Signs of the time

The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew 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 to day: for the sky is red and lowring. 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 Jonas. And he left them, and departed. (Matthew 16:1-4)

In his infinite wisdom and discernment, Yeshua made a definite observation of his antagonist and asked a question that they could not answer because of their spiritual blindness. He exposed their deception and left them there stomped.  The religious leaders of the day could not see the mighty work that YHWH was doing.  That Yeshua is the Messiah.  True knowledge of YHWH comes from undefiled unadulterated worship of Him after true repentance and humble submission to his will and Word.  If the religious leaders of the day were truly following the letter of the Law, line by line, precept upon precept, the pathway would have led them to understand the prophecies of the Holy Scripture about Yeshua.  They would have understood the passage: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)”.  Because they didn’t follow the Law, they could not see the forest for the trees.  The same is true in these times.  People follow religion instead of following Yeshua. They worship men like they should worship YHWH.  They follow men like they should follow Yeshua.  They have a form of godliness, the outward appearance of holiness and inwardly there is no true connection with Yeshua.  When men learn and accept the finished work of the Messiah Yeshua, they will receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who becomes their guide into eternity.

The religious leaders pretended to want to see a sign from Heaven.  They were not desirous for an affirmation from YHWH like Gideon, they didn’t believe in Yeshua. The result was a rebuke by Yeshua calling  them a “wicked and adulteress generation”, adultery signifying their spiritual fornication by their false religion. He called them hypocrites because they did not practice true worship of YHWH and they placed heavy burdens on the people, financial and in deeds that were not according to the Word. They dressed and acted like they were Holy and in one case Yeshua called them ravening wolves “ ¶ Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? (Matthew 7:15-16)”.  They were ravening/rapacious, aggressively greedy or graspy like wolves in the wild on a kill.  They grasp after the finances of the people living high on the hog while the average person is living paycheck to paycheck or barley surviving. He also called them “faithless and perverse” as recorded by Matthew.  They were faithless because their religious practices were not based on the Word of YHWH.  Faith should be practiced according to the Holy Word of YHWH and not some inward self righteous practice or what men think is right, that was of another generation long past.  Like the Pharisees and Sadducees some religions  and traditions have been built on the philosophy of men and self righteous traditions and not by the Spirit and the Word. Yeshua says “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:29-30)” . “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:21-27)”.

The signs of the time are clear if you walk in the Spirit.  Just as clear and the rising of the sun and the setting of the same.  The present  signs of the time are not only the evil deeds of men but of a signal of the work that YHWH is going to perform.  They are not only in the environment , the stress that the physical world is experiencing but also in the social order.  The corruption in governments, the financial stress and the chaotic unrest makes it very clear the the “times of the Gentiles “ is near to a close.  We are encouraged and warned not to be deceived by evil men.  The signs are apparent, the enemy is skilled at “the art of deception”  but we have surety from YHWH.  The Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth and will keep us on the pathway home to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Follow peace, follow love, follow Yeshua! Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. (John 16:13-14)

A note about “times”.

Times could be a day, a week, a year, dispensations, generations or eras. It denotes a “span of life”. There are considered by Christian Scholars  7 times or dispensations of the world.  Some scholars consider a different number but most agree on the number 7.  We will consider these in a later discussion.

The 7 dispensations  of the world

1. Innocence

2. Conscience

3. Human government/Legalism

4. Promise

5. Law

6. Grace

7. The Kingdom