This is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. He who believes on Him is not condemned, but he who believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. For there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing is able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be the glory forever. Amen. Before we open God's word together this morning, let's bow our heads and go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we are so thankful that you have revealed yourself to us. You have revealed yourself non-verbally through the creation, that as we look at everything in the universe, From the macrosystems of the galaxies to the microsystems of subatomic particles and submolecular molecules, we know that this could not have happened by accident. It is all the result of your creation. You spoke when there was nothing at all, and everything came into existence out of nothing. Father, this evidences your omniscience that you know all things and evidences your power in such a way that we know that in your omniscience you knew everything that would happen in human history and you provided for the problem of sin in human history. And that solution focused on sending your second person of the Trinity, your son, the only begotten son of God, into this world in order to eventually go to the cross and there to die in our place, to pay the penalty for our sin as only one who was fully God could. And he had to be fully man in order to be our substitute. For there's one God and one mediator, the man, Christ Jesus. And because he died for us, paid the penalty for us, we can have eternal life. It is a free offer that we must accept by simply trusting in him. The validation of that death on the cross was his resurrection. And we come together this morning to worship and reflect upon the significance of that resurrection. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. So following the resurrection of Christ, there were a number of different appearances of Christ. And two of them are significant for what I'm going to talk about this morning. Because they emphasize something specific. Jesus appeared to his disciples later in the evening of that Sunday. But there was one that was missing, Thomas. We refer to that Thomas as doubting Thomas because when the disciples communicated to him and told him and their excitement that they had seen Jesus that he had been raised from the dead and that he was alive he didn't believe him. And he said I'm not going to believe him until I can put my fingers in his the wounds of his hand and I can feel the wound in his side. And so eight days later which would be, if you're counting, that would be a week later on Monday. We're told that the disciples were gathered together and this time Thomas was present. The doors to the room were shut and suddenly Jesus appeared in their midst physically, bodily. It wasn't a ghost. It wasn't some figment of their imagination because here was this skeptic, this one who doubted the reality of the resurrection. And when Jesus appeared to him, Jesus challenged him. Jesus demonstrated his omniscience. He knew exactly what Thomas had said before, and he said, OK, here are my hands. You can feel the nail prints. Here's my side. You can reach over and touch it, indicating Jesus is there physically, bodily. It's not some ghost or spirit. And Thomas was completely aware I mean, the evidence before his eyes was that Jesus was there in physical bodily form. In John 20, 29, we read that Jesus says to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. See, that's us. We did not have that empirical evidence in front of us where we could reach out and touch the risen Jesus. Well, we could see him in the flesh, but we rely on evidence of witnesses, the testimony of those who were there. And Scripture tells us that Jesus appeared to numerous individuals resurrected in the flesh. That is evidence. In the court of law, you only need two, maybe three witnesses to confirm the legal reality of an event. But Jesus appeared to not just two or three witnesses. He appeared to the 11 disciples. He appeared to the women. There was a group of four women and then Mary Magdalene who appeared at the grave and the tomb was empty. He later appeared as 1 Corinthians 15 tells us. He appeared to over 500 in Galilee. and he appeared to many, many others, all of whom were still... many of whom were still alive when the apostle Paul wrote that chapter in 1 Corinthians 15. And basically he is saying, if you doubt my words, you can talk to many of these people because they're still alive and they will confirm for you that they saw the risen, resurrected Lord Jesus. So in John 20 verse 30, the very next verse, John then reaches a conclusion from what he has said in this chapter about the resurrection of Christ. And he says, and truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. The signs were evidence of who he claimed to be. They were signs that he was eternal God, signs that He was fully human, signs that He was the promised and prophesied Messiah from the Old Testament, and that He had come in fulfillment of these many prophecies that He fulfilled in precise detail. And that no other person...we've studied this before that scientists have worked out that if you only took eight of these fulfilled prophecies. And we're to calculate the probability of one individual being able to fulfill eight of them. And