The Messiah and His Miracles (Continued)

The Death of the Messiah (Continued)

The Significance of the Death of the Messiah

Going back to the principles laid down in Genesis, spilt blood implies:

(1) A substitutionary sacrifice, (like the lambs of Abel’s flock , or the ram replacing Isaac on the altar).

(2) A life taken unjustly, (like Abel, the first martyr).

(3) A life taken justly, (in payment for a crime).

It could be argued that the blood of the Messiah was shed in compliance with these three principles.

(1) As a substitutionary sacrifice.

(2) Was a life taken unjustly.

(3) Was payment for a capital crime.

That the death of the Messiah falls into the category of (2) ‘a life taken unjustly’ is self-evident. The judicial killing of Jesus of Nazareth was the murder of the only innocent man that ever lived. He was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. Pilate, the only judge that mattered, said, “I find no fault in this man” (Luke 23.4; John 19.6).

It was also the payment for (3) capital crime, though not His own. This points to the idea of (1) substitution (one life given instead of another). It is evident that the New Testament emphasis is on this substitutionary aspect of the death of the Messiah. Peter wrote, “… who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Pet.2:24).  Again, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet.3:18) Paul wrote, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor.5:21). These echo the prophecy of Isaiah, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isa.53:5). “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa.53:6).

With Moses, the sacrifice of the Passover lambs, evidenced by the blood applied to the doorways of the homes of the Israelite slaves, was the best illustration of this spiritual principle. Meditation on this momentous event was also the best educator of the nation and Moses commanded them, and future generations, to remember and celebrate it annually.

Notwithstanding the spiritual principle established at the exodus, the substitutionary nature of the death of the Messiah was not just one life for another but one life instead of all others. This truth is at the heart of the great Adam passage in Romans 5, where Paul wrote that as one man’s act of disobedience brought judgement and death to all men, so the act of obedience by One Man brought justification, and removed the death sentence. “Therefore, as through one man’s offence judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Rom.5:18,19) In his other great Adam passage, he says it even more clearly. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Cor.15:22).

The theological implications of the death of Christ in this manner, is normally expressed by such words as ‘propitiation’, ‘expiation’ and ‘purification’,

Historically, there are three stages in the provision of ‘propitiation’.

(i) Because God is holy, His wrath is directed toward sin and must be appeased to spare man from eternal destruction. His wrath was awakened by Adam’s transgression.

(ii) God provided the remedy by sending Christ as a sin offering.

(iii) Christ’s death assuaged the wrath of God, satisfied His holiness and averted His wrath.

Propitiation is Godward; God is propitiated—His holiness is vindicated and satisfied by the death of Christ. The Greek verb ἱλάσκομαι (propitiation) occurs twice in the New Testament, in Luke 18.13 and significantly in Hebrews, “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb.2:17) As a noun it appears in John’s letters, “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world,” (1 John 2:2) and “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). It appears once again in Paul’s writing. “Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed” (Rom.3:25).

Expiation is not a word that is found in the New Testament but some translations use it to replace ‘propitiation’. While the primary meaning of ἱλασμός means ‘propitiation’, it surely contains something of the sense of expiation. While propitiation is Godward, expiation is manward or rather sinward. It is sin that needs to be expiated. The death of Christ not only propitiated God but also expiated sin, allowing God to “demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom.3:26) The death of Jesus Christ is presented as the ground on which a righteous God can pardon a guilty and sinful race without in any way compromising His righteousness.

Next Time: Purification

The Messiah and His Miracles (Continued)

The Sign of the Prophet Jonah (Continued)

The execution of the Messiah – But why crucifixion?

Prior to these events and in the will of God, authority to inflict the death sentence had been removed from the Jewish courts. So it was the Roman justice system that pronounced the guilty verdict and called for the execution of Jesus, “that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die” (John 18:32) He had prophesied His death on several occasions. First after Peter properly identified and confessed Him as Messiah: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt.16:16). “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Matt.16:21 cf.Luke 9:19). Then again, when they were in Galilee: “Jesus said to them, The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up” (Matt.17.22,23; cf. Luke 18.33). And then again: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again” (Matt.20.18,19; cf. Luke 24.7).

