Faith, Not Miracles

Matthew 12:38-50

Immanuel – 7/14/24

Perhaps the world’s most famous living atheist is the biologist Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion. In an interview, Dawkins was asked, “What would it take for you to believe in God?” Dawkins answered, “Well, I used to say it would be very simple: the second coming of Jesus or a great, big, deep, booming voice saying, ‘I am God and I created.’ But I was persuaded…that even if there was this booming voice and the second coming in clouds of glory, the more probable explanation is that it is a hallucination or a conjuring trick by David Copperfield. A supernatural explanation for anything is incoherent, it just doesn’t add up to an explanation for anything.”

Recognizing that Richard Dawkins didn’t actually answer the question, the interviewer pressed again, “So what would persuade you?” Dawkins said, “Well, I’m starting to think nothing would; which in a way goes against the grain because I’ve always paid lip service to the view that a scientist should change his mind when evidence is forthcoming. Trouble is, I can’t think of what that evidence would look like.”1

In other words, nothing could possibly make Richard Dawkins believe in God. Stupendous miracles, voices from heaven, nothing could persuade this atheist of the divine. If that’s not dogmatic belief, then I don’t know what is!

Somewhere not far from the northwest shores of Galilee, we find that same sort of close-minded, dogmatic belief. This time it is not atheists who are gripped by dogmatic belief, but religious leaders.

Let me list again the miracles that Jesus has performed in this region of Galilee: cleansing of a leper, healing a boy on his deathbed, healing a fever, calming a storm, freeing people from demons, healing a paralytic, raising a dead girl to life, restoring sight to the blind, healing a mute man, healing a man with a withered hand, and many, many more. Then, on top of all that, there is Jesus’ teaching, so powerful that the people were astonished at it.

Even with all this miraculous evidence, it still isn’t enough. The religious leaders want more.

Read vs 38

The chronology that began in chapter 11 continues into our passage today. That’s important to note, because just moments before Jesus prophesied judgment on cities, called Himself the Son of Man and the Lord of the Sabbath, and He is the one who can bind Satan and bring God’s kingdom. Not only are these all messianic claims, some of them are divine claims.

The religious leaders may not be picking up everything Jesus is putting down, but they certainly recognize that Jesus is making monumental claims; so they demand a sign.

But since they swam in the Old Testament Scriptures, this request is not wholly unreasonable. God told Moses to go to the people of Israel and be like the voice of God to them; but Moses wasn’t sure if the people would grant him such authority.

Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’ ” The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. 4 But the LORD said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— “that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” Again, the LORD said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.” -Exodus 4:1-9

Miraculous signs were also given to Gideon (Judges 6:36-40) and Elijah (1 Kings 18:36-39). Ahaz and Hezekiah were given signs to authenticate Isaiah’s prophesies (Isaiah 7:10-14, 38:7-8). There was robust precedent for God to empower His prophets to perform signs to authenticate their ministries.

With such a history, were the scribes and Pharisees really so unreasonable to ask for a sign?

Read vs 39

An evil and adulterous generation: this is a biting rebuke! Wicked because they refuse to repent. Adulterous because they chase after gods of their own making, gods they have crafted from their twisted religion, the gods of pride and greed and power. And it isn’t just the religious leaders that are wicked and adulterous, but that whole generation.

This is now the second time Jesus has singled out and condemned that generation. Jesus repeats this language again in verses 41, 42, and 45. Something has metastasized within that generation of Jews, something especially wicked. Powerful and numerous miraculous works of the Messiah have been done in their midst. The evidence is there. The authentication has happened.

And even if their request was genuine – if they really would believe if Jesus performed another sign – how presumptuous to think that miracles will happen simply because they demand them! God is not a circus act, and He does not dole out miracles at the demands of people, especially unbelieving people!

Like Richard Dawkins, are there any amount of miracles that would cause that generation to believe? God become flesh, the Living Word stands before them, and they cannot see Him. Not only are they blind, but they refuse to see; and their inability to do so proves their opposition to the God they claim to worship. Theirs will be the more severe judgment.

Read vs 40-41

God sent the prophet Jonah to Nineveh, the capitol city of the Assyrian Empire. They were a pagan people infamous for their brutality and violence. They were so infamous that Jonah did not want to go there. And in his attempt to escape God’s calling, Jonah get’s himself into trouble. Ultimately, he ends up being tossed into the ocean and swallowed by some great fish. Three days later, still miraculously alive in the belly of the fish, Jonah is vomited onto the shore nearest Nineveh.

