Faith

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In the early 1970s, Five Man Electrical Band flirted with success with a song titled Signs. It was written by a band member who was frustrated with all the billboards along Route 66. They obstructed his view of the American landscape, so he wrote, “Sign, sign, everywhere a sign—blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind.
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign.”

There are some signs that make me laugh, because they seem so odd:

• “Seeing eye dogs only.”—Who is that for?
• “For sale by owner.”—I hope so!
• “Shirts and shoes must be worn.”—What else would you do, carry them in?

Along with those are some silly sayings:

• “Coupon only valid when purchasing items of equal or greater value.”—That’s the only way it can be!
• “Theft by unlawful taking.”—Now there’s an understatement.

A sign is a public display of information, often a warning or an advertisement. Signs are meant to tell us something important. We are told to read the signs of the times, doctors and space explorers look for signs of life, sign language silently conveys thoughts, and signatures represent a person’s agreement. Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.

Jesus was a carpenter, not a highway worker, but he certainly created his share of signs. He was not a writer, but his signs spoke volumes. In fact, they were his signature—he based his character assessment on them.

Christ was always being tested. People did not trust his words—they wanted more concrete confirmation of who he said he was: Messiah and Lord God. Right after multiplying the loaves and fishes, “the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven” (Matthew 16:1). When he drove the money changers out of the temple, “the Jews demanded of him, ‘What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’” (John 2:18). Strangely, after all of these extraordinary public acts, people demanded proof of who he was.

Jesus didn’t play their game. He wouldn’t satisfy their curiosity by putting on a show. He had given them signs since he began his public ministry. In fact, he berated them for not figuring out what was going on:

He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away (Matthew 16:2–4).

The sign of Jonah referred to Jesus’ upcoming death, three-day burial, and resurrection. If THAT sign didn’t convince them that he was the Messiah, nothing would. They just didn’t want to see.

I remember a time when I, like so many of us, wouldn’t believe God existed until He would give us a sign. Foolishly, we ask things like, “God, if you exist, strike me with lightning!” Brilliant. Sometimes we treat His signs like traffic signs. I think all drivers should take a reading test. Seems we have trouble with simple words like “Stop” and “Yield.” We can have spiritual myopia, missing the meaning of the signs Jesus performed as recorded in the Scriptures.

God wants us to believe His Word. Jesus had trouble convincing the religious people of his day that he was for real. He wanted to be believed, for their eternal sake: “Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father” (John 10:37, 38). His public, documented miracles were the warnings and signs that proved his character: “Jesus answered, ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep’” (John 10:25, 26). People did not want to obey the signs because they were not his sheep.

The Apostle John ended his account of Jesus’ life with these words: “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written 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 21:25).

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign.

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