Matthew
The Reading of Signs
Look at Jesus’ words to those seeking a sign
A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." Then he left them and went away. Matthew 16:4 NET Bible®
Imagine if you could get a news channel from heaven
A report without the worldly bias and narrative
What would covid look like, the war on Ukraine, inflation and all the other rumors
Don’t let the Republicans and Democrats news channels deceive you
Learning how to predict the signs of the atmosphere to forecast weather
Is necessary to your daily life
Learning how to predict the signs of Heaven to forecast Spiritual conditions
Is necessary to your daily life
You and I are looking at the same things as the Pharisees and Sadducees
And the Republicans and Democrats
The follower of Jesus Christ sees these things as signs from Heaven
Seek your daily bread from heaven
Don’t let Fox News, CNN or any other media put yeast in your bread
The Reading of Signs
For millennia, people have tried to forecast the weather.
In 650 BC, the Babylonians predicted the weather
from cloud patterns, as well as astrology.
In about 350 BC, Aristotle described
weather patterns in Meteorologica.
Later, Theophrastus compiled a book on
weather forecasting, called the Book of Signs.
Chinese weather prediction lore
extends at least as far back as 300 BC…
Which was also around the same time
ancient Indian astronomers developed
weather-prediction methods.
In New Testament times,
Jesus, Himself, referred to deciphering and
understanding local weather patterns, by saying…
"When evening comes, you say,
'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red', and in the morning,
'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.'
You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky,
but you cannot interpret the signs of the times."
Let’s look at weather forecasting…
Weather affects us all.
Part of your preparation every day
is based on weather.
Some days are affected more than others.
If the temperature is going to get above 80 degrees,
I look to put on shorts.
If I lived in Florida,
and a hurricane was forecasted…
I would put on hurricane shutters
and move to higher ground.
I look at my phone weather app at least once a day
to help me live comfortably in this world.
I know they say meteorologists have
the most secure job…
Because they can be wrong 50%
of the time and still keep their job.
With modern technology…
Forecast can be made seven days out.
Only a few decades ago, it was
four days with the same confidence.
Imagine living without the ability of predicting
the weather and advance warnings.
How can we make these predictions?
In Jesus’ time…
People saw signs in the sky.
Today super computers pick up signs
from the atmosphere
and compile that information
into numbers.
They then feed models to our local weather forecaster.
Jesus had been teaching
the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
Jesus had been forecasting the spiritual weather.
Jesus was asked a question
by the Pharisees and Sadducees…
Show us a sign from heaven.
Jesus was saying to the Pharisees and Sadducees…
You look at signs in the sky
every day and predict the weather.
Jesus even said they predict or judge
the current condition correctly…
When it comes to reading the sings of the atmosphere.
But when it comes to reading the spiritual signs…
They were not paying attention.
The Pharisees and Sadducees saw
the things Jesus was doing.
They saw the signs of heaven…
Yet, could not predict them.
The signs of the Kingdom of Heaven
are taking place every day…
Just like the signs of the atmosphere.
It did not take all the super computers
to predict the signs of the sky and
how to prepare for the weather that day.
So, what is the problem?
A refusal to properly pay attention to
spiritual conditions taking place.
Why do people refuse?
One of the reasons “Personal Bias”.
Learned beliefs, opinions, or attitudes that people
are unaware of and often reinforce stereotypes
Personal Bias establishes the “narrative”
before the story happens.
America has two witness…
Republicans and Democrats.
They are like the Pharisees and Sadducees.
In Jesus’ day, the temple was the media
and pulpit for the Pharisees and Sadducees.
When Jesus took the message of the
Kingdom to the Temple, He was rejected.
Jesus took the message of the Kingdom
beyond the four walls of the Temple
for the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Today in America the news channels
are the pulpit for the Republicans and Democrats.
Fox News and CNN are the two largest.
These channels write the narrative
before the news story happens.
Their bias keeps them from seeing
the signs of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Whether it is the reporting of world conditions
like wars, economic information, health
and welfare, crime and violence, etc…
They both see and report the news
according to their bias and write their
own spin on the narrative.
Jesus warned the Pharisees and Sadducees and said…
A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign,
but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah."
Then he left them and went away.
Matthew 16:4 NET Bible®,
Jesus warned the disciples after saying this…
"Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
Matthew 16:6 NET Bible®,
Religion in America is divided by
Republicans and Democrats…
Just like Jesus’ day of
Pharisees and Sadducees.
Jesus told us to pray…
"'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:9-10
The signs of the Kingdom of Heaven
are coming every day.
The Kingdom of Heaven is taking place
all around us.
Yet, the Pharisees and Sadducees and
the Republicans and Democrats can’t see it.
They ask for a sign…
But none will be given them.
Except…
Jesus Christ the Son of God
who came down from heaven.
He was rejected and condemned as a criminal.
He was killed on a cross.
For three days He laid in a tomb.
But on the third day Jesus Christ conquered death.
The penalty or wages of all sin was paid and conquered.
This is the only sign from heaven that is necessary to see.
If you miss this sign,
you will not know how to prepare for
the forecast of the days to come.
The Republicans and Democrats will give
their narrative on the signs, but Jesus warns us…
"Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Matthew 24:4-14
Look again at Jesus’ words
to those seeking a sign…
A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign,
but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah."
Then he left them and went away.
Matthew 16:4 NET Bible®
Imagine if you could get a news channel from heaven,
a reporting without the worldly bias and narrative.
What would covid look like,
the war on Ukraine, inflation
and all the other rumors.
Don’t let the Republicans and Democrats
news channels deceive you.
Learning how to predict the signs
of the atmosphere to forecast weather
is necessary to your daily life.
Learning how to predict the signs
of heaven to forecast spiritual conditions
is necessary to your daily life.
You and I are looking at the same things
as the Pharisees and Sadducees
and the Republicans and Democrats.
The follower of Jesus Christ sees
these things as signs from Heaven.
Seek your daily bread from heaven…
Don’t let Fox news, CNN
or any other media
put yeast in your bread.
Scripture Reading
Matthew 16:1-12
16 Now when the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He said, "When evening comes you say, 'It will be fair weather, because the sky is red,' 3 and in the morning, 'It will be stormy today, because the sky is red and darkening.' You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." Then he left them and went away.
The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees
5 When the disciples went to the other side, they forgot to take bread. 6 "Watch out," Jesus said to them, "beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." 7 So they began to discuss this among themselves, saying, "It is because we brought no bread." 8 When Jesus learned of this, he said, "You who have such little faith! Why are you arguing among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many baskets you took up? 11 How could you not understand that I was not speaking to you about bread? But beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!" 12 Then they understood that he had not told them to be on guard against the yeast in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
(from The NET Bible®, Copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C., Dallas, Texas, www.bible.org. All rights reserved. Used by permission.)
