Discerning the Times

By Pastor Doug Cox

I have a coat stuffed away that I jokingly refer to as ‘my friend’ because it’s so big and fluffy that it takes up the room of another person. I use it when temperatures plummet below zero for days and winds howl, blowing snow snakes across frozen roads. This year I haven’t even thought about it because the weather patterns and seasons are all so mixed up. This wacky weather is making me wonder what is going on.

Jesus talked about the weather and seasons. One day some jealous rebellious men called Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Him and asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. “He answered and said to them, when it is evening you 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 threatening. Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. And He left them and departed.” (Matthew 16:2-4 NKJV)

Prior to this confrontation Jesus had been busy healing the sick, opening blind eyes and deaf ears. He had delivered tormented souls from the power of demons and raised the dead. The Pharisees and Sadducees were well aware of these miracles but instead of considering these supernatural works as His authentication as God’s chosen Messiah, they wanted Him to perform a sign for them. Instead of doing that Jesus accused them of being spiritually blind.

So, besides all the miracles Jesus did, His final sign for us all was the sign of Jonah. Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, similarly, Jesus, the Son of Man spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, then rose again. Romans 1:4 declares Jesus “… to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” There is no better sign than that as evidence that Jesus is the Messiah.

Holy Scripture tells us He’s coming back. It tells about what that will happen just before He returns. There will be natural signs. “… there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.” (Luke 21:11 NKJV) In Matthew 24 Jesus warns of great deception and false Christs. He warns of wars and rumors of wars and about nation against nation. He warns of antisemitism and hatred and how love will grow cold and lawlessness will increase. He says these signs will appear like birth pains in a pregnant woman, happening right before He returns. Also preceding His return will be the Great Tribulation.

The Apostle Paul says, in the last days perilous times will come. Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, proud and blasphemous. They will be unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers without self-control. They will be brutal, despisers of good, traitors and headstrong. They will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God and will have a form of godliness but denying His power. (See 2 Timothy 3:1-5)

I’m wondering if our different weather patterns should prompt us to look honestly at the state of our world and ask the Lord to help us discern the times so we can be ready for His return.