Show Me a Sign

It has long intrigued me how the Jews tried to demand of Jesus to show them some sign to confirm who he claimed to be: “Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee” (Mat. 12:38). They wanted to see a ‘sign’ from him? Are you kidding? He had raised the dead, given sight to the blind, made the lame to walk, restored hearing to the deaf, cast demons out of the possessed, etc., etc; and they wanted to see a sign? Yeah, Jesus was thinking the same thing, and answered them like this: “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas” (Mat. 12:39). The truth is, even if he had granted them a sign of their own choosing, they would not have believed, nor would they have acknowledged him for who he was, or submitted to him. They did not really want a sign, they only wanted an excuse to continue being as they were, and to not submit themselves to God. Jesus addressed this same condition of these people in another place like this: “But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners” (Mat. 11:16-19). John was sent from God, and so was Jesus. Yet they found an excuse of their own making to disbelieve and reject them both. The fear of God in this equation is that people are going to be what they have conditioned themselves to be over time. That means me, and that means you, and it means everyone else as well.

If you cannot agree with my assessment of the matter,then consider this stellar example: In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16, the rich man, who was in hell; after realizing that there was no help for him, requested of Abraham that Lazarus be sent from the dead to warn his five brothers to not come to that place of torment. Abraham simply replied, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Lk. 16:31). The point I am making here is that the rich man, who was a Jew and in covenant with God himself, was of the same mindset as the Jews who requested a sign of Jesus to prove he was the Son of God. Abraham had already told him that his brothers had Moses and the prophets to believe and obey, but he still thought that a miraculous sign would persuade his brothers more than Moses and the prophets. Here the man was dead and in hell, and he was STILL thinking like that. He obviously did not truly believe Moses and the prophets while he lived, though I’m sure he was religious and thought that he believed. So as I said, people are going to be what they have conditioned themselves to be over time, even if they die and go to hell. Jesus gave us the only real way of being able to truly follow after God: “And when he [Jesus] putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (Jn. 10:4,5). That is what it really comes down to friend, and that is what it has ALWAYS come down to. Those who were “hungering and thirsting for righteousness” when Jesus was here, believed and followed his word, signs or no signs. Those who truly loved God in ancient times, believed the prophets and loved the law of the Lord. And those whose hearts are after God today, will “hear [and follow] what the Spirit is saying to [God’s people]” (Rev. 2:7).

This is a very, very serious matter indeed, for we are unquestionably living in a time that fulfills the words of the prophet Hosea: “Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land… My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos. 4:1,6). We are also surely in the time that Amos prophesied of: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it” (Amos 8:11,12). I always note that it does NOT say that they would KNOW that they had not found the word of the Lord. Everybody THINKS they have the word of the Lord, and that is exactly WHY there is a famine for it. You will not accept from God what you believe you already have, which brings us to the conclusion of what we began with here today: “And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (Jn. 9:39-41). The unmixed word of God is more rare in the earth today than moon rock my friend. Therefore have ‘an ear to hear,’ and don’t look for excuses to hold to your own version, or some Christian affiliation’s faulty version of the Gospel of Christ. Amen.