Daily Lift – October 23, 2020

A Critical Pharisee

God sent Jonah to preach against the sins of the Ninevites and to warn them that their city would be overthrown in forty days if they repented not. However, repent they did, and God overthrew them not. More than eight hundred fifty years later, the Savior told the scribes and Pharisees at the Twelfth of Matthew that the Ninevites would condemn their generation in judgment, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, though the Lord’s critics had not repented after hearing the preaching of the Son of God. Jonah entered Nineveh bearing no sign but the message God sent him to preach, while the Savior came performing miracles, and the scribes and Pharisees still asked for a sign. It is far better to enter judgment as a penitent sinner than a critical Pharisee.

Written by David Hayes Prophater