Heathen City Repents while God's People are Offended

“And He sighed deeply in His spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign?” “There shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.” As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, Christ was to be the same time “in the heart of the earth.”

And as the preaching of Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so Christ's preaching was a sign to His generation.

But what a contrast in the reception of the word! The people of the great heathen city trembled as they heard the warning from God....Matthew 12:40, 41.

Every miracle that Christ performed was a sign of His divinity. He was doing the very work that had been foretold of the Messiah; but to the Pharisees these works of mercy were a positive offense. ...

Desire of Ages 406.3-4