January
23rd Matthew
16
The signs of the times
1:
The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him
that he would shew them a sign from heaven. 2: He answered and said
unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for
the sky is red. 3: And in the morning, It will be foul weather to
day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern
the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
4: A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there
shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.
And he left them, and departed.
Beware
- Pharisees & Sadducees
5:
And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had
forgotten to take bread. 6: Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and
beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. 7: And
they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken
no bread. 8: Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of
little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought
no bread? 9: Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five
loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? 10:
Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets
ye took up? 11: How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it
not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of
the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? 12: Then understood they how that
he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine
of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
The
next thing that the Religious leaders do is to come to him demanding
a Messianic sign. Christ points out to them that they can read the
signs of the sky but the signs of the times they cannot read. Christ
describes them as hypocrites - actors. They have a mask they say one
thing but they mean something else. Its all a show - a sham. Then
Christ says that they will have no sign but the empty tomb. The Jews
even today stumble over the resurrection. And it is an essential
aspect of Jewish conversion to acknowledge Jesus and the Messiah and
to believe in the resurrection. When Paul is discussion the Jewish
aspect of Christianity he says Rom 10v9: That if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Christ warns
the Disciples of the corrupting influence of the teaching of the
Scribes and Pharisees.
- Why did the religious leaders demand a sign?
- Why did Jesus point to the sky?
- What sign does Christ say that they will have?
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