Matthew 12:39
But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
When leaders demanded a sign from heaven despite the miracles, holy character, and heavenly attestations already given of His mission, Jesus exposed their insincere unbelief by calling them an evil and adulterous generation and refused them every sign except the sign of Jonah. That sign was His burial for three days and three nights in the heart of the earth as Jonah was in the great fish, and His own Spirit-filled preaching as Jonah's preaching was a sign to Nineveh, which condemned them because heathen Nineveh repented while they with One greater than Jonah refused. No outward proof would have helped them, for they needed not intellectual enlightenment but spiritual renovation. To demand a miracle as a condition for believing still repeats that resistance to light, closing the eyes to the evidence God has given and leaving souls to be passed by and overcome by deception. The sign God always gives is His living Word made impressive by the Holy Spirit upon the teacher, and miracles still continue whenever a soul is freed from sin and transformed into obedient holiness.
Setting and Rebuke
The answer came just after Jesus for the second time healed a man possessed and made blind and dumb, when the Pharisees repeated the charge that He cast out devils through the prince of devils, and just before His mother and brothers arrived to persuade Him to stop His labor. It belongs to the warning that attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan cuts off the channel of blessing. Speaking against Jesus Himself without discerning His divine character may still be forgiven, for the Spirit may bring the sinner to see the error and repent, and whatever the sin, if the soul repents and believes the guilt is washed away in His blood. But wilful rejection of the Spirit places a person where repentance and faith cannot come, because God works upon the heart by the Spirit, and when men wilfully reject the Spirit and declare it to be from Satan they cut off the channel by which God can communicate with them, so that when the Spirit is finally rejected there is nothing more He can do for the soul.
The demand was made by the united Pharisees and Sadducees, including scribes and Pharisees, asking for a sign from heaven such as the sun standing still at Bethhoron in Joshua's day. It was made despite powerful evidence already given of His mission and divine authority. That evidence included His miracles and character, His healing the sick and raising the dead, and direct attestations from heaven in the angels' song to the shepherds, the star guiding the wise men, and the dove and voice at His baptism. Christ had already performed many miracles as evidence, yet those who resisted Him kept demanding signs.
By calling them an evil and adulterous, perverse generation He exposed their unbelief and resistance to light. The demand was not a sincere search for clearer truth or reason to believe. It arose from pride, prejudice, man-made traditions, and false expectations about the Messiah, which kept them from recognizing Him despite His mighty works. It was used to turn hearers away from the evidence already given. No mere external evidence would have benefited them, because what they needed was not intellectual enlightenment but spiritual renovation.
Sign of Jonah
The only further sign to be given was that of Jonah, that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale or great fish, so the Son of man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. As Jonah's preaching was a sign to the Ninevites, so Christ's own preaching was a sign to His generation, with His words spoken in the convicting power of the Holy Spirit as the sign God had given for salvation. The contrast condemns that generation, because heathen Nineveh trembled at Jonah's warning, humbled themselves from high to lowly, and received mercy, while the Jews with One greater than Jonah among them refused to repent.
In the same way the Samaritans asked for no sign and saw no miracles, yet accepted His teaching and received Him as Redeemer. Their faith stands in contrast to Jewish pride and rejection, even while the Jews demanded evidence that He was the Son of God despite His miracles and the evidence of His character.
He would not perform a miracle to satisfy wicked curiosity, to prove His divine power to those demanding a sign, or to secure His own release and spare Himself suffering.
Warning for Today
To demand a miracle as the condition for believing is to repeat the example of the Jews who asked for a sign, resisting the evidence already given and closing the eyes to what God has provided. Those who seek miracles to support unbelief will be passed by, and the blessing they refuse will be received by others.
To demand a sign or miracle as proof of being right, while overlooking the very kind of evidence God has given, is to repeat the unbelief of Christ's day. Such hearers can listen to the most earnest and powerful truth without self-examination, encased in self-righteousness, and they are the hardest to arouse. The evidence God gives to be heeded is fruits, together with warnings and reproofs and counsels, and to refuse that evidence in order to demand something else unsettles faith and leaves souls to be overcome by deception.
The sign God gives now and always is the working of the Holy Spirit upon the teacher's mind to make the Word as impressive as possible. The Word of God is Spirit and life, not a dead, dry theory. Eternal life comes not from signs but from receiving His living Word, which is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God. To want and expect something outside the Word to produce feeling, and to turn attention to dreams and visions and other experiences, calls minds away from the Word and serves the purposes of Satan.
Miracles are still continually wrought when the Holy Spirit transforms character, frees a person from delusion and worldly influence, and leads from falsehood and sin to truth and righteousness. Each conversion is a miracle of God, making the person a temple of the Holy Spirit and moving into a life of obedience. The perverse and adulterous spirit marks the prevailing errors of the age, when people in positions of responsibility neglect their duty and teach selfish ideas by word or example. Such become false guides, like signboards pointing in the wrong direction.