we have almost a hundred that were precisely fulfilled at the first coming. That the probability of Jesus or one person fulfilling eight of them was such that the illustration is taking something the size of the state of Texas and filling it with quarters up to about four feet and then stirring them all up and taking a quarter, marking it with some red nail polish and burying it somewhere in this mass of quarters that the chances of someone blindfolded picking that quarter out the first time is greater than the chances of Jesus fulfilling all of those prophecies in Himself. So this isn't the belief in Christ as Messiah, the belief that Jesus died for us, the belief in the resurrection is not just some mindless mystical leap in the dark kind of faith. It is a faith based on evidence. It's a faith based on reason, a faith based on historical evidence and the reflection in the text. So we don't put our minds in neutral to be a Christian. In fact, to not be a Christian you have to put your mind in neutral and reject enormous amounts of facts and information. So we're told Jesus did many other signs. These miracles that He performed were signs. A sign is something that signifies something, that reveals something. And in the gospel of John, John organizes his material in the life of Christ around 8 signs. And the 7th sign and the 8th sign relate to resurrection. And that's what we're talking about this morning. But in verse 31 he says, But these signs, that is, these 8 signs that he has recorded in his gospel are written for a purpose. They are written for the purpose that you and I might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. Now that's just a real simple expression of the gospel. The word gospel means good news. It means that we have the good news that sin has been paid for, that sin is forgiven, but that we have a Savior who paid the price for us and that we should believe in Him. That is the issue. For in John 3, 18, as I quoted a minute ago, Scripture says that those who have not believed on Him are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And there we have that word again, believe. It doesn't say believe and change your life. It doesn't say believe and repent of your sin. I got an email this morning from one of the large national Christian organizations. And of course, many of these Christian organizations have been sending out emails related to the celebration of Easter, of Resurrection Day. And I was just stunned by how he failed to present the gospel, but he thought he did. because he added things to the gospel. He said, you have to repent of your sin. Well, nowhere in the scripture does it say that, that you have to repent of your sin. In fact, in the gospel of John, which most people would go to, in fact, even at the end of this email, he said, if you have never understood the gospel, then you need to read the gospel of John. That's his recommendation. But he needs to read the gospel of John. Because over 95 times in the gospel of John the gospel itself the good news of how to have eternal life is presented as believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on his name. 95 times and it never says believe and repent. In fact the word repent is not used one time in the gospel of John. Isn't that amazing? And here this man who's president of a well-known national ministry says you have to repent. No, you don't. In fact, if you think you have to repent, that's adding something to what Christ did on the cross, and that invalidates your faith. Christ paid the penalty for sin. We can't do that. We can't do anything to add to that. So this is what John is saying at the end of his gospel. These signs are written that you may believe that Jesus is what? The Messiah, first of all, and second, the Son of God. And that by believing, just trusting in Christ, you may have life in His name. This is the issue related to the resurrection. So what I want to address this morning is a phrase that comes up in Matthew chapter 12 verses 39 to 40. And that is this phrase, the sign of Jonah. What in the world is the sign of Jonah and why is that significant? Now, in order to have a clear understanding of how I'm going to use some terminology, I want to define three terms and the way I'm going to use them. First of all, we have the term resurrection. Resurrection, the way I'm using it is as a technical term that refers to when a person is raised from the dead and given an immortal body. In Greek, it's used also for the raising of someone back to life in their mortal body. For example, there are several examples in Scripture where you have individuals who are raised from the dead, but they still are in their mortal body. The one that comes to mind the most is going to be Lazarus, but there were others. There was the son of the widow in Nain. In Matthew 27 it records that at the time of the crucifixion many of the graves in Jerusalem were opened and the saints came back to life and they walked around the city and gave evidence of Jesus as the Messiah. In the book of Acts you have Tabitha In the Old Testament, there were several. These were not resurrections in the sense of Jesus' resurrection, because when Jesus was raised from the dead, he has a new body, a resurrection body, an immortal body. It is still a body of flesh and bone, but not flesh and blood, Scripture says. So, resurrection, I'm restricting to bring brought back to life with a new, immortal, eternal body. This is what is being used by Jesus in John 11 and the passage that tells us about the resurrection or the bringing back to life of Lazarus. Martha said to Jesus, I know that he, that is Lazarus, will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. So see, she's thinking in terms of resurrection to his immortal state. