What About Signs?
Today, I’m going off on a bit of a tangent.
Cosine, secant, tangent, sine, 3.14159! Goooo Trig! Woo-hoo!
Our name this week, Immanuel, was given as a sign. One that God gave when he told Ahaz to ask for a sign.
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14
Now in modern, evangelical Christianity, the idea of asking for signs can make us a little uncomfortable. After all, Jesus had some harsh words for those who sought signs.
Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” – John 4:48
and
“An evil and adulterous generation wants a sign; and so a sign will not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away. -Matthew 16:4
Yikes! That’s enough to get me to swear off looking for a sign! But let’s back up to the beginning of Matthew 16. As Greg Koukl says, never read a Bible verse.
1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and putting Jesus to the test, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but are you unable to discern the signs of the times?
Jesus was upset with the religious leaders because they rejected the signs they’d already been given. And they looked for a sign instead of a relationship with their Creator.
When Jesus gives a sign, pay attention!
Which brings us to King Ahaz. Isaiah told him to ASK for a sign. Basically, “You name it, Ahaz.”
10 Then the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying,
11 “Ask for a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I put the LORD to the test!” 13 Then he (Isaiah) said, “Listen now, house of David! Is it too trivial a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? 14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:
The Lord wanted Ahaz to ask for a sign, and he refused. Now that’s just dumb.
If the Lord makes a proposition like that, take him up on it!
Because we have God’s revealed Word and the indwelling Holy Spirit, asking for signs today isn’t the best way to get answers. But God has already given us plenty of signs. All we have to do is open our eyes.
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse. – Romans 1:20
And open our Bibles.
So then, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name. – John 20:30-31
