Matthew 16:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we have Christ’s discussion with the Pharisees and Sadducees, two groups that often disagreed with each other, as seen in (Acts 23:7-8). Yet they were united in opposing Christ. His teaching exposed both the Sadducees’ errors, since they denied spirits and life after death, and the Pharisees’ pride, control, and hypocrisy, since they held tightly to the traditions of the elders. Christ and Christianity meet opposition from every side.

Notice, first, their request and what lay behind it. They asked him for a sign from heaven, pretending they were ready to be convinced. In truth, they were not willing to believe and were only looking for excuses to keep their unbelief. They wanted a different sign from the ones they had already seen. Christ had already given them many signs, because every miracle he worked was evidence that God was with him. But that was not enough for them. They wanted a sign of their own choosing, and they looked down on the signs that helped the sick and sorrowful. They wanted something that would satisfy proud curiosity.

It is right that the proofs of divine revelation should be chosen by God’s wisdom, not by human foolishness and fancy. The evidence God gives is enough for a fair-minded person, even if it does not please a vain desire. This also shows how deceitful the human heart is. We can imagine we would believe if only we had some other kind of evidence, while we ignore the evidence already in front of us. If people will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they would not be convinced even if someone rose from the dead.

They also wanted a sign from heaven. They wanted miracles like those seen when the law was given at Mount Sinai, with thunder, lightning, and the voice of words. But such striking and frightening signs did not fit the spiritual and comforting nature of the gospel. Now the word of God comes near to us, as in (Romans 10:8), and so do the miracles that support it. They do not require the distance and terror of Sinai, as in (Hebrews 12:18).

Second, their purpose was to test him. They did not want to learn from him, but to trap him. If he gave them a sign from heaven, they would claim he did it through evil power. If he did not, as they expected, they would use that as a reason to reject him. In this, they tempted Christ, just as Israel once did, as in (1 Corinthians 10:9). Their stubbornness is striking. Back when they had signs from heaven, they asked, “Can he provide food in the wilderness?” Now that he had fed many in the wilderness, they asked, “Can he give us a sign from heaven?”

Christ’s answer kept them from being wise in their own eyes, and he answered their foolishness in a way that exposed it, as in (Proverbs 26:5). He first rebukes them for overlooking the signs they already had, in (Matthew 16:2-3). They were asking for signs of God’s kingdom even though the kingdom was already among them. The Lord was in their midst, and they did not know it. Their unbelieving ancestors had acted the same way when miracles were their daily bread, asking, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

To shame them, he points to their good judgment in ordinary matters, especially in weather signs. They knew that a red sky in the evening usually means fair weather, and a red sky in the morning usually means bad weather. People can learn such things from observation and experience, because nature usually moves in steady ways. We do not know how the clouds are balanced, as in (Job 37:16), but we can often judge what they mean by their appearance. This does not support the foolish predictions of astrologers and star-gazers, as in (Isaiah 47:13), who try to foretell the weather far ahead of time and mislead simple people. We can know in general that seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter will continue. But the exact details belong to God, and what pleases God should not displease us.

Then Christ rebukes their dullness in matters of their souls. “Can you not discern the signs of the times?” In other words, do you not see that the Messiah has come? The rule had departed from Judah, Daniel’s weeks were nearly finished, and yet they paid no attention. The miracles Christ performed, and the crowds gathering to him, were clear signs that the kingdom of heaven was near and that this was the time of their visitation.

There are signs of the times by which wise and honest people can make sound judgments. They can understand, in some measure, how God is working and what course they should take, as the men of Issachar did. In the same way, a doctor sees a crisis coming from certain symptoms. Yet many people are skilled in other things and still cannot, or will not, see the day of their opportunity. They do not notice when the wind is fair for them, and so they let the chance pass. See (Jeremiah 8:7) and (Isaiah 1:3). It is great hypocrisy to ignore the signs God has appointed and then ask for signs of our own choosing.

Christ also means this: “Do you not see your own ruin coming because you reject me? You will not welcome the gospel of peace, and can you not plainly see that you are bringing certain destruction on yourselves?” Many are ruined because they do not understand the end of refusing Christ.

He then refuses to give them any other sign, as he had done before in the same words, in (Matthew 12:39). Those who keep walking in the same sin should expect the same rebuke. As before, he calls them an adulterous generation. Though they claimed to be the true church and God’s bride, they had treacherously turned from him and broken covenant with him. The Pharisees, though pure in their own eyes, were like the woman in (Proverbs 30:20), who thinks she has done no wrong. Christ also refuses to satisfy their demand, because he will not be controlled by human terms. We ask and do not receive when we ask wrongly.

Instead, he points them to the sign of the prophet Jonah, which would still be given to them. That sign was his resurrection from the dead, along with the preaching of his apostles to the Gentiles. These were kept for the final and greatest proof of his divine mission.

Even though the proud do not get the signs they demand, the faith of the humble will be strengthened. At the same time, the unbelief of those who are lost will be left without excuse, and every mouth will be silenced.

The conversation ended suddenly. He left them and went away. Christ does not stay long with those who test him, but rightly withdraws from those who are ready to argue with him. He left them because they would not be corrected. “Let them alone” was, in effect, his judgment. He left them to themselves and to their own plans, and so he gave them over to their own desires.