Short Shot– The Men of Nineveh Will Rise up in the Judgment with this Generation and Condemn it
Matthew 12:39But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For 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. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.
Questions about the Resurrection and the Judgment are normally a major part of eschatological discussions and debate. The traditional futurist view of the judgment envisions a literalistic scene in which every person who has ever lived is physically resurrected and stands before the Great White Throne Judgment (Matthew 25:31ff/ Revelation 20:10f). The timing of the “final judgment” is, of course, a major element of that discussion. Some futurists simply wave their hand at all of the time indicators of imminence found in the NT, assigning that “at hand” or “has drawn near” as timeless spatial nearness instead of statements about when the judgment and resurrection were to occur. Such dismissive claims are nothing less than specious and untenable, however.In this Short Shot, I want to examine the text of Matthew 12 a bit closer to see what it has to say about the nature and the timing of the judgment, and yes, the resurrection.
Jesus said that Nineveh and the Queen of the South would “rise up in judgment against this generation.” What did that mean?
In verse 41 the word translated as “rise up” is from the root anastasis, the word most commonly linked with resurrection. Now, there certainly are examples in which it does not indicate resurrection but nonetheless it commonly does mean that. I suggest we have good reason for seeing that connection here.
It is interesting that in v. 41 we are told that the men of Nineveh would stand up (a future indicative middle) But in v. 42 the Lord used the future passive to indicate that the queen of the South would be “raised up” with Jesus’ generation to condemn them in the judgment. There are thus perhaps two nuances present in the text.
The terminology of standing up in judgment was reference to both the ancient and modern practices that in a trial, the witnesses were to stand up to give their testimony. Marius Reaser says Jesus’ description brought to mind, “a concrete detail that has been an important part of judicial processes from of old; the rising of those taking part in the trial. The fundamental rule is that the judges are seated, and the contending parties stand before them.” (Marius Reason, Jesus and Judgment, The Eschatological Proclamation In its Jewish Context (Minneapolis, Fortress, 1997), 211).
On the other hand, it may well be that Jesus intended to convey the idea that in the resurrection the long dead men of Nineveh and the Queen of the South would arise with that generation to condemn it whenever that event eventually takes place. This is how futurists normally deal with the text, but that is not valid.
Preterist see this passage as predictive of the judgment and resurrection to occur in that first century generation. But futurist reply that Jesus did not say, “The men of Nineveh and the Queen of the South shall rise up in judgment in this generation. Rather, Jesus simply said that when the resurrection takes place in some unknown time in the future, the men of Nineveh and the Queen will rise in the resurrection and stand as prosecutorial witnesses against that generation.” So, the men of Jesus’ generation will be judged, but at some future, end of human history event, when the Ninevites and the Queen of the South arise with them. But this overlooks the temporal indicators of the imminence of the judgment that Jesus was speaking about.
Notice that Jesus was asked for a sign. In response, he said that the sign of Jonah would be given. What is commonly overlooked is that the sign of Jonah was in fact the sign of impending judgment. The sign of Jonah indicated that Jonah was “resurrected” to pronounce judgment on Nineveh!
John Nolland, “The sign of Jonah, will be for these people a sign of judgment” (New International Greek Testament, Matthew (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, Paternoster, 2005), 509). Likewise, Ken Hicks sees the sign of Jonah as the preaching of Jesus to Jerusalem to warn her of her impending judgment:
The timeline of Jonah sets him in Nineveh at 760 BC preaching repentance to its (Gentile) people – which they do and God relents – and then what happens forty years later? The Assyrians take Israel captive but the Temple is not yet destroyed. Fast forward to Jesus’ ministry and we see Him – once again a prophet, a covenant lawyer – bringing a covenant lawsuit against the nation of Israel. Not only are they unrepentant, they crucify the Lord of Glory. What happens forty years later? God does not relent and Jerusalem and the Temple are destroyed by the Romans. If we let Scripture interpret Scripture and add Matthew 12:41,42 as well as the Lucan synoptic to the equation…
“For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.” – Luke 11:30.
…credence is given to the notion that the sign is judgment since Scripture gives no indication that the Ninevites were aware of Jonah’s recent whaling excursion. Also, if we continue on in Matthew 12 we run into “the unclean spirit returns” parable and seen in the light of Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple it becomes clearer what’s in store for Israel (https://theopolisinstitute.com/the-sign-of-jonah/).
So, when we include the discussion of the sign of Jonah with Jesus’ discussion of the coming judgment, in which Nineveh and the Queen would bear witness against Judea, that virtually demands that the judgment Jesus had in mind was the first century judgment on Jerusalem.