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. Now a couple of things we need to notice here is that you have the same word, different forms of the same word used twice. When Martha says, I know that he will rise again, this is a verb, anesthemi, which is related to the noun that we'll look at in just a minute. And it simply means to raise something up, to raise it up by bringing it back to life, or to come back from the dead. It can also mean just to stand up or to stand erect. It is not a technical term for receiving an immortal body after you're brought back to life after you have died. The other word that is used here is the noun. when Martha says he will stand again in the resurrection. This is a term that really refers to the coming of the future kingdom when all the living and the dead, all of the dead rather are resurrected and brought back to life. And this is the word anastasis which is related to the verb form. Again, it can simply mean to stand up. It can refer to resurrection from the dead. and it can refer to insurrection or resurrection. And again, it's not a technical term. The third thing I want to point out here is the statement that Jesus makes. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. Now, this is the seventh of his or sixth of his statements related to using the term I am in the Greek. This is a phrase a go a me, but it is significant because that is what translates the name of God in the Old Testament. When God revealed himself to Moses and Moses said, basically asked him the question, well, who should I say sent me? And what's your name? In essence, he's saying, what does your name mean? The name was already known, but they didn't really grasp the meaning. And Jesus said, I am the one who is. I am who I am. And it's a reference to the fact that He is the eternally existent One. So the name of God, which is wrongly transliterated as Jehovah, that's a combination of the consonants from one word and vowels from another word. It's Yahweh in the Hebrew. And when you take that name, it means I am. And when Jesus makes these statements, I am, He is in effect declaring that He is God. And you say, well, that's a little obscure. But the Pharisees didn't think it was obscure because when He would make these statements, they would pick up stones to stone Him for blasphemy. They knew exactly what He was doing. So when He makes this statement, I am, this is the sixth of these great I am statements that Jesus made. And He's indicating that He is God. And He then claims something that only God can do, and that is to restore life to those who are dead. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. he who believes in me though he were dead yet shall he live." So he is claiming to be the one who has the power over life and death. Now the second term I'm going to use is raised from the dead. This is a term that I will use for restoring life to somebody who has died but they're not getting an immortal body. This happened to people like the widow of Nain's son, Lazarus, Tabitha, and Eutychus. In fact, in Acts 9.40 when we're told about Peter raising Tabitha from the dead uses this same verbs and nouns that we have over in John 11. Peter put all the people out of this room. Tabitha has died. They have prepared her body for burial. And he turns to the body and he says, Tabitha, arise. Well, this is the same verb, anastemi, to rise up. Sometimes it means resurrected. Sometimes it means just raise up. And sometimes it means just stand up. And it means that here because he says to her, arise or stand up. And she opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat up. Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up, raised her up. So she has been brought back to life. But it's not like Jesus' resurrection. She still has a mortal body. And so then the third term I want to use is just the term of resuscitation. This is when somebody almost dies or they come close to death or you think maybe they've died and maybe their heart stopped and everything did. You think of artificial resuscitation today. Somebody has drowned and for all purposes they're dead and then somebody performs some first aid and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and they are revived. They didn't truly die. Enough time had not gone by. So those terms I will use. So let's talk about this sign of Jonah. So what I'd like for you to do is turn to Matthew chapter 12. Now Matthew 12 is going to, and this context is going to bring up a couple of things that are always bothersome to some people. The first is the idea of the unpardonable sin. And the second, which is related to it, is a phrase used here to commit blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. And people will often raise these things and be afraid that, oh, have I committed the unpardonable sin? And the short answer is, no, you haven't. And second, no, you can't. And number two, on the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, I'm not sure what that is. I've cursed God before. Could I lose my salvation? And