Until the day Jonah is vomited ashore, for all intents and purposes, he was dead. When he hits solid ground again, it’s a virtual resurrection. And having been delivered from death, Jonah preaches to that wicked city, and the whole of Nineveh repents.

Jonah began to go into the city…And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. -Jonah 3:4-5

Only one sign was given to Nineveh: a washed-up prophet bleached white from three days in the belly of a fish. Jonah’s preaching, accompanied by that single astounding miracle, was enough for the entire city of Nineveh to repent and believe. The Ninevites condemn the Israelites.

In verse 41, Jesus is not speaking literally, as if the people of Nineveh will actually become prosecutors of that generation during the final judgment. Rather, the Ninevite’s conduct set a standard which the current generation of Jews woefully failed to meet.

Additionally, the greater one that Jonah foreshadowed now walked the streets of Galilee. The long-awaited Messiah, the Son of God, was in their midst. And He came producing far more signs than Jonah ever did: miracles over the natural and the supernatural, miracles of healing and cleansing, miracles of compassion and power. Still the Jews refused to repent. Still they did not believe.

The only thing left for them to see was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Jesus is prophesying; and this is one of the clearest pictures He gives of what is yet to happen to Him. He will go into the heart of the earth – a metaphor for the place of the dead. Jesus is prophesying that He will die, and after three days of death He will rise again.

This is the sign Jesus will give to that generation. And after Christ’s resurrection many Jews will repent and believe. In fact, by the time you get to Acts 4, there are at least 5,000 Jews who turn to Jesus in faith. But the vast majority of Jews will not believe; and they incurred a great judgment for rejecting their Messiah.

For not only is Jesus greater than Jonah, He is greater even than Solomon.

Read vs 42

Solomon was the son of King David, and the Bible says this about him:

God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all other men… And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom. -1 Kings 4:29-31,34

The Queen of Sheba was one who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. She came all the way from modern-day Yemen. Just as the Ninevites set a standard of repentance, so did the Queen of the South as she earnestly sought Solomon’s wisdom. But Solomon’s wisdom was a mere shadow compared to the wisdom of Christ.

Jesus is greater. Jonah was a powerful prophet, Jesus is greater. Solomon was a wise king, Jesus is greater. Prophet and king: two of the three most significant spiritual offices in Israel. Do you know what the third is? The temple priest. Jesus already talked about this:

“I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.” -Matthew 12:6

Jesus is priest, prophet, and king; but He is greater. He is God the Son, the Word become flesh. All of Israel’s great offices have come together in a single man. Jesus is the ultimate and final priest, prophet, and king. Woe to those who see Him and refuse to repent!

The Ninevites and the Queen of Sheba believed, yet they were all Gentiles! But the Jews, especially the religious leaders, refuse to believe. Woe to them! And to drive that point home, Jesus tells a story: as one commentator puts it, “a somewhat puzzling ghost story.”

Read vs 43-45

We need a little context to make sense of Jesus’ story. In the Old Testament the wilderness, a waterless and arid landscape, was the haunt of demons. And according to Jewish tradition, demons did not like the desert. They wanted to break into human habitations. Better yet, they wanted to possess human bodies. It is unclear how possessing a human brings rest to a demon, but that’s irrelevant to Jesus’ point.

Let’s look at the story to understand Jesus’ point. First, we must remember that Jesus speaks it as an indictment against that generation; see that in verse 45. Jesus is not delivering a teaching on how demons operate, though it may have those implications. The story is not about individuals; it is about that generation.

As we saw last week, one of the reasons Jesus came to earth was to defeat the works of Satan. As soon as His ministry began, He was casting demons out of people. If Israel was a house, Jesus was cleaning it of all its unclean spirits, leaving them to wander in desolate places.

But Jesus was going away, as He has just alluded to in His prophecy. After the Jews reject Him and the Romans crucify Him, after three days and an empty tomb, after He ascends to the right hand of the Father in heaven; what will happen to the house of Israel when He is gone? Will there be faith? Will they repent and believe?

Already, I have answered this. Many will believe, but the vast majority will not. Even after all the signs that Jesus performed, it wasn’t enough for them. They chose never to believe; like so many atheists of our day.

For the Jews, as for you, the house needs to be filled with some kind of spirit. If not the Spirit of Christ, if not the Holy Spirit, then the house is empty and vulnerable. And if the house is empty, the demonic pours in. The condition of Israel will be far worse than when Jesus began.

