Jesus warns against unbelief “As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. 30“For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31“The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32“The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” Luke 11:29-32 God had asked Jonah to preach repentance to the Gentiles (non-Jews). Jesus was affirming Jonah’s message. Salvation is not only for Jews, but for all people. Matthew 12:40 adds another explanation: Jesus would die and then rise after three days, just as the prophet Jonah was rescued after three days in the belly of the great fish. The cruel, warlike men of Nineveh, capital of Assyria, repented when Jonah preached to them—and Jonah did not even care about them. The heathen queen of Sheba praised the God of Israel when she heard Solomon’s wisdom, and Solomon was full of faults. By contrast, Jesus, the perfect Son of God, had come to people that he loved dearly—but they rejected him. Thus God’s chosen people made themselves more liable to judgment than either a notoriously wicked nation or a powerful heathen queen. The Ninevites and the queen of Sheba had turned to God with far less evidence than Jesus was giving his listeners—and far less than we have today. We have eyewitness reports of the risen Jesus, the continuing power of the Holy Spirit unleashed at Pentecost, easy access to the Bible, and knowledge of two thousand years of Christ’s acts through his church. With the knowledge and insight available to us, our response to Christ ought to be even more complete and wholehearted. What spiritual resources do you have? How do you use them to increase your knowledge of Christ?
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 15:06:18 +0000