Read the signs

The following was written by Pastor Andy Anderson. As I read this, I was taken back to when I taught each of our kids to drive. I remember telling each of them as they started getting more comfortable out on the road that there would come a time when they would get “too comfortable” with their skills and make a mistake. I implored them to remain vigilant, turn down the radio and not allow distractions interfere with the job at hand – driving. I also implore them, myself and you to pay attention to the Lord’s leading! Read the signs!!!

“The Pharisees and Sadducees approached, and as a test asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them: ‘When evening comes you say, ‘It will be good weather because the sky is red. And in the morning, ‘Today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can’t read the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. Then He left them and went away.” Matthew 16:1-4  There are a lot of things in this world that show us the signs of the times. There are signs for travel; signs that warn us of danger; signs that tell us to yield, and to stop. There are signs that give us direction, so that we are not floundering around not knowing what to do or where to go. There are the signs of nature, the activity of animals, and yes, even the perils of the river. But do we really see them?  Or do we get complacent and fail to see what is in front of us. We can learn from signs and follow them, and the greatest sign is the sign of our salvation and has already been given, and that is the presence of God in the flesh, who came to earth as a baby, and lived a sinless life. He went on to give His life as a ransom for the world’s sins, yet the world didn’t receive Him.  They wouldn’t believe the sign. The Pharisees kept asking, and refused to see the very sign of the miracles that were right in front of them. Yes, we can pride ourselves on knowing how to read nature, or being obedient to the signs of men, but why not the sign of Christ – the very presence of God with us. He doesn’t have to keep showing us more because of our hesitation to believe. He already has shown us plenty.  So Jesus says the only sign that will be given them is the Sign of Jonah, who willingly sacrificed himself for the crew of the ship. He allowed himself to be thrown overboard, to save them. Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified, and where Jonah spent three days in the belly of a fish, Jesus spent three days in the bowels of the earth, showing Himself to those who had perished, both those who held onto faith, and those who didn’t.  We can delight in the sign of what Jonah did, but something so much greater than Jonah was present when Jesus walked that hill, and let them drive nails in his hands and feet. That my friends is the sign of salvation. That is the sign that we need to keep us on the right road, the straight road, the road that leads to eternity, and no other sign is needed. Either believe or be like the Pharisees who needed just one more sign, because they were too blind to see the one right in front of them.