The train of events that had begun in the Garden of Gethsemane moved towards its inevitable conclusion, execution by crucifixion. In fact, Jesus had said God would allow no other way for Him to die as the Saviour of the world. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14), and again: “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He” (John 8:28), and again: “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:32).

Jesus would fulfil the prophecy from the Garden of Eden at His execution. As the promised Messiah, He would bruise Satan’s head, and the physical manner of His death would demonstrate and symbolise the spiritual defeat of the Adversary. The head of the serpent had to be below the foot of the seed of the woman. Since the serpent was the one ‘cast down’, Jesus, of necessity, had to be the One ‘lifted up’. Therefore, the key phrase is ‘lifted up’. If the execution had remained with the Jews, it would have been one of the four prescribed ways of judicial killing. They were (1) stoning, (2) burning, (3) decapitation, and (4) strangulation. Although those that were stoned to death would be hanged on a tree afterwards, in none of them is the victim ‘lifted up’. In the case of Jesus, under the Jewish judicial system He would have been stoned. Those that are stoned are ‘cast down’. Often, the place of execution was a form of pit. The Mishnah declares the place of stoning has to be twice the height of a man. The individual would be stoned from above. To maintain the proper positions of the Messiah and Satan, the Son of man had to be lifted up, and crucifixion, as prophesied in Psalm 22, was the mode of execution that maintained the physical demonstration of the spiritual act.

Roman/Gentile complicity

The events of the historic night demand further scrutiny. The larger Sanhedrin, having condemned to death their Messiah, then sent a delegation to fulfil the previously arranged appointment with Pilate. However, aiming to obtain a guilty verdict from the Procurator had become much more difficult because their main political witness, Judas, was no longer available. Nevertheless, they pursued the accusation of sedition, but Pilate would have none of it and pronounced Christ innocent of the charge. Nevertheless, the Jews continued to clammer for the death penalty.

Pilate, the personal representative of the Roman Emperor proclaimed Jesus of Nazareth innocent of all charges on six separate occasions, the last time officially from the judgement seat, but the Jewish leadership showed bulldog tenacity in holding firm to their demand for the execution of Jesus. At any stage, the Sanhedrists could have drawn back from their course of action, but they were stubborn and obstinate. They had one more weapon in their armoury. A piece of intelligence that could be used as political blackmail, which they hoped would secure Pilate’s compliance. Knowing that the governor was concerned about his position under Caesar, they felt he would be vulnerable to a cleverly worded threat, so they warned him that failure to comply with their demands would result in a report to Rome - a report that would confirm previous rumours of Pilate’s complicity in activities to undermine the authority of Caesar. When the threats were voiced, Pilate capitulated and handed the Messiah over for crucifixion, at the same time giving the order to release Yeshua Barabbas, a man bearing the name ‘Jesus, Son of the father’, who was himself awaiting execution for sedition and murder.

From the Antonia fortress, where He had been scourged in the parade square, Jesus was brought through the Herodian extensions on the north side of the Temple. Then, just like the lambs for the morning offerings, He was taken through the gate of the lambs, the Tadi gate, before leaving the Temple through the only exit gate on the Eastern wall, the Shushan gate. The red heifer was taken to slaughter through this gate. It was also the gate through which the scapegoat was led. Like the red heifer, Jesus was taken through the Shushan gate to slaughter. Like the scapegoat, Jesus was taken through the Shushan gate, to bear away the sins of the people. They took Him to the place of execution, an ancient holy site named Calvary or Golgotha, the place of a skull. There He was lifted up and crucified. During His hours on the cross, the Messiah fulfilled His own personal responsibility under the Mosaic Law and made provision for His mother by placing her in the care of John.

Other signs that attended the crucifixion included three hours of darkness over the earth, an earthquake, and the rending of the sixty-foot long, four-inch thick, Temple veil from top to bottom.

