You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but can you discern the signs of the times?

Matthew 15:29-16:12 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Departing from there, Jesus went along the Sea of Galilee, and after going up on the mountain, He was sitting there. ³⁰ And large crowds came to Him bringing with them those who were limping, had impaired limbs, were blind, or were unable to speak, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them. ³¹ So the crowd was astonished as they saw those who were unable to speak talking, those with impaired limbs restored, those who were limping walking around, and those who were blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

³² Now Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” ³³ The disciples said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” ³⁵ And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; ³⁶ and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. ³⁸ And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

³⁹ And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan.

16 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? ⁴ 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.

⁵ And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread. ⁶ And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ⁷ They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring any bread.” ⁸ But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? ⁹ Do you not yet understand nor remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you picked up? ¹⁰ Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets you picked up? ¹¹ How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you about bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹² Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Today’s text says: The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and putting Jesus to the test, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 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? 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.  Keep in mind that this happened, the Pharisees and Sadducees made this request for a sigh, immediately after what we saw earlier in today’s text: Now Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” The disciples said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?” And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.  I’m not sure what kind of sign they were looking for, the miracles of Jesus were evident open and frequent.

Look again at what Jesus says: “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 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?”  Surely with all of our accumulated knowledge and technology, we can discern the whether far better than they could, but are we any better at discerning the times?  Matthew 24:1-14 says: Jesus left the temple area and was going on His way when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. But He responded and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”  So, the disciples also asked for a sign.  And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many people. And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains. Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold. But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”   Like the miracles of Jesus in the time of the Pharisees and Sadducees, surely the signs are evident. Many today come in the name of Jesus and mislead many. Their deception is that they say that Jesus would tolerate, accept and embrace the immorality of our culture and society. They say that because of God’s love and grace, sin no longer matters. Many people are misled. Currently we are hearing of wars and rumors of wars. Russia and Ukraine, China and Taiwan, and of course the Middle East. The word translated as nation is the Greek word ethnos, for which we get our English word ethnic. These ethnic, racial and tribal tensions are increasing throughout the world and there are many in the media and government who continually fan the flames of the division and hatred. Famines and natural disasters have always been here, but it seems that we are seeing more people suffer despite our knowledge, technology and wealth. We are seeing persecution of Christians around the world. Governments are dictating what is acceptable to say and believe. Lists are being formed of those who claim religious exceptions to government mandates. False prophets are evident, saying they have the answer, or they are the answer. These manipulate the truth. They intimidate for the purpose of control. Surely there is no question that lawlessness has increased and the love of many has grown cold. Nearly every day there are new reports of random and senseless killings. Governments have contributed to the problem by being more concerned with the rights of criminals than victims. Their answer to the lawlessness in our cities is to stop prosecuting crime.

Jesus says: “But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”    Fortunately we as believers can do more than just endure. In John 16:33 Jesus says: “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Can you discern the times? Romans 8:31-39 says: What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring charges against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, but rather, was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or trouble, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? Just as it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We were regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.