Your Day In Court Series

Luke 12: 54- 59

Your Day In Court

54 Then He also said to the multitudes, “Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is. 55 And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is. 56 Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time? 57 “Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? 58 When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite.”

As we begin to take a look at today’s Scripture verses let us also look at what the apostle Matthew wrote regarding the same teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 16:1-4, “Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.

I do not know about you but if I just took a look only at today’s verses it would appear that the Lord was displeased with all those people who have been with Him as He traveled the paths throughout Israel. For if we look at verse 1 we read,

54 Then He also said to the multitudes,

Please notice however, that the verse says, ‘The He also said to the multitudes.’ The apostle Matthew tells us who He was speaking to at first – ““Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.”

Can you see what’s going on here? These antagonists snuck out of their holes to test the Lord. Their intentions were not to ‘Test’ Him to verify His credentials on being the Messiah, but to entrap Him so that they could accuse Him as a phony.

Our Lord responds to these true religious phonies – “. 2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.”

Now here please notice the last verse of Matthew’s – ‘And He left them and departed.’ So, what does this mean to us?

Apparently after being confronted by the religious hypocrites, He responds to these guys while teaching all those around who have observed this conflict. He responds back to the Pharisees and then to teach a truth He includes the multitude. Then after He has given His response which the multitude along with the religious attackers that He Is confronting, He goes on His way.

So, knowing this let us take a look at our Lord’s comments.

“Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is. 55 And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is. 56 Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?

Remember that our Lord Jesus Is commenting to the Pharisees and Sadducees who have tried to trap Him. Our Lord Jesus has now turned His concentration back on the crowds who have been drinking in His words, even if they have failed to fully understand them. He draws their attention to weather signs which they use in order to know what weather to expect. A cloud rising in the west will be coming in from the sea and will therefore contain a large quantity of water which is just waiting to fall once it is affected by land. Thus such a cloud regularly indicates rain.