And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him.
This demand belongs to Jesus' earthly life of poverty, humiliation, and suffering that fixed the disciples' eyes on the nearer view. He told them He would voluntarily go to Jerusalem to be despised, rejected, and put to death, and beyond that present He pointed them to His coming in glory, not with the splendor of an earthly throne but with the glory of God and the hosts of heaven, when He will reward every person according to works. For encouragement He promised that some standing there would not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom.
The disciples did not comprehend His words because their glowing expectations of the Messiah's kingdom exalted to the throne of David seemed to require relinquishment. It seemed incomprehensible that the Son of God should resign Himself to cruel humiliation and leave them in greater darkness than before He revealed Himself. Sadness oppressed their hearts because they loved their Master, and doubt harassed their minds as they questioned why He should meet such treatment at Jerusalem.
In the verse the Pharisees demand a sign from heaven to test Jesus, seeking evidence of His divine identity and authority. They press Him to repeat the miracles He had performed across the sea, wanting outward wonders like those God had shown in Israel's history, including the sun standing still at Joshua's command. Their demand is not a sincere effort to learn from Him or to learn how to please God. They ask from unbelief or in hope of temporal benefits.
Their real need is not for more outward proof or intellectual knowledge but for spiritual renewal, which such outward evidence could not meet. Signs already given had testified to Jesus' mission, and heavenly witnesses had also attested it. Jesus' words, spoken with the empowering and convicting power of the Holy Spirit, are themselves God's sign for their salvation. He directs them instead toward spiritual food and enduring wisdom, which the Son of God alone can give, and His preaching is a sign to His generation.
The sign He gives that generation is Jonah: as Jonah was three days and three nights in the great fish, so Christ would be in the heart of the earth for that time. As Jonah's preaching was a sign to Nineveh, so Christ's preaching is a sign to His generation. Yet while the Ninevites repented, His generation rejects the greater messenger.
This demand belongs to Jesus' earthly life of poverty, humiliation, and suffering that fixed the disciples' eyes on the nearer view. He told them He would voluntarily go to Jerusalem to be despised, rejected, and put to death, and beyond that present He pointed them to His coming in glory, not with the splendor of an earthly throne but with the glory of God and the hosts of heaven, when He will reward every person according to works. For encouragement He promised that some standing there would not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom.
The disciples did not comprehend His words because their glowing expectations of the Messiah's kingdom exalted to the throne of David seemed to require relinquishment. It seemed incomprehensible that the Son of God should resign Himself to cruel humiliation and leave them in greater darkness than before He revealed Himself. Sadness oppressed their hearts because they loved their Master, and doubt harassed their minds as they questioned why He should meet such treatment at Jerusalem.
In the verse the Pharisees demand a sign from heaven to test Jesus, seeking evidence of His divine identity and authority. They press Him to repeat the miracles He had performed across the sea, wanting outward wonders like those God had shown in Israel's history, including the sun standing still at Joshua's command. Their demand is not a sincere effort to learn from Him or to learn how to please God. They ask from unbelief or in hope of temporal benefits.
Their real need is not for more outward proof or intellectual knowledge but for spiritual renewal, which such outward evidence could not meet. Signs already given had testified to Jesus' mission, and heavenly witnesses had also attested it. Jesus' words, spoken with the empowering and convicting power of the Holy Spirit, are themselves God's sign for their salvation. He directs them instead toward spiritual food and enduring wisdom, which the Son of God alone can give, and His preaching is a sign to His generation.
The sign He gives that generation is Jonah: as Jonah was three days and three nights in the great fish, so Christ would be in the heart of the earth for that time. As Jonah's preaching was a sign to Nineveh, so Christ's preaching is a sign to His generation. Yet while the Ninevites repented, His generation rejects the greater messenger.