The Nation in Rejection

Transcript

GR 690
11/11/1984
The Nation in Rejection
Matthew 12:38-50
Gil Rugh

This is a pivotal chapter in Matthew’s presentation of Jesus as the Messiah of Israel. In this chapter it has become crystal clear that the nation of Israel has rejected Christ as their Messiah and the kingdom He has offered to establish for them. In Matthew 12:14, Matthew recorded the plan of the Jews to destroy Christ: “But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.”
It is in this section also that Christ speaks of the condemnation upon the nation for rej ecting the truth He has presented. The spiritual deterioration that characterizes the nation at this time in Christ’s ministry is true even today. But in the midst of the rejection of the Messiah, He is telling Israel that the individuals in the nation have a glorious opportunity to become members of His family. In spite of the rejection by the nation, any individuals who are willing to believe in Him can be part of the spiritual family He is establishing.
Matthew 12:38 begins a section that focuses around the sign Israel desires. During His earthly ministry, Christ has done many varied miracles. Beginning in Matthew 12:9, Matthew recorded the healing of the man’s withered hand, and in Matthew 12:22, he recorded the healing of a man who was speechless and blind, two mighty unquestionable miracles. In addition to these, there have been many other miracles. Christ has walked on the sea, He has calmed the storm, He has cast out demons, He has healed all kinds of physical affliction and He has miraculously fed multitudes, yet they want more.
The Jews came to Him saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you” (v. 38). That is a statement of bold unbelief. By that request they are telling Him that all the miracles He has done up to this point are unacceptable to them and have not changed their minds in the least. In fact, after the first of those miracles, verse 14 indicates that the Pharisees went out and took counsel together on how they might destroy Him. But now the Pharisees are telling Him that they want Him to do something really significant and spectacular.
After considering the miracles Christ has already done, it is hard to imagine what they could have wanted. Maybe they wanted Him to call thousands of angels to fill the skies so they could all see them, or perhaps they wanted Him to split open the heavens so they could look right into the throne room of God. Their request makes you wonder what they are really asking for. But Jesus makes it clear that they are not looking for a sign at all. They are actually expressing the unbelief of their hearts and making it clear that they have rejected everything He has said and done up to this point.
Note Jesus’ response in verse 39: “But He answered and said to them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.’” The very fact that they are seeking for a sign is an indication that they are an evil and adulterous generation, a description of the character of their hearts and their relationship with God. This description draws from an analogy which is prevalent in the Old Testament of Israel as the wife of Jehovah who has pursued other gods and been unfaithful to Jehovah. These people would understand very well the analogy Jesus is using when He describes them as an adulterous people.

The fact that they are asking for a sign from God is an indication that the Word of God is not sufficient for them. They must have something spectacular, thrilling and sensational if it is to make any impact upon them.
Jesus brings together these two ideas in Luke 11:28 and 29: “But He said, ‘On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.’ As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, ‘This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah.’” Jesus is saying that those who hear God’s Word and observe it are blessed, but those who seek for a sign are a wicked generation because they are saying that God’s Word is not sufficient and that they need something spectacular. That is a characteristic of people who are living in unbelief with hardened hearts.
Luke 16 records the account of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man, being in torment in Hades, cried out for someone to be sent back to the earth to his family to tell them about the awfulness of the torment awaiting those who do not believe. The account continues in Luke 16:29-31: “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’” It does not matter how spectacular the miracle may be. If people will not believe the truth of the Word of God, no spectacular miracle will change their minds. The issue is one of unbelief and hardness of heart.
The earthly ministry of Christ demonstrates this principle very clearly. Yet the Jews continually looked for signs. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:22-24: “For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Even though the Jews’ wanted a spectacular sign and the Greeks’ wanted displays of intellect, Paul said he simply preached the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified.