Next Time: The Significance of the Death of the Messiah

The Messiah and His Miracles (Continued)

The Sign of the Prophet Jonah (Continued)

The Trials of Jesus

The defection of Judas had greatly helped the scheming Sanhedrists. With a disciple from the inner circle on board, it would be possible to frame an accusation before Pilate and have Jesus executed as an insurrectionist. They presented Judas to Pilate as a political witness, using his testimony to support a political charge. On the testimony of Judas, the procurator signed the order for the use of force to arrest Jesus, and he allocated a unit of Roman soldiers for this purpose. Understanding the need for haste during the festival, Pilate also committed himself to be ready early in the morning, to deal with the case.

So the long night, prosecuted by the power of darkness, began with a betrayal. Judas went to the garden of Gethsemane, with Roman and Temple guards, to arrest the Messiah. In the garden of Gethsemane, demon-possessed Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Kissing a Rabbi was a sign of discipleship and a sign of homage. Even the mode of betrayal was itself a betrayal, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:48)

The arresting party first took Jesus to Annas. Annas had continued to exert the power of the High Priest even though Rome had deposed him in AD 14. It was in his residence that the first interrogation began. This hearing before Annas, the second hearing before Caiaphas, and the later third hearing before the Sanhedrin, all had the appearance of trials under Jewish law, but were without any of the safeguards of the Mosaic and Mishnaic codes. The first two were held at night, (against the law), and in secret, (against the law) and during the night, the accused was physically humiliated (against the law).

In these hearings, special attention was paid to the law of blasphemy.

From the home of Annas, they took Jesus to the palace of Caiaphas, who was son in law to Annas and the current holder of the office of High Priest. At this examination, the testimony of the witnesses did not agree, a situation that in normal circumstances should have ended the trial. Because the witnesses failed to bring convincing evidence, Caiaphas was compelled to use his high office and unlawfully question Jesus directly, using a formula that compelled a response. The oath, and the question that Caiaphas put to the Messiah, and which demanded an answer was, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God!” (Matt.26:63). Here Caiaphas put his finger on the significant elements in the matter. Here is a moment in time, when the decision by the nation would gain its final official status. Jesus answered clearly and responded in the affirmative, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matt.26:64). The whole counsel acted unanimously (and illegally), and proclaimed Him guilty of blasphemy and called for the death sentence. Here, the law-breaking leaders of the nation judicially rejected their Messiah. That all these activities took place at night made them unlawful, and served to demonstrate that these were the servants of the Prince of darkness, and enemies of the Light of the world.

Others in attendance that night, who claimed to be committed to the regulations of the Sanhedrists, ignored the instructions in the law that required them to act humanely, and perpetrated against the prisoner, actions that were high indignities. They abused the Lord of glory with fists, (which under other circumstances would carry a fine of several days’ wages); slapped Him across the face, (which could carry a fine of more than six months’ wages); and worst of all, in Jewish eyes, spat upon Him, (which could carry a fine of more than a year’s wages).

Those that rejected His Messianic claims because He broke the oral law, had no compunction about breaking the same law in at least twenty different instances. The law’s requirements regarding the conduct of capital cases were completely ignored, thus proving, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer.17:9).

During the humiliation of Jesus, Judas returned the blood money to the Chief Priests, recanted his actions, and then hanged himself. In the morning, as many of the Sanhedrin as could be mustered were gathered together to confirm the verdict and give the proceedings a look of legality.

Next Time: The execution of the Messiah – But why crucifixion?

The Messiah and His Miracles (Continued)

The Sign of the Prophet Jonah (Continued)

The Death of the Messiah

The first element in the sign of the prophet Jonah is the death of the Messiah. The Sanhedrists, politically manipulating the Roman justice system, terminated the life of the Messiah at a bloody execution outside Jerusalem. The opponents of Jesus of Nazareth finally silenced the One who had weighed their lives, their work, and their culture, and found them wanting. Using a charge of insurrection, the Chief Priests in their capacity as the main mediators between Israel and Rome, finally obtained the execution order they had been seeking for more than a year. Anticipating the actions of the Sanhedrin and Pilate, Jesus knew that everything was to culminate in the sign of Jonah. Therefore, He began His final journey in the knowledge that His life would soon end. But His eyes were not so much on the cross, as on the ascension: “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). The writer to the Hebrews also says He looked for heaven and home: “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb.12:2). Jesus tried to prepare the disciples by giving them additional detail of how He would be despatched. “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.” (Matt.20:18,19) It was less than a week before His death that He spoke for the first time of the mode of His execution, crucifixion!

