Luke 11:29-36

Butler's Comments

SECTION 3

Phenomenalism (Luke 11:29-36)

29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah 3, Jonah 30For as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be to this generation. 31The queen of the South will arise 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. 32The men of Nineveh will arise 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.

33 No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a bushel, but on a stand, that those who enter may see the light. 34Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness. 35Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. 36If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.

Luke 11:29-32 Disbelief: We have to go back to Luke 11:16 for the reason behind the request for a sign from heaven. Their motive as stated there was to test Jesus. They were unsatisfied with His messianic claims because He was not backing them with the signs they had already decided were messianic. They may have been attempting to trap Jesus into some further display of compassion or teaching which would be in opposition to the traditions of the rabbis. Rabbinical tradition characterized the advent of the Jewish Messiah as a time of great warfare upon the Gentiles and great material prosperity for the Jews. The Apocalypse of Baruch says that the time of the Messiah would usher in an inexhaustible supply of manna to feed the Jews until the end of time. The Psalms of Solomon say the Messiah will purge Jerusalem of the heathen. break the pride of sinners like so many pots. and gather the holy nation and lead it with justice, in peace and equality, Jesus was not showing signs of being a Messiah-Avenger or Messiah-Provider (except for the feeding of the 5000), so the request for a sign from heaven was born out of hostility for Jesus-' failure to meet their materialistic expectations. Jesus had given numerous signs of His deity already, but they were not concerned with deity. Jesus tried to persuade them that He was the exact fulfillment of their own Prophets as to the Messiah, but they were not interested in God's word. Their demand for a sign from heaven in the face of all the other signs which Jesus had already given was graphic proof that they were attempting to dictate to God the basis upon which they would accept Jesus as their Messiah. This is why Jesus called them an evil and adulterous generation. God gives plenty of evidence to substantiate His word. When man demands more than God has decreed is necessary, it is a sin that provokes the wrath of God (cf. Exodus 17:7; Numbers 14:11; Deuteronomy 18:18-22; Matthew 16:3; 1 Corinthians 10:9; Hebrews 3:10). It is rebellion against God to ask for more signs than God has declared sufficient. Jesus did many more signs than those recorded in the gospel records (John 20:30-31), but enough are recorded that any man who wants to believe may have sufficient evidence to substantiate Christ's claims. The clamor for miraculous gifts was what Paul tried to correct in the Corinthian church. Christ had given the Corinthian church sufficient miraculous gifts and the people were sinning in clamoring for more.

The sign of Jonah was Jonah's miraculous preservation from death in the belly of the great fish. This was the evidence by which Jonah's message was authenticated and the basis upon which Nineveh believed and repented. Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh that (a) the God of Israel is the God of all men; (b) Jehovah's will must be obeyed; (c) Jehovah wants all men to be saved; (d) Jehovah will deliver all who will repent. The one great sign Jesus will give to that generation (and to the whole world) is His miraculous resurrection from death itself. Jesus will not be merely preserved from death; He will be brought back to life again after dying.

Some, by dogmatically wresting the scriptures, have divided believers over the question whether Jesus was literally three days and three nights in the tomb before His resurrection or not (cf. Matthew 12:40). We do not believe it is necessary to insist that Jesus was literally three days and three nights in the tomb for the following reasons: (a) if Jesus was to be in the tomb 72 full hours He should have predicted His resurrection on the fourth day, but He never did; (b) it is good Hebrew idiom to say day when only a part of a day is meant (cf. Genesis 42:17-18; Esther 4:15-17; Esther 5:1; 1 Kings 12:5; 1 Kings 12:12, etc.); (c) prophetic signs are to be interpreted in the light of their actual fulfillment when at all possible; (d) His enemies understood Him to mean less than 72 hours (cf. Matthew 27:62-64); (e) Luke names the days involved in His intermentPreparation (Friday), Sabbath (Saturday), First day (Sunday) (cf. Luke 23:54 to Luke 24:1). Jesus-' prophecy that He would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth was fulfilled since He was there part of Friday, all day Saturday, and part of Sunday. That was the way His disciples would understand it then and that is the way we are to understand it now.

The queen of the South was undoubtedly the Queen of Sheba from the southern-most tip of the Arabian peninsula. She visited Palestine in the days of Solomon (cf. 1 Kings 10:1 ff.; 2 Chronicles 9:1 ff.) because she had heard of the wisdom of Solomon but did not believe it. When she put him to the test she became convinced and paid homage to his wisdom. Whether she became a believer in Jehovah or not we do not know, but her homage to Solomon was tacit admission that the king's wisdom came from his God. Jesus points out that One greater than Solomon is in the midst of these peoplenamely, the Messiah, and they do not acknowledge His wisdom. Therefore, the queen of the South will arise in the judgment and condemn the evil generation of Jesus.

The men of Ninevah will also arise at the judgment with that generation and condemn it. They repented at the preaching of Jonah while One greater than Jonah preached to that generation. The moral axiom Jesus posits is this; According to the light against which you have sinned, you will be judged! What is even more significant, that generation will soon have the ultimate, final and most powerful sign God is ever going to give the world to produce repentanceJesus-' resurrection from the dead. That sign will be God's perfect call to repent, (Acts 17:30-31) and if they do not heed that there is only perfect wrath to be received. What Jesus said to that generation applies even more emphatically to each succeeding generation. We have, in addition to His teachings, His deeds and His resurrection, all the centuries of history in which millions of people have validated Christ's claims by the power of His Spirit living in them. This is why unbelief is evil!