It is good to be reminded that today we live in an evil and adulterous generation that also craves after the spectacular. People worship human intellect and run after supposed supernatural, thrilling, exciting events. Sometimes believers are influenced by that, but it is important to remember that the Word of God is sufficient. Those who will not believe the Word will not believe a special sign. The reason they do not believe the Word is because of basic unbelief in their hearts. The issue is not a lack of evidence or of special miracles, but rather of unbelief toward the revelation that God has given of Himself.
Jesus says in Matthew 12 that only one sign will be given, the sign of Jonah the prophet. “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (v. 40). The Old Testament Book of Jonah gives the account of how Jonah, a prophet and the son of Amittai, was told to go to Nineveh and prophesy against that city. Nineveh was a great city of Assyria and was destined in a short time to become the capital of that empire. Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh, so he got in a boat going the opposite direction. God told Jonah to go east to Nineveh, but instead he went west toward Tarshish. While on the way, a storm came up. In the midst of the storm when everybody on the boat was in turmoil and panic, Jonah was sleeping in the heart of the ship. It is interesting to me that there are times when believers who are involved in sin say they have perfect peace about it. That means nothing. Jonah had such peace about his circumstances that he was sleeping through a storm that was causing great fear for everyone else. Yet Jonah was running from God and he knew it. Having peace about a matter has nothing to do with whether you are obeying God or being rebellious against Him.
At any rate Jonah knew God was chasing him, so he told the people on the ship that in order to calm the storm, they should throw him overboard. When they did, the storm was calmed. “And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:17).
It is not known if this was a whale or not. The Scripture simply says it was a great fish. This may have been a fish specially prepared by God for Jonah; or it may have been a whale. I have accounts in my files of men who were swallowed by whales and lived. One particular man spent three days in the belly of a whale. That whale, after being caught by whalers, was sliced open, and the man was still alive inside the whale. After a few days of running around out of his mind, the man came back to his senses and spent a good part of his life touring the world in a circus relating his account. So such an event can happen. Whether this was actually a whale that swallowed Jonah does not really matter. Whatever it was, Jonah spent three days and three nights in its belly. Jonah had plenty of time to be alone with the Lord without any outside interruptions!
Jonah, as is the common practice when disaster comes, found time for prayer. “I called out of my distress to the Lord, and He answered me” (Jonah 2:2). Basically Jonah is saying, “Lord, I have reconsidered. I think going to Nineveh would be a good idea!"
Jonah found out that there were worse places in the world than Nineveh. In succeeding verses of Jonah 2, he describes his situation as he was cast into the depths of the sea. “For You had cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me” (v. 3). He picturesquely describes his condition in verse 5: “Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, weeds were wrapped around my head.” He tells about descending to the roots of the mountains in verse 6 and continues to describe his prayer in verse 7: “While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple.” The Lord answered Jonah’s prayer in verse 10: “Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.” By this point Jonah has decided that it would be better to go east than to go west, so he set out for Nineveh.
The point of the comparison between the events of Jonah’s life and what Christ is saying in Matthew 12 relates to Jonah’s being three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. Christ assumes the reality and validity of that account without any questions at all. If you believe in God, you believe in a God who has intervened in the events of human beings and so you have no problem with the account of Jonah.
I do not know why those who would try to explain away the events of Jonah’s life do not do something honest for a living. If God cannot do the supernatural, then He is not much of a God. The accounts some people write trying to explain away these events amaze me. Yet, Christ accepts this as fact. He uses it as a point of comparison.
That is one reason why the Devil tries so hard to explain away the events of the Book of Jonah. If Jonah really was not three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, then maybe the Son of Man was not three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Once you begin rejecting the Word and trying to explain away the facts of Scripture, it all begins to crumble. You cannot take the supernatural out of the Word of God.
Another question often comes up in this regard, one which I will mention but not resolve. Was Christ in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights? Tradition indicates that He was crucified on Friday. That means He was in the heart of the earth Friday night and Saturday night and was raised on Sunday. The Scripture does not say that the Son of Man was three days and two nights in the heart of the earth, so that does not fit.
