A Condemning Sign
Introduction: The Demand for Fireworks
We live in an age that is spiritually bored, and a bored man is a demanding man. He wants to be entertained. He wants a show. When it comes to God, he wants signs and wonders, but on his own terms. He wants a faith that comes with fireworks, a personal miracle that will settle the question for him without requiring the untidy business of repentance. He stands with his arms crossed, tapping his foot, and says to the Almighty, "Impress me." This is not the posture of a humble seeker; it is the posture of a judge, and the one in the dock is God Himself.
This is precisely the scene we find in our text. The crowds are swelling around Jesus. They have seen Him heal the sick, cast out demons, and teach with an authority that left the scribes in the dust. The evidence is overwhelming. But for a wicked and adulterous heart, no amount of evidence is ever enough. So they press in, demanding a sign. It is a demand born not of a desire to believe, but of a desire to find a reason not to. It is the lust for a loophole. Jesus' response is not to perform another trick for them. His response is to diagnose their disease. The problem is not a lack of light from heaven, but a profound darkness in their hearts.
Jesus tells them they will get a sign, but it will not be the kind they want. It will not be a sign that entertains them. It will be a sign that condemns them. It will be a sign that reveals their hearts for what they are, and it will be a sign that calls pagan idolaters from centuries past to stand as witnesses for the prosecution on the day of judgment.
The Text
Now as the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
“No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light, but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore watch out that the light in you is not darkness. If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.”
(Luke 11:29-36 LSB)
The Sign That Judges (vv. 29-30)
Jesus begins with a blunt diagnosis.
"This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation." (Luke 11:29-30)
The wickedness of this generation is located precisely in its sign-seeking. Why is this wicked? Because it is a form of rebellion disguised as pious inquiry. They are demanding that God audition for them. But God does not audition. He reigns. The sign they will receive is the sign of Jonah. Now, what is this sign? It has two fundamental layers.
The first layer is the preaching of repentance. Jonah walked into the pagan capital of Nineveh, a city steeped in cruelty and idolatry, and he preached a stark message of judgment. And what happened? The Ninevites repented. The sign was the message itself, which carried divine power. Jesus is saying, "I am preaching to you. The words I speak are the sign." The sign is the call to turn from your sin and believe. For the Ninevites, the sign was the prophet who appeared in their midst calling for repentance. For this generation, the sign is the Son of Man Himself, present and preaching.
The second layer, which Matthew's gospel makes explicit, is the resurrection. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. This is the ultimate, non-negotiable, take-it-or-leave-it sign. God is not going to be performing parlor tricks for every generation of skeptics. He has appointed one great, public, historical miracle as the foundation of everything: the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. If that happened, then Christianity is true. If it did not, we are, as Paul says, of all men most to be pitied. This is the sign that divides all of history and every human soul. You either bow to the risen Lord, or you are crushed by the evidence you refuse to see.
Pagan Witnesses (vv. 31-32)
Jesus then turns the tables. He puts this wicked generation on trial and calls two sets of surprising witnesses against them: pagan Gentiles.
"The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them... The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it..." (Luke 11:31-32 LSB)
First, the Queen of the South. She heard rumors of Solomon's wisdom, and she traveled from the ends of the earth, a long and arduous journey, to hear it for herself. She recognized a gift from God in Solomon and sought it out. But Jesus says, "And behold, something greater than Solomon is here." Solomon had wisdom from God; Jesus is the wisdom of God incarnate. Solomon built a temple for God; Jesus is the Temple. The Queen's earnest seeking for a lesser light will condemn the casual indifference of those who had the true Light standing right in front of them.
Second, the men of Nineveh. These were Assyrians, the brutal enemies of Israel. They heard a five-word sermon from a reluctant prophet and the entire city, from the king down to the cattle, repented in sackcloth and ashes. Their repentance was immediate, corporate, and radical. But Jesus says, "And behold, something greater than Jonah is here." Jonah was a sinful man who ran from God. Jesus is the sinless Son who perfectly obeys the Father. The Ninevites repented at the preaching of a lesser messenger. This generation refuses to repent at the preaching of the King Himself. The swift repentance of pagans will condemn the stubborn unbelief of the covenant people.
The principle is this: with greater revelation comes greater responsibility. And on the day of judgment, those who did more with less light will be witnesses against those who did less with more.
The Faulty Eye (vv. 33-36)
So, if the sign is so clear, why can't they see it? Jesus answers this with a parable about light and sight.
"No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar... The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light, but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness." (Luke 11:33-34 LSB)
The problem is not the lamp. God has lit the lamp. Christ, the light of the world, has come. The revelation is not hidden in a cellar; it is public, blazing on a lampstand for all to see. The problem is not the availability of the light. The problem is the faculty of vision. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is "clear" or "good," it lets the light in, and your whole life is illuminated. But if your eye is "bad," then no matter how brightly the lamp shines, your world is darkness.
What makes an eye "good" or "bad"? This is not about optometry; it is about the heart. A good eye is a heart that is humble, repentant, and single-minded in its desire for God's truth. A bad eye is a heart that is proud, self-righteous, and double-minded. It is an eye that is looking for excuses, for loopholes, for a way to manage God instead of submitting to Him. The sign-seekers had bad eyes. The light was shining, but their hearts were opaque with pride and unbelief. The fault was not in the Son, but in their own souls.
The Light That Is Darkness (v. 35)
Then Jesus delivers the most chilling warning in the entire passage.
"Therefore watch out that the light in you is not darkness." (Luke 11:35 LSB)
This is a terrifying possibility. It is one thing to be in the dark and know you are in the dark. It is another thing entirely to be in the dark and believe you are in the light. This was the precise condition of the Pharisees. They had the Scriptures. They had the law. They had their traditions and their religious observances. This was their "light." But this very light had become a source of profound, impenetrable darkness. Their knowledge of the Bible made them arrogant. Their religious performance made them self-righteous. They used their theology as a club to beat others and as a shield to protect their own sin.
This is the ultimate self-deception. When the very thing you count as your righteousness is in fact your rebellion, you are utterly lost. When your Bible reading, your church attendance, and your moral efforts serve only to blind you to your desperate need for a Savior, then your light is the worst kind of darkness. It is a darkness that masquerades as light, and it will keep you from ever seeing the true Light of the World.
But the promise is there for the one with a good eye.
"If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.” (Luke 11:36 LSB)
When your heart is rightly oriented to God, when your eye is clear and fixed on Christ, your whole life becomes flooded with light. There are no dark corners, no hidden rooms where you keep your pet sins. Everything is brought out into the open and illuminated by the grace of God. This is not a call to sinless perfection, but a call to single-minded honesty before God. It is the blessed state of the man who has stopped pretending, stopped demanding, and has simply opened his eyes to the glorious light of the gospel shining in the face of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
The sign has been given. It is the person and work of Jesus Christ, climaxing in His death and resurrection. This sign does not entertain; it divides. It is a sign that calls for repentance.
The question for us is the same one that faced the crowd. It is not, "Has God given us enough evidence?" The evidence is a mountain. The question is, "What kind of eyes do we have?" Are we coming to the Scriptures and to Christ with the bad eye of a sign-seeker, demanding that God prove Himself on our terms? Or are we coming with the good eye of a humble sinner, asking God to have mercy and to let His light shine in?
Beware of the light that is darkness. Beware of a religion that makes you proud. Beware of a righteousness that has no room for the righteousness of Christ. Turn from your demands. Repent of your unbelief. Ask God to forgive you for your spiritual blindness, and to give you a good eye, that you might see the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. For He is the only sign you will ever be given, and He is the only sign you will ever need.