Matthew 16:1 says, “And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and tempting Him asked Him to show them a sign out of heaven.” Those who bring in leaven desire to see signs, miracles. Nothing is more deceitful than miracles. Suppose Antichrist appeared and set up his image in front of you, and the false prophet was able to make this image speak to you. You could easily be deceived by this and say, “This is marvelous. If this were not a miracle, how could he make the image speak?” Leaven always creeps in through the subtlety of miracles. In 16:1-12 the two key words are sign and leaven. The religionists, the Pharisees and Sadducees, came to the Lord Jesus and asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. However, the Lord Jesus refused to show them such a sign. The pure bread, the pure Christ, does not perform signs. As we shall see, He Himself is the unique sign.
In verses 2 and 3 the Lord indicated to the Pharisees and Sadducees that although they knew how to discern the face of heaven, they could not discern the signs of the times. The signs of the times were on the one hand that the generation was evil and adulterous and on the other hand that Christ was to die and be resurrected for that evil generation. The Pharisees and Sadducees could not discern these things.
Verse 4 says, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah. And He left them and went away.” Jonah was the prophet who turned from Israel to the Gentiles and was put into the belly of the great fish. After remaining there for three days, he emerged to become a sign to that generation for repentance (Jonah 1:2, 17; 2:2-10). This was a type of Christ, the prophet sent by God to His people (Deut. 18:15, 18), who would turn from Israel to the Gentiles, and who would be buried in the heart of the earth for three days and then be resurrected, becoming a sign to this generation for salvation. The Lord’s word here implies that to that evil and adulterous, Jewish and religious generation, the Lord would do nothing but die and be resurrected as a sign, the greatest sign to them, that they might be saved if they would believe. In speaking of the sign of Jonah, the Lord seemed to be saying, “You Pharisees and Sadducees do not need miracles. You need to discern that this generation is evil and to believe in Me and take Me into you as the crucified and resurrected One. You need to repent as the people of Nineveh did, and you need to believe that I will die for your sins and be resurrected to impart Myself into you as life. This is the sign for this generation. No other sign will be given. I am the sign to you, the sign of the crucified and resurrected Christ. You need to repent and to receive Me into you as your bread.”
At this juncture the Lord brought in the matter of leaven, saying, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (v. 6). As we have pointed out, this leaven is the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees (v. 12). The teaching of the Pharisees was hypocritical (23:13, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29), and the teaching of the Sadducees was like today’s modernism, denying the resurrection, angels, and spirits (Acts 23:8). Hence, the teachings of both the Pharisees and Sadducees were impure and evil, and were likened to leaven, which was forbidden to be seen with God’s people (Exo. 13:7).
Again I say that the words sign and leaven are the two crucial words in this section. We should not believe in any miracle that does not have in it the essence of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. I have seen the so-called healing services in the Pentecostal movement. However, to speak truly there was a great deal of leaven there. The essence of the crucifixion of Christ and of the resurrected life of Christ was lacking. Every miracle, every sign, must be based upon the principle of the crucifixion and the resurrection. The sign of Jonah, the sign of the crucified and resurrected Christ, must accompany every genuine miracle. Otherwise, the miracles will simply be a type of leaven. A great many Christians have been leavened by miracles. Today the so-called speaking in tongues has become a type of leaven, and so many of those who speak in tongues have been leavened by this practice. When some come to a meeting, they care only for speaking in tongues, no matter whether or not the tongues are real and genuine. As long as there is the manifestation of “tongues,” they are happy. This shows how leavened they are. They have no heart for the pure bread, for the pure sign with the essence of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. On the contrary, they are leavened. Again I say, beware of every kind of leaven.