PASTOR OLUWASEYI OSANYINBI
Signs and wonders and the gifts of the Holy Ghost are not the same although they are all supernatural. A sign is a representation of something else.
GENESIS 1:14: “14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:”;
GENESIS 9:12-17: ” 12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.” ;
GENESIS 17:11: “11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.”
God created light in the firmament to separate night from day, the stars were not created to separate night and day. The rainbow is a sign of the covenant God had with the earth that He would no longer destroy the earth with water. The sign of circumcision is a sign between God and Israel, but this has gone beyond the circumcision of the flesh.
EXODUS 12:13: “13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”
God used the sign of blood as protection for the children of Israel, this was also a sign to the Egyptians that the gods they dedicated themselves to were nothing. The blood was a sign death was powerless wherever it was shed.
DEUTERONOMY 13:1-3: ” If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lordyour God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”;
1 SAMUEL 2:32-34: ” 32 And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever. 33 And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age. 34 And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them.”;
JUDGES 6:17: “17 And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.”
Sign and wonders authenticate prophecies. They help to strengthen our faith.
HEBREWS 2:4: “4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?”;
[biblegateway passage=”MATTHEW 16:1-4″ display=”MATTHEW 16:1-4″]
The issue the Pharisees had with Jesus went on and on because they did not know about his background, his virgin birth, where he was born, etc. So they requested for a sign from him. Just like the Pharisees, one major flaw many of us have is that we cannot interpret signs.
JOHN 6:30: ” 30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?”;
ACTS 5:12: “12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.”
Most signs are shown for us to be aware of things that will happen in the future. The trouble Jonah went through in the belly of the fish for three days was a sign of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Antioch church was a sign to the church in Jerusalem. It was a sign of what a dynamic church should be.
1 PETER 1:11: “11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.”;
JOHN 21:19: “19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.”;
LUKE 21:11-12: ” 11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. 12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.”
The Holy Ghost, from the beginning, had been telling the prophets about the sufferings of Christ through various signs.