Signs of the Times

GOLDEN TEXT: “It will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?” —Matthew 16:3

MATTHEW 16:1-12

THE Golden Text assigned by the International Sunday School Committee is spurious, not being found in the oldest manuscripts extant—the Sinaitic and Vatican. The Pharisees and Sadducees asked Jesus to show them a sign from heaven, some miraculous proof that he had been sent by God, and was truly the Messiah. Verse 1 says that they thus “tempted” Jesus. This was not unlike the temptation Satan presented to him with the suggestion that he cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple to demonstrate that God was protecting him from harm. In both instances the temptation was to resort to some miraculous evidence of his favor with the Heavenly Father.

In reply Jesus called his tempters members of a “wicked and adulterous generation,” who, because of their blind prejudice, did not understand the meaning of events transpiring around them in connection with his life and ministry. He declared to them that no sign would be given except “the sign of the prophet Jonas.”—vs. 4

In Matthew 12:38-41, Jesus elaborates on the sign of Jonas, or Jonah. He said, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” The death and resurrection of Jesus did serve as a most effective sign to thousands of Jews, as evidenced in their acceptance of the Gospel at Pentecost when the Apostle Peter so dramatically called their attention to the meaning of what was then transpiring.

But to the religious leaders this “sign” was ineffective. Even the resurrection of Jesus from the dead did not convince them of his messiahship; or at least they refused to acknowledge that it did. Having opposed Jesus and caused him to be put to death, they now set themselves in opposition to his followers. This is not surprising, for Jesus, who could read their hearts, said they were hypocrites. (Matt. 23:13-36) Had they been sincere in their opposition to Jesus his resurrection from the dead would probably have convinced them that he was the Messiah.

While no special “sign” was given to the hypocritical generation of Jesus’ day except the “sign of Jonas,” many miracles were performed by Jesus which served to convince the honest-hearted ones of that time. When John the Baptist, for example, began to wonder whether or not the One he had introduced as the “Lamb of God” was truly the Messiah, and sent messengers to Jesus to inquire about it, he was reminded of the many miracles being performed. Jesus said, “Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them.”—Matt. 11:4,5

Shortly before Jesus’ crucifixion his disciples asked him concerning the signs of his second presence and the end of the age, and he patiently outlined to them many things which would occur at that time. The Lord’s people today are being blessed in seeing these “signs” to which Jesus referred. But now, even as then, the worldly wise, the self-sufficient, and the hypocritical do not discern the meaning of the events taking place.

Eventually, however, there will be a “sign” that only the willfully wicked will attempt to gainsay, and that will be the resurrection of the dead. The religious rulers at the beginning of the age endeavored to explain away the fact of Jesus’ resurrection, claiming that his body had been stolen from the tomb; but as the millions of the dead continue to appear and mingle with their friends it will be a “sign” that cannot be refuted.

After telling the Pharisees and Sadducees that no sign would be given them except the sign of Jonas, Jesus and his disciples crossed to the other side of the lake. There Jesus continued the lesson for the benefit of his disciples, saying, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” (vs. 6) The disciples had forgotten to take bread with them that day, and they understood Jesus to mean that in seeking a supply they should avoid leavened bread.

Jesus chided them for this hasty conclusion, reminding them of the times when he had provided bread miraculously for them and for thousands of others. “How is it, he inquired of them, “that ye do not understand that I spake it not unto you concerning bread?” Actually Jesus was not speaking of bread at all when he referred to the “leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees,” but, as the disciples later discerned, his reference was to “the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”—vss. 11,12

Doctrine means “teaching.” Leaven is a symbol of sinful, corrupting influences. Such were the teachings of Israel’s religious leaders.

QUESTIONS

What was the “sign of Jonas” given to the generation of Jesus’ day?

Did the miracles of Jesus serve as “signs” to any at that time?

What is the “leaven of the Pharisees”?

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