There are a couple of possibilities that could resolve this question. This study will not seek to determine which is the correct view but will consider the possibilities.
The first possibility involves Christ’s being in the tomb part of three days. The Jewish way of reckoning time meant that the phrase, “a day and a night," was the same as referring to a day as a period of time. Today we sometimes refer to an event which goes on “day and night," referring to a period of time we know of as a day. If a Jew referred to night and day or day and night, he was referring to that block of time as a day. Part of a day could be referred to as a day and a night. The Jews would have no problem with such an expression.
Another possibility was that Christ was crucified on a day other than Friday. In other words, He could have been crucified on Wednesday or Thursday. There are a variety of ways to explain the time and still accept the validity of the statement.
There are some commentators who interpret it otherwise. William Barclay simply said, “Matthew was wrong. ” He is saying that Matthew did not understand what Christ was saying. That amazes me. Matthew was there when Christ said it, yet William Barclay says two thousand years later that Matthew misunderstood. Who is the dummy, Matthew or William? Incidentally, William Barclay now knows that Matthew was right. He passed away three years ago!
Jesus is prophesying His resurrection in Matthew 12:40. He is telling them that He will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, then there will be a spectacular sign: the resurrection. That is the sign which will be given to the nation, and to the whole world, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior of the world. For all people of all times who will ask for a sign from God, no sign will be given except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Christ was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, then He was raised to glory by the Father. That is the spectacular demonstration from God that Jesus is who He claimed to be and who Scripture says He is. That is the point of what Abraham told the rich man in Luke 16. If people do not believe Moses and the prophets-those things which are written in the Word of God-they will not believe even if one is raised from the dead. That fact was so clearly demonstrated when Christ died on a cross and was buried and raised again on the third day, yet the nation Israel did not turn to Jesus Christ as the Savior. They asked for a great sign. The sign was given and fulfilled, yet they did not believe.
The same is true of people today. Are they turning en masse to Jesus Christ because God has given such a great demonstration of power by raising His Son from the dead? Just ask most people on the street today and they will tell you they do not believe it. In spite of the tremendous sign given of Christ’s resurrection, people still do not believe the Word of God. They find a reason to reject it just like the Jews of Jesus’ time did. Even though they could not answer the questions raised by the miracle or explain what happened, they still rejected the sign that was given.
The issue is not a sign or a lack of signs. The issue is a heart set against God in unbelief. Such a person is really saying that it does not matter what God does, He is not going to believe it. If a person does not believe the Word of God, neither will he believe a sign.
This focus on the resurrection of Jesus Christ becomes the heart of the apostolic preaching after Christ’s resurrection. Some examples from the Book of Acts will illustrate this.
Peter, referring to Christ on the Day of Pentecost, preached in Acts 2:23-24, “This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again.” There is the great demonstration that the Jews were looking for, a sign that would be given them by God to prove that Jesus was who He said He was. Peter continued in verse 32, “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.” With all of the witnesses available to attest to the resurrection, there is no question that His was indeed a genuine resurrection.
Peter was again the spokesman in Acts 3:14-15: “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.”
Peter and the apostles reminded the Jews of their part in Christ’s death and of the fact of His resurrection in Acts 5:30-31: “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” The emphasis on the resurrection in that passage is very clear.
The resurrection of Christ is also clearly attested to in Acts 10:40: “God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible.” The results are seen in verse 43: “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” The resurrection is taken to be the great sign from God that Jesus is indeed the Savior, the Messiah. He is the One in whom men must believe in order to have the forgiveness of sins. The resurrection testifies to that fact, so people today need no longer run around looking for miracles. Jesus stated clearly in Matthew 12:39 that no sign would be given other than the sign of Jonah the prophet.
We need to be careful about this pursuit of miracles that is so prevalent in our day. Jesus said that such a desire for signs is an indication that the people requesting such signs are godless people. Some people complain that the miracle of the resurrection happened two thousand years ago, therefore, people do not believe it today because it happened so long ago. Remember, people did not believe it two thousand years ago when it happened. The issue is not a sign. The issue is a heart hardened against God.
