Post by Lee on Jul 16, 2014 2:19:48 GMT
Mat 16:1 "The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven."
Such were the clergy in the days of Jesus, termed the Pharisees and Scribes. There was another class of clergy called the Sadducees, who believed neither in angels nor spirits. These were the enemies of Christ on his first appearing, and they were continually urging upon him that he should shew them a sign from heaven. They wanted to see something marvellous. They did not care about the things signified, but they wanted to see a sign from heaven, that they might be astonished. "amazed" This is a propensity peculiar to the unenlightened, uninstructed, carnal mind. We find this from the testimony in Jeremiah 10., where we see what this mere longing after signs was connected with. The second verse says “Learn not the way of the heathen, (or the nations, or the Gentiles, for the original signifies these three things,) and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.” There was a great propensity in the minds of the Gentiles to look for omens in the flights of birds, and in the appearance of victims offered in sacrifice to their gods. No true believers want to have signs from heaven. Their minds are anxious to apprehend the meaning of the signs already given; therefore let us not be like certain persons in our day, who are looking to the sun, the moon, the stars, and the darkness of the atmosphere, for signs of the coming of the Lord. The signs are not there; they are not to be given there. It is only the heathen that look for signs in that sphere of operations; therefore, says Jehovah, “Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven.”
. Vol. 6: The Christadelphian: Volume 6. 2001 (electronic ed.) (218). Birmingham: Christadelphian Magazine & Publishing Association.
Such were the clergy in the days of Jesus, termed the Pharisees and Scribes. There was another class of clergy called the Sadducees, who believed neither in angels nor spirits. These were the enemies of Christ on his first appearing, and they were continually urging upon him that he should shew them a sign from heaven. They wanted to see something marvellous. They did not care about the things signified, but they wanted to see a sign from heaven, that they might be astonished. "amazed" This is a propensity peculiar to the unenlightened, uninstructed, carnal mind. We find this from the testimony in Jeremiah 10., where we see what this mere longing after signs was connected with. The second verse says “Learn not the way of the heathen, (or the nations, or the Gentiles, for the original signifies these three things,) and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.” There was a great propensity in the minds of the Gentiles to look for omens in the flights of birds, and in the appearance of victims offered in sacrifice to their gods. No true believers want to have signs from heaven. Their minds are anxious to apprehend the meaning of the signs already given; therefore let us not be like certain persons in our day, who are looking to the sun, the moon, the stars, and the darkness of the atmosphere, for signs of the coming of the Lord. The signs are not there; they are not to be given there. It is only the heathen that look for signs in that sphere of operations; therefore, says Jehovah, “Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven.”
. Vol. 6: The Christadelphian: Volume 6. 2001 (electronic ed.) (218). Birmingham: Christadelphian Magazine & Publishing Association.