once again, no you can't and no you won't. Okay, so we have to look at the context. One of the most important things we can do when we study a passage is to look at the context. Because when we take certain phrases out of context, we can make them mean just about anything that we want them to mean. So it's always important to look at how things are used within the context, and that involves not only the context of Matthew 12, but the context of the entire Gospel of Matthew. And just to summarize it very quickly, When Jesus first was to begin his public ministry there was somebody who came before him who was the forerunner of the Messiah who was to announce his coming and that was John the Baptist. John the Baptist preached a message that people take out of context. He preached a message that was repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Now that was the primary message of John the Baptist and than Jesus and then His disciples in the first part of His ministry. So we can take the ministry, the public ministry of Christ and divide it into two sections. The first is when He's offering the kingdom because He is to be the future king. He is offering the kingdom to Israel because it was a Jewish kingdom. It was based on the promise of God to David that a descendant of His who is Jesus would sit on his throne and establish a kingdom that would go on into eternity. So Jesus came and he is the king and John the Baptist announces that he is coming and the message is to prepare for it. So you need to change your mind. That's what repent means. To change your mind about God. Change your mind about how you're living. Change your mind in relation to the law of Moses. because you're disobeying all of that you need to get right with God and prepare because the kingdom of God is at hand it's about to be here in the presence of the king and offered to you then when Jesus shows up Jesus also had that same message he's offering the kingdom he is performing miracles for all of the people in Israel to the Jews because the kingdom is for the Jews. He's ignoring intentionally the Gentiles because the kingdom is being offered to Israel. That's based on the covenants that God made to Abraham in the Old Testament and to Moses and to David. And so Jesus says repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then he's going to send out his disciples. Go to everybody and this is the message. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So that's the message. Well, how do you know He really means that? Because there's a lot of people who are false prophets and people who claim to be the Messiah. So how do you know Jesus is who He claims to be? Well, that's validated by the miracles that He performed. He performed miracles such as restoring sight to the blind and healing lepers. Those two specifically were thought by the rabbis that when the Messiah comes, these are two miracles no one can perform other than the Messiah. But see, Jesus didn't go along with their theology, so when He showed up and He gave sight to the blind and He healed lepers, they said, He can't be the Messiah because He doesn't agree with us. And so in their arrogance, they rejected Him. Well, this opposition to Jesus increased and increased and increased over the year and a half to two years of this period of his ministry. And it comes to a crescendo and a climax here in Matthew chapter 12. And when Jesus is going to cast a demon out of somebody. So this is really going to address the first of three questions I want to answer this morning. The first is what was the reason for the sign of Jonah? Second is, what was the sign of Jonah? And the third is, how was the sign of Jonah fulfilled? So when looking at this first one, we look at verse 38. And what has already happened earlier in this passage is that he has cast out a demon. And so in verse 38, some of the scribes and Pharisees now come to him and said, teacher, we want to see a sign from you. Now, most of the Pharisees had already rejected him. This is another group that says, OK, we're going to give you another chance. Give us a sign. And so then Jesus says and answers them, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." So that is his point. There's a sign from the Old Testament, a prophetic sign, an event that serves as a type or a picture of his resurrection. And that's what happened when Jonah was swallowed by the great fish that God prepared for him and spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. And then when he is regurgitated out of the great fish, he looks strange. There have been a couple of examples in history where some fisherman was swallowed by some large animal, large fish, and it survived. And what happens is that the gastric juices bleach them white. So he looked like an albino. probably more stark than that. And so it was obvious something had happened to him. But anyway, so this is a sign and it's a picture of resurrection because he was all but dead. And some say he did die and was brought to life. There's some debate on that. But whether he died or just was close to death is not relevant because the picture is the same that it is the picture of resurrection. Now what's interesting is in Luke 11, 29 and 30 we read, and while the crowds were thickly gathered together, he began to say, this is an evil generation. It seeks a sign and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the son of man