Title Sign (John 7:14-36)
Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is believing in the unseen. Believing in what you see is not faith. Do you admit that God is a Spirit and can only be dealt with by faith? If so, you are truly a blessed person.
Humans have a possessive desire to make all the beautiful things they see as their own. This is one aspect of the sinner. The first humans, Adam and Eve, tried to possess the tree of knowledge because they wanted to make God their own through the temptation of Satan. Sin is what makes us possess all things. When you go to the mountains, when you see beautiful flowers, you want to pick them up and take them home. At the very least, you want to take a picture of something beautiful and own it. Anyone who is a sinner would like to make many things their own and collect them.
But the problem is that even the invisible thinks this way. We believe in Jesus as well. We want to make the invisible Lord our own by transforming it into a visible one. It is believing in Jesus Christ in the same way that a Buddhist believes in Jesus Christ in the same way as a Buddhist who makes a statue of a Buddha in their house and regards it as a god who protects and protects them.
For example, believers try to brag about themselves even when they come to church. Believing in Jesus Christ is like making some kind of power your own. This is the power God has given me. They seem to gather at church to brag about this. I am proud that God loves me this much. He brags about the tongue he has received, the power he has received, and the gifts he has received that are greater, stronger, and superior to those of others. What is the reason for such bragging? that he is better than others. To brag about it, he wants to show that the power God has given him is great. Ultimately, the focus is on yourself. But in the Bible, to believe in Jesus Christ is to believe in things you cannot see, and to submit yourself to the Lord. What is the reason and purpose of gathering as a church?
In Deuteronomy 34, we see this passage. "After that, no prophet like Moses has arisen in Israel after that, whom the LORD knew face to face, and the LORD sent him into the land of Egypt, and all the signs and wonders and all great powers over Pharaoh and all his servants and all the land. and majesty, who did it in the sight of all Israel” (verses 10-12). To sum up Moses' life in one word, God sent him to the land of Egypt to perform great wonders and powers. Indeed, Moses' life was a series of miracles. Moses explained God's salvation through it.
Let's see, for example, what the Red Sea event is showing. “Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The LORD will fight for you, and you shall be still.” (Exodus 14:13-14). Through the sign of the Red Sea, God is telling Israel to be still. Salvation is God's work, so man should stand still and watch. So God Himself parted the Red Sea and rescued Israel from the Egyptian soldiers.
In the Psalms, Asaph writes, "Our signs are not seen, and there is no more prophets; none of us know how long these things will be" (Psalm 74:10). We are talking about the invisible signs and the appearing of the prophets. In Deuteronomy 34, it is said that "a prophet like Moses did not arise after that." From this point of view, it is clear that the signs that Jesus showed were those that he performed as a prophet.
The crowds in Jesus' day said, "If the Christ comes, will he do more signs than this man did?" (verse 31). In other words, no one has ever produced so many miracles. Then, it is clear that Jesus is “the prophet” (Deuteronomy 18:15), whom Moses prophesied as the one who performed great powers and wonders after Moses. In this respect, the people of Jesus' day could see that performing many signs, such signs that humans could not do at all, was a sign of salvation given from heaven.
Nicodemus said to Jesus: “I know that you are a teacher from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with you” (3:2). Not only that, but the people who experienced the sign of the five fish said, “This is the prophet who is to come into the world!” (6:14). However, they could not receive the Lord as the true Messiah because they understood the signs by putting their problem solving first.
Then, what was Jesus trying to say by performing a sign? We should be able to see how Jesus spoke when He spoke the signs. In Matthew 12:39, it says, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, but there is no sign to be seen except the sign of the prophet Jonah" (Reference 16:4). Here, Jesus said that he would show the sign of the prophet Jonah, and that he would show him a sign that he could also show as a prophet. In other words, the sign that Jesus is going to show here is none other than the sign of the cross. The only sign that can be shown to the wicked and adulterous generation is the cross. In other words, he is going to reveal how evil this age is by showing him a sign.
Indeed, the cross is the place where human beings are exposed to how evil they are. This is the place where the great sin of man killing God is exposed. That's how humans hate God. 'How wicked are you?' This is what Jesus repeatedly asked through signs. And finally, through the sign of the cross, human wickedness was proved.
However, through the signs, God not only revealed human wickedness, but, on the contrary, revealed God's own salvation. Because human beings are so evil, He presented the cross as the way of salvation, accusing them that no one liked God or longed for heaven. For that reason, people have no choice but to hate the cross.
However, the sign of the cross is the greatest proof that only God can do it. Therefore, the only way to salvation is through the cross. He crucified his son. Are there any bigger targets than this? If you ask me to show you a sign greater than this, you should know that it is the evidence of our wickedness. What power do we expect to see in Jesus? Do you come to church to make even God's power your own? If so, give up early in that regard.
The Lord did not call us to give us power, but to expose the wickedness of the world by testifying of Christ crucified through us and to show that the way of salvation is the only way offered by God. “Jews ask for signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:22-23).