S I G N S OF THE TIMES
by Dr. Ralph L. Keiper
K NOWING TH we live in a sinful world, Go< < has not left us to wonder about ihe future, but has, rather, given us'sign posts to reveal His perfect plans for the future. Every one seems to be interested in what is going to happen in the days ahead. In some countries when the people see the leaves of trees beginning to fold and bend, they declare a storm is on the way. Others, when they hear a rooster crow, expect some tragedy to take place. I have some friends who can tell the state of the weather by the way in which their corns hurt. When I was a boy, there was a verse we learned which stated prophetically, “Red skies in the morning, the sailor’s warning. Red skies at night, the sail or’s delight.” These very thoughts are also found in Scripture when we read the words of the Lord Jesus to the Sadducees and Pharisees who constant ly endeavored to tempt Him. They wanted to know some definite evidence and were desirous of proof. Our blessed Saviour answered them, “When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair wea ther: for the sky is"red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? (Matthew 16: 2, 3). The Pharisees were the strict legalists of the law; they were the separatists with a capital “S”. The Sad ducees, under normal conditions, were
their avowed enemies. They were lib erals who, among other things did not believe in the resurrection. Theirs was a human religion. A common hatred of the Lord Jesus Christ brought these two enemies together. They had known that He claimed to be God. They had heard Him teach for no man ever taught like He did. They had beheld the miracles which He had performed. Yet with all of this they refused to accept what they saw and heard and proceeded in their endeavors to make a fool of the Lord Jesus. They vainly tried to discredit Him in the eyes of the people. In answer to their requests for a sign from the heavens, He reminds them that the only appropriate sign is to be found from the Word through the prophets. To illustrate His point, the Saviour turns these religious leaders back to their own people and especially to the book of Jonah. He says, “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” (Matthew 16:4). From this we realize that there are signs of the times, and that they are to be found in the Word of God. It is not to be man’s experience but rather it is to be “What saith the Scriptures?” We must turn to the Word of God for everything observed in the world today. How blessed are these realizations when brought into proper Scriptural perspective and focus. 13
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