will be what? Will be a sign to his generation. So the analogy is Jonah is assigned to the Ninevites because when he walks into Nineveh, now what's interesting is the root. You look at the Aramaic word or the Akkadian word for Nineveh, the root meaning is a great fish. So he goes from one great fish to another great fish. The Holy Spirit is poking fun at them and Jonah in the process. A lot of little subtleties like that in the Hebrew. So he's going to be assigned to the Ninevites of coming judgment. That's the point. What's his message? If you don't turn back to God or turn to God, if you don't repent, and repent just means to turn to God. If you don't turn to God, then God is going to destroy this city, which is the capital of the greatest empire on the earth at that time. And if you don't turn back to God, God will destroy this city in 40 days. And what happens? the people realized this was the truth and they turned to God and so God relented of his punishment on Nineveh. But this is Jonah is a sign of judgment to the Ninevites. So let's go back and look at the context in Matthew chapter 12. So if we go back to Matthew 12, 22 we see the situation with the demon-possessed man. They brought to him a demon-possessed man who is blind and mute. So he really has three problems. He's demon possessed, which means a demon is inhabiting his body. He is blind and he is mute. Now, you don't realize this in the English, but this is just a real slap in the face against what the Pharisees believed. Because the Pharisees believed that in order to control somebody who was demon possessed and cast out the demon, you had to be able to learn that demon's name. And so, if you have a mute demon-possessed person, you can't say, what's your name? He can't talk. So this is amazing. No one can cast this demon out. He's blind. No one has healed a blind person who's truly blind. And he's demon-possessed. And so Jesus comes and He heals him, casts the demon out, so that the blind and mute man can now both talk and see. So everybody's amazed. They understand this is a Messianic miracle. He has just demonstrated that He can do what only the Messiah of God can do. And so the crowds ask the question, can't this be the Son of David? Isn't this the Messiah? That's what that phrase, the Son of David, means in fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. Isn't this the Messiah? But the disciples, I mean the Pharisees, heard it. They said, no, this fellow doesn't cast out demons except by Beelzebub the ruler of the demons. So what have they said? They said he can't be the Messiah. What's the real reason? Because he rejects our theology. He doesn't agree with us. So he can't be the Messiah. And therefore he did this by the power of Satan. So he's there accusing Jesus of doing this by the power of Satan. So Jesus then responds to them. Skip down to verse 31. In His omniscience He knows what they're talking about and what they have said. And in verse 31 He says, Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven man. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him either in this age or in the age to come. Now a lot of people read that and they say, see, they can't be forgiven. If you've committed this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, it says right there, doesn't it? You can't be forgiven. But you have to understand the context. The context is that the people who are saying that Jesus performed these miracles by the power of Satan are the leaders of Israel. Their rejection, this is their final opportunity to accept Jesus as the Messiah. And so at this point, after months and months of hostility and rejection, they have reached this point where they are officially rejecting his claim to be the Messiah and claiming that he has power only by Satan. This is a national sin. This is not an individual sin. He's not talking about individual salvation or individual forgiveness. He's talking about the fact that the nation has reached a point of no return. You're either going to accept the Messiah or there are going to be dire consequences for the nation that are irreversible. But it doesn't have to do with individual salvation. So to summarize it, Number one, the forgiveness here is not personal forgiveness, but national or corporate forgiveness. What God, what Jesus is saying here is if this generation does not accept Jesus as Messiah, God is going to punish this generation. And that's what happened historically. Some 40 years later, the Roman armies under Titus came in and burned Jerusalem to the ground and destroyed the temple and the Jewish people were scattered. And they're still scattered in what is called the Diaspora. They're scattered throughout the world. God put the nation under judgment because of what that generation did. So point number two, the sin here is national, the rejection of Jesus as Messiah. And from this point on, He never offers the kingdom. From this point on, the message is no longer repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. because the offer of the kingdom has now been withdrawn because of this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Miracles up to this point have been for believers and unbelievers. There was no necessity of faith in order to believe that you were healed. But from this point on miracles are only going to be for those who are believers. miracles are only for the purpose of teaching the