CHRIST'S PHYSICAL RESURRECTION was THE SIGN
that He had power over Spiritual Old Covenantal Death of The Law
Christ performs physical miracles to demonstrate spiritual realities.

By Tuese Ahkiong

MARK 2 Jesus Heals a Paralytic (Matthew 9:1-8; Luke 5:17-26)
John 10:31-39
Matthew 16:1-12 The Pharisees and Sadducees Demand SIGNS

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. ²And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. ³And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. ⁴And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. ⁵And WHEN JESUS SAW THEIR FAITH, HE SAID TO THE PARALYTIC, “SON, YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN.” ⁶Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ⁷“Why does this man speak like that? HE IS BLASPHEMING! WHO CAN FORGIVE SINS BUT GOD ALONE?” ⁸And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? ⁹WHICH IS EASIER, TO SAY TO THE PARALYTIC, ‘YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN,’ OR TO SAY, ‘RISE, TAKE UP YOUR BED AND WALK’? ¹⁰BUT THAT YOU MAY KNOW THAT THE SON OF MAN HAS AUTHORITY ON EARTH TO FORGIVE SINS”—He said to the paralytic— ¹¹“I SAY TO YOU, RISE, PICK UP YOUR BED, AND GO HOME.” ¹²And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

**Yeshua performs a physical miracle to demonstrate a spiritual reality that He was GOD and has authority to forgive sins. It is easier to just say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven.” It’s more difficult to say to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” Yeshua performed the miracle so THAT (they, the scribes) MAY KNOW THAT THE SON OF MAN HAS AUTHORITY ON EARTH TO FORGIVE SINS.

³¹The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. ³²Jesus answered them, “I HAVE SHOWN YOU MANY GOOD WORKS FROM THE FATHER; FOR WHICH OF THEM ARE YOU GOING TO STONE ME?” ³³The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because YOU, BEING A MAN, MAKE YOURSELF GOD.” ³⁴Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? ³⁵If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— ³⁶do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? ³⁷If I am not doing THE WORKS OF MY FATHER, then do not believe me; ³⁸BUT IF I DO THEM, even though you do not believe me, BELIEVE THE WORKS, THAT YOU MAY KNOW AND UNDERSTAND THAT THE FATHER IS IN ME AND I AM IN THE FATHER.” ³⁹Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

***The miraculous works of Christ were the signs that pointed to fact that He was the prophesized prophet like Moses that the Jews were to listen to and live.

Deut 18:15-19

¹⁵“The Lord your God will RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM AMONG YOU, FROM YOUR BROTHERS—IT IS TO HIM YOU SHALL LISTEN— ¹⁶just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ ¹⁷And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. ¹⁸I WILL RAISE UP FOR THEM A PROPHET LIKE YOU FROM AMONG THEIR BROTHERS. AND I WILL PUT MY WORDS IN HIS MOUTH, AND HE SHALL SPEAK TO THEM ALL THAT I COMMAND HIM. ¹⁹AND WHOEVER WILL NOT LISTEN TO MY WORDS THAT HE SHALL SPEAK IN MY NAME, I MYSELF WILL REQUIRE IT OF HIM.

Acts 3:17-26

¹⁷“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. ¹⁹Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, ²⁰that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, ²¹whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. ²²Moses said, ‘THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BROTHERS. YOU SHALL LISTEN TO HIM IN WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU. ²³AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERY SOUL WHO DOES NOT LISTEN TO THAT PROPHET SHALL BE DESTROYED FROM THE PEOPLE.’ ²⁴And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also [PROCLAIMED THESE DAYS.] ²⁵You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ ²⁶God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

Acts 7:37

This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BROTHERS.’

***A brother like Moses would be an Israelite, which Yeshua was.

Luke 11:29-32 The SIGN of Jonah

²⁹When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “THIS GENERATION is an evil GENERATION. It seeks for a SIGN, but no SIGN will be given to it except the SIGN of Jonah. ³⁰For as Jonah became a SIGN to the people of Nineveh, SO WILL THE SON OF MAN BE TO THIS GENERATION. ³¹The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of THIS GENERATION and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. ³²The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with THIS GENERATION and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

***Notice how Christ compares himself to Jonah and says that He will be the sign to that "this generation." The sign was Yeshua's resurrection. The generation was that of the last Israelite generation 30-70AD.

Matthew 12:38-45 The SIGN of Jonah

³⁸Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a SIGN from you.”³⁹But he answered them, “AN EVIL AND ADULTEROUS GENERATION seeks for a SIGN, but no SIGN will be given to it except the SIGN of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, SO WILL THE SON OF MAN BE THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE HEART OF THE EARTH. ⁴¹The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with THIS GENERATION and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. ⁴²The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with THIS GENERATION and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

⁴³“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. ⁴⁴Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with THIS EVIL GENERATION.”

***”THIS GENERATION” in this passage is the evil and adulterous generation to whom Christ spoke to in the 1^st century. The Sign that Christ gives is His resurrection. The sign pointed to His power over spiritual death and separation from YHWH.

16 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a SIGN from heaven.²He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ ³And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the SIGNS of the times. ⁴An EVIL AND ADULTEROUS GENERATION seeks for a SIGN, but no SIGN will be given to it except the SIGN of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.

***THE EVIL AND ADULTEROUS GENERATION was the unbelieving generation of Istaelites that Yeshua was speaking to. They eventually crucified and murdered Yeshua. The Sign of Jonah was Christ’s physical resurrection which pointed to His power and authority over spiritual covenantal death and separation from God The Father that only Israel experienced. How else would Israel know that He had power over spiritual death unless He gave them a sign.

Israel was the only nation in an intimate relationship and covenant with YHWH which made them alive to God. They sinned and broke The Law of The Covenant and died. This is why Israel needed to be born again, because they were all covenantally dead.

One can only be born again if they were first alive to YHWH then died.

(Ezekiel 16). Only Israel was alive to YHWH and then died because of their sin.

Thus, only Israel needed and could be born again.

The Bible is the story of covenant Israel being restored to YHWH!