Fourth Quarter 2003 Adult Sabbath School Lessons:
"Jonah"

Insights to Lesson 12
The Sign of the Prophet Jonah
December 13-20, 2003

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

“There are a number of stories and legends behind Missouri's sobriquet “Show-Me” state. The slogan is not official, but is common throughout the state and is used on Missouri license plates.  The most widely known legend attributes the phrase to Missouri's U.S. Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1897 to 1903. While a member of the U.S. House Committee on Naval Affairs, Vandiver attended an 1899 naval banquet in Philadelphia. In a speech there, he declared, “I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me.” Regardless of whether Vandiver coined the phrase, it is certain that his speech helped to popularize the saying.”  (Quoted in Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1979-1980, page 1486.)  Missourian candor has its place, but is it appropriate in the face of overwhelming evidence? 

MATTHEW 12:38-42; LUKE 11:29-32

Looking in this week upon Jesus' interaction with the scribes and Pharisees, we seem to see a group of people who, on the surface at least, resemble Missourians.  “Teacher,” they say, “we want to see a sign from You.”  In other words, “Show me!”  How shocking does Jesus’ response appear!  He refers to them as an “evil and adulterous generation!”  (We should note that plain speaking is not necessarily out of harmony with Christ-like character.)  Two questions come to mind immediately as we read this initial dialogue in Matthew 12:38, 39—

1. What was wrong with the request of the scribes and Pharisees that brought such a response from our Lord?  And
2. Why does Jesus refer to the Jonah narrative?

To answer the first question, all one has to do is just read the preceding chapters of the gospel of Matthew.  Abundant evidence is presented that would tend to demonstrate that He was the promised Messiah.  He preached the word of God, taking up the message of John the Baptist with fresh power (Matthew 3:17).

The sick are healed in His presence (Matthew 4:23,24; 8:14-17) and at a distance (Matthew 8:5-13).  A leper is cleansed from his leprosy (Matthew 8:1-4).  Demons are cast out by Him (Matthew 8:28-34).  A little girl is raised from the dead (Matthew 9:18-26), and “the report of this went into all that land.” Matthew 9:26. Yet after all these things (and we could mention others!) the scribes and Pharisees had the nerve to come to Jesus and say, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” Matthew 12:38.

Clearly these men were unwilling to credit the great signs that had already been shown.  Their request sounds credible until we consider it in its context - then we see what an exercise of unbelief that it really was!  These men were committing a most dangerous sin—that of turning away from evidence that God has given concerning Jesus’ person and work. The more signs they saw, the more they were ready to discount, because their unbelieving hearts cherished their own ideas about what the Messiah was to be. No wonder Jesus answered them in the way that He did!  His rebuke was designed to bring them to their senses in repentance.  What a pity that it was not allowed to accomplish this goal in them.

Before we proceed to answer the second question, it might be well to consider whether we, as a people, might not be in the same position as these scribes and Pharisees? The message of the righteousness of Christ came to us in the 1888 era taking up the third angel's message with fresh power.  The fruits of this message were clear and abundant wherever it was faithfully preached and accepted.  The Lord’s servant Ellen White said,

“I have traveled from place to place, attending meetings where the message of the righteousness of Christ was preached. I considered it a privilege to stand by the side of my brethren, and give my testimony with the message for the time; and I saw that the power of God attended the message wherever it was spoken. You could not make the people believe in South Lancaster that it was not a message of light that came to them. The people confessed their sins, and appropriated the righteousness of Christ. God has set his hand to do this work. We labored in Chicago; it was a week before there was a break in the meetings. But like a wave of glory, the blessing of God swept over us as we pointed men to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. The Lord revealed his glory, and we felt the deep movings of his Spirit. Everywhere the message led to the confession of sin, and to the putting away of iniquity.”  (RH, March 18, 1890 par. 7)

WOW! What more evidence would we desire than endorsements like this from the Lord’s servant and the recounting of the signs of revival?  And yet how many still say today of this message—“show us a sign.”  Truly, brothers and sisters, we have had “evidence piled upon evidence” and yet still continue to ask for more.  It would be well for us all to consider these words from Ellen G. White—“One matter burdens my soul: The great lack of the love of God, which has been lost through continued resistance of light and truth, and the influence of those who have been engaged in active labor, who, in the face of evidence piled upon evidence have exerted an influence to counteract the work of the message God has sent. I point them to the Jewish nation and ask, Must we leave our brethren to pass over the same path of blind resistance, till the very end of probation?”  (Letter dated September 1, 1892 to O. A. Olsen, then G. C. President)

Returning to our passage for study, we grapple with our second question—why does Jesus bring in Jonah to this discussion?  Clearly because Jonah “became a sign to the Ninevites as also the Son of Man will be to this generation.” (Luke 11:30)  Jonah was a type of Christ in that He experienced a kind of resurrection after three days in the belly of the whale, a type of tomb.  But a greater sign than this is shown by both as well. Jonah's preaching of God's message brought the Ninevites to repentance—a miracle greater than the raising of the dead.

As Jesus spoke these words (Matthew 12:41; Luke 11:32), surely there was before the hearers “One greater than Jonah.”  (Luke 11:32)  Christ's preaching of the gospel was with power, both in the message and in its demonstration in His life—for “no man ever spoke like this Man,” (John 7:46) nor did anyone ever live like this Man. The clarity and power of His preaching of the gospel, combined with the demonstration of its fruits in His life were a one-two punch of conviction—all the evidence that anyone would ever need.

These words of Christ have a powerful application for our time as well as His.  We are told that the closing work of the preaching of the gospel is to exceed the great movements which shook the world in the Millerite movement.  This seems inconceivable when we look at the great work that was accomplished in the years just prior to 1844.

“The angel who unites in the proclamation of the third angel’s message is to lighten the whole earth with his glory. A work of world-wide extent and unwonted power is here foretold. The advent movement of 1840-44 was a glorious manifestation of the power of God; the first angel's message was carried to every missionary station in the world, and in some countries there was the greatest religious interest which has been witnessed in any land since the Reformation of the sixteenth century; but these are to be exceeded by the mighty movement under the last warning of the third angel.” (Great Controversy, pg. 611.)

Could it be that in “the angel who unites in the proclamation of the third angel’s message” we have “one greater than Jonah [or the Millerite Movement]?” Yes, it is so, for hear these words—

“The time of test is just upon us, for the loud cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ, the sin-pardoning Redeemer. This is the beginning of the light of the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth. For it is the work of every one to whom the message of warning has come, to lift up Jesus, to present him to the world as revealed in types, as shadowed in symbols, as manifested in the revelations of the prophets, as unveiled in the lessons given to his disciples and in the wonderful miracles wrought for the sons of men. Search the Scriptures; for they are they that testify of him.” (RH, November 22, 1892)

Dear friends, we have in the message of Christ our righteousness One greater than Jonah.  Let us take heed to the evidence given to us concerning the validity of that message.  May God richly bless your Sabbath School class this week!

Read the study notes for Lesson 13