In the Fulness of Time/Part 104
| By: Dr. Thomas O. Figart; ©2008 |
| The phrase “signs of the times” was not used by Jesus to prophesy some future events, but to refer to signs already performed by Him, proving that He is the Messiah, the Son of God. Significantly, this is the only place where this specific phrase is used, and yet it has constantly been taken out of context to refer to famines, wars, rumors of wars, immorality and a host of other things which are supposedly pointing to the second advent of Christ! |
Contents
Seeking For a Sign Matthew 16:1-4
- Matthew 16:1-4 “The Pharisees, with the Sadducees, came, and testing him, desired that he would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye 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 overcast. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet, Jonah. And he left them, and departed.”
Back in Matthew 12:38-50 the same request for a “sign” (semeion) was discussed in some detail. Here there are additional statements which deserve attention.
In 12:38-50 it was Pharisees and scribes; here it is Pharisees and Sadducees. This is not the first time (see 3:7) nor the last time (see 23:15-40) that these natural enemies came together to attack Christ. Had their hearts been sincere in seeking a sign, even “one from heaven” they would have recognized that the numerous miracles performed by Christ were, indeed, from heaven! Did they want another manifestation of manna from heaven? Jesus had multiplied loaves and fishes on two occasions! Did He have power over the waters of the sea as Moses did? Yes, Jesus had calmed the waters of Galilee on more than one occasion, and had even walked on the water, a feat which Moses never attempted!
Christ was so disturbed that He used the same expression as in Matthew 12:39: “A wicked and adulterous generation,” only here He preceded it by showing just how superficial their seeking was. They could easily “discern the face of the sky;” how ironic that they should look to heaven for a sign of the physical (the weather) but could not have faith in the “bread of God who cometh down from heaven” (see John 6:33-58). In this sense, therefore, He Himself is the sign from heaven; and so He posed the question in John 6:62: “What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?” He answered His own question in John 6:64: “there are some of you who believe not.” Thus, it was never a question of the adequacy of His signs; the heart of the matter was the hardness of their hearts!
The phrase “signs of the times” was not used by Jesus to prophesy some future events, but to refer to signs already performed by Him, proving that He is the Messiah, the Son of God (John 20:30-31). Significantly, this is the only place where this specific phrase is used, and yet it has constantly been taken out of context to refer to famines, wars, rumors of wars, immorality and a host of other things which are supposedly pointing to the second advent of Christ!
These unbelievers had enough signs from Christ; no sign would be given but the sign of the prophet Jonah, which Jesus explained in Matthew 12:40 as referring to His death, burial and resurrection. Yet, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31). Jesus fulfilled this sign of Jonah; still the Jews were not persuaded! The paragraph closes with the words: “And He left them and departed.” It is said, that if Jesus leaves a man, grace leaves him!
A Lesson about Leaven Matthew 16:5-12
The Disciples Faulty Reasoning about Bread. Matthew 16:5-7
- Matthew16:5-7 “And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, it is because we have taken no bread.”
What could possibly have made the disciples think that Christ would caution them so strongly about not bringing along enough bread? It was not merely one disciple; they were reasoning (dielogidzonto) among themselves concerning His words, “Take heed (horate, “to see, as with the mind”) and beware (prosechete, “to hold to, to guard against). This doubly expressed warning against the “leaven” of a double enemy, Pharisees and Sadducees, should have penetrated their thinking much more than it did. Their mental misconception allowed them to think only of the physical: “It is because we have taken no bread.”
But why this particular conclusion, as they thought of His warning about leaven? In their minds there must have been some physical connection between leaven and the Pharisees and Sadducees. One suggestion is that the disciples might have thought that Jesus was concerned that they might buy some bread baked by a Pharisee and sold by a Sadducee which therefore might be defiled. Certainly some such extreme conclusion must have emerged from their dialogue, because Christ uses no less than six harsh responses: “Perceive ye not yet, neither understand? Have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not? And do ye not yet remember?” (Mark 8:17-18).
The Disciples’ Failed Remembrance of His Miracles. Matthew 16:8-10
- Matthew 16:8-10 “Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not understand neither remember the five loaves and the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?”
Jesus had rebuked their little faith three times before (Matthew 6:30; 8:26; 14:31) concerning worry, fear and doubt; now it is forgetfulness. If it had been a matter of forgetting some trivial thing, we could all relate to this; but to forget two tremendous and significant miracles of providing food, which occurred within a few weeks’ time, was just too much for Jesus to overlook. No wonder He used such severe language with them! He could also have reminded them of other miracles, or even of the cures they themselves had effected on the sick. Some years later, the apostle Peter would write: “Add to your faith . . . knowledge . . . But he that lacketh these things cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (2 Peter 1:5, 9). Here, Jesus says the same thing to Peter and the rest; add to your faith understanding and remembrance!
The Disciples’ Flawed Understanding about Leaven. Matthew 16:11-12
- Matthew 16:11-12 “How is it that ye do not understand that I spoke not to you concerning bread, but that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they that he bade them not to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”
Finally, the disciples understood that the lesson about leaven was a lesson about false doctrine. Fortunately, we are not left to speculate about the specific definitions. In Luke 12:1 Jesus “began to say to his disciples first of all, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy.” Jesus defines their hypocrisy further in Matthew 23:3, saying: “do not after their works, for they say, but do not,” and from 23:13-36 Christ calls them hypocrites no less than seven times and gives a full catalog of their hypocritical doctrine and practice.
The false doctrine of the Sadducees is defined in Matthew 22:23: “The same day came to him the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit.” It is true that the Sadducees denied these basic doctrines, and others, yet a statement from Josephus shows that they adhered to the observances of the written Law of Moses and rejected the oral law of the rabbis:
- What I would now explain is this, that the Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the Law of Moses; and for that reason it is that the Sadducees reject them, and say that we are to esteem those observances to be obligatory which are in the written word but are not to observe what are derived from the tradition of the forefathers (Joseph, Antiquities, Book 18, Chapter 10:6).
This was a case, then, of traditionalists agreeing with rationalists to oppose Christ, Who in turn, warns His disciples against the false doctrines in both of these sects of the Jews. “In the fulness of time” judgment from the Lord must fall upon all those who deny the truth of God’s Word, or attempt to add false teachings to the Word!
