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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.
Isaiah 8:18
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
The Creation story. A rainbow after torrential rains and horrific, devastating flooding. The calling of Moses and later the people he led in the name of God. Isaiah and his sons, Paul and Barnabas, Stephen, Satan, and Jesus.
All have one thing in common. God either personally revealed signs and wonders or showed them in and through those He chose. The truth in that statement is contained in the scriptures. First, we’ll look at our single verse today from Isaiah and then move onto other passages detailing the miraculous works that came and still come from the almighty power of the Lord. Look at verse 18 from Isaiah, Chapter 8:
Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.
What were the signs and symbols associated with Isaiah and his two sons?
Well, first, we need to understand that signs are always as obvious as we might think. As we will see in the other scriptures, the wonders God can do involve changing the way we typically might see the world we live in. Staffs changing into snakes, bushes burning but not being consumed, seas parting to allow people to cross on dry land, and water flowing from a rock are all signs and wonders that can only be of God. But none of these physical, observable acts are in play with Isaiah and his sons. Rather, the signs are contained in their names which translate as follows:
One son’s name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz, translates to “"Plunder speeds, spoil hastens" speaking clearly about the judgment that was to come. The land of Canaan was about to be overrun by forces from first Assyria and then Babylon who would move quickly to plunder, spoil, destroy, and capture.
The other son’s name, Shear-Jashub, meant "A remnant shall return" and echoed the prophesy found in Isaiah 10:21 which stated, “A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God.” Although hardship awaited the Israelites in the form of invasion and exile, a future time would see a remnant allowed to return to the land God promised.
As for Isaiah, perhaps his name offered the most hope of all, a sign of hope for people of every nation. For when translated, Isaiah’s name means "(Our) salvation is Jehovah." Indeed, the salvation of the Jews was through God before and it still is today through His Son, Jesus, the One He sent out of love to save the world from their sins.
So signs can be found within names. Here are some other places we can find signs and wonders, some of which we still experience today as God’s promises are placed in full display:
And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. Genesis 1:14-15
Imagine creation before this act. Where would the light come from to separate the day from light? We take it for granted today because day after day after day we experience a period of daylight that eventually succumbs to night and the darkness it brings. It was this distinctive marking that set apart sacred times, days, and years back in the earliest days of the world and that sign and wonder still occurs every day now.
I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. Genesis 9:13
Is there anything more fascinating and beautiful in nature than a rainbow? Every time we experience one, we have to stand in amazement and awe of this special God-originated event, one He instituted back after the great floods that wiped out mankind minus Noah, his family, and the animals who were on the ark. After that great disaster, God promised never again to wipe out His creation in such a way and placed the rainbow in the clouds as a wondrous sign to remind us of that covenant promise.
Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”
Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A staff,” he replied.
The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow.
“Now put it back into your cloak,” He said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.” Exodus 4:1-9
This was quite an encounter between God and Moses as the latter was unsure whether or not he was the right man to lead the Israelites from captivity in Egypt to the land God had promised to give them to inhabit.
How would the Israelites know that Moses had been in the presence of God and was acting on His direction?
They would know through signs and wonders, signs and wonders God first chose to reveal to Moses. He turned a discarded staff into a snake and healed a leprous hand. And if those acts would not be enough for the people of Israel to believe, God would even turn water into blood to get their attention. Never underestimate what God can use you for. Never underestimate what power He may display in and through you through signs and wonders. That’s the message with the story of Moses and it was also the story of Stephen and Paul and Barnabas.
Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Acts 6:8
The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. Acts 15:12
Note that all three men were not powerful on their own merit but rather through the grace and power of the Lord God Almighty that moved in and through them as they carried the gospel to the world as Jesus commanded. God can do the same through any of us if he so chooses. We only need to make ourselves ready to respond when called.
Speaking of Jesus, look at what the author of Hebrews had to say about Him as he wrote to the Jews who had recently converted to Christianity:
This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. Hebrews 2:3b-4
The greatest display of God’s signs and wonders came when He walked among us in the person of Jesus who was fully God and fully man at the same time. No one has done what Jesus did in His lifetime but rather than putting an end to signs and wonders when He departed earth to ascend and sit at the Father’s right hand, Jesus chose to continue to work signs and wonders and miracles through the Holy Spirit in accordance with His will. Again, never think that you might not be used by Jesus as an instrument of signs and wonders. If it’s His will to do them through you by way of the Holy Spirit, then His will is going to be done.
Well, amazingly, even after Jesus placed His power on display in so many amazing ways to include healing the lame and sick, driving out demons, and even raising the dead, there were people who refused to believe in Him as the promised Messiah who had come to bring salvation from God to all people. Look at these verses that confirm this:
Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in Him. John 12:7
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided. John 9:16
The Pharisees witnessed signs and wonders first-hand and yet were blind to see God at work when He was right in front of them. Instead, they tried to convict Jesus of sinning when there was no way that someone could have performed miracles of that magnitude unless they possessed the very power of God Himself. Sadly, people today act just as the Pharisees did, rejecting Jesus despite the overwhelming evidence available through the incredible, extraordinary life He lived.
Finally, we need to be extremely careful when we see signs and wonders because they may not always be of God. Look at these cautioning words of the Lord:
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10
Did you read that closely? Signs and wonders will be on display but they will be lies intended to deceive those who are perishing, lies that lead people, not toward righteousness but rather wickedness. These people will be the ones who reject the truth, the truth being Jesus the One who is the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). And in refusing to love Jesus, they will refuse their only way to salvation, exchanging it for sin and death, the domains of Satan.
Friends, signs and wonders happen all around us every day. Babies emerge from wombs into life. Diseases expected to kill suddenly disappear. Sunrises and sunsets still dazzle us with their beauty. Rainbows still appear in the sky after a refreshing rain. Abandoned, orphaned children find adopting, loving parents. Flowers and trees bloom. Hearts continue to beat and breaths of God’s grace and mercy come in and out of our lungs.
Yes, God is alive and well, His power on full display before us through His countless signs and wonders. Thanks be to God for all He was, all He is, and all He is yet to be.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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