Matthew 16:4

An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of Jonah. And he left them, and departed.

For notes on the "sign of Jonah," see under Matthew 12:38-40. What is called the first announcement of the Lord's passion and resurrection is recorded later in this chapter, but it must be admitted that Christ's "sign of Jonah" is embryonically a statement of the same thing.

The relation between God and Israel had long been described as a marriage contract in which God was the husband and Israel the bride, hence a charge of adultery was a reflection upon Israel's fidelity to God. That unequal marriage God would shortly dissolve through his own death, in the person of Christ, upon the cross (Romans 7:4). It is also doubtless true that that generation was "adulterous" in the ordinary sense as well. Christ had already explained the sign of Jonah and did not repeat it on that occasion.

The impact of the word "desired" in Matthew 16:1 above (King James Version) reveals that the Pharisees had urgently pleaded with Christ to give them one final, decisive "sign from heaven" that he was the Christ. Jesus knew it would be useless, because he knew their hearts; and their request rose from a desire to tempt him (Matthew 16:1, King James Version), and not from any honest wish to know the truth. The addition of the words "O ye hypocrites" in Matthew 16:3 by some of the older versions was in line with the facts of the situation. The utter perversity of those blind, evil leaders in presuming that God would make them, in all their wickedness, the final arbiters and judges of the Messiahship of God's only Son, is amazing. Christ very properly refused to be placed upon examination by them.

Christ's statement that no sign would be given, except that of Jonah, did not mean that light would be withheld from them or that they were without light; but it meant that more than sufficient light was already theirs. The one cosmic exception to the "no sign" policy would be the resurrection of Christ, which would more than meet even their specifications as a "sign from heaven." To be sure, even that was of no avail because, instead of accepting it, they bribed witnesses to deny it! Christ fully knew the character of those evil men; and the sad words concluding Matthew 16:4 show the finality of Christ's judgment upon them. He never more worked any miracle or taught in that place again.