Today, we transition into our study of Matthew 16 where the Lord Jesus has just fed some 4000 people with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish that His disciples had on hand. This miracle, the feeding of the 4000 is the second largest miracle meal provided by the Lord Jesus recorded in the Gospels, second only to the feeding of the 5000 plus. There are at least 42 different miracles recorded in the four gospel accounts. These miracles performed by the Lord Jesus Christ authenticated Him as God and they demonstrated His divine authority over disease, nature, the spirit world, material things and death.
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven."
After feeding the 4000, the Lord Jesus traveled to Magdala, the place where Mary Magdalene lived. Magdala is a little town just north of Tiberias on the southwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is located very near the ancient fishing village of Dalmanutha which was a stones throw away from Magdala. Years ago, when the Sea of Galilee was low, archeologists discovered Dalmanutha submerged under the water between Magdala and Capernaum. For many years, the skeptics undermined the Bible's veracity because there seemed to be no evidence that it existed. That is, until it was uncovered by an archeological dig. Down through the years many archeological digs have been completed and to date not one has ever contradicted the claims of the Bible.
Since the attention of large crowds of people had been arrested by the miracles and the teachings of the Lord Jesus, His popularity was grew rapidly. As a result He became a threat to the Jewish religious leaders. This is why the Pharisees and Sadducees traveled to Galilee from Jerusalem to meet with the Lord Jesus. These two groups were not known to see eye to eye on many issues yet they traveled 90 miles together to Galilee to try to trip up the Lord. We never see these guys together in the New Testament except here. This divided group who never got together on anything and never agreed on anything paid the Lord Jesus a visit because they wanted Him nullified. Their rope of control was slipping from their hands so they came to discredit the Lord Jesus.
In v.2-3 of today's passage we read, "2 He answered and said to them, 'When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red;' 3 and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times."
According to Mark's gospel, in response to the request of the Jewish religious leaders, the Lord Jesus sighed deeply. Unlike His earlier sighs, this sigh was a deep sigh which communicated a stronger emotion over the spiritual blindness of these so called "spiritual leaders." The obstinate unbelief of these religious leaders in the face of massive evidence given throughout the Old Testament led them to operate out of willful ignorance. Like every religion, the religion of the Jewish religious leaders developed the idea that God cares only about the members of their sect and that He hates the rest of the world. They wanted to make all of Israel believe that God cares only about Jews. In fact, the Rabbis have been claiming for 2000 years that only the Jews are important and that God doesn’t care about Gentiles.
Even though there are more than 300 prophecies about the Messiah in the Old Testament that the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled, the Jewish religious leaders didn't believe in Him. These prophecies are specific enough that the mathematical probability of the Lord Jesus fulfilling even a handful of them, let alone all of them, is a staggeringly improbability. If we were to take enough silver dollars to cover the state of Texas two feet deep and mark one of them and tell a blindfolded man to pick the right one, the chances that he would be able to so would equal the chances that the Lord Jesus had in fulfilling just eight of the Old Testament prophecies much less 300. Despite all of the evidence that God had given them, these "religious leaders" foolishly requested from the Lord Jesus a manifestation from God the Father proving Him to be their long-promised Messiah.
In response to the religious leaders request for another sign, the Lord Jesus reminded them that they were good at noticing the physical signs about the weather in the sky. But, even though they were good at making physical observations, they were really negligent at making spiritual observations. Their sensitivity to weather made a mockery out of their insensitivity to God and they were their own gods. They could chart the course of God's redemptive plan but they failed to recognize their Redeemer when He stood before them.
In v.4 of today's passage we read, "A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed."
The actual reason why the Jewish religious leaders rejected the Lord Jesus as their Messiah was due to the fact that they were corrupt. All they cared about was control, power and making money at the expense of the people. The Lord Jesus became to them a threat, a threat to their exclusive sect which they had created. They knew that if the people of Israel accepted and followed the Lord Jesus, they’d lose everything, their power, their influence, their control, their honored position. The religious leaders came up with legalistic traditions and rules, keeping the people from recognizing the Lord Jesus as their Messiah. While the religious leaders regularly missed God, the Lord Jesus consistently presented to the people the compassion and the forgiveness of God.
The Lord Jesus dared to stand up against these Jewish religious leaders by breaking down the walls that rabbinical tradition had put up. He reminded the religious leaders of the sign given through the Old Testament prophet Jonah. Later He said, "As Jonah was in the whale for three days, I’m going to be in the ground for three days." That was the last sign that was given to them. And when that sign came and the word got back to the religious leaders of Israel that He had risen from the dead, they called the Roman soldiers in who were guarding the tomb and bribed them to lie about His resurrection. Sadly, when they totally rejected the light, they were permanently enveloped by the darkness.
