Looking for a Sign - Judges 6-11

 Judges 6:36-40 (ESV)

36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” 38 And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” 40 And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

Looking for a Sign

Gideon has been asked, by God, to lead Israel to war.  Before he goes, he stops to ask God for some proof of his calling.  In this prayer, he asks God for proof of the call by asking God for asking God for a sign.  As we can see, God grants him his sign.  He will head off to war and become quite victorious.   He has become Israel’s leader.  

We might be confused about praying for a sign.  Jesus actually spoke to this during His earthly ministry:

Matthew 12:39 (ESV)

39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

He actually sad that twice in Matthew (16:4).  The religious leaders of the day had asked Jesus to give them a sign of His authenticity.   Jesus stated that the only sign would be His being in the grave for three days and three nights, as Jonah was in the belly of the fish.  It should be noted that Jesus did not say he would not give a sign.  He stated that the ONLY sign they would get would be His death, burial and resurrection.  God spoke to the religious leaders of the day through the voice of His Son.  Notice what the writer of Hebrews states:

Hebrews 1:1-2 (ESV)

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

God does show signs.   God showed Gideon a sign to show His power and purpose.   God showed believers His power and purpose through the death, burial and resurrection of His Son.   God does give us a sign today.   But, it is the sign of His Son.   In the O.T. God gave many different signs.  He gave them the entire Tabernacle system as a shadow of the heavenly.  That was a sign.   It was a sign to point to them to the need for a blood sacrifice and for a pure sacrifice.   That was what Jesus did.   God, in the OT gave many signs.  But, in these last days the sign for mankind is His son.