A gentleman who was struggling with his beliefs in the reliability of the Bible
contacted our offices some time ago questioning why Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that,
"no sign shall be given to this generation."
Since other scriptures clearly teach that Jesus worked many signs,
how could Jesus truthfully and consistently say, "No sign shall be given to this generation"?
According to certain Bible critics, Jesus was a false prophet
since his prediction that no sign would be given to that generation is clearly false.
Sadly, Bible critics-- as well as some Christians--
are fond of disregarding the context in which biblical statements are found.
Yet, no statement can be understood properly
without some kind of background or contextual information.
Words mean different things depending on how, when, and where they're spoken.
Figures of speech abound in all cultures around the world.
Truthful people, for example, have been joking, exaggerating, and using sarcasm for millennia,
all the while rightly expecting their listeners
to interpret their language accurately and without accusation of lying.
Unfortunately, many often ignore much of the necessary information
needed to properly understand Scripture.
When Jesus first made the statement "No sign will be given to this generation,"
he had just healed a person who was blind, mute, and demon-possessed.
Notice that rather than acknowledging that the great miracle Jesus worked was proof of His deity,
the hard-hearted Pharisees alleged that His power came from the devil.
They did not simply turn away from Jesus.
They turned 180 degrees away from the direction that such miracles led
the honest and good-hearted truth-seekers.
And Jesus' enemies had not simply seen one miracle.
Earlier, in Matthew 12, Jesus had healed a man with a withered hand.
How did the Pharisees react then?
Rather than acknowledge the power of Christ,
"They plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him."
The fact is, by this time in Jesus' ministry, He had already worked a number of miracles.
And many of the scribes and Pharisees absolutely refused to believe Him.
Regardless of what Jesus did or said, some of His enemies would never be convinced.
So what did Jesus mean when He said on two different occasions that,
"No sign would be given to this generation, except the sign of the prophet Jonah."
Jesus was responding to the Pharisees desire to see a sign.
But they had already witnessed and heard about many of Jesus' miracles.
They wanted something more. They sought a sign from heaven.
Exactly what Jesus' enemies meant by this, we may not know.
What we do know is that while on Earth, Jesus manifested His power over
nature, disease, demon, and death. Yet, the Pharisees said they wanted more.
It seems, as Burton Kaufman noted,
Jesus, however, always rejected doing such miracles.
He refused to turn stones to bread or to jump from the Temple's pinnacle
simply because Satan challenged Him to do so.
Jesus could have performed any miracle that He wanted,
whether when tempted by Satan, prodded by King Herod, or tested by the Pharisees.
He could have pulled rabbits from hats for the sole purpose of amusing people.
He could have commanded that it literally rained cats and dogs.
He could have done any number of weird wonders,
but the insincere Pharisees would see none of that.
"No sign like these will be given."
What sign would be given?
Other than the kinds of miracles that Christ's enemies had already rejected,
the only other sign Jesus prophesied was the sign of the prophet Jonah--
that is Jesus' death, three day burial-- not in a fish but in the heart of the Earth--
followed by His miraculous resurrection.
Most certainly, Jesus performed miracles.
And though Jesus "humbled Himself, taking the form of a bond servant"
He refused to get on the lowly, perpetually defiled spiritual level of His enemies.
He worked no miracle of the kind that the Pharisees wished to see.
But make no mistake, He worked plenty of the kind
that provide honest-hearted people sufficient evidence to come to the conclusion
that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of God.