Quoteworthy: Signs of the Times

"Ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times ?"—Matthew 16:3.

Jesus was at Magdala. He was surrounded by a multitude. They were clamoring for some signs or evidence that he was the Christ, the Messiah.

He said to them: You can tell by certain conditions in the sky whether it is going to be clear or stormy, and govern yourselves accordingly. Now, there are signs in the times, conditions, circumstances and events, foretold in your Holy Scriptures, which you ought to be able to read as clearly as you read the face of the sky.

The prophets had foretold certain things concerning the Christ when He should come. They had said he should be of lowly mien; that He would perform many healing wonders; that he would speak in parables; that he would be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; that he would not come with outward beauty nor winsome attraction; that he would ride into Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of an ass; that he would come in at a definite day and date, and that he would present himself in the temple as their king.

All these things had happened, were happening, and were about to happen. The Jews were called upon to be witnesses of these things and read them aright. They ought to have seen that they were the credentials of the Christ; that he who fulfilled them before their very eyes was none other than Messiah himself.

They did not so see. They did not read the signs. They were blind, and they were blind because they had turned away from the book that recorded them, and had listened and were listening at that very moment to the traditions of men rather than to the Word of God. They missed their ordained opportunity and, for two thousand years, have paid the penalty in an agony and tragedy that are terrible to contemplate. There are signs for these days just as plainly foretold in Holy Writ, as were the signs of those days.

They have been foretold by the Son of God himself and all his holy apostles. They are written in the Scriptures; and yet, the church, as a whole, fails to read or note them, is utterly blind to them, and all the out-reach of their tremendous meaning.

From The Signs of the Times by IM Haldeman.  Published in 1919.