Perhaps you have some level of curiosity or interest in the subject of Jesus Christ.  Yet, you’re skeptical.  Skeptical about His claim to be the Son of God.  We must consider that claim seriously.  Because, if He isn’t the Son of God , as He claimed, then he isn’t even a good man.  He would be a liar, an impostor, a deceiver.  But, if He is the Son of God, as He claimed, then He IS the Son of God.  Today, not just yesteryear.  And if He IS the Son of God, then we must turn down the volume of Modern Life low enough to be able to think seriously about what He said.  Thankfully, by the will of God, His words have been recorded and preserved in the Scriptures. 

But let’s go back to your skepticism.  Maybe you imagine that a miracle might be a good starting point for your faith.  You reason, “If I could see a miracle happen I would believe.”  Or, maybe you take a more antagonistic, oppositional outlook:  “I won’t believe unless I see a real miracle with my own eyes.”  You may be interested to know that Jesus, during His three year public ministry in Israel, was confronted by this very sentiment on at least two occasions. 

Jesus, the eternal Son of God, was sent by God to His own chosen people, the nation of Israel, with whom He has made an everlasting covenant.  Among the Jews of that generation there were many who believed in Jesus.  The New Testament (Covenant) is full of examples of Jews who recognized Jesus to be the King of Israel who established the New Covenant by the redemptive sacrifice of His own life and blood.  However, there were many who did not believe.  They were skeptical.  On one occasion Jesus was approached by the more antagonistic variety of skeptics who demanded to see a sign.  Their motivation for this demand was not an honest desire to know Him.  Rather, they were trying to disprove Him and expose Him as a fraud.  To this demand Jesus’ response was interesting:

 39  But He answered and said to 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. 40  ”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. 41  ”The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.” (Matthew 12:39-40)

The miracles that Jesus performed during the course of His three year public ministry were designed for a Christocentric purpose.   Yes, many people were delivered from various forms of suffering by a Savior who experienced and expressed genuine sympathy for them; yet the primary purpose of the miracles was to verify and confirm that He indeed was Israel’s Messiah and the Son of God, as He Himself claimed (Isaiah 61:1-2; Luke 4:16-19; John 3:2; 5:36; 10:25).  Thus, Jesus, in particular, performed healing miracles on external conditions that were easily recognizable and observable, unlike the illegitimate modern charismatic “healings” that typically focus on hidden maladies. 

Yet, in spite of this powerful miraculous activity, there were skeptics.  They heard with their own ears Jesus’ claim that He was sent from God His Father.  They had seen with their own eyes powerful, truly supernatural miracles.  Yet, they persisted in their opposition and unbelief. 

As an expression of this persistent unbelief these individuals, somewhat curiously, asked to see a miraculous, supernatural sign.  Curious, because of all the magnificent supernatural activity already performed by Jesus out in the public square. 

Even more curious is Jesus’ response.  First, He unflinchingly tells them that it is an evil generation that seeks a sign.  In other words, the unbelief is symptomatic of a generation that is evil.  Jesus often exposed the evils of His generation:  selfishness, greed, violence, immorality, corruption, religious superficiality- things that sound rather…current and contemporary.   Human nature doesn’t change.  That’s why we need a Savior.  Second, He informs them that the only sign they will get from Him is the sign of the prophet Jonah.  This is an astounding answer for those skeptics as well as for modern skeptics.  The miraculous event of Jonah is one of the most “unbelievable” of all Old Testament events.  Jesus is not making things any easier for His skeptics by choosing this historic account of a man who lived to tell about three days inside a fish creature!  Of all the amazing works of God recorded in Old Testament historic narrative the story of Jonah is high on the list of those events that require the most explicit faith in God and in Scripture. 

What is the significance of Jesus’ provocative reference to Jonah?  First, He underscores the divine imperative that the Scriptures be the proper foundation for faith.  According to Jesus, the written and preserved Word of God, which records the event of Jonah, is a better foundation for faith than a miracle performed right before one’s eyes.  The Old Testament Scriptures contain many such prophetic references to the Messiah and King of Israel, prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, is fulfilling, and will fulfill in future events.  Second, the actual details of Jonah inside a fish in the depths of the sea over the space of three days foretell the events of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection on the third day.  This redemptive work of Christ in giving Himself as a sacrifice for sin is the great purpose of His first coming.  The signs and miracles He performed prior to His death played a minor, supporting role in authenticating that He indeed was the Son of God who would accomplish His major work on the cross.  Third, the reference to Jonah was a reminder of God’s mercy to gentiles.  Jonah, after learning a lesson about obedience, did as God instructed him and proclaimed a message of God’s mercy to the gentile city of Nineveh.  Similarly, shortly after Christ’s death and resurrection, in the plan of God the Gospel of Israel’s Messiah and salvation began to be shared with gentile nations.  Accordingly, those of us gentiles whose lives have been transformed by God’s grace and mercy not only are thankful to God, obviously, but we also feel a deep and abiding appreciation for the people of Israel.   

According to the Scriptures the Gospel of Israel’s Messiah will continue to be shared with the gentiles until just prior to the second coming of Christ when that window of opportunity will be shut (Romans 11:25).   While Jesus used the prophet Jonah as a sign of His first coming He used another Old Testament personality, Noah, as a sign of His second coming:  “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Matthew 24:37).   Noah is the main character in another equally “unbelievable” Old Testament event.  The only way one can believe this is to have explicit faith in the Word of God that the sovereign, almighty God judged an entire world with a literal catastrophic worldwide flood of water.  In His first coming Christ provided salvation for Israel and the world with His redemptive death.  In His second coming He will come to judge the world.  Have you trusted in the redemptive work of His first coming in order to be spared from the judgment of His second coming?

Finally, consider how Noah and Jonah, and their separate experiences are usually treated by our society:  with unbelief, obviously, and carelessly dismissed.  Even all  the  cute and whimsical artistic representations of Noah and Jonah in story books, games and toys serve to undermine the incredibly serious significance of their events and the events of Christ which they foretell.  They are the miraculous signs that serve to support the truth of Jesus Christ. 

Consider this:  If Christ used the experiences of Noah and Jonah to illustrate His divine work of salvation and judgment, and yet Jonah and Noah are storybook myths, then Jesus is bogus.  But, if He is the Messiah of Israel and the Son of God, His references to Jonah and Noah must be seriously considered.  How do we know Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God?  Don’t look for a sign- whether a weeping Madonna or a strangely shaped potato chip.  Instead, read the Scriptures.