History testifies that this is exactly what happened to that generation of Jews. In 70 AD the Romans lay siege to Jerusalem and Josephus, who witnessed the siege, wrote about the madness that gripped the Jews.

A number self-proclaimed prophets arose spinning patently transparent falsehoods; yet thousands of the Jews followed them to their own demise. There was an outbreak of transgenderism and appalling sexual immorality. People executed one another over baseless accusations. Crazed mobs relentlessly attacked one another. Thousands were slaughtered as Jewish factions warred for control of the city. The Jews burned their own food supply, driving themselves into a deep famine. They ate what no humans should eat. Some ate their own children. Fathers slaughtered their families, attempting to spare them from a more brutal death.

It was as if an army of demons had possessed the people of Jerusalem, and their state was far worse than the days before Jesus cleaned house. I believe we see this prophetically described during the 5th Trumpet Judgment in Revelation 9. I preached on Revelation 9 back in April of 2022.

Jesus has prophesied His own death and resurrection, and now He has also prophesied a great judgment coming upon that generation. That is the point of Jesus’ story: it’s a prophetic warning. Without repentance, without accepting Jesus as Lord, that generation will be overrun by demonic madness.

It seems that just as Jesus is concluding his prophetic story, there is an interruption; and this interruption will really drive home the point of today’s sermon.

Read vs 46

Mark also tells this same story in his gospel (Mark 3:31-35). There we learn that Jesus’ mother and brothers were attempting to control Jesus. Perhaps they wanted to spare Him from embarrassment. In John 7:5 we read it explicitly, they did not believe in Jesus.

If you watch the Chosen, here is an area where I think the show isn’t accurate. The Chosen depicts Mary with unwavering faith in Jesus. And it is true when she is present at the cross. There at least she has a fledgling understanding of Christ. But here in Galilee, it seems that her faith isn’t so strong, or is confused, or isn’t all there. The brothers don’t believe at all.

Jesus’ mother and half-brothers standing on the outside, looking to control Jesus.

Read vs 47-50

Jesus is not saying that His biological family is not His true family. But, Jesus is elevating His family, His truest family, to everyone who trusts in Him as Lord and Savior. And it is worth saying that His mother Mary will come to truly believe. Two of His brothers, James and Jude, will believe and two of their letters are in the Bible for us.

But it is not blood that unites you to Jesus, it is faith. For everyone who does the will of His Father are adopted into the family of God. It is startling to recognize that Jesus said this with the scribes and Pharisees surrounding Him.

It is startling because the scribes and Pharisees were some of the best rule keepers that have ever lived. They followed the law of Moses down to the smallest detail, and yet Jesus still called them a wicked and adulterous generation. This is because being in the family of God is not about legalistic law keeping; it is not about prohibitions and allowances. Doing the will of the Father is not about strict rule following.

Remember the Sermon on the Mount.

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” -Matthew 5:20

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” -Matthew 5:3,7-8

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” -Matthew 6:33

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” -Matthew 7:7

Jesus has been proclaiming an obedience that comes through relationship; one that requires trust and dependency. He wants us to see that no amount of rule following will ever make us righteous enough. But we become righteous by trusting in Him, by seeking to know Him, by earnestly following Him. This is how we do the will of the Father. This is how we live in obedience. This is how we enter into the family of Christ.

Repent and believe, and become a child of God, brothers and sisters of King Jesus.

To all who did receive Him, who believed in [Jesus’] name, He gave the right to become children of God. -John 1:12

Skeptics and fools see Christianity as a blind faith. But all the evidence is there. In Jesus the supernatural breaks into the natural. His love transcends hatred and evil. His mercy overcomes judgment. He truly does bring rest to the weary and heavy laden. And God has preserved His word so that we can be assured that what we read in the Bible is historically true (though that is a discussion for another time).

Those who have blind faith are those who are confronted with the reality of Jesus, and all the evidence that surrounds Him, and refuse to see. That is willful blindness, demonic darkness.

Jesus is the ultimate and final priest, prophet, and king. Any who receive Him as such, who believe in His name, they shall be brought into God’s everlasting family reunion.

For just as Jesus prayed:

“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes Father, for such was your gracious will.” -Matthew 11:25-26

1Barnett, T. (2019, January 16) What would persuade Dawkins to believe in God? YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vG_8wkwhr0