Luke 11:33-36 Darkness: There are two different lamps in this text. The first lamp is Jesus-' deity (confirmed by His miracles and later by His resurrection). Jesus who casts out demons is the Light of the World. Yet that generation wanted to accuse Him of doing works of darkness (being in league with Satan). Jesus had just proved logically that He was fighting and defeating darkness. When His resurrection occurred it would prove empirically that He was light. He brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Jesus pleads with them to search their own souls, recognized their own immoral thinking, because no one lights a lamp in order to put it under a bushel. They keep asking for a sign (light) from Him; He is giving the most brilliant light (signs) possibleHe is certainly not spreading darkness. The darkness is in them.

The second lamp is man's moral perceptivenessmen's capacity to know and distinguish truth from falsehood, light from darkness. The writer of Proverbs said, The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts (Proverbs 20:27). Just like the physical eye lets in light to guide the body, so the spirit and mind of man lets in truth to guide the inner man, (cf. also 1 Corinthians 2:11). The Greek word haplous is translated sound in Luke 11:34. In some versions it is translated single or clear in the NASV. The fundamental meaning of haplous seems to be sincerity, simplicity, clarity. The sound eye is one that focuses totally and sharply on a single objectit does not give double vision nor does it divide its focus. This is true of the spirit of manthe mind of man. The inner man will be what he focuses his mind on. And if his focus is double or divided, he will be a divided man. If the eye of the soul focuses on falsehood and darkness then the whole inner man will be dark. Those clamoring for signs from Jesus had their hearts and minds focused on a materialistic kingdom. When Jesus declared that was not the essence of God's kingdom, they would not let the light of His truth illuminate their inner being because their eye had let in the darkness.

The reality of the Christian experience does not consist in outward, spectacular fleshly things which the worldly-minded evaluate as real. Signs and things which excite the emotions and satisfy the carnal cravings of pride and ambition have nothing to do with the kingdom of God. His kingdom is not of this world; it consists of things that have to do with inner beingfaith, love, truth, righteousness. But alas, even our own generation still seeks after signs.

Applebury's Comments

Seeking a Sign
Scripture

Luke 11:29-36 And when the multitudes were gathering together unto him, he began to say, This generation is an evil generation: it seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah. 30 For even as Jonah became a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and shall condemn them: for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here.

33 No man, when he hath lighted a lamp, putteth it in a cellar, neither under the bushel, but on the stand, that they which enter in may see the light. 34 The lamp of thy body is thine eye: when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when it is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. 35 Look therefore whether the light that is in thee be not darkness. 36 If therefore thy whole body be full of light, having no part dark, it shall be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining doth give thee light.

Comments

it seeketh after a sign.Jesus called that generation evil because it was seeking after a sign. See Paul's comment on this attitude of the Jews in 1 Corinthians 1:22-25. It was not wrong to want genuine proof before accepting even the word of Christ; the wrong lay in the fact that sign after sign had already been given and still they refused to believe. They wanted some sign from heaven, but they said His miracles were of the devil.

the sign of Jonah.A sign is a mark that points out the distinction between persons or things. It may be the exhibition of divine power used to establish the claims of God's messengers. See John 20:30-31. Jesus explained the sign of Jonah by saying that Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites. The experience he had before coming to Ninevah marked him as a prophet of God. Because of it, they believed the thing he was preaching about the destruction of Ninevah.

But as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so the Son of Man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40). His resurrection was to be the sign that would mark Him as The Prophet (Acts 3:22-26).

a greater than Solomon is here.more correctly, something greater than Solomon. The queen of the South, the queen of Sheba, came to see the wisdom of Solomon (1 Kings 10:1-7; 1 Kings 3:10-28). In the Judgment, she would condemn that generation, because they were privileged to see something greater than the wisdom of Solomon. That was the wisdom of Christ. Paul calls Him wisdom from God and says that in Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden (Colossians 2:3; 1 Corinthians 1:30).

a greater than Jonah.that is, something greater than Jonah had offered as evidence to cause the men of Ninevah to believe. That something was the resurrection of Christ. When Jonah preached judgment to Ninevah, the men of Ninevah repented, that is, changed their minds about the thing he preached. That repentance was expressed by sitting in sackcloth and ashes and turning away from their evil ways. The generation to which Jesus preached should have changed their minds about judgment. Instead of saying that they were Abraham's children and assuming that nothing could ever happen to them, they should have been aware that they were like trees ready to be cut down and burned. On the Day of Pentecost, three thousand of them did repent and get themselves baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins (Acts 2:38).

No man, when he hath lighted a lamp.The parable of The Lamp illustrates the meaning of Jesus-' words about signs. He did not come to leave people in the dark about Himself. He was about to light the lamp of truth about Himself by His resurrection.

The eye is like a lighted lamp that is placed where people can see. But that evil generation was not willing to see the light of evidence in His miracles that proved Him to be the Son of God. They only saw evil; He cast out the dumb demon, but they only saw the power of Beelzebub. The light of the resurrection is the last great proof to lead men to believe in Him as Lord (Romans 10:9-10).