Look outside your window, and most likely you’ll see a lawn growing green, autumn trees dropping leaves, or perhaps even bustling roadways and busy pedestrians. 6,000 miles away from Ohio is Israel, where war is a reality, the scale of which hasn’t been seen in decades: Hamas airstrikes, land raids, and combat — and subsequently Israel’s swift response in Gaza — shocked a globe that has become accustomed to “unrest,” yet was wholly unprepared for mass tragedy. Even so, what does this have to do with us? Sure, we feel sympathy, sadness, even outrage. But is that all?
If you are a believer, you may have heard the phrase, “the signs of the times,” which originates from Matthew 16. But if we set aside our religious concepts, which may mislead us to try to read into the Bible to “prophesy” what will happen next, you’ll find that the signs of the times are something very human, very real, very practical, and very much related to you.
A sign is nothing but evidence — something you can see. Say you visited a friend’s home and slept in their guest room. When you leave, there may be wrinkles in the sheets or remnants of soap around the sink. Those are signs you were there — of your presence! Similarly, the Bible is a very physical record. In a way, it also is a kind of “evidence.” It is evidence to us of a very real Person. It is called the book of life for a reason, not of our life, or of any other kind of life, but testifying of the Life. It is the eternal Life, the life with no beginning and no end. It is the original Life — the prototype of life in its original form. And the Bible itself is nothing but these many books and chapters combined as a book of signs of life, a collection of irrefutable evidence of this very Life.
It is tempting for us to use human wisdom, human intelligence or human nature to try to understand or rationalize the Bible — to understand the signs. But the Life expressed in the Bible is not based on our fallen life. God uses His way in His nature to perform His deeds. No wonder Bible scholars study for years to find answers, or theologians try to apply a logical framework to make sense of the Bible to no end. Even Gentile scientists use mathematics, AI, or science to try to decode the Bible. But can those things build a relationship or help you know this Person? From the perspective of Life, it’s easy to see that that will only end in frustration. Actually, the signs in the Bible are very precisely arranged to defy fallen human logic — the worldly, Egyptian logic we were born into. Today’s confusing situation should compel us to ask the question: Is this the framework we are supposed to live in? Is this the logic we were meant to live by?
The story we know of Exodus typically goes that when the children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt, they were ill-treated, suffering, and begging to leave. And by miracles God set them free from Egypt, and they celebrated! But look a bit deeper, and you’ll see that the children of Israel were actually pretty content as Egyptians; they worked for their sustenance and pay, they had flavorful food — leeks, onions, and garlic on the table to satisfy their taste (Numbers 11:5) — they had stability, they had someone telling them how to live their lives. They were 400 years and many generations away from their origin as God’s people. Did any of them ask: Are we truly happy? Do we know what our life is for? Is this the only way there is to live? Is there any answer to the turmoils of the world, even though we ourselves seem content?
Today, we should see the signs in our lives as a wake up call from our drowsy, contented situation. Stop for a moment and reconsider: Are you truly happy? Do you know what your life is for? Is this the only way there is to live? Is there any answer to the tragedies wracking the globe? The Bible is full of signs for us to recognize today; it gives us an alternative way to live — a way according to the original Life. Exodus starts by showing us why and how we need to exit the world. And that process is almost impossible; it’s not logical. It doesn’t fit our values, our desires, or our pleasure. And so God needs to reveal Himself to us through the signs of the times. You might think the plagues are just punishments to the Egyptians for holding God’s people. No! They are signs to His own people of who He is and who they truly are: His personal treasure (Exo. 19:5). Like the children of Israel, we have been saturated so long, so deeply by the world. We are the modern Egyptians: good at trading, at working, at surviving in the world. But also like the children of Israel, we, too, have been given signs and wonders. All throughout history until today, He has revealed Himself to man in a very specific and tangible way to bring us back into the way of life — to recover us unto the proper humanity we were always meant to have.
Today, you might think the wars across the globe have nothing to do with you, just like the Israelites probably thought the plagues had nothing to do with them. Why should we care that deeply about “someone else’s” affairs? But in fact, if we are the church, these signs of the times are ours. They are evidence of a Person: of His movements, of His actions, of His desire. This has nothing to do with “predicting the future” in the cheap way that Christianity might tell you. This is all about the Lord accomplishing what He desires through His people on the earth. He is reminding us who we are, calling us out of our Egyptian lifestyle. But praise the Lord the book of Exodus doesn’t stop there: He is also showing us the way in. The latter part of the book of Exodus is all about the building — the tabernacle. Today, the church is the living tabernacle; it is the host and embodiment of “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14); it is the recipient of the signs of the times. The Lord is coming to wed His bride — the church — and the signs of His return are clear. It is not our logic or morality that causes us to understand, but a truthful seeking of this Person that causes us to turn, to see, and to hear. Are our ears open to what the Lord is saying to the churches (Rev. 2:29)?
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 10/6/2023, not reviewed by the speaker.)