Luke 11:29-32 A Warning From Something Greater
Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 11:29-32, that’s on page 870 in the pew Bibles.
We are going to be dealing with a short but difficult passage this morning. Not that it in necessarily difficult to understand but it will cause us great difficulty if we ignore it.
You may remember from last week, the last statement of Jesus in that text when a woman in the crowd cried out, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But He said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!”
That’s exactly what we are going to be dealing with this morning, hearing the Word of God and keeping it. Let’s look at our passage together.
29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32 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.
Let’s pray.
So just as a point of interest before we get going, verse 28 shows what Jesus’ view on the worship of Mary is, that anyone who hears the Word of God and keeps it is better off than her. I think that point is not insignificant especially for those who struggle with Romans Catholic doctrine. I won’t go any further into it than that here but I thought that it was worth mentioning.
The key statement that Jesus makes is, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.”
Jesus deals mostly in His earthly ministry with people who have heard the Word of God. The Jews are God’s covenant people, they have the Law and the Prophets, story after story of God’s faithfulness despite their constant wandering away from Him. In the Old Testament there is more than enough information to point people to faith in the coming Redeemer, the Messiah, that we now know is Jesus.
The whole Old Testament is about Jesus, His person and His work, and people’s need for Him and His saving atoning death and resurrection. It’s all there if you are willing to see it.
But the people that Jesus was dealing with, though they knew the Word of God were not willing to see it that way and if Jesus really was who He said He was then He would have to prove it by signs and wonders.
Do you really think for one second that these people would have believed even if He did give them a sign? He wasn’t the kind of Messiah they wanted, they wanted freedom from Rome not freedom from sin.
Jesus had already cast out demons, healed the sick, given sight to the blind, and voice to the mute, what else could He do to prove Himself?
Well, He did have one big sign yet to come.
29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
We sing the song, Christ the true and better Adam, Christ the true and better Isaac, Christ the true and better Moses. Christ is also the true and better Jonah.
So what do we know about Jonah? Jonah was a reluctant prophet, you can read about him in his very own book called, “Jonah.” But in summary, Jonah was called by God to go to one of Israel’s enemies, the Ninevites, known for their wickedness and violent ways, and preach repentance to them.
Jonah, instead of being faithful to the call of God went in the other direction and boarded a boat heading away from Nineveh. A violent storm kicked up and the sailors cast lots to see which of them God was mad at so that they could throw them overboard and save the ship and crew. The lot fell to Jonah and they threw him overboard and the ship was saved. Jonah, however was swallowed by a great fish and spent three days and three nights in its belly.
Here is Jonah chapter two.
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. 3 For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ 5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
Jonah then goes to Nineveh and preaches repentance to the people even though he still didn’t want to preach to them, and after he does preach to them he hopes they don’t repent, and sits on a hilltop and sulks waiting for God to punish them for not repenting. But instead they repent and turn to God for the forgiveness of their sin.
Now there’s clearly some differences between Jonah and Jesus as well as the crowd Jonah preached to and the crowd Jesus preached to.
Where Jonah was reluctant Jesus was willing. Where Jonah was a foreigner to the Ninevites, Jesus was a countryman to the Jews.
But the similarities were that Jonah and Jesus both preached repentance and faith in God. Matthew 12:39-40 says, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 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.”
John Calvin wrote, “Having spoken of the Ninevites, Christ takes occasion to show that the Scribes and others, by whom His doctrine is rejected, are worse than the Ninevites were. ‘Ungodly men,’ He says, ‘who never had heard a word of the true God, repented at the voice of an unknown and foreign person to them; while this country, which is the sanctuary of heavenly doctrine, hears not the Son of God and the Promised Redeemer.”
There is no record of Jonah telling anyone in Nineveh about his miraculous three day fish ride. If he, in fact, did not tell them the story the Ninevites repented upon his preaching alone. But even if he did tell them about it, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead was still a greater miracle yet the Scribes and Pharisees still did not believe Him.
Jesus tells of the sign of Jonah, meaning His resurrection yet to come, but He also mentions the Queen of the South in verse 31.
31 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
This is a reference to an account recorded in 1 Kings 10.
Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. 2 She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with 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. 3 And Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. 4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, 5 the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her.
6 And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, 7 but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard. 8 Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 9 Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.” 10 Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices and precious stones. Never again came such an abundance of spices as these that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
The Queen of Sheba, the Queen of the South, some scholars believe this to be modern-day Yemen, a thousand miles away, travelled all that way to hear Solomon’s wisdom.
The scholars say that in Jesus’ day Solomon stood in an almost unearthly glory before the eyes of Jesus’ contemporaries. And now, says Jesus, One greater than Solomon is here. Solomon stood as a national hero and now something greater was there right in front of them but they still rejected Him.
Where the Queen of Sheba had to travel over a thousand miles to hear Solomon’s wisdom, Jesus was right there in their midst already, He came to them with more wisdom than Solomon could ever imagine. The Queen of Sheba will rise up at the judgment and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon’s wisdom, she listened to him but they rejected the One who is greater than Solomon.
Verse 32 says, 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.
Violent heathens repented while God’s covenant people hardened their hearts. Gentile Queens of the South listened to the Word of the Lord while God’s chosen people rejected it.
So what’s the point, what are we supposed to take away from this?
As Calvin wrote, “If that nation was convicted of desperate ungodliness for despising Christ while He spoke to them on earth, we are worse than all unbelievers that ever existed if the Son of God, now that He inhabits His sanctuary in heaven and addresses us with a heavenly voice, does not bring us to obey Him.”
Today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts!
Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!
Amen.
