WHENEVER Jesus preached he collected a crowd of people. They came expecting a miracle, which Jesus calls here a sign. The crowd was always seeking to see Jesus do something more spectacular than he had done before. The trouble was that they sought for a sign, but they had no intention of benefiting by such a sign. They had made up their minds that Jesus was unacceptable to them. Jesus saw their thinking and attitude, and he rebukes this unbelief. Jesus told the crowd that they would not be given a sign except the sign of the prophet Jonah. The sign of the prophet Jonah was his miraculous resurrection from drowning through being swallowed by a big fish, and then vomited up alive on dry land. This was a type of Christ whose resurrection is and was a powerful miraculous sign, testifying to Jesus as the Messiah and Saviour. Jesus goes on to explain that the unbelief and rejection of him as their promised Messiah would bring down upon that generation the condemnation and judgement of the Queen of Sheba who came to see Solomon, and the people of Nineveh who repented at the preaching of Jonah. They responded positively to the signs they were given, and now the Jews, specially in their leaders, were totally rejecting one greater than Solomon or Jonah, even the Son of God, their Messiah, who would give them a greater sign, even his own resurrection. Even with such a spectacular and glorious sign of such meaning, the Jews still refused to believe on Jesus as their Saviour and Messiah.

What do we learn from the teaching of Jesus here? We learn a great deal. In the first place we learn of the certainty and reality of the last judgement, when Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. In speaking of 'The judgement' Jesus is showing that the last judgement at the end of this world of time is a certain fact, and it is folly to live without regard to this terrible day. The reason is that all who are not Christ's people on that day, through faith in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, will be judged according to how they have lived, and be condemned to Hell. This is the clear teaching of Jesus in the Gospels. Jesus points out to the Jews, that the evidence of their rejection of him when he lived amongst them will be brought up against them on that fateful day.

Jesus called the generation in which he lived a wicked generation. The fact is that the Jews were a highly moral people who lived by strict rules handed down to them from the Old Testament. This is not altered simply because they had corrupted the rules to fit in with their way of thinking. The Jews were no worse than any other people, and in most cases were decidedly better. So what does Jesus mean when he calls them a wicked generation?

The fact is that Jesus is teaching here something that is the Bible message throughout. Jesus called his generation a wicked generation because they rejected him, their Messiah and Saviour. This is the greatest sin of all, because it is to reject and refuse the way of salvation from sin, which Jesus came to provide at the infinite cost of his death. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. This is the whole truth of God in a nutshell. It is demonstration of love which goes beyond all computation of loving. God gave his Son in this way because this was the only way he could be just and at the same time justify sinners, that is forgive all their sin. When Jesus is rejected then it is a rejection of the great love of God, and a refusal to receive the salvation Jesus came to provide. This is the greatest sin of all. All other sins, however great, all can be forgiven on true repentance and trusting in Jesus as sin-bearer and Saviour. If this offer of forgiveness is refused, then there is no other way of forgiveness, and only condemnation and punishment in hell must follow. Rejection of Jesus is the greatest wickedness because it is the only sin that can't be forgiven.

Has this anything for the people of our generation, and indeed of any generation? It certainly does. This wickedness of the Jews is repeated by all who refuse to receive Jesus as he is revealed in the Word of God the Bible. It is not sufficient to believe a great deal, for if we reject any part of the revelation concerning Christ in the Bible, then we are rejecting Christ totally. Any religious belief or practice which denies the plain meaning of the revelation concerning Jesus in the Bible is rejecting Christ, in the same way that the Jews did when Jesus lived amongst them on this earth. It does not matter how religious a person may be, or even how sincere they are in the beliefs concerning Jesus they may have or teach. If it is in any way rejecting, or changing, the plain revelation concerning Jesus in the Bible, then this constitutes wickedness. It is in fact the wickedness of blaspheme, for it is speaking against Jesus the Son of God and Saviour.