{"id":240,"date":"2023-04-12T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=240&2023"},"modified":"2023-04-10T18:00:21","modified_gmt":"2023-04-11T00:00:21","slug":"signs-and-sins-matthew-16-1-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/signs-and-sins-matthew-16-1-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Signs and Sins: Matthew 16:1-4"},"content":{"rendered":"
Focus Passage: Matthew 16:1-4 (NASB)<\/div>

1<\/sup>\u00a0The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. 2<\/sup>\u00a0But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be<\/em> fair weather, for the sky is red.’<\/span> 3<\/sup>\u00a0And in the morning, ‘There will be<\/em> a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern<\/em> the signs of the times?<\/span> 4<\/sup>\u00a0An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.”<\/span> And He left them and went away. <\/p>

Read Matthew 16:1-4<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n

In today\u2019s journal entry, we\u2019ll be looking at a short dialog that Jesus has with the Pharisees and Sadducees, and uncover one big idea that helps us see a clearer picture of Jesus\u2019 character.<\/p>\r\n

In this passage, we read that the Pharisees and Sadducees want (i.e. demand)<\/em> a sign, but Jesus instead counter-challenges their initial request, calling it a request from those who are evil.<\/p>\r\n

What is so wrong with asking for a sign?<\/span> Gideon asked for three different signs (Judges 6), and he was granted each. \u00a0In Isaiah 7, God offers king Ahaz a \u201cblank check\u201d sign with no seeming repercussions.<\/p>\r\n

So what is different about the requests of the Pharisees and Sadducees?<\/p>\r\n

I can think of three big issues:<\/p>\r\n

    \r\n
  1. The first issue is the Pharisees\/Sadducees were closed off to the signs that were all around them. There had been hundreds of signs already, most of them ranging from healing all kinds of diseases to casting out demons on numerous occasions, and these leaders chose to be blind to all of it in favor of something they felt could only come from God.<\/li>\r\n
  2. The second issue is that there was the expectation that this sign had to meet. Like the first reason, this had to be exceptional, and make all the other \u201clesser\u201d miracles insignificant. But Jesus doesn\u2019t work this way. Instead, every miracle was incredibly personal, and none were insignificant.<\/li>\r\n
  3. The third, and probably the biggest, issue is that it was counter to Jesus\u2019 character. Any immediate sign would draw the focus onto Jesus, no matter what credit Jesus would have tried to point to the Father. Jesus came to show us the Father and to lead us to God. It is counter to His character to draw attention to himself \u2013 except perhaps for the case we could make regarding His death on the cross.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

    So it is wrong to ask God for a sign?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    I will leave that up to you. <\/p>\r\n

    However, I will add that almost every \u201csign\u201d God gave to individuals in the Bible was not designed to initiate faith, but instead to strengthen it. Also, almost all these signs had spans of time between the request and the fulfillment. With Gideon, it was several hours with his first request, and overnight for the two fleece requests. With Ahaz, the sign he was ultimately given was a messianic prediction that wasn\u2019t fulfilled for hundreds of years.<\/p>\r\n

    The really big idea for this passage is this: Signs are not sins if they seek to give God glory. Signs are sins if they seek to draw attention to ourselves.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

    This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p>

    Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In today\u2019s journal entry, we\u2019ll be looking at a short dialog that Jesus has with the Pharisees and Sadducees, and uncover one big idea that helps us see a clearer picture of Jesus\u2019 character. In this passage, we read that the Pharisees and Sadducees want (i.e. demand) a sign, but Jesus instead counter-challenges their initial […]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"\nSigns and Sins: Matthew 16:1-4 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/signs-and-sins-matthew-16-1-4\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Signs and Sins: Matthew 16:1-4 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In today\u2019s journal entry, we\u2019ll be looking at a short dialog that Jesus has with the Pharisees and Sadducees, and uncover one big idea that helps us see a clearer picture of Jesus\u2019 character. 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