Misconception #38 (Cont’d)
When Jesus’ Listeners Demanded a Sign, He Told Them No More Signs from God Would be Given
Just for the sake of argument, let’s assume the traditional reading of those passages concerning signs and wonders are true. Let’s say Jesus actually told us that—except for Jonah in that whale—we won’t be receiving any more signs from the Lord. Then The Bible, as it continues its narrative from that point onward, should confirm this view, right?
So what do we see?
Well, according to Matthew, no sooner had Jesus ended His discussion with the scribes and Pharisees than He was feeding five thousand people—not counting their wives and children—with five loaves of bread and two fish.1
Then, immediately after that, Jesus had all His disciples get into a boat and sail ahead of Him to the other side while He went off to a nearby mountainside to pray by Himself.
All night the disciples were out on that boat, trying to make their way to the other side, but because the wind and the waves beat against them with such force, they never did quite make it there.
Story Continues Below
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Story Continues From Above
Then, just before dawn, the wind and the waves began to batter their boat with even greater intensity. As darkness slowly gave way to morning’s first light, several of the weary disciples rubbed their eyes in disbelief: A mysterious figure was walking toward them, across the surface of the lake, even as the foamy spray of the waves enveloped it.
“My God, it’s a ghost!” cried one of the disciples.
As the figure made its way to the edge of their boat, a familiar voice sliced through the din of wind and waves. “Don’t worry, everyone; it’s just Me.”2 Jesus, of course, walking on water—which if I’m not entirely mistaken was, like the feeding of the five thousand, a miracle.
On and on I could go: The blind saw, the lame walked, the deaf heard, the dead rose. One can only wonder what Lazarus would’ve thought had he ever heard someone tell him that God had stopped giving any more signs after Jonah’s day.
“Well, Jesus may have performed plenty of miracles in His day,” believers in the God of No More Signs might say, “but that doesn’t mean there’ve been any since He rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven.”
To which I’d reply, “Oh, really? What about all the signs Matthew talked about in his Gospel? You know, the ones Jesus predicted would take place in the Last Days? Don’t those count?”
Jesus’ disciples asked Him: “What will the signs of Your coming be like?”
And rather than tell them no more signs would given to humanity, Jesus described a great many that would occur someday.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the Sun will grow dark, the Moon will withhold her light, and even the stars will begin to fall from the sky. It’ll be as if the very power of Heaven is being shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in Heaven, and every tribe of the Earth will begin to mourn, as they all see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with tremendous power and glory.3
Not only did Matthew describe a litany of signs, but Luke also had Jesus predicting much of the same in his Gospel.
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will also be terrible earthquakes, famines, and pestilences in many different places. And dreadful sights and great signs will appear from Heaven.4
Then, of course, there’s The Book of Revelation, which is nothing but a catalog of one amazing sign after another, all of which are events that clearly occur many centuries after Jesus performed His signs and wonder on Earth.
So, whether we’re talking about signs in Jesus’ day, or those that will occur in the future, it’s quite apparent that God has never wavered in His desire to provide signs and wonders for humanity.
Why, then, does tradition have us thinking otherwise?
