The Evidence Bible - Mattheus - Evangelisatie-materiaal.nl

Matthew 12 186
Q UESTIONS & OBJECTIONS
O12:39
“If God gives me some ‘sign,’ then I
will believe.”
The unsaved often want a “sign” from God. This is in spite of the
testimony of creation, their conscience, the Bible, and the Christian.
The cross is the only thing that can truly convince a sinner of the reality
of who Jesus is. Once they understand that the holes in His hands and His feet are there because
of their own sin, they will fall at His feet and cry, “My Lord and my God!”
give account thereof in the day of judgment.
37 For by your words you shall be justified,
and by your words you shall be
condemned.
38 Then certain of the scribes and of the
Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we
would see a sign from you.
39 But he answered and said to them,
An evil and adulterous generation seeks
after a sign; and there shall no sign be given
to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah:
40 For as Jonah was three days and three
nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the
Son of man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth.
41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment
with this generation, and shall condemn
it: because they repented at the
preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater
than Jonah is here.
42 The queen of the south shall rise up
in the judgment with this generation,
and shall condemn it: for she came from
the uttermost parts of the earth to hear
the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a
greater than Solomon is here.
43 When the unclean spirit is gone out
of a man, he walks through dry places,
seeking rest, and finds none.
44 Then he says, I will return into my
house from whence I came out; and when
he is come, he finds it empty, swept, and
garnished.
45 Then goes he, and takes with himself
seven other spirits more wicked than himself,
and they enter in and dwell there:
and the last state of that man is worse than
the first. Even so shall it be also to this
wicked generation.
12:36 Idle words divide the body. In 1 Kings 3:16–27, the Bible tells of two harlots claiming to
be the mother of one child. Solomon revealed his God-given wisdom by suggesting that the child
be cut in two, thus exposing the true mother. The false mother preferred to divide the body rather
than back down from her claim.
It is interesting to note that both women dwelt in the same house, just as both the wheat and
the tares sit alongside each other in the House of God (Matthew 13:24–30,38). Each of the women
called Solomon “lord,” and both the wheat and tares call Jesus “Lord” (Matthew 7:21). It is not always
easy to discern the wheat from the tares because it takes the wisdom of Solomon to do so.
Here is wisdom—the false convert will show his spirit by, without hesitation, dividing the Body of
Christ in two, rather than gracefully making a withdrawal. He will cut a body of believers in half
with vicious gossip. He sows discord among the brethren. He is a slave to his tongue, which is a
“world of iniquity...set on fire of hell” (James 3:6).
However, the true convert sets a watch at the door of his mouth, and will immediately back
away from words that would divide a local church. He knows that “the beginning of strife is as
when one lets out water” (Proverbs 17:14). He doesn’t become involved in idle talk. He is a peacemaker,
a child of God. The fear of God is his guide. He knows that there is not a word on his
tongue that God doesn’t know, and that on Judgment Day he will give an account for every idle
word he speaks.