The issue of the resurrection comes up again and again through Paul’s writings. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul writes that the gospel he preaches is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that if Jesus Christ has not been raised from the dead, then our faith is empty and worthless and we are still in our sins. The resurrection is crucial. It is the great testimony from God that Christ is the Savior, the One in whom forgiveness is found. The writer of Hebrews closes the Book of Hebrews by offering a doxology concerning the great God who has brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep and raised Him up.
With Israel’s failure to accept the Messiah as their Savior, Jesus moves on to describe the condemnation that will be pronounced on Israel as a result of their rejection. In Matthew 12:41-42, Jesus speaks to the issue of Israel’s condemnation, tying it first to the condemnation the Israelites will receive from the people of Jonah’s time, then referring to the condemnation they will receive from the Queen of Sheba.
Jesus said in Matthew 12:41, “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh because he knew the people would be saved under his preaching. Usually the reason people do not want to go preach somewhere is because they think the people will not be saved. But Jonah knew they would be saved, so he did not want to go and preach to them.
Nineveh was a large city, estimated to have had about 600,000 people in Jonah’s day. That was a big city! Jonah walked to the middle of the city and began to preach. Do you know what happened? People got saved. Everybody from the king on down repented in sackcloth and ashes, acknowledging their sinfulness before God and begging for forgiveness. God always shows mercy on those who submit themselves to Him. So He showed mercy on those people and spared the city. As a result, Jonah was all bent out of shape. He told God that was the reason he did not want to come to Nineveh in the first place-he knew God was going to save the people and he did not want them to be saved.
Jesus says that the men of Nineveh will stand up at the Day of Judgment and condemn Israel. A mere prophet of God walked into that pagan, godless, Gentile city and preached. That resulted in the whole city prostrating itself in repentance before God. But the Son of God Himself came to the nation chosen by God, a nation rich with all of its history of revelation from God. As the Son of God stood in the midst of this nation presenting Himself as their Messiah, they rejected him. Yet Christ’s ministry as Messiah is greater than the ministry Jonah had. “And behold, something greater than Jonah is here” (Matt. 12:41). The people of Nineveh repented, yet Israel rej ected Christ. Therefore, the people of Nineveh will condemn Israel for their rejection of their Messiah.
The second condemnation that Christ mentions is from the Queen of Sheba, “the Queen of the South” (v. 42). This queen heard of the greatness of Solomon and went to visit him to see his greatness. As she viewed the wisdom and wealth of Solomon, she acknowledged the greatness of the God of Israel, Solomon’s God, and recognized His power and salvation. All kinds of accounts have been made up about the Queen of Sheba and her relationship with King Solomon. One of the accounts even claims that they had children together. If you read this story with your imagination running, you can build all kinds of beautiful stories around it.
This queen traveled twelve hundred miles from the south up to Jerusalem because she had heard so much about Solomon that she decided to go see for herself what was true. The incident is recorded in 1 Kings 10: “Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with
difficult questions. So she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices and very much gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart”
(vs. 1,2). As she spoke to Solomon, he answered all her questions and revealed to her his wealth. Verses 4 and 5 say that when Solomon answered all her questions and revealed his tremendous wealth to her, “there was no more spirit in her” (v. 5). She was completely overwhelmed by it all.
Her response is recorded in verses 6 and 7: “Then she said to the king, ‘It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. Nevertheless I did not believe the reports, until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard.”
This indicates something about the wisdom and wealth of Solomon. It is a known fact that stories are often exaggerated. The queen probably thought she was hearing exaggerated stories of Solomon’s greatness. But after traveling twelve hundred miles on a camel to see the splendor of this great king, she responded, “They didn’t even tell me half of it! ” This pagan queen was so amazed at Solomon’s wisdom and wealth that she concluded that it must be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had done this for Solomon. “Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel; because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness” (v. 9).