disciples. They're not for everyone. And He's going to, if you look at the beginning of chapter 13, it talks about the fact that Jesus began to speak to them in parables. He's speaking to the disciples in parables. Up to this point He spoke openly to everyone. Now He is cloaking His message in parables because He's not speaking to the masses anymore because nationally they have rejected... they have rejected Him. So third, the sin is only for that generation. It is a generational sin. And we know that because of the next verse that comes up, it relates to this generational idea. In Matthew 12, 41, he says, the men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment, that's in the future, in the judgment with this generation and condemn it. See, the condemnation is for this generation. It's not for every individual. How do we know that? Who was part of this generation? I dare you to name three important people in the Scripture that are part of this generation. If this is individual salvation, then they couldn't be saved. Number one is the Apostle Paul. He's not saved. He's not saved yet. He is in this generation. And I believe he's possibly in the audience. because he moved to Jerusalem when he was 14, which would probably have been about 10 or 12 years before this occurred. So the Apostle Paul as Saul of Tarsus could very conceivably have been in the audience. Who's somebody else that's been part of this? Jesus' two brothers. His two half-brothers, they were sons of Mary and Joseph. Jesus was not a son of Joseph. So you have Jude who wrote the epistle of Jude, And you also have, let me see, you have Jude and James, the Lord's brother. So they're half brothers of Jesus. They're not believers yet. We're told they don't become believers until after the resurrection. Then they become believers. So this is talking about individual salvation and individual forgiveness then, you know, the Bible contradicts itself because James, Jude, and Paul were all part of this generation and they all become saved. It's talking about the fact not of eternal damnation or the loss of eternal forgiveness. It's talking about the loss of forgiveness for this generational national sin. And so also the example from the Queen of the South, she will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it. So he's talking about a generation. Then the fourth is just the conclusion that this sin is not related to personal salvation, but that the judgment was irreversible for that generation. And there are examples in other places in the Bible where a civilization or a culture reaches a point where God's judgment is going to come and it's irreversible. You think of those who are on the earth before the flood of Noah and they heard Noah proclaim the gospel for that time and they rejected it. And then later you have those who are in Sodom and Gomorrah and that judgment announced by God was irreversible. Then you have the Canaanites later on and that judgment was irreversible. Then you had both the the Israelites who lived in the northern kingdom before they were destroyed by the Assyrians, and later those who lived in Judah and they were destroyed by the Babylonians, they reached a point of no return because of their sin. And so God brought judgment upon them. Now the sign of Jonah is what Jesus emphasizes here is in verse 40 as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. So will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Now that's not talking about a whale. It's just a great fish. And that's what Jonah says is God had brought a great fish. I've been told that a whale does not have a large enough throat esophagus to be able to handle swallowing a man. So this is a great fish God prepared who swallows Jonah. And in Jonah 2.2 he describes what happens this way. He says, I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction. And he answered me, out of the belly of Sheol I cried. Now there are some that say that indicates he's died. Now his physical body may have died but his soul is still alive. He can still pray to God. Others say this is just a figure of speech which is typical in poetry, and this is hyperbole. And either way, he is close to death because of the way things are described. You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas. The flood surrounded me. All your billows and waves passed over me. And then I said, I've been cast out of your sight. I will look again toward, yet I will look again toward your holy temple. That's Jonah turning to God in turning back to God and saying, okay, I'm going to be obedient now and I'm going to go back and do your will and I will see the temple again. He further describes that what's going on is the waters are surrounding him even to his soul, even to his life. So he's at the edge of death at the very best. The deep closed around me, weeds were wrapped around me. And then in verse 6 he says, I went down to the moorings of the mountains. So he's deep in the ocean. the earth with its bars closed behind me forever, yet you have brought up my life from the pit." That's probably not the best translation. The Hebrew word here is a word shakat which is also translated as corruption and destruction and pit. There's a lot of debate over it because there's another word very similar and so the scholars debate which word it is and I'm not going to get into the weeds on that. But it's important because that same word is used in