The Trials of Jesus

The Pharisees’ rejection of Jesus as Israel’s Messiah was mainly the result of His rejection of the oral law. They felt they were fighting a battle, as did the Hasidim before them, against someone who was intent on bringing down the traditions they had sworn to uphold. However, to facilitate their aim and defeat their enemy, they were prepared to break many of the laws they were committed to defend. These events served to demonstrate that the Pharisaic Sanhedrists were unprincipled hypocrites. When it served their purpose, these so-called defenders and upholders of the oral law trampled over it with impunity. In their ambition to kill the One who branded them as “blind guides”, “whitewashed tombs”, “sons of hell”, “fools”, “serpents”, “lawless hypocrites” and “brood of vipers”, they threw aside any and all respect for the oral law, and rushed to judgement.

The section of the Mishnah called ‘Sanhedrin’ gives the rules for trying capital cases. These were the regulations that governed trials at the time of Christ. Some examples are as follows:

No arrest was allowed that was effected by a bribe.

Charges could not originate with the judges.

Judges were to be humane and kind.

Judges were not allowed to participate in an arrest.

There should be no arrests or trials after sunset.

There were to be no secret trials only public trials.

All trials should be in the Temple compound - normally in the chamber of hewn stones.

No prisoner should be scourged or beaten beforehand.

There should be no trials before the morning sacrifice.

All Sanhedrists may argue for acquittal but not all may argue for conviction – at least one must argue for acquittal.

Witnesses (2 or 3) must agree.

The accused is not allowed to testify against himself, and cannot be condemned on the basis of his own words alone.

An accusation of blasphemy is only valid if God’s name, YHWH, is pronounced.

The verdict could not be pronounced at night only during the day time.

Voting for the death penalty had to be done by individual count, beginning with the youngest, so that older members could not influence the younger.

The trial and guilty verdict could not occur the same time but had to be separated by at least 24 hours.

There had to be a gap of 3 days from the guilty verdict to the declaration of the sentence.

To summarise, the laws, formulated to govern the trial of those accused of capital crime, were humane and considerate. Every precaution was included to ensure a fair and proper trial. Where, when and how a trial was to take place was included in the law. It had to be during the daytime and open to scrutiny, and in a place where the public could observe. Justice had to be done, and had to be seen to be done. A member of the Sanhedrin was required to take up the defence of the accused. Witnesses, whose testimony agreed, were required. The accused would be forbidden to testify against himself – no forced confessions here! There had to be a break between the trial and the verdict, to give time for the proper consideration of the facts of the case. The law timetabled the sentence even further ahead – they built in the delays to allow time for the discovery of new evidence that might aid the case for the defence.

In the trial of Jesus of Nazareth, in their ambition to silence the one authoritative voice that opposed them, they ignored all these regulations.

To be continued

The Messiah and His Miracles (Continued)

The Raising of Lazarus

The narrative of the rich man and Lazarus was the first stage of the sign of the prophet Jonah – the stage of education. The second stage would be demonstration through the miracle of raising a man from Hades. The third stage would be participation, when the Messiah himself would return from Hades. Jesus, at this time, was not reactive but proactive. He was following a planned timetable. A message came from Bethany to the Messiah that Lazarus, His good friend, was ill (John 11:1 ff). Jesus said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified through it”. Nevertheless, He not only waited until Lazarus had died, but planned His journey so that when He arrived Lazarus had been dead three days and three nights. When He arrived at the graveside, He indicated that the miracle He was about to perform was the sign for the nation, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” (John 11:41,42) He also identified it as a sign of deity, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (John 11:40) So Jesus commanded, “Lazarus come forth!” And he that had been dead four days rose from the grave. It was commonly believed by the Jews of Jesus’ day that the spirit of the individual did not descend into Hades until after 3 days. Therefore, the raising of Lazarus on the fourth day was a suitable sign for the wicked generation who had asked for a sign from heaven but given a sign from Hades. It was also the pre-curser for the true sign of the prophet Jonah, in which the Messiah would rise from Hades after three days and three nights.

