Note on The "Sign of The Son of Man"

"And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations.to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan.to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles." (Isaiah 66:19)

The words rendered "sign" or "ensign" (Greek semeion and Hebrew oth) have the parallel meanings of signal, token or miracle and are rendered by all these terms elsewhere in the Scriptures. The sense, both in Matthew and Isaiah, is that of a signal. In each case the "sign" heralds a noteworthy event in history—so far as this Age is concerned the most noteworthy event of the entire twenty centuries. The ending of Armageddon is the signal for the manifestation of earth’s new King to the world and the "de facto" establishment of his ruling power. The quotations from Isaiah associate this sign or signal with the emergence of evangelists from Israel, the Holy Nation, to declare God’s glory, and this poses the question; what does the "sign of the Son of Man" mean to the observers on earth, expressed in concrete terms?

A pointer to the answer is provided by our Lord’s words on the same subject to men of his own generation. The Pharisees and Sadducees came to him on one occasion, desiring him "that he would shew them a sign from heaven" (Matt.16:1‑4) something they could see with their natural eyes to convince them of his Messiahship. Jesus refused. "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas...Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" In this incident Jesus established the principle that the proofs of his authority and his mission resided not in the creation of a visible apparition in the sky, but in an intelligent appraisal of the significance of current events, "discerning the signs of the times." In Jonah’s case the force of the "sign" resided in the witness that was given afterwards. Jonah’s preaching after his deliverance was a signal to Nineveh that God was coming into their affairs, to judgment; the record says that they repented. The corresponding sign at the First Advent was the Holy Spirit’s power with which the Apostle preached Christ in Jerusalem after his resurrection: not until then were fulfilled Jesus’ words "For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation." (Luke 11:30) It is fitting therefore that at the Second Advent also the "sign of the Son of Man" should be associated with an even greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which is to energise that world evangelism which immediately follows the full end of "this present evil world." "Except ye see signs and wonders" said Jesus when he healed the son of the Capernaum nobleman "ye will not believe." (John 4:48) From all of this it is evident that the "sign of the Son of Man in heaven" is not going to be a visible appearance of glory in the sky, but a momentous happening or combination of happenings upon earth, of such a nature that people will have no alternative to accepting the fact that, at last, the Lord Christ has taken to himself his great power and commenced his reign

November / December 1990