Psalm 16, verse 10. Psalm 16, 10, David is writing about the future Messiah. And he says in a Messianic prophecy, praying to God, for you will not leave my soul in Sheol, in the grave. Jesus was not left in the grave. Nor will you allow your Holy One to see and hear its corruption. Some versions translate it pit, But the reason it's translated corruption is because when the rabbis translated it into Greek, that's the word they used. And it means corruption and clearly in several other passages in the Old Testament. But when it is quoted in the New Testament, it uses this word corruption. In Acts 2.30 and 31, Peter says, therefore being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ, that's the resurrection, raise up the Christ to sit on his throne. He, that is David, writing about a thousand years before Christ, he foreseeing this spoke concerning the resurrection of Christ. So see, Peter is saying that David foresaw, it's interesting, that's the same word for foreknowledge. to foresee, to see something ahead of time. He foreseeing this spoke concerning the resurrection of Christ. So Peter is saying under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that when David wrote this he wasn't talking about some event in his life. He's talking about the resurrection of Christ in the future. And he's saying that his soul was not left in Hades, Sheol, nor did his flesh see corruption. So whether Jonah was dying or near death, he possibly died, we can't say for certain. I'm convinced that the evidence is too ambiguous. Either way, it's a picture of resurrection. He's going to be three days and three nights. That's the time period. So you have two things here. You have a time period and you have an event. That is the resurrection. So it's picturing two things. Some people say it's picturing a time frame. Some people say it's picturing resurrection. It's doing both. The resurrection takes place after the time period. And Jesus prophesied this. The sign of a prophet was that what he said would come true. Nine times Jesus made this prophecy in the gospels. He said in Matthew 26, 61, after the crucifixion, the guards, the Jews, came to Pontius Pilate and said, look, this fellow, that is Jesus, said, I'm able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. We better go seal the tomb to make sure that the disciples don't steal his body and create a fraud. In Matthew 27, 63, which echoes that same passage, sir, we remember while he was still alive, how the deceiver said, after three days I will rise. Now the reason I put that in there is because they're accurately quoting Jesus as after three days. You have to pay attention because there's a lot of debate over this. In Matthew 16, 21, 17, 23, and 20, 19, it all says he's raised on the third day. And then you have other passages that use the phrase after three days. So Matthew 26, 61, this fellow said that I'll be able to rebuild the temple in three days. And then they say, Sir, we remember while he was still alive how the deceiver said after three days in Matthew 16, 21. Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things for the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised the third day. Now I've gone over this in detail in our study of Matthew. The issue here is that prepositions are funky, especially when they go between different languages. I know that I have talked to some of my Ukrainian friends and I say, I'll call you in two hours." And their reply was, okay, I can talk after two hours. We mean the same thing. All right? So we can't take these prepositions as being as precise as a legal document here. So this is the sign of Jonah. The first sign of Jonah, the first fulfillment comes with Lazarus. We don't have time this morning, but in John chapter 11, Jesus will raise Lazarus from the dead. Now, he receives a mortal body. He's raised from the dead. That's the first sign. And what's the reaction from the Pharisees is they are even more determined after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead to kill him. They're going to come together and immediately begin to plot to crucify Jesus. it hardens them in their resolution to crucify Jesus and to get rid of Jesus. And that is their response. In John 11, 53, we read, Then from that day on they plotted to put him to death. Why did they do that? Well, according to the next chapter, in John 12, 9, we read, Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there, that is, Christ, and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. See, Lazarus was a showcase, because he was evidence that this Jesus raised someone from the dead, and they wanted to see them. The response to that in the next verse is the chief priest plotted to put Lazarus to death also. And in John 12, 17, therefore the people who were with him when he called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness. So people are talking about this and they need to shut the people down. The third sign is one that comes in the future. comes in the middle of the tribulation period. And it's in Revelation 11, 7 to 12, where the two witnesses that are proclaiming the gospel from the beginning of the seven-year tribulation to the midpoint, the Antichrist will have them executed. He'll lay their bodies out for a viewing for the next three and a half days. And then God brings them back to life. But this is a true resurrection because they're given immortality. And