展望未來Looking to the Future
[每日靈修] 10/30/2018, 駱鴻銘編譯
生活中的一些事是確定的。死亡和繳稅是其中兩個。夏日的佛羅里達州中部，還有另一件確定會發生的。下午2點會下雨。每天都這樣。你可以用雷陣雨設定你的時鐘。然而，儘管有這麼準時，氣象員每天都說，有50％的機會下午會有陣雨。或許氣象員受僱於商會。或許他就是膽小鬼。一個人不需要氣象學學位就知道在佛羅里達州夏天，下午肯定會下雨。
耶穌時代的法利賽人比佛羅里達州中部的氣象學家更會預測天氣。耶穌稱讚他們精準的預測天象的能力。他們知道每個小學生都知道的事情：「晚上天發紅，你們就說：『天必要晴。』早晨天發紅，又發黑，你們就說：『今日必有風雨。」」
但法利賽人無法讀懂時代的兆頭。他們熟知天象，但他們卻錯過了彌賽亞的到來。他們不知道時候已經滿足了，儘管事實上他們擁有成千上萬聚焦在基督身上的聖經預言。對耶穌最有敵意的是神職人員、專業神學家和學者。
耶穌告訴祂的門徒祂就要回來了。祂警告我們要警惕並戒備時代的兆頭。我們都必須在發紅的天空以外，尋找金黃色的天空，一個閃耀著再來君王之榮耀的天空。
活在神的面光中（在神面前禱告）：
你今日的焦點何在：是在生活中暫存的境遇，還是在耶穌基督再臨的榮耀盼望？
進一步研讀：
太十六1～3 法利賽人和撒都該人來試探耶穌，請他從天上顯個神蹟給他們看。 耶穌回答說：「晚上天發紅，你們就說：『天必要晴。』早晨天發紅，又發黑，你們就說：『今日必有風雨。」你們知道分辨天上的氣色，倒不能分辨這時候的神蹟。
Looking to the Future
Some
things in life are certain. Death and taxes are two of them. In Central Florida
in the summer, there is another certainty. At 2 p.m., it rains. It happens
every day. You can set your clock by the thundershowers. Yet in spite of this
punctual certainty, the weatherman says every day that there is a fifty percent
chance of afternoon showers. Maybe the weatherman is employed by the chamber of
commerce. Maybe he is just chicken. One doesn’t need a degree in meteorology to
know it will surely rain in the afternoon in Florida in the summer.
The
Pharisees in Jesus’ day were much better forecasters of the weather than
Central Florida meteorologists. Jesus complimented them on their astute ability
to forecast the signs of the sky. They knew what every schoolchild knows: “Red
sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.”
But
the Pharisees could not read the signs of the times. They were great with the
weather, but they missed the coming of the Messiah. They missed the fullness of
time despite the fact that they had literally thousands of biblical prophecies
that converged on the person of Christ. It was the clergy, the professional
theologians and scholars, who were most hostile to Jesus.
Jesus
told His disciples that He was coming back. He warned us to be alert and
vigilant to the signs of the times. We all must look beyond the red sky and
look for the golden sky, a sky ablaze with the glory of the returning King.
Coram
Deo
Where
is your focus today: on the temporal circumstances of your life or on the
glorious hope of the return of Jesus Christ?
Passages
for Further Study
Matthew
16:1–3