Expert: Cooper P. Abrams III - 12/10/2007

Question
   Could you please explain Matthew 12:43-45? Thank you.

Answer
Hi Ray,
   Thank you for your good question.  Lots of people have trouble understanding this passage.  I will try to explain.   
     Jesus was answering the question posed to him by the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 12:38.  They asked Him to give them a sign to show that He was the Messiah.    Jesus responded with His statements of verse 39-45.    The fact was Jesus had already proven to them who He was and they would not believe. He had fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies as to His the time, place, events, parentage, of His coming.  He had preformed miracles of healings in which He raised the dead, healed those born blind, and lame.  He had twice feed thousands of people with only a handful of food.   His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 clearly proclaimed His identity and the character of His coming Kingdom.   He was affirmed by John the Baptist to be the Messiah and both John and Jesus preached....”repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”   That simply meant He was the Messiah come to set up the promised Kingdom for Israel.   Many received John’s baptism in preparation for the coming Messiah and His Kingdom.   However, in a short time most of the Jews was crying for Jesus to be crucified because they rejected Him as the Messiah.  Their believe was short lived.   After Jesus’ resurrection He had only 120 converts.
    So, Jesus said they already knew who He was.   They wanted something more...some magical demonstration of His power.   But Jesus refused to grant them their insincere request.   He responded saying the only sign they would be given was the sign of Jonah who was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three night.  This referred to Christ’s death of being three days and nights in the tomb and then arising on the third day.
    Jesus further rebuked them by saying Nineveh only heard the message of Jonah that God was going to destroy them because of their sins.   Hearing only the message they repented and believed God and God spared them.  He also mentions that the queen of the south saw and heard Solomon and the message of the greatness of God and she too believed...without any sign.
   To these unbelieving Jews,  Jesus was saying you have the word of God the message of the Messiah as promised in the Old Testament yet you will not believe.   They had the 300 prophecies concerning His coming and yet they refused to accept what they plainly did see.
      Jesus was saying that if He did show them some sign from heaven they would not truly believe it.   They would temporarily be awed by the sign, but not changed spiritually.   He used the illustration of a demon that was cast out of a person, who would roam around in dry places and not finding a home would return back to the person he was cast out from.  Because the person that the demon was cast out of was not converted and did not savingly believe in God, but only have a temporary change of heart,  the person’s heart was empty.      This demon could return and take with him seven other demons to possess the person and the last state was worse than the first.    Jesus was saying if He gave these unbelieving Jews a sign they would be impressed, but because their hearts were evil with pride and arrogance, they would not savingly believe.  They would for a short time follow him, but not be truly converted would be empty spiritually.  This  would allow the demon a place to return.   Jesus was saying that even if they saw a sign from heaven,  in time they would return to their unbelief and be much more hardened in their hearts than before.    The Gospels record that many people followed Jesus because of His miracles, but did not believe His message and accept who He was.   Jesus said,  “Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.” (John 6:26)   Jesus stated this again while preaching in Bethsaida, “But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him.”  (John 12:37)
     Many have found this passage difficult to understand, but the Bible interprets itself when we read the whole of the passage and understand the situation in which Jesus’ statement were made.  Hope this helps.   This was a good question.  If you have further questions please write.
Cooper Abrams
Romans 12:1-2
http://bible-truth.org