Читать книгу Beyond the Horizon - Harry A. Renfree - Страница 45

February 08

Signs are very prevalent in our lives. They are all around us. In all sizes and colors. They tell us where to eat, what to buy, where to buy it, how to proceed in our cars, and so on. Then there are less tangible signs, like the signs of nature that show us spring is coming or the worry lines on someone’s face.

There are also spiritual signs. The Pharisees approached Jesus on one occasion and asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. Matthew, the Gospel writer, intimated that the Pharisees, who had made themselves Jesus’ enemies, asked for this sign to test Him.

In any event, Jesus turned their request into a very ordinary statement of amateur weather forecasting and signs that were very familiar day after day. He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘it will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky,” He went on to say, “but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.” Then He added this terrible condemnation: “A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah” (Matthew 16:2–4a). He left them puzzled.

They should not have been so puzzled. Earlier Jesus had said to another group of Pharisees who sought a sign: “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). He was making explicit reference, of course, to the very death that even then His enemies were planning for Him—death on the cross. But after His death, He arose, marking that first Easter and the defeat of death. A sign of wonder, grace, and glory . . . a sign of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.

The signs in our world direct us on our way in the world. God’s signs direct us on our way to eternal life