The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Luke 11:32,
"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."
Jesus spoke these words to a growing crowd. He called them a "wicked generation" because they demanded miraculous signs from him. Apparently, embracing Jesus in faith based on what he had been doing and saying up to this point was not enough and they wanted him to prove himself by performing further miraculous feats.
The further miraculous feats that they demanded would not be coming, save one: his resurrection from the dead, to follow his crucifixion three days prior. This he refers to as "the sign of Jonah". As you recall, Jonah spent three days in the belly of a fish as a sign to the Ninevites, to whom Jonah was enroute to preach. Where the Ninevites repented, Jesus warns they would stand up at the coming judgment and condemn those to whom Jesus spoke because they demanded further evidence. Many would not, and will still not today, turn to him in faith, even despite the proclamation of Jesus' resurrection.
This theme will be repeated by the Lord when he provides the account of a poor, sick beggar named Lazarus and a rich man. In it we learn that Abraham, from paradise, tells the rich man, who is in agony in hell, that if his brothers would not listen to the Scriptures then they won't repent, "even if someone rises from the dead." Luke 16:31.
What is striking to me is the length to which God has gone to draw us all to himself. What more could he have provided us? Jesus came and provided plenty of authenticating proof that he was the Son of God. He fulfilled many passages of prophetic Scripture written centuries prior to his coming to earth, he healed many sick people, he commanded the very elements of the physical world when he turned water to wine, calmed the wind and waves, fed five thousand from next to nothing, raised dead people back to life, cast out evil spirits from people, taught things that transcended anything anyone had ever considered and confounded those who were held in high esteem. Then... he was raised from the dead himself, proving death could not hold him. This, to me, is a great expression of the love God has for us. He as gone well beyond what anyone should expect, to say the least, to draw us to himself!
Man's response? "Show us more!" "Further prove yourself!" "God, you haven't left us enough evidence of yourself!" The deceitful heart of man simply will not embrace God in faith. He demands, requires, that which is beyond the pale to wrest him from his sin to which he clings - to find a place in his heart for the God that loves him so.
Amazing, isn't it?!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
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