That is confirmed by the fact that the NT is emphatic in declaring that “the judgment” was truly imminent in the first century. Peter, writing approximately 30 years or so after Matthew 12:39f said “the time (literally, the divinely appointed time) has come for the judgment to begin (literally, the the judgment” 1 Peter 4:17). Just like Jesus referred to the coming “the judgment” (using the definite article) in which Jerusalem was to be judged without mercy for her refusal to repent, Peter said that the divinely appointed time for the judgment had arrived!
The imminence of the judgment that Jesus was referring to is also emphasized by his statement: “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign.” When YHVH accused the ten tribes of spiritual adultery, of being an adulterous wife, he brought the Assyrians on them who carried them into captivity. That brought their national existence to an end! It is not coincidental when we turn to the Apocalypse, to see that the Harlot city, Babylon, full of adulteries and fornication, was about to be judged and destroyed. That Harlot city, Babylon, was none other than Old Covenant Jerusalem. She was the “mother of harlots” in that her spiritual adultery spread throughout the Jewish world. Her judgment was coming shortly and without delay when John wrote, 2000 years ago (Revelation 14:6ff / 22:10-12)!
★ Yet another proof that Jesus was speaking of the impending judgment on Jerusalem and Judea is to be found in the parable of the unclean spirit being cast out, coming back into the man, with the later end of the man being worse– so shall it be with this generation (Matthew 12:43f).
“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”
Jesus thus identified his contemporary generation that would fill up the measure of her sin, by being the worst generation! How could any generation be worse that the one that killed the Lord of Peace, the Lord of glory? So, since Jesus identified that contemporary generation as the worst of the worst, then surely it was that generation that was to be judged! This agrees perfectly with the ideas present in Jesus “sign of Jonah” which indicated that his resurrection was to bear witness against Jerusalem, and would bring judgment on them– in that generation.
★ Finally, while futurists try to escape the imminence of this periscope by claiming that Jesus did not say that the Ninevites and the Queen would rise against Jerusalem in his generation, but simply that he said they would rise against her in the judgment, the fact is, as already hinted at, that Israel was to be judged, definitively, in that very generation! And that judgment was to be so universal, that it had to include the witness of Nineveh and the Queen of the South! Why? Consider Matthew 23:31-37:
Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
☛ Just like in chapter 12, we have an encompassing story line, only in chapter 23 it is even more comprehensive.
☛ Just like in chapter 12, we find the filling up of Israel’s sin.
☛ Just like in chapter 12, we find the long dead people being witnesses against Jerusalem and Judea. Surely it cannot be denied that since Jesus said all of the righteous blood, of all the righteous blood, all the way back to Abel, that the citizens and inhabitants of Nineveh and the Queen of the South could be excluded! Not that they were martyrs. We are not saying that. But, Nineveh repented for her treachery– at least temporarily– and was then destroyed 40 years. Of the Queen we know little.
☛ Just like in chapter 12, the coming judgment was not in some far distant future. It would come upon that worst generation. It would come upon the generation that witnesses the sign of Jonah. And it would be in that generation.
So, the bottom line is that Jerusalem was in fact judged in that very generation! The fact that Jesus did not use the specific terminology: “The men of Nineveh will rise up in this generation in judgment of this generation” means nothing. The language and the context demands that this was precisely what Jesus was saying. There is literally not one word to suggest that in chapter 12 Jesus had some far off, distant judgment of the globe in mind. Jerusalem and her crimes and sins are in sharp focus. The men of Nineveh and the Queen of the south would rise up in the judgment as witnesses against Jerusalem and Judea, when she, as the Harlot, adulteress wife was divorced and put to death, losing her national politic and scepter.
If one takes, therefore, Matthew 12:39f as predictive of the resurrection of the dead, this proves that in Jesus’ mind the resurrection was to be in that generation! I am personally inclined to believe that is indeed what Jesus had in mind. If one accepts what I have presented here, the evidence that Jesus’ generation was to be the time of “the judgment” it necessarily follows that he was in fact speaking of the resurrection since resurrection and the judgment are inseparable tenets.
What we have in Matthew 12:39f then is a powerful expression of the imminence of the coming judgment. And it was not simply some generic judgment that was coming. In fact it was to be “the judgment” which subsequent NT writers said the time had come for that judgment.
We have, in Matthew 12:43f and Matthew 23 two emphatic statements concerning the judgment coming on Jerusalem in “this generation.”
We have the undeniable accusation that Jesus’ generation was the generation to fill up the measure of her sin and thus become the worst generation.
We have the sign of Jonah as the sign of the Son of Man, Jesus’ resurrection and how that resurrection forecast coming judgment, just as Jonah’s resurrection heralded impending judgment on Nineveh.
Everything about Matthew 12:39f points to the impending judgment on Old Covenant Jerusalem which occurred in AD 70.
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