[Note: This sermon expounds Matthew 12:38–42, comparing with Luke 11:29–32. Delivered Easter Sunday, 10 April 1977, Montreal.]
Today, by the grace of God, I would like to expound the meaning of the sign of Jonah. We read from Matthew chapter 12 verses 38 to 42. In English we have the word "sign"; in Chinese the word is 記號, as distinct from 神蹟, which means miracle. This distinction is very important: the Lord Jesus is not speaking of a miracle in the general sense but of a specific 記號 — a sign that can be seen and that carries a message from God. A sign in the Bible is always something visible to the eye that conveys God's message. In Luke 2:12, the shepherds are told, "This shall be the sign to you" — a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, something they could see and recognize. And in Matthew 26:48, Judas said to the betrayers, "I will give you a 記號 — I will kiss him, and that is the one you must arrest." A sign is not a message you hear; it is something you see.
The scribes and Pharisees — the Bible scholars and theologians of that day — asked Jesus to give them a sign. Jesus replied: "An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." When the Lord Jesus says "this generation," which generation does he mean — only the people standing before him, or all future generations too? The English word "generation" generally refers to about thirty years. But the Chinese 世代 and the Hebrew word that lies behind it carry a very different range of meaning — and curiously, the Chinese is here more accurate as a translation. In the Bible, as in Chinese usage, a generation can refer to a whole age, a whole period of considerable length — even the entire class of the righteous or the entire class of the wicked, as in Psalm 14:5. So when the Lord Jesus says "this generation," he is not only speaking to the Jews of his own day; he is speaking about this entire present age, this whole period of time from his day to ours.
In the parallel passage, Luke 11:29–30, the Lord Jesus says: "Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh; so the Son of Man will be a sign to this generation." Now, when we study this superficially, we fall immediately into error. Many say the sign is simply the resurrection of Jesus, pointing to Matthew 12:40: "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." But tell me — how can the resurrection serve as a sign if a sign must be something that can be seen? Who among the critics and unbelievers saw the resurrection? They were not present. Furthermore, Jesus had already demonstrated resurrection power before his own death on three occasions: the raising of Lazarus in front of a great crowd, the raising of Jairus's daughter, and the raising of the widow's son at Nain where he stopped a funeral procession in front of the whole town. If resurrection power itself was the sign, he had already given it, and they had already seen it. So the resurrection alone cannot be the answer.
The more you look at this, the more you realize how superficial is the common understanding of this wonderful teaching of Jesus. He did not say "I will be a sign." He said "the Son of Man will be a sign" — and this exact choice of words is decisive. To understand the Lord Jesus' teaching, you must come with scientific precision; you must notice exactly what he said and not assume he said something he did not say. The title "Son of Man" comes from Daniel chapter 7, and when you study Daniel 7 carefully, you find something remarkable: sometimes the Son of Man seems to refer to one person, and as you read on, it refers also to more than one person. Does the vine in John 15 refer to one person or to many? It refers to both — Jesus is the vine, and so is the whole church together. In the same way, the Son of Man is both one person, Jesus, and also the whole church, his body. This is what the Apostle Paul expresses when he says that Jesus is present in the world today — how? In his body. We are that body.
What the Lord Jesus is therefore saying is this: the sign to this generation will be the expression of resurrection power operating day by day in the world, visible to the world through the church. The resurrection did not just happen two thousand years ago. The power of the resurrection is here and now, operating in changed lives every day — that is what the world can see. This is why in Philippians 3 the Apostle Paul says, "That I may know him and the power of his resurrection." Does Paul not already know Jesus? Of course he does — but the word "know" here means to experience. Paul is saying: I need to know more, to experience more of this resurrection power in my daily walk. You and I have not yet fully experienced all that this power can do; when we became Christians, we were only beginning to experience it — the power to take us out of death and into life, from the dominion of sin to the dominion of righteousness.
Today the brothers and sisters being baptized are testifying to exactly that power. As a pastor, I have the great privilege of being very close to people in watching their spiritual development, and I never cease to be amazed at God's transforming power in their lives. And the beauty of this sign is that not only I can see it — it is visible to everyone, including non-Christians. I interview people before they are baptized, and I ask each one how they became a Christian. In nearly every case, somewhere along the line, it was that they saw the sign of a changed life in someone they knew personally. They saw this person completely transformed and said: "I was so amazed by this change that I also wanted to experience that power." The sign of the resurrection operating in every period of this present age — that is the sign of Jonah, the sign of the Son of Man. Not a miracle you simply hear about, but a changed life you can see with your own eyes.
