Evil #2: Asking for a Miracle
Notes
Transcript
Matthew 12:38-45
Jesus rebukes the religious again for demanding a sign and offers them the sign of Jonah: his 3 day death and resurrection. No generation in history has less excuse than the one that watched Jesus in the flesh, and they will be judged accordingly. The modern American has unparalleled access to God’s Word and good teaching. Religious experiences without receiving the Holy Spirit are spiritually dangerous. Let us fill our house with the Spirit of God.
What’s the Deal?
What’s the Deal?
I read this fun book years ago. Logan has a signed copy. It tells the story of a detective with maybe Disassociative Identity / Schizophrenia… but he is investigating a camera that can take pictures of the past.
And if you could take a picture of the past, what would you want to see? Sure enough, they go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and snap a photo of Jesus carrying his cross.
That isn’t even just Christians.
Paul Rudd, brought this up on an interview. People he would most like to meet, and he surprises the whole group, none of whom are Christian… and he’s Jewish, and says he’d want to meet Jesus.
Because, as he says, “It’s clear he was a real dude. So I want to meet him and ask 'What’s the deal?’”
Seems like a sincere seeker, a sincere question. I love it.
That makes so much sense to me. If we could just see it, if we were there, we would know it all!
I have a good friend, an un-believer, but open to seeing Jesus. Says all the time “when I see him in the clouds, then I’ll believe!”
Why doesn’t Jesus show himself when we ask him to? Or, at least, more often than he does now? How cool would it be if every Sabbath morning, he did a miracle right before our eyes, a glorious sign… and then we responded in worship. That’s a “Call to Worship.”
So, I resonate, I relate, I understand when the scribes and Pharisees come to Jesus and say “Show me a sign.”
Asking for a miracle
Asking for a miracle
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
Is it always wrong? Other folks ask… and they get the miracle! “Ask and you will receive!” right?
They called him “Teacher” or “Rabbi.” That’s a sign of respect.
Maybe even a capitulation, a backing off from linking him with the Prince of Demons.
Why are they asking?
The miracle they’ll get: the sign of Jonah.
The miracle they’ll get: the sign of Jonah.
39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
What is the “sign of Jonah?”
Luke captures a slightly different version, where Jonah is himself a sign to the people of Nineveh, a call to repentance:
30 For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
I think Matthew doesn’t argue against that, but builds on it:
40 For just 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 we understand. This is a clear prophecy of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Three days and three nights in the tomb… which by itself makes a Friday-noon death not Math, by the way… and then Resurrection, even as Jonah was spit out of the great fish.
We get it.
But… they must have been SO confused. Son of Man… in like a cave? Heart of the earth? How is that like Jonah?
Unexpected Queen of Sheba
Unexpected Queen of Sheba
41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
Sheba was likely in Arabia, though possibly in Africa near Ethiopia. Both Chronicles and Kings record her bringing gifts and questions to Solomon.
1 Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions, having a very great retinue and camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind.
2 And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from Solomon that he could not explain to her.
3 And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,
4 the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, and their clothing, his cupbearers, and their clothing, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her.
“Take my breath away...”
And she was left “breathless” and gave him ALL the spices.
What is greater than Solomon? Jesus making claims again. Wiser than Solomon, certainly. Greater than Solomon, absolutely!
Yet, they aren’t breathless at Jesus’ answers. They certainly aren’t giving him spices.
Smartest, wisest man who ever lived? Jesus. Master of life. Again, here, teaching us how life works. How God works. How miracles work. And… unexpectedly, a bit about how demons work.
How to get more demons
How to get more demons
What happens after a demon is cast out?
43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.
44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.
45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
First, a word of caution.
Jesus is giving a parable here, a story meant to illustrate one idea. One point. We have to be careful building a theology out of the story Jesus tells other than the point Jesus is attempting to illustrate. Just like I might start a sermon referencing a movie or song without saying that the movie is true, Jesus may reference culturally understood norms or patterns without meaning them as fact.
So we don’t want to build our total understanding of exorcism and demons and how they work out of this passage.
That said, taking it with salt, it is fascinating. The idea that demons, cast out, wander around a “waterless” place. That the demon might see us like a “house” that is clean and nice to live in… or not. That they may prefer one dwelling place to another. And that demons might like roomates, bringing seven buddies in. And we do know that multiple demons can afflict or inhabit a person as Legion earlier seemed to have hundreds.
That’s fascinating, and I don’t see any great challenge there with the rest of Scripture’s teaching on the spirit world. So, cautiously, seems like a realistic example to me.
But Jesus’ main point is that something apparently good happened, an evil spirit went out, but the result is worse than the previous condition.
Ask for a Miracle?
Ask for a Miracle?