then God takes them to heaven. Everybody sees that. That's a sign of judgment against the Jews that are still rejecting Jesus in the middle of the tribulation. So the first sign of Lazarus is it's a condemnation of the Jews that have rejected Him. The second sign in the future is a sign of judgment. And now this third sign is Jesus' resurrection. And this is described in Matthew chapter 28 and at the end of every one of the Gospels, but I'm just going to look at Matthew 28 briefly. After the Sabbath, so Friday was Passover, Thursday night into Friday, then you had Sabbath that started sundown like Friday night to Saturday night and then you have the beginning of the third day on Sunday. After the Sabbath, So sometime on the third day, early on the third day, before dawn, we don't know when, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to see the tomb. And there had been an earthquake already before dawn. Earthquake and there's an angel of the Lord who is sitting on the stone that's been rolled away. His countenance was like lightning, his clothing as white as snow, and the guards shook. The Roman guards, these these tough military guys who are veterans of wars are shaking, literally shaking in their sandals when they see this angel and what has taken place. And so the women come and the angel said to them, don't be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here for he is risen as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. So what is the consequence of this? What a testimony that Jesus was raised from the dead. Did that change the mind of the Jewish leaders? Not at all. In fact they reject this second sign. If you look down to verse 11 we read, Now while they were going, that is Mary and the other Mary and going back to the disciples, behold some of the guard came into the city. So after the women left they run into the city to the chief priests to tell them what had happened. They're also concerned for their life. When they had assembled with the elders, that's the elders of the Jews, and consulted together, they, that is the Sanhedrin probably, gives them a bribe, pays them off. Why? They gave him a large sum of money saying, tell them his disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept. That was the first denial and rejection and rumor He didn't rise from the dead. They just came in in the night and stole the body away. But if you understand the size of the stone and the nature of this Roman seal, it was impossible for them to do that with the Roman guard there. It was only an angel who was able to do that. So they say, tell that his disciples came at night, stole him away while we slept. And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure." In other words, they're not going to punish you. So they took the money and did as they were instructed. Well, the point here is that it's the rejection of this sign. So Israel comes under condemnation. What happens 40 years later? The Romans come and destroy Jerusalem and the nation comes under divine judgment. That generation came under divine judgment and they are scattered. That was the point. The sign of Jonah was a sign of condemnation to that generation. Now for us, it is a sign that Jesus is who he claimed to be. As I started at the beginning, these signs, including the resurrection of Christ, these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. with our heads bowed and our eyes closed. Father, we thank you so much for the clarity of scripture in presenting who Jesus is, who he was during his incarnation, his initial ministry presenting the kingdom to Israel as the Old Testament had prophesied and promised, the rejection by the religious leaders, and then the announcement that this sign of Jonah would be a sign of judgment and that that sign involved the resurrection, our three days in the tomb, and then the resurrection, the physical bodily resurrection of Jesus, confirming that you, Father, had accepted His sacrifice on our behalf and that later He would ascend to heaven. And Father, we're thankful for this validation of His work on the cross, recognizing that He died for us. And Father, we pray for each one here. We pray that we would all recognize that we're sinners. Every one of us, as Scripture says, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Sin does not refer to big things. Sin refers to any act, thought, or deed that has violated your character. And so we are all guilty. We are all sinners. But Christ paid the penalty for sin. That is your love that you sent your Son to die for our sins, to pay the penalty. So that we don't have to earn our salvation, we don't have to work for it, we simply accept it as a free gift. And Father, I pray that anyone who's here this morning who's never trusted Christ as Savior would understand that that is the issue. And that anyone who is listening online now or in the future would understand that that is the gospel, the good news. The good news is that you don't have to work for it, you don't have to earn it, you don't have to go back and make amends for all of your failures and all of your flaws. Christ paid the penalty. All that is necessary is to accept him as your Savior by faith. And God will give you forgiveness and eternal life. And for that we are thankful. Father, we pray that you would open the eyes of the lost to the truth of the gospel. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.