And now you can see the appropriateness of the comparison with Jonah. You could not simply compare the Lord Jesus in his perfect self with Jonah — that would be no comparison at all, since Jonah was disobedient and Jesus was always obedient. But compare Jonah with the church, and the comparison fits perfectly. Christians have been genuinely changed — and yet they still have quite a few of the old character traits remaining, just like Jonah who still grumbled when the Ninevites repented. Just as Jonah was very literally baptized in the sea and rose up to a new life, so these brothers and sisters being baptized today are baptized into death and raised to new life. But it was not just the physical baptism that made the difference for Jonah — with it came a spiritual change in his heart, as we see in that beautiful prayer of Jonah 2. He was dead to the world, literally buried under the water as far as the world was concerned, but alive to God. So too, those being baptized die to the world and to their sins and become alive to God. That is the resurrection, and that is the sign of Jonah that the Son of Man gives to this generation.
# The Sign of Jonah — Matthew 12:38–42 (Part B) — The Church Is the Sign; Power and Responsibility of the Resurrection Life
[Note: This is Part B of the sermon on Matthew 12:38–42, continuing directly from Part A. Delivered Easter Sunday, 10 April 1977, Montreal.]
We saw that you cannot simply compare the Lord Jesus in his perfect self with Jonah — that would be no comparison, since Jonah was disobedient and Jesus was always obedient. And even after the transforming experience of three days in the fish, Jonah still had much of the old character in him: he grumbled when the Ninevites repented, as if their repentance somehow diminished him. Now we look at Christians and we find that on the one hand it is wonderful how they have changed, and on the other hand they still have quite a few of the old character traits remaining — just like Jonah. This is the beauty of the sign of Jonah: the sign is the church, the body of the Son of Man, imperfect yet genuinely transformed.
Notice also the appropriateness of the comparison at a deeper level. Jonah was very literally baptized in the water and rose to a new life. So these brothers and sisters being baptized today, like Jonah, go through the depths of the water and rise to a new life. But it was not just the physical baptism that made the difference for Jonah — with it came a spiritual change in his heart. The same is true for becoming a Christian: it is not merely an external rite but a genuine spiritual transformation. In the belly of the fish, Jonah was dead to the world, literally buried under the water as far as the world was concerned, but alive to God — as we see in that beautiful prayer in Jonah 2. So too, those being baptized die to the world and to their sins and now become alive to God. That is the resurrection and the power of the resurrection.
As a consequence of this spiritual death and resurrection, you and I — everyone who is truly a Christian — are now the sign that the world can see. That is how the world knows Jesus: they see him in you and in me. If they do not see Jesus in you and in me, they will not see him anywhere at all, because it is through us that Jesus is present in the world. This is why any Christian who does not live like a Christian is, as the Bible says, worse than a non-Christian — because a non-Christian stumbling in sin cannot prevent another non-Christian from coming to eternal life, but a Christian who lives badly can stumble others and turn them away from God. With privilege comes responsibility.
This is why I have said to people: do not be in a hurry to get baptized, and I will never pressure or hurry anyone toward baptism. If someone is not yet quite sure, I say: wait. The great responsibility and the great privilege of baptism is that from now on, the world will see Jesus in your life. And let no Christian make excuses, saying, "Don't look at me, I'm not much of a Christian — you just believe in God." What is that? Is the power of the resurrection not sufficient for you? The Apostle Paul says: "Imitate me, as I am an imitator of Christ." That is not pride. Paul says elsewhere that he is the least of the apostles, not even fit to be called an apostle, the chief of sinners. But he goes on to say: "I am what I am by the grace of God, and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." His confidence is in what God can do in him, not in himself alone.
To become a Christian is to speak of power. All through the Bible this is made plain. When Paul says he wants to examine the Corinthians, he says: "I will not look at their talk but at their power." When we talk about the power of God, we are talking about the power of the resurrection — for there is nowhere where his power is more greatly seen than in the raising of the dead. And if physical resurrection is wonderful, how much more wonderful is spiritual resurrection? It is the same power that raises the physically dead that raises the spiritually dead, for no human power can do either.
So today, on this Easter Sunday, think about this responsibility that God has laid upon us. The Lord Jesus is saying: we, as the church — the Son of Man incarnate in the world — are the sign of Jonah to this generation. If you are not yet a Christian and have only heard about the resurrection of Christ, I am asking you today not just to listen but to come and experience that power in your own life. Perhaps right now you are like Jonah, running away from God. But you may also become like Jonah in the belly of the fish, calling out to God in his distress from Jonah 2. The God who saved Jonah from the belly of death — can he not save you? Find out in your own experience. He who saved Jonah can also save you.
And if you are a Christian, and especially to those now being baptized: do not say now that you are a Christian and that is the end of it. You are at the very beginning of the road. These are early days; you have a long way to go. You will experience not only the beginning of that resurrection power but its continuing work, operating in your life and in the lives of others day by day. That is the joy, the excitement, the power of the Christian life. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.