Читать книгу Beyond the Horizon - Harry A. Renfree - Страница 76

March 10

We all love to see the signs of spring, particularly after a long, cold winter. When the snow melts, trees begin to bud, blossoms start appearing, grass begins to “green up,” and other early signs of spring occur. We eagerly anticipate the coming of spring.

Some of Jesus’ enemies came to Him on one occasion and asked Him to show them a sign from heaven, some indication that He really was who He said He was—the Messiah. Jesus immediately referred to an old weather forecaster’s sign. “When evening comes,” noted Jesus, “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, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times” (Matthew 16: 2–3). Then He added that the only sign they would receive would be the sign of Jonah.

At that, of course, they drew a blank. The salvation of Nineveh depended on the prophet Jonah, but a great fish had swallowed him. However, God delivered him, and Nineveh was saved. As Jesus put it on another occasion, “For 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).

Jonah’s experience was a sign of salvation to Nineveh, so the cross of Jesus and the empty tomb become signs of salvation to a needy world—signs of spring, if you like.