In the context of Matthew 12, the One who made Solomon the wisest man and who established him on the throne and gave him his wealth is standing in bodily form before the nation Israel, yet they are rejecting Him and His ministry. Is it any wonder that the Queen of Sheba will stand up and condemn them in the Day of Judgment? She was converted through the ministry of Solomon, and here the God of Solomon Himself is present in bodily form, yet the nation Israel has rejected Him. As a result, they will be condemned in judgment.
In light of Israel’s being exposed to this great truth, Christ now wants to talk about a danger for Israel. The danger is that their situation will deteriorate. In describing this danger He uses the analogy of a demon who moves out of a person’s body for a while. Since the demon is there alone, he is probably lonely and thinks he can find a better place to live. So the demon leaves the person’s body and goes out to wander through desert regions where no satisfactory place to dwell can be found. “Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order” (Matt. 12:43,44).
While the demon was away, the body he left has been cleaned up and put in order. The place has been renovated, so it looks pretty good now. So the demon goes and gets seven other demons worse than him and tells them that he has found a place they can all live together. “Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation” (v. 45). When those demons move back into that body, the state of the person is worse than before the demon left.
The point being made is that mere moral reformation does not help at all. The nation had been prepared for the coming of the Messiah. They had the Law to serve as their schoolmaster. “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24). The nation of Israel had many prophets who continually warned the nation about its sin and promised the coming Messiah. The nation had experienced the Babylonian Captivity which God used to rid the nation of its idolatry. John the Baptist had come and prepared the nation for the coming of the Messiah, and the Messiah Himself had come and preached the message of repentance to them. The nation had been prepared, it had been swept and made ready, but now they were saying no to the power and grace of God to work in their lives. As a result, they would be left empty and void of the power of God, meaning that they would deteriorate and that their situation would become even worse.
The last statement of Matthew 12:45 indicates that this is the way it will be with the generation of Jesus’ day: “That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.” When Jesus was walking with them on earth, they acknowledged that the Lord God was one God. They acknowledged the truth of the Old Testament Scriptures even though they did not submit themselves to that truth as they should. What has happened to the nation now?
Israelites today are basically an agnostic or atheistic people who reject even their Old Testament Scriptures. They are further from God now than they were two thousand years ago when the prophecy of Christ had come true. They were swept and cleaned, and their lives had been prepared for the Messiah, but they said no to Him. Then the demons just came back and moved in. They had nothing but their religious formality and traditions. Worse things have moved in and taken over. The people are so far removed from God that it will take the Tribulation itself to drive them to their knees and bring them back to God.
This is the picture Christ is drawing for Israel. The nation will be condemned in judgment and will go from bad to worse. Their situation will deteriorate drastically.
If this had been the end of God’s dealing with Israel, you would say this was truly a hopeless situation. The Messiah is going to be executed. Yet there is victory here because He is going to be raised from the dead as a great sign, but that sign comes after it is too late. There is irony in the fact that the sign that will be given to the nation after the kingdom is rejected and there is no hope for it to be established on that occasion. The Messiah has been turned away. He has been raised from the dead, but He has returned to the Father. They will come under condemnation at the Judgment for rejecting such light, and their situation will deteriorate.
In the midst of this, an incident occurs which causes Jesus to announce opportunities to the individual members of the nation to become a part of the family of God. In the midst of what would seem to be gloom and despair, the mercy and grace of God appears. There is hope for the person who is willing to do the will of God to become part of God’s family even though the nation has rejected the Messiah and is destined to deterioration.
The incident which gives the good news is recorded at the close of Matthew 12. Jesus’ mother Mary is present along with His half-brothers and half-sisters, the children of Mary and Joseph born after the birth of Christ. “While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him” (v. 46).
