The Resurrection Sign and Jesus’ Identity as the Son of God

In Matthew 12:22-24, one blind, dumb and demon possessed was brought to Jesus and healed.

There were two reactions to what was witnessed.

First, “…the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?” (Matthew 12:23) At the very least they were considering the evidence of this divine healing and connecting Jesus to the bloodline of David. 

However, “…when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.” They could not deny the evidence, but rather than considering what those in V23 did, they accuse Jesus of working under the authority of the prince of devils, Beelzebub. 

Those who were characterized by Jesus as being part of a wicked and adulterous generation in Matthew 12, were not looking to verify Jesus as Savior. It seems their only agenda was to deny Him as Messiah. The chief priest, scribes, and elders guilty of mocking Jesus, for the most part, did not want to believe.

“A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it (it being the generation characterized as wicked and adulterous) except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” Matthew 12:39

The sign of the prophet Jonah referred to the time he spent in the belly of the fish; this was a shadow of the period that Jesus would spend in the heart of the earth. “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:40

The resurrection of Jesus, accomplished magnificent things for man, however, note what Paul writes in Romans 1:2-4 “…. which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead…”

The death, burial, and resurrection from the dead confirmed that Jesus was who He said He was. His resurrection from the dead declared Him to be the Son of GOD.  This sign would be one that could not be ignored. To disregard this sign makes one anti-Christ.