The Request for a Sign
When people come to the Lord, they can have very different motives. In Matthew 15 people come to Him [Matt 15:30], but with very different motives to the Pharisees and Sadducees here. There He helps, here He leaves them and goes away [Verse 4]. Pharisees and Sadducees are enemies of each other, but here these natural enemies unite in their resentment of Christ. They close ranks to stand strong to test Him. The Sadducees are the free thinkers of their day, while the Pharisees are the advocates of the statutes and authority of the law and especially of their own statutes and laws. Together they come to Him and long for a sign from heaven, while the greatest Sign ever given by God from heaven stands in front of them.
In His answer, the Lord points to the signs of nature. When they observe certain natural phenomena, they know exactly how to interpret them. In the evening they can see from the color of the sky that beautiful weather is coming. For those who can see spiritually, there is beautiful weather coming. The “Sunrise from on high” [Luke 1:78] has visited them in Christ. Similarly, they can see from the color of the sky whether a storm is coming. From a spiritual point of view, however, they cannot discern that bad weather is coming, that is, that God’s judgment will come as a result of their rejection of God’s Sign from heaven.
The Lord Jesus calls them “an evil and adulterous generation”. They are “evil” in their hearts, in their minds. They are “adulterous” in their actions, their actions of unfaithfulness to their God. He gives them a sign. The sign that He puts before them is what happened to Jonah. It is the sign of someone who disappeared from the earth, who disappeared from the Jewish people by death, as it were, and was given back to them after a while. It is the picture of death and resurrection. The Lord Jesus will act accordingly. He will go into death, but he will also rise out of death and then bring the message that Israel has despised to the nations. That is what Jonah did, and with that he is a picture, a sign, of what Christ will do.
In His answer, the Lord points to the signs of nature. When they observe certain natural phenomena, they know exactly how to interpret them. In the evening they can see from the color of the sky that beautiful weather is coming. For those who can see spiritually, there is beautiful weather coming. The “Sunrise from on high” [Luke 1:78] has visited them in Christ. Similarly, they can see from the color of the sky whether a storm is coming. From a spiritual point of view, however, they cannot discern that bad weather is coming, that is, that God’s judgment will come as a result of their rejection of God’s Sign from heaven.
The Lord Jesus calls them “an evil and adulterous generation”. They are “evil” in their hearts, in their minds. They are “adulterous” in their actions, their actions of unfaithfulness to their God. He gives them a sign. The sign that He puts before them is what happened to Jonah. It is the sign of someone who disappeared from the earth, who disappeared from the Jewish people by death, as it were, and was given back to them after a while. It is the picture of death and resurrection. The Lord Jesus will act accordingly. He will go into death, but he will also rise out of death and then bring the message that Israel has despised to the nations. That is what Jonah did, and with that he is a picture, a sign, of what Christ will do.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-4
1 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said unto them, ‹When it is evening, ye say,› [It will be] ‹fair weather: for the sky is red.› 3 ‹And in the morning,› [It will be] ‹foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O› [ye] ‹hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not› [discern] ‹the signs of the times?› 4 ‹A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.› And he left them, and departed.
 | Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-04-01 Source: Title: Matthew Author: Ger de Koning Copyright: kingcomments.com Note General: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author or the publisher. |
The Pharisees and Sadducees were opposed to each other in principles and in conduct; yet they joined against Christ. But they desired a sign of their own choosing: they despised those signs which relieved the necessity of the sick and sorrowful, and called for something else which would gratify the curiosity of the proud. It is great hypocrisy, when we slight the signs of God’s ordaining, to seek for signs of our own devising.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-4
1 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said unto them, ‹When it is evening, ye say,› [It will be] ‹fair weather: for the sky is red.› 3 ‹And in the morning,› [It will be] ‹foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O› [ye] ‹hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not› [discern] ‹the signs of the times?› 4 ‹A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.› And he left them, and departed.
 | Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source: Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry |
Their inquiry was rightly deserving of anger and great displeasure. Yet the benevolent and provident one is not angry. He pities them even as they tempt him. He laments them as incurably diseased after so full a demonstration of his power. They did not seek him out in order to believe but to lay hold of him. Had they come with any readiness to believe, he would have given such a sign. For he who said to the woman, “It is not fair,” and afterwards gave, much more would he have shown his bounty to these officials. But since they did not seek to believe, he therefore calls them hypocrites, because in another place they said one thing and meant another. If they had believed, they would not even have asked. It is evident that they did not believe, since when reproved and exposed, they did not remain with him, nor did they admit “We are ignorant and seek to learn.” But for what sign from heaven were they asking? Either that he should stay the sun, or curb the moon, or bring down thunderbolts, or work a change in the air, or some other such thing. The Gospel of Matthew, Homily
 | Author: John Chrysostom Rank: Bishop AD: 407 |
But Mark says, that when they had come unto Him, and were questioning with Him, He sighed deeply in His spirit, and says, Why does this generation seek after a sign? Mark 8:12 And yet surely their inquiry was deserving of anger and great displeasure; yet nevertheless the benevolent and provident One is not angry, but pities and bewails them as incurably diseased, and after so full a demonstration of His power, tempting Him. For not in order to believe did they seek, but to lay hold of Him. Since had they come unto Him as ready to believe, He would have given it. For He who said to the woman, It is not meet, Matthew 15:26 and afterwards gave, much more would He have shown His bounty to these. But since they did not seek to believe, therefore He also calls them hypocrites, because in another place they said one thing, and meant another. Yea, had they believed, they would not even have asked. And from another thing too it is evident that they believed not; that when reproved and exposed, they abode not with Him, nor said, We are ignorant and seek to learn.
| Author: John Chrysostom Rank: Bishop AD: 407 |
The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.