How is this possibly at all, even remotely an answer to the Pharisees question about wanting a sign? Wanting a miracle?
It is an interesting story about how demons work… but the link is clearly in answer to their question… and he even links it directly here at the end to “so will it be with the evil generation...” which links back to Queen Sheba “condemning this generation” and back to the “Men of Nineveh condemning this generation” and all back to seeking a sign.
They are going to see amazing things. Not just the blind seeing, the lame walk, demons cast out, others resurrected from the dead…
But this generation, in just a year or so, will see Jesus crucified, and then raised bodily from the dead, seen and witnessed by hundreds over the next couple months, then ascending into heaven.
All the things everyone else for the rest of time, forwards and backwards, is going to wish SO hard they could see.
They saw the signs. And they will be held responsible, judged for the truth that they know.
That isn’t a word of comfort, that is mounting evidence against them for NOT recognizing someone greater than Solomon before them. For NOT recognizing the sign of Jonah, the prophet proclaiming repentance. For NOT recognizing Jesus, in the tomb three days and raised from the dead.
So, here’s what I conclude:
Signs are dangerous without repentance.
Signs are dangerous without belief.
In particular:
Religious experiences without receiving the Holy Spirit are spiritually dangerous.
To use the language of Jesus’ parable, he is casting out demons, healing, making a beautiful space in us to dwell.
This warning is to those who are healed, but is particularly directed just at those witnessing the miracles. As if being in the proximity of God’s work alone is carving out space in our soul, in our spirit.
Space intended, by Creation, by our Creator, space intended for God to dwell. For the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, connecting our spirit by His Spirit in eternal relationship.
And, using Jesus’ parable language, being in the space where God is moving is like being on a Home Renovation show. “This Old House” or, I like this name “Fixer to Fabulous!”
God, kicks out every evil influence, makes it “empty, swept and put in order.” I want my house “empty, swept and put in order.” Both my actual and my metaphorical “inside” house.
There’s a New Years Resolution! He makes it a beautiful place for a spirit to live. With the intention of living there Himself. It’s HIS dream house, it’s Fabulous for Him!
This is what Jesus sees in the Scribes and Pharisees. They have already seen and will see more than enough. There question is not that of a sincere seeker, they have already rejected him.
That’s what the “unforgivable sin” was all about in the last section. Purposeful and Persistent rejection of the Holy Spirit.
So he shows them a sign and what next? They still aren’t letting the Spirit in, that’s not it. So it’s only additional danger, additional suffering, possibly additional spiritual affliction / torture, that they are welcoming.
Is Jesus going to do that to them? To no purpose? That isn’t for their good, and that wouldn’t be love.
Religious experiences without receiving the Holy Spirit are spiritually dangerous.
Our Generation
Our Generation
Enough about “their generation.” Okay boomers.
Let’s talk about our generation.
In my day-to-day job, I work for these folks. Logos Bible Study Software. Love my job, love helping pastors and churches, Christians around the world. Absolutely love it.
We are in tons of languages, every platform, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Web… this isn’t an advertisement for Logos. I bring it up to say this: no one in the history of the world to date, has had better and easier access to the Word of God… since the generation that Jesus was talking to who were looking at the Word of God.
Well beyond our little software world, the Bible is translated into very nearly almost every language on the planet. Wycliffe says it’s accessible to 98% of all people, and they are working hard at closing that final gap.
We, in the US, have churches everywhere you go, even in an age where church attendance is dwindling and churches are closing their doors, you have better access to the Word of God, to the Bible itself, and to great teachers of the Bible than ever. YouTube and a discerning spirit is your friend.
It is a beautiful gift. It is also a terrible responsibility. We will be held to account. To whom much is given, much is required.
And God continues to do great works. Great miracles. I bet you’ve seen some. I have seen God work in answer to prayer, celebrating joyously His blessings. Drew is safe and recovering in the hospital. I pray he leaps out of that bed even as we pray for him… and if God chooses to do it slower through his miracle of doctors and nurses, antibiotics and morphone… Amen and Hallelujah!
We are responsible, held accountable, spiritually vulnerable in a way when we see those things.
We want to be spiritually vulnerable, spiritually open and more open… to the Spirit of God.
Holy Spirit, dwell in us!
Holy Spirit, dwell in us!
This is our response. That He would dwell among us and dwell within us.
That He would use every opportunity to clean house and build a dream home.
Use miracles, signs and wonders, yes and Amen!
Use teaching of the Word, reading of the Word, study… use every spiritual discipline to work on us!
Use adversity, persecution even, shape and reshape me!
To make a dwelling place for Yourself, oh Lord!
Use each in it’s season. Shape our church that way. Shape each of us that way.
Let us fill our house with the Spirit of God.
