Seeking a Sign and the Authority of Scripture

Recently I have been thinking about the overarching authority of Scripture and it's command over any experiential citation. Often people proclaim their experiences to be authoritative, but alas, they crumble under the weight of Scripture. The following, although not entirely exhaustive, are my thoughts concerning the preceding.

Seeking an experience, rather than Scripture, for understanding or revelation is warned against directly by Jesus.

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But 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. For 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.

-Matthew 12:38-40

And again:

And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And 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. An 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.

-Matthew 16:1-4

In each case the Pharisees sought a experiential "sign" and in each case Jesus remedied the demand with a dose of Scripture, directing them to Jonah in each instance. Jesus calls a generation that seeks such things "evil and adulterous," like the generation spoke of by the prophet Jeremiah,

How can I pardon you?
   Your children have forsaken me
   and have sworn by those who are no gods.
When I fed them to the full,
   they committed adultery
   and trooped to the houses of whores.
They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
   each neighing for his neighbor's wife.
Shall I not punish them for these things?
      declares the Lord;
   and shall I not avenge myself
   on a nation such as this?

-Jeremiah 5:7-9

This is a heavy warning by Jesus not to seek experiences for understanding or revelation.

So, is it wrong to seek these things? Of course not, but not through experience. The first chapter of Hebrews gives us the exact way that we should seek understanding or revelation.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

-Hebrews 1:1-2

Just as Jesus gives the Pharisees Scripture when they seek a physical sign, so the author of Hebrews tells us that God now speaks to us through His Son. And I take those to be equal considering John 1,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

-John 1:1, 14

Therefore, I take Scripture to be the ultimate authority in every situation. This does not eliminate the possibility that my experiences may hold significance or meaning, but rather that it is Scripture that tells me the significance or meaning of an experience. I then cannot cite an experience as my reason for believing a certain truth, because by doing so I have eliminated the possibility that I regard Scripture to be ultimately authoritative.

In conclusion, I seek understanding and revelation in Scripture alone, and heed experience as an upholder of the truth granted in the Word.