Because of this final attesting sign, many believed. But the nation’s leaders, being fearful that their wealthy, privileged, lifestyle could be lost, still plotted to kill Him and destroy the evidence of the sign: “The chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus”. Soon after this sign, and immediately after Caiaphas had led the Sanhedrin to agree to the execution of Jesus, the Messiah sent them ten healed lepers, to leave them without excuse! The Messiah had indicated in the relating of the experiences of the rich man and Lazarus, that if they did not believe Moses and the prophets, they would not believe though one was brought back from Hades. By implication, He again says that they did not believe the Scriptures, repeating the essence of an earlier condemnation, “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.” (John 5:45,46)

The condemnation of the nation and its leaders was complete. They did not base their lives on the T’nach, they did not live by faith, and against a wealth of evidence the record of which, if written down, would exhaust all available space on earth, (evidence that included having the serpent in subjection, mastery over leprosy, and raising the dead), they rejected God’s Son their Messiah. Jesus believed them culpable: “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, They hated Me without a cause.” (John 15:24,25) He described them as a wicked, evil, adulterous generation, who worshipped Mammon. This generation of vipers, rejecting the Word of God, and accepting the word of Satan, spoke with a forked tongue. They followed their father, the Serpent, who is the father of lies. Their web of deceit was never more evident than when events came to their inevitable conclusion; and wicked hands took the holy and innocent Son of God and tried Him for blasphemy and treason.

Next Time: The Death of the Messiah

The Messiah and His Miracles (Continued)

The Sign of the Prophet Jonah (Continued)

The Rich Man and Lazarus

To prepare the Sanhedrists, those “servants of Mammon (wealth)”, and “lovers of money” who had rejected Him, He described a certain rich man who had both wealth and position, a condition that the Sanhedrists would have attributed to the blessing of God. The Rabbis taught that wealth was a sign of the favour of God (‘whoever the Lord loves He makes rich’). In contrast with the ease and comfort of the rich man, Jesus described the desperate position and condition of a beggar named Lazarus, who must have been daily visible to the wealthy Jew. Lazarus’ hopes were not great, just that he might have some crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. In course of time, both men died and went to Hades/Sheol.

This place of the dead had two main compartments, the first part, sometimes called ‘Abraham’s bosom’, was reserved for those that died with a true faith in God. This part, in many ways, mirrored heaven. Since animal sacrifice only covered sin, but did not remove it, those that died in faith before the death of the Messiah on the cross, would not go to hell but could not get into heaven, hence the place called Abraham’s bosom. The second part of Hades/Sheol was a place for those who had either rebelled against God or failed to respond to the light He offered.

There are three subdivisions of the second part of Hades/Sheol. They are subdivisions of ‘hell’. The first subdivision is the ‘abyss’; the second subdivision is ‘Tartarus’; the third subdivision is ‘Gehenna’.

(1) The abyss or bottomless pit is a temporary place of confinement for fallen angels (God will imprison Satan there for a thousand years). The demons in the Gadarene Legion “begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss” (Luke 8:31).

(2) Tartarus is a more permanent place of confinement for fallen angels. “God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell (Tartarus) and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment” (2 Pet.2:4). (From here, they go directly to the lake of fire).

(3) Gehenna is the place of torment for the wicked. Jesus speaks of it as the destiny of those who rejected Him as Messiah. “Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell (Gehenna)?" (Matt.23:33)

Since they are three subdivisions of Hell, they obviously have many things in common.

Lazarus, whose name means ‘God helps’, went to Abraham’s bosom, whereas, contrary to all the teaching of the Pharisees, the rich man went to Hell. The Pharisees taught that all Jews would go to Abraham’s bosom, (“all Israelites have a share in the world to come”) (Mishnah: San.10:1) but the Messiah related to them the experience of a Jew (he addresses Abraham as ‘Father’, and Abraham responds with ‘Son’), who is in Hell.