This incident will put things in proper perspective showing that where salvation is concerned, physical relationships do not matter. Whether one is related to Christ as a member of His physical family or a member of His nation does not matter. What matters is a spiritual relationship with Him. This should speak volumes about praying to Mary. There are those who teach that intimacy with Christ is available by praying to Mary who will then supposedly go to Christ on their behalf because she is His mother.
The account continues in verse 47 and 48: “Someone said to Him, ‘Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.’ But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, ‘Who is My mother and who are My brothers?’” He is telling them that they are misunderstanding what really matters. Jesus was not telling them to disregard their physical family relationships. He provided for Mary at the cross as an indication that He was not disregarding her needs. Yet without being disrespectful, He is driving home the point that her physical relationship with Him is secondary to the spiritual relationship. He is saying that the spiritual relationship is what makes His family, not physical ties.
In Matthew 12:49-50, Jesus presents a gracious opportunity. “And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, ‘Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.’” There are no restraints or limits in these verses. Note the inclusion of the word “whoever.” The nation has rejected Him as their Messiah. He is destined for the cross and the nation is destined for judgment. But Jesus is telling them that whoever wants to be part of His family still has opportunities. Anyone who wants to know the intimacy of a family relationship with Him can have it. He says that our relationship with Him is not a matter of physical birth, it is a matter of spiritual birth. Whoever will do the will of His Father in heaven is the one who is part of His family. Jesus is saying that those who are believers in Him are part of His family.
You could read these verses and get confused. You could think that He is saying that you must work in order to be a part of His family. You might conclude that you must do your best, try your hardest, be a good religious person and clean up your life in order to be part of His family. No, that would be the same approach Israel had taken. They tried to observe all kinds of religious traditions. They had swept their lives clean, but that is not what Jesus wanted them to do.
Jesus lays out the will of God in John 6:40: “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” You must confront the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and believe in Him in order to have eternal life. By so doing, you become a permanent part of His family, a child of God. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). In his first epistle, John stated it as a command. “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 3:23). The will of God is very simple: believe in His Son.
What excuses do we have for not believing? The only sign that will be given and that has been given is the sign of Jonah the prophet. Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross, buried in the tomb for three days, and at the end of that time He was gloriously raised to life as God’s testimony to the world that this is His Son. His death has secured forgiveness for all who will believe in Him. What a tragedy that Israel did not take advantage of this opportunity. But what mercy in the midst of judgment that Jesus would say that anyone who wants a family relationship with Him is welcome to have it. Simply do the will of His Father and believe in Him as God’s Son, the Savior of the world.
This spiritual relationship takes precedence over everything else. We believers need to be mindful of this all the time. Where do you find your worth and significance? It is not in the physical relationships you have here. It is not in the possessions you have or the influence or power you might acquire. Your worth and significance as a person is found in the fact that you belong to Jesus Christ and are a child of God. The significance of that fact is that I am privileged to enjoy the intimacy of a relationship with Him. It does not really matter what my physical family is like, what my material possessions are or how much influence I have. What really makes a difference is that I am a child of God.
Much has been written today about personal worth and self-esteem. True personal worth and self-esteem are found in that personal family relationship with God. That is what gives me my significance and worth as a person-I belong to God. I am His child, not because I am better than someone else, but because of the gracious opportunity He gave me in Christ. Anyone who believes in Him can be brought into a family relationship with God Himself. That is why we do not go to Christ through any other intermediary. We do not go to Christ through any great saint, not through His mother and not through the disciples. Hebrews 4:16 says that we can come with boldness to the throne of grace through Christ. That is where we get whatever we need. We are members of His family.
No child needs to ask someone else to appeal to his own father for him. The child is free to go to his father himself. In the same way, believers are part of the family of God. It is amazing that we can have that kind of relationship with God. It boggles my mind to sit down, prop up my feet and remind myself that I am a member of God’s family. As His child I am destined to enjoy His presence forever.
If that is not your experience, you need to zero in on the gracious opportunity that Christ gives at the end of Matthew 12 for whoever will do the will of His Father in heaven. It is just that simple.