The word sign in the Hebrew is “owth” and it’s used 60 times in the Old Testament. It has numerous meanings:
It represents something by which a person or a group is characteristically marked, as in genesis 4: 15. God put a mark on Cain so that no one could kill him.
A sign was the evidence that God had put a division between his people and others in Egypt. Swarms of insects were prohibited from settling on Goshen-Exodus 8: 22-23.
Rahab asked for a sign as a pledge of truth that when the Israelites attacked Jericho, her family would be safe. The scarlet rope with which she allowed the men to escape became the sign-Joshua 2: 12-18.
The rainbow was a sign, a reminder to God and people that a covenant existed that would prevent another flood from occurring-Genesis 9: 12-15.
The feast of unleavened bread was a sign of all that God worked in Israel’s deliverance from Egypt-Exodus 13.
In Exodus 3: 12 and 4: 8, signs were tokens enabling people to see and believe something particular.
Signs attested the validity of a prophetic message-deuteronomy13: 1-5.
In the New Testament, the word signs is used 50 times. The Greek word “semeion” denotes sign, mark, or token; a distinguishing of one thing or person from another. Signs and wonders were tokens of divine authority and power.
The Jews often confronted Jesus looking for a sign-Mark 8: 11-12. They wanted signs of an outward messianic Kingdom, of temporal triumph over the Romans, and material greatness for them as the chosen people. The idea of a crucified Messiah was anathema to them.
Jesus came to his own, and they did not perceive who he was. He was a stumbling block to them. The culture of sign-seeking only really works when we are wholehearted about loving and pursuing the Lord for his glory.
Signs must be about pursuing the Lord.
Jesus was often faced with the religious system in the form of pharisaical aggression and an argumentative spirit. Religious people always listen with prejudice. They are set on defining a system that supports their authority and attacking anyone they feel might be in opposition of their way of doing things. A religious system never dies; It just morphs into the next thing. Both old and new wineskins can have the same pharisaical feel. Traditional and newer church models can also be remarkably free from churchianity.
Seeking signs is legitimate as long as it is part of our wholehearted spiritual journey and not an excuse for not moving out of our comfort zone. The problem that Jesus faced was religious people seeking a sign that gave them an opportunity to discredit or disclaim the words of Jesus. In Matthew 12: 38-41 and 16: 1-4, we see that religious spirit in operation.
Generally, there are three types of people seeking God’s will today. There are the Super spiritual believers who see signs in everything and often have little discernment. There are also genuine signed seekers quote pursuing the father passionately and who appreciate that signs and wonders are a viable part of our training in a supernatural lifestyle. Finally, there are people who are constantly putting out a fleece to determine the will of God.
The wheat always grows up with the weeds. Farmers do not consider a crop to be spoiled because weeds are present. Our enjoyment of color and fragrance in flowers should not be ruined by the presence of weeds in the garden. Similarly, we don’t allow the enemy to ruin what God is doing in our midst. The presence of sin proves that the Holy Spirit is in residence, since the flesh and the spirit are hostile to one another-Romans 8: 6-7. When there is a fresh move of the spirit in a place, sin is always a casualty, simply because the spirit is holy! Normally, the enemy likes sin to be hidden, not exposed. It can cause more damage that way. Sin does not reveal itself; it is exposed by the Holy Spirit. So, we can only see sin because of the light. Sin is revealed so that it can leave.
Immaturity and maturity walk together for a while, thus enabling us to choose one over the other, as do childishness and childlikeness. Never allow the presence of a negative to prevent you from choosing and enjoying its opposite.
I love mystery, and I love the fact that God is a mystical(not mythical) Bing. He is both knowledgeable and unknowable in our finite, time space world. In heaven, it will probably be a different story. Super spiritual people like to jazz things up, to make them appear more grand and powerful than they really are. Often this can be a poor self-image at work. We are not yet fully secure in the greatness of God’s love for us, so we look for a measure of esteem from celebrity, not reality. It’s the Wizard of Oz syndrome at work.
The supernatural realm is often quite ordinary. A minister friend prayed for a guy on the street in Los Angeles. He was blind in one eye, the result of a street fight. He would not let him pray for him to come off drugs, but he felt that having another eye would not go amiss. He prayed; His eye opened. Thanks, dude, he said and walked off, no big deal. He laughed. People think that the truly supernatural must be awesome and otherworldly. Sometimes it is; mostly though it’s so normal we could miss it.
Our challenge in the supernatural is to be real, normal and real normal. God is the most normal person I’ve ever met, except when he wants to be majestic, outrageous, and glorious. Funnily enough, he doesn’t need me to be his press agent, though I would love the job. He pays well and the benefits are simply out of this world.
When a minister friend began in ministry eons ago, he learned from a bunch of guys who did dress things up. He walked as he was taught until one day the Father told him that he always felt sorry for him, that he did not really know him well enough to behave differently. As put-downs go, it was gentle, beautiful, and it broke his heart. His journey since has been from celebrity to reality. As a result, he has seen more and experienced a greater presence than he could ever have imagined.
Sign-seeking for the hyper spiritual is a mix of fact and fantasy. It’s what they call in England, felt lead poisoning. I felt led to do this, say that, go there. Often, it’s an excuse for weird behavior; mostly it’s window dressing that creates a specific image. It’s the walnut veneer that covers an inferior grade of material.
Several years ago a minister friend attended a conference incognito. He sat in the back because he wanted to hear a couple of guys speak. He enjoyed the event and learned some things that were helpful on his journey. A few months later, he had dinner with one of those men who testified to him in glowing terms about the event he had attended. The presence of God was awesome. We had everything going on, man. Angels in the room, gold dust on the people, gold teeth appearing in people’s mouths, wind of the spirit, it was amazing! Must have been a different conference. His heart went out to him in his insecurity. He asked the father if he should say something. He smiled gently in his heart. No need, son. He’s a good man; he’ll come to his senses and will need a friend.
Maturity is having integrity in the usual.
We are all a work in process and in need of being cleaned up by the Holy Spirit. I have been in meetings many times when supernatural things were happening. The Holy Spirit never draws attention to the act, only to Jesus. He adores glorifying the son. When the act is glorified, people talk about the ministry of the individual. There is a cult of personality abroad in the church, and we must watch it closely. Appreciation is justified, acclaim is not. We reserve that for the Lord Jesus.
I have seen the Lord do astonishing things in both a spectacular and deeply unspectacular way-same results, different methodology. If we want God to be real, we must start first.
A minister friend on tour in Ireland, spoke at a Sunday morning meeting and had lunch with the family in the congregation. They had a 5-year-old child who had never spoken. They were having tests to determine if he was mute. He was sitting on the floor watching television. My friend sat next to him, put his arm on his shoulder, and prayed quietly in tongues. Nothing spectacular. He ate lunch and departed for the next town. That same day the child spoke. The result was amazing; the process was routinely normal.
Some hyper spiritual people have a martyr complex. They believe that God wants them to do the opposite of what they want. Whatever makes them happy, fulfilled, or financially secure seems wrong and even dangerous. They want to live a life of incredible sacrifice. Often the root of this type of thinking is that circumstances have made us suspicious of ourselves and other people. God doesn’t just pour words through us; We’re not drain pipes. He uses our personality and our individuality. Look at the four gospels-each one carries the personality of its writer. John’s gospel focuses on intimacy-not surprising for the disciple whom Jesus loved. Matthew’s gospel includes Jesus genealogy. As a tax collector, he was well aware of Jewish custom and family ties. Luke, a doctor, was amazed by the healings Jesus performed. Mark, an evangelist, kept his account the shortest, no doubt to draw new listeners in. These scriptures were inspired by God but carry their own individuality. Today, we are richer for that diversity.
Because God uses our uniqueness, we need to be open to him purifying us. We need to allow him to filter out the things that hinder his ability to communicate to, and through us.
The second type of Christian seeking God’s will is a legitimate Sign seeker. They know that signs and wonders are a viable expression of spirituality for all of us.
The Bible outlines three different types of signs and wonders: allegorical signs, natural signs, and fleeces. Signs and wonders are demonstrations of God’s power to believers. Scripture teaches us to expect such manifestations as a natural consequence of walking in the spirit, and of being in the corporate body of Christ on earth. The miracle in John 5: 1-17 was just such a sign, mainly for religious people. A man, defeated by an illness for 38 years, is lying by the pool of Bethesda he had an encounter with Jesus on the Sabbath where, contrary to religious law, he is healed. It’s a sign that the rules are changing. There is a fresh move of God, and permission is granted to do things differently in the Kingdom.
You have heard it said, but now I say to you, was a familiar comment by Jesus.
Signs are a wonderful part of our spiritual journey.
5000 people were fed in a supernatural picnic that was a sign to everyone that we could live from a completely different power source in the natural world.
Jesus’ walking on the water and then speaking peace to the storm were two signs to his disciples that the power of heaven had been restored to the earth.
Jesus waited longer than seemed necessary to demonstrate supernatural power over death. Lazarus had been buried in a tomb four days before Jesus arrived on the scene. He was met with anguished complaints: if you had been here, he would not have died.
Essentially, people were saying, you’re too late. Jesus, however, had Never had an intention to heal Lazarus, but to raise him from the dead. Finally enough, he wasn’t too late for that! He was demonstrating that he and himself what’s the ratio of erection in the life they asked John 11: 25.
Raising the dead is not a spiritual gift in itself. It comes under the general heading of the effecting of miracles- 1 Corinthians 12: 10. It is however, a strong part of the Great Commission as we see in Matthew 10: 7-8.
When you prayed at the tomb of Lazarus, he did so in a manner that would be a sign for the people gathered- John 11: 40-44.
The lame man at the gate beautiful was healed as a sign that the Kingdom had come upon ordinary people, like fishermen-acts 3: 1-10.
Their anointing to bring healing and miracles testified as a sign concerning the resurrection of Jesus-acts 4: 33; 5: 12-16.
Jesus’ life was attested by miracles, wonders and signs(acts 2: 22), as was the apostles ministry-Acts 2: 43; 4: 29-30.
Phillips ministry was a sign to these people steeped in the occult-Acts 8: 9-13. Signs, are evidence of the full gospel – Romans 15: 18-19. Signs were the evidence of true Apostolic anointing-2 Corinthians 12: 12.
Signs are a true part of our so great salvation-Hebrews 2: 1-4.
Allegorical signs foretell the nature of a coming event or judgment. For example, Isaiah walked naked and barefoot for three years to show Egypt and Ethiopia how they would be led away naked and barefoot-Isaiah 20. How would you like to have him in your Home group? Then there was Ezekiel, who laid on his side for more than a year as a prophetic symbol of what God wanted to do-Ezekiel 4. Imagine being called to that!
There are also natural signs, like the star over Bethlehem in Luke 2. That star represented a promise and fulfilled prophecy. The shepherds were told by angels that the star would be a sign for them to find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. Noah’s rainbow, centuries earlier in genesis 9, was a promise from God that he would never again flood the entire earth. These signs were a way for God to convey what was on his heart. He chose a different way of breaking into our time and space in order to reveal something to us.
Finally, there are fleeces like Gideon’s famous one in judges 6. When God called Gideon to deliver the Israelites from their enemies, he reacted the same way Moses reacted years earlier. He tried everything to convince God to send someone else. Both men carried such a low self-image that they couldn’t possibly envision themselves doing what God wanted them to do. Gideon used a fleece, a miraculous test, to ensure that he was, in fact, the man to lead Israel.
Before we get into the specifics of that initial conversation and the subsequent reason for Gideon bringing a fleece before the Lord, let us examine the vital sign of how the father loves to engage in process with people.