The narrative clearly implied deity because Jesus had knowledge of a conversation between two actual Jews in Hades, after death. He described the torment of the Jewish rich man and the comfort of the beggar named Lazarus. As with Jonah they can speak, remember and pray. The rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus to him with some water to relieve his torment, but Abraham tells him of the gulf between them that is impassable. Unable to obtain any measure of respite, he asked that Lazarus might be despatched from Hades on a mission to his brothers, to persuade them to repent. The wealthy Jew was asking that his family might be given the sign of the prophet Jonah! “I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment” (Luke 16.:27,28). The tormented Jew was unwittingly asking for a Jonah to go to his brothers as Jonah had been sent from Sheol to Nineveh. But his brothers had already had that opportunity because a greater than Jonah had preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt.4:17). Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them”. Whereupon the rich man said, “No, father Abraham: but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent” (Luke 16:30). He asserted the Bible was not enough – they needed signs and wonders. Abraham responded, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31). If they will not believe and obey the Scriptures, then signs and wonders will make no difference! This was another public warning to the Pharisees.

Next Time: The Raising of a man called Lazarus

The Messiah and His Miracles (Continued)

The Sign of the Prophet Jonah

The sign of the prophet Jonah is the sign of death and resurrection. When it was clear that the leaders of the nation would never accept Him, and that the great majority of the people would follow their leaders’ example, Jesus withdrew the offer of the ‘at hand’ kingdom of God. Consequently, the authenticating miracles that He performed to demonstrate that He was their true Messiah ceased. So when He was asked for another attesting sign by the Sanhedrists, He responded, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah” (Matt.12:39). By describing them and the nation they led as “evil”, He drew a straight line between them and the Evil one whom they were serving. They had charged Him with being manipulated by the Evil one. He countered by declaring that they were the ones that were manipulated by the Evil one. This reversal of the true nature of the opposing protagonists is at the heart of the ‘light of the world’ debate. In that discussion, Jesus said to them, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” (John 8:34) Their response was to repeat their previously formed opinion, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” (John 8:48) When He added the adjective “adulterous” He was describing them in the same way as YHWH described Israel at those times when they left the worship of the one and only true God to follow other lovers, that is other gods. In the case of the generation that rejected Jesus as Messiah, it refers to the fact that they have left the LORD to serve another god, Mammon.

His statement, ‘no sign will be given … except …’ declared that there would be only one more authenticating sign left for the nation, the sign of the prophet Jonah. He refused to perform any other attesting signs for the nation. There were other miracles – but they were in response to individual need or for the training of the apostles, they were not offered as authenticating signs for his Messianic credentials. Luke added some extra illuminating detail at this turning point in the ministry of the Messiah. He recorded, “Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven.” (Luke 11:16) The request of a sign from heaven continued the doctrine that the previous sign was from Hell/Hades, and was a continuation of the strategy of Satan, that the nation should treat Him as demon-possessed, a ‘cast down one’. This is why the Messiah told them that a sign from Hades would be the only further sign they would receive, the sign of the prophet Jonah. Jonah, a man selected by God to warn Nineveh of impending judgement, fled to avoid obeying his divine given orders. He died at sea when swallowed by an oceanic leviathan. Jesus provided a description of the sign: “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matt.12:40 NASB) The sign of the prophet Jonah is resurrection from Hades/Sheol. When Jonah died, his body was in the sea creature for three days and three nights, but he himself was in Sheol. Jonah’s testimony stated as much. “I called to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look again upon your holy temple? The waters closed in over me; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped around my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit, O LORD my God.” (Jonah 2:2-6 (NRSV))

The Messiah’s use of Jonah’s experience as a picture of the last sign was so very apt. It worked on several levels, and He referred to it several times in His ministry. In addition, it dovetailed very successfully with the third primary authenticating sign, blood on the ground. The sign of the prophet Jonah will be a miracle mightier than all other miracles, for the Messiah would not only die but also rise again.

The sign of the prophet Jonah had three sections, the death of the Messiah, the burial of the Messiah, and the resurrection of the Messiah. As Paul wrote, "Christ (Messiah) died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor.15:3,4). To ensure that the nation’s leaders understood the significance of this last attesting sign, Jesus educated them by instruction and example. He first related to them a true story, and then later performed an extraordinary miracle, John’s seventh significant miracle, the raising of Lazarus.

Next Time - The RichMan and Lazarus