission. Therefore,
miracle-seeking people are directionless people; they are similar to
adulterous people who have no moral standard.
When Jesus thought about the Pharisees, his heart was broken. But he
gave the best explanation to help them stop miracle-seeking and know
the purpose of God. Jesus told them the story of the prophet Jonah from
the Old Testament. Jonah was a very rebellious prophet. God asked him
to go to the right; he went to the left God wanted him to go to
Nineveh, but Jonah wanted to go to Tarshish. Jonah, in his
self-righteousness, thought the people of Nineveh, one of the powerful
cities of the time, should perish. But God wanted to save the people of
Nineveh. Yet his servant Jonah thought Nineveh was too big a city, too
full of proud people and that gospel preaching would not be accepted.
So he bought a boat ticket to Tarshish. On the way the sea was very
rough, and finally the sailors found that the turbulence of the sea was
caused by Jonah's rebellion against God's mission. So the sailors
could not but throw him into the sea. Then the sea became calm. Jonah
was in deep regret and still rebellious. But he asked God's mercy to
save him. Then God sent a whale, and it swallowed him up. So he was in
the belly of a whale. There he wrote many poems and spent time in
prayer. God, out of great mercy, made the whale vomit him out on dry
land near Nineveh. Jonah was just like the Pharisees and he is just
like handsome and able young men of our time.
Look at verse 40. The last part of this verse is very meaningful.
"...so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart
of the earth." Relating to Jonah's three days in the belly of a whale,
Jesus explained that the Son of Man would be three days in the heart of
the earth. This part moves our hearts. The Pharisees were so
self-righteous and miracle-seeking and wicked and adulterous. But Jesus
wanted them to come to him. Jesus wanted to explain to them the meaning
of his death on the cross. Jesus wanted to explain why he had to be
crucified and shed much blood and water when a Roman soldier pierced
his side with a spear. Jesus must have been very lonely when he
mentioned his death on the cross, separation from God and burial in the
earth for three days, as Jonah was in the whale's belly for three days.
The Pharisees did not deserve to hear this gracious word of Jesus. But
Jesus told them anyway.
Jesus told the story of Jonah so that they might be saved from
judgment. Look at verse 41. "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 one greater than Jonah is here." The
greater one is Jesus Christ, the Messiah for whom they had waited so
long. The Messiah was right there. But because of their miracle-seeking
desire they could not see him. The kingdom of God was right there. But
they were living in hell. Jesus wanted to save them from eternal
condemnation in hell. Jesus told them to repent.
Third, the Queen of the South (42). The Queen of the South is mentioned
in connection with Solomon. She was a most beautiful woman and a
powerful woman. Above all, she was a woman of wisdom. When she heard
about King Solomon's wisdom, she came to Solomon with many gifts. But
her motive in coming to Solomon was to have a contest in human wisdom
with him. She didn t want to be second to King Solomon in human wisdom.
So she looked at everything Solomon had made, and talked with him for
several days. She found that King Solomon was wiser than herself. Then
she bowed down to King Solomon and went back to her own kingdom. She
said, "Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have
far exceeded the report I heard" (1Ki 10:7). It was the expression of
her deep respect for the wisdom of Solomon and the Lord his God. Jesus
said to the Pharisees, "...and now one greater than Solomon is here."
Jesus really wanted the Pharisees to recognize God's wisdom in Jesus
and accept him as the Messiah and enter the kingdom of God.
Jesus understood the Pharisees so deeply. In a sense, they were
better than the Gentile people in terms of morality. But they did not
know the activities of Satan. So Jesus told them a story. Allegorically
speaking, this tells of a highly moral man's tragedy. There was a man
who had a high moral standard. A demon came into him, but the demon had
no joy to be in his soul because he was like a pool full of too clean
water in which no fish can find any food. So the demon left him and
wandered around. But the demon could not find a wicked man for a rental
house. So he recruited seven more demons and decided to go back to the
clean-water man. Then the man became filthy because of eight demons'
occupation. This story is not only for the Pharisees, but for all
self-righteous people.
Fourth, Jesus' mother and brothers (46-50). While Jesus was still
talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside wanting to
speak to him. Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing
outside, wanting to speak to you" (46-47). It is quite sure that they
were in line to wait their turn to talk to Jesus. So someone came and
notified Jesus that they were in line, like Communist commodity buyers
at a shop. Then Jesus pointed to his disciples and said, "Here are my
mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in
heaven is my brother and sister and mother" (49-50). It sounds very
painful for Jesus' mother and brothers. But in the long run this turns
out to be true. Let's pray that all of us may do the will of God and be
Jesus' family members.
Today we studied miracle-seeking peoples' tragedy. Let's not be
miracle-seeking, and as a result, wicked and adulterous. Let's seek
first his kingdom and righteousness. Then God will make us great and
wealthy.