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Signs in the Old Testament could be miraculous or mundane, but the common thread is that they were used by God to authenticate his human messengers whom he appointed to advance the story of redemptive history and to provide salvation to his people. Even the big-budget “signs and wonders” of the Exodus perform this function as they authenticate Moses’ role as God’s human servant to lead his people out of bondage in Egypt.
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So what is their purpose? They serve to authenticate the prophet in question as God’s appointed and sent messenger to his people. It is hard to argue that a naked old prophet and a common cooking vessel could qualify as miraculous or serve to create a “shock and awe” effect.
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Similarly, in Ezekiel’s prophecy, an iron pan is used as a sign to Israel (4:1–3). For example, the prophet Isaiah walked naked and barefoot for three years as a “sign” of judgment against the nations of Egypt and Ethiopia (Isa. Instead of the big-budget special effects of the signs and wonders of Exodus, we encounter relatively low-budget and mundane signs. When we turn to the prophets, however, we notice that they serve a more focused and narrow purpose. The “wow” factor of the signs in Exodus is emphasized by the use of the phrase “signs and wonders” to describe them (see Exod. These signs are similar to a modern big-budget, special-effects laden blockbuster movie. These signs have a threefold purpose: to authenticate Moses as God’s appointed human leader (both to Israel and to Pharaoh), to scare the Egyptian adversaries, and to comfort the frightened Israelites. These signs, such as the plagues upon Egypt, represent miraculous displays of God’s power and demonstrate that God is more powerful than all the false gods of Egypt. When one studies the signs in Exodus, it becomes immediately apparent that they have a “shock and awe” nature to them. While signs are operative in both of these areas, they function somewhat differently in each of them. There are two areas in the Old Testament where signs figure prominently: the book of Exodus and the prophets. Thus, when John uses the motif of signs in his Gospel we can rightly assume his understanding is built upon what is revealed to us in the Old Testament.
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A careful reader of his Gospel will note that John makes many other connections to the Old Testament, including references to the liturgical festivals and ceremonial laws of Israel. We can witness the apostle John’s deep connection to the Old Testament in the very first verse of his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John begins his Gospel by echoing the opening verse of Genesis. The reason we need to start in the Old Testament is because that is the theological milieu of the mindset of the human author of John’s Gospel. The Purpose of Signs in the Old Testament The focus of this article will be on understanding the purpose of the signs in John’s Gospel, but in order to do that we need to first step back into the Old Testament and explore how signs functioned in that context. Instead, the biblical signs convey vital spiritual truths about the nature of God and, in the case of the signs found in John’s Gospel, the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
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In the case of the biblical signs, however, the information conveyed is not merely how to find the right elevator or to locate the proper exit on the expressway. As with the signs we encounter in our daily lives, the signs we find in Scripture are meant to convey information to us and to point beyond themselves. Signs also play a significant role in the Bible. Signs perform a useful and helpful function in our daily lives: they convey important information and point beyond themselves to an ultimate destination. They help us to drive safely, to find the right elevators in the hospital, and to navigate our way through the motor vehicle department. In fact, it would be difficult to function without them. The film eventually reveals that similar crop circles have appeared throughout the world, ultimately proving to be signs of an alien invasion of Earth.Īlthough not quite as dramatically, we encounter signs regularly in our daily lives. It told the story of a former Episcopal priest turned farmer who one morning discovers a crop circle in his cornfield. Night Shyamalan released his film Signs, starring Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix.