True Sign
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Jewish prejudice was still strong in the hearts of the disciples, and they
answered Jesus, “Whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here
in the wilderness?” But obedient to His word they brought Him what
they had,—seven loaves and two fishes. The multitude were fed, seven
large baskets of fragments remaining. Four thousand men, besides
women and children, were thus refreshed, and Jesus sent them away
with glad and grateful hearts.
Then taking a boat with His disciples, He crossed the lake to
Magdala, at the southern end of the plain of Gennesaret. In the border
of Tyre and Sidon His spirit had been refreshed by the confiding trust
of the Syrophoenician woman. The heathen people of Decapolis had
received Him with gladness. Now as He landed once more in Galilee,
where His power had been most strikingly manifested, where most of
His works of mercy had been performed, and His teaching given, He
was met with contemptuous unbelief.
A deputation of Pharisees had been joined by representatives from
the rich and lordly Sadducees, the party of the priests, the skeptics and
aristocracy of the nation. The two sects had been at bitter enmity. The
Sadducees courted the favor of the ruling power in order to maintain
their own position and authority. The Pharisees, on the other hand,
fostered the popular hatred against the Romans, longing for the time
when they could throw off the yoke of the conqueror. But Pharisee
and Sadducee now united against Christ. Like seeks like; and evil,
wherever it exists, leagues with evil for the destruction of the good.
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Now the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Christ, asking for a sign
from heaven. When in the days of Joshua Israel went out to battle
with the Canaanites at Bethhoron, the sun had stood still at the leader’s
command until victory was gained; and many similar wonders had
been manifest in their history. Some such sign was demanded of Jesus.
But these signs were not what the Jews needed. No mere external
evidence could benefit them. What they needed was not intellectual
enlightenment, but spiritual renovation.
“O ye hypocrites,” said Jesus, “ye can discern the face of the
sky,”—by studying the sky they could foretell the weather,—“but can
ye not discern the signs of the times?” Christ’s own words, spoken
with the power of the Holy Spirit that convicted them of sin, were
the sign that God had given for their salvation. And signs direct from
heaven had been given to attest the mission of Christ. The song of the