“Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you." He answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. "For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah's preaching; and look -- something greater than Jonah is here.” Matthew 12:38-41
“As the crowds were increasing, he began saying: "This generation is an evil generation. It demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. "For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation…The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah's preaching, and look -- something greater than Jonah is here.” Luke 29-32
Two of the three synoptic gospels (Matthew and Luke) record the scribes and Pharisees asking Jesus for a sign, and Jesus’ response to their request. He tells them that the only sign they will be given is the “sign of the prophet Jonah.” What is the “sign of Jonah” that Jesus mentions when responding to their request? For most of my life, I thought I knew, but it wasn’t until just recently that I came to the realization that I was wrong in my understanding. The majority of the teaching on the phrase “sign of Jonah” I had heard all of my life was not completely accurate.
Traditional teaching on the phrase “the sign of Jonah” is that it refers to the three days and three nights that Jonah was in the belly of the fish, and that this was a "type" (symbolic) of Jesus being in the tomb for three days and three nights. Now, that type is accurate, and Jesus even explains it as such in Matthew chapter 12: "For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.” But the type, Jonah in the fish’s belly for three days and nights, is not the sign. Jesus describes what the sign actually is in the passage from Luke when He says "For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.” The sign that was given to the people of Nineveh was Jonah himself. Likewise, the only sign that was to be given to that generation at Jesus first coming was the Lord Himself. Jesus was the sign to that generation of Jews, just as Jonah was the sign to the people of Nineveh.
“The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: "Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach the message that I tell you." Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the LORD's command. Now Nineveh was an extremely great city, a three-day walk. Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, "In forty days Nineveh will be demolished! " Then the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth -- from the greatest of them to the least. When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he issued a decree in Nineveh: By order of the king and his nobles: No person or animal, herd or flock, is to taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink water. Furthermore, both people and animals must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from his wrongdoing. Who knows? God may turn and relent; he may turn from his burning anger so that we will not perish. God saw their actions -- that they had turned from their evil ways -- so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.” Jonah 3:1-10
When we read the book of Jonah to see just how Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh, we find that there were no miracles performed, no great signs given to the people of Nineveh. In chapter 3, Jonah simply began walking through the city described as “great” and “evil” proclaiming as he went that "In forty days Nineveh will be demolished!" The text states that Nineveh was a great city in size, and that it was a three day walk to get across the entire city. Yet, on the very first day that Jonah began preaching his message of judgment and destruction from the Jewish God Yahweh, the entire city from the king on down to the lowliest inhabitant believed. Every person in the city put on sackcloth, they fasted, they turned from their evil ways and called out to God for forgiveness…and God heard their pleas and forgave them.
It is also interesting to note the symbolism of the numbers which are specified in the story. The city was “three” days walk in size, and the city would be destroyed in “forty days.” These numbers are important numbers of days in Jesus' life as well. Jesus was in the wilderness fasting and praying for forty days as He prepared for His ministry to begin. At the end of His three year ministry He was crucified and His body laid “in the heart of the earth”, the garden tomb, for three days and nights. Then, after His resurrection, Jesus spent forty days with His disciples preparing them for what was to come next. A three day journey, and then forty days to prepare for what comes next is what Jonah proclaimed to Nineveh unless they repented of their evil ways. Jesus took forty days to prepare for His three year ministry in which He proclaimed to the people of Israel that the Son of Man had come, and to repent. After being rejected by the “evil and adulterous” generation, He then spent forty days prior to His ascension preparing His followers for what was to come next.
“He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” John 1:11
The scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign from heaven. They were testing Him. Jesus responded calling them an “evil generation”, and told them no sign except the “sign of Jonah” would be given to them. He told them that the people of Nineveh would condemn them at judgment time because they had responded to the preaching of Jonah, and one greater than Jonah had come to their generation. The people of Nineveh, an evil city, had heard the word of warning from the prophet of God and had responded immediately, on the first day. They repented and God stayed the destruction of the city. However, Israel, God’s own people who had been told to look for the Messiah, refused to hear the words of Jesus, God’s own Son in the flesh. They rejected His message, and rejected Him as their Messiah.
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! "See, your house is left to you desolate. "For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord'! " Matthew 23:37-39
You see, just as Jonah, a prophet of God speaking truth, was the “sign” to the people of Nineveh. Likewise, Jesus, the Son of God speaking truth, was the “sign” to that generation of Jews. Jesus was the sign that the scribes and Pharisees had requested to see, but they refused to receive the sign that was given. The “sign of Jonah” wasn’t a miracle such as being in the grave for three days and three nights and then being raised from the dead. The “sign of Jonah” was simply Jesus presenting Himself to the people and delivering a word from God to them about repentance and judgment. They rejected that message, and the messenger as well. That is why Jesus calls them an “evil and adulterous generation.” That is why He tells them that at judgment they will be condemned by the people of Nineveh.
“The Pharisees and Sadducees approached, and tested him, asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, "When evening comes you say, 'It will be good weather because the sky is red.' And in the morning, 'Today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can't read the signs of the times. "An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." Then he left them and went away. Matthew 16:1-4
