The Sign

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

THE SIGN

Luke 11:29-36

29 As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. 33 "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36 Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you." 

NIV

It is straightforward that Jonah was in the belly of that large fish for three days and then resurrected, as it were, on the shore. We know that Jonah prayed in the fish for three days and three nights, using the term Sheol. This was the sign to the people that Jesus would be in the grave for three days and three nights, as he said he would also be a sign to this generation. And a sign of the resurrection he was. Although through the cross, the shed blood of Jesus our sins our swept away, forgiven once and for all, it is the resurrection that gives us the assurance that we too will rise from the grave and live in a new gloried body forever and ever. Then, Jesus gave us that other sign in his ascension for not only will we be resurrected from the grave, but we will ascend into heaven. We do have the whole of scripture as a way to know the character of God, to be able to grasp His majesty and holiness and how he deals with his creation with justice, or truth and grace. Yet, the people of Nineveh are also a sign to this wicked generation, whom we were a member of before our repentance and accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. The sign of Nineveh is repentance. In the Hebrew, it says they turned from their evil ways, changed the way they were thinking, and turned to God. This is the Greek word meaning repent as in change the way of thinking. Once we thought of only satisfying our evil desires, but now we have repented, changed the way we think, and now we want to satisfy the desires of God. Do we miss that mark? Yes, but it is not our desire. We just have not and will not be able to attain the absolute perfection and holiness of God while in this corruptible and perishable body, no matter how much effort we put toward fulfilling the desire of God. However, He is able, for He is the one who started this great work within us, and He is the one who will complete this work in us, as one day we will raise glorified, in an incorruptible and imperishable body in all the perfection God desires us to be. Why some cannot see the sign of Jonah and the sign of Jesus is beyond our comprehension, but then we have seen the Light.