Matthew
16:2-3 “He (Jesus) answered
and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair
weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul
weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know
how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs
of the times?”
My
dad, a US Navy veteran of WWII & the Korean War, used to say: “Red sky in
the morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.”
Obviously, mariners have know this discerning the sky fact on the oceans and
seas of the world since biblical times. But, in the passage above Jesus was
using this well-known observation to drive home a point and this sharp rebuke
by the Lord Jesus was well deserved, for His critics were challenging Him to
prove His right to be heard by performing a miracle. But they had already been
confronted with a tremendous body of evidence, both in their Scriptures and in
the very life and teachings of Jesus (as well as in the miracles already
wrought by Him) that identified him as their Messiah. They paid great attention
to weather forecasting and other mundane matters (like total eclipses), while
ignoring or rejecting the evidence that God Himself, in Christ, was in their
midst.
One
commentator that I read claims that today we are more occupied with daily
weather and seven day forecasts even than they were, with all sorts of
forecasting devices (i.e. satellites and Doppler radar in operation. There is
also a growing army of doomsday forecasters, loudly concerned about a predicted
nuclear winter, overpopulation, pollution, global-warming, increase in hurricanes
and tornados, plus a host of other foreboding secular “signs of the times.” Our
coverage of the “great American total solar eclipse” had the total attention of
the nation. What is with this fascination of distractions that people
love? I remember that our church’s youth
director read a study that “end-times prophesy” (Eschatology) books of the
Bible (Daniel, Ezekiel & Revelation) were College and High School age kids
favorite studies. Movies about a life-ending meteor hitting the earth, a giant
solar flare of radiation or a super-nova of our sun seem to produce great box office
returns at the theaters.
Romans
1:17-23 “For in it the
righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The
just shall live by faith.” For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for
God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world
His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that
they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did
not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their
thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise,
they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an
image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping
things.”
We
focus our attention on “Cosmos Chaos”, yet they ignore the overwhelming
evidences, both in science and Scripture, that our great Creator/Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, is always in control and is coming again soon to fulfill His
great purposes in creation and redemption. A mere listing of the many real
signs of God’s times would take many pages. One such sign, of course, is this
very proliferation of science and technology. At “the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be
increased” – Daniel 12:4. Studies have shown that “knowledge” is doubling
every 12 months. Another is the great
following achieved by these false teachers, as multitudes “turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables”
- 2
Timothy 4:4. In America, Darwinian Theory of Macro-Evolution is the
only allow explanation for the origin of life and the diversity therein, even
though the physical evidence does not support it and the facts have always pointed
to creation by intelligent design, just as the Bible states. We should be
looking around at the order and beauty of creation and see the fingerprints of
God everywhere.
“Hypocrites,” Jesus said, are concerned with
secular trends, but spiritual discerners can recognize the true signs. They
are posted everywhere, on everything: “Made in Heaven by God”. Praise be to God
Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth!
Blessings
in Christ.
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