Sign

Biblical Texts

The New Korean Revised Version renders the same original-language terms differently depending on context, using jingjo ("sign, portent"), pyojing ("token"), pyojeok ("sign, miraculous sign"), and jeunggeo ("evidence, witness"), among others. The principal uses are as follows.

• Creation: God made the sun, moon, and stars to be "for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (Genesis 1:14).
• Signs of the covenant: The rainbow (Genesis 9:12-13, Noahic covenant), circumcision (Genesis 17:11), and the Sabbath (Exodus 31:13) were given as signs to call the covenant to remembrance.
• Prophetic signs: Isaiah announced to King Ahaz, as a sign, that a virgin would bear a son (Isaiah 7:14). He also walked naked and barefoot for three years and became "a sign and wonder" concerning Egypt and Cush (Ethiopia) (Isaiah 20:3). Ezekiel likewise became a sign to the house of Israel through his own actions (Ezekiel 4:3; 12:6).
• Signs of the end: The disciples asked Jesus about the sign of His coming and of the end of the world (Matthew 24:3). Jesus spoke of wars, famines, and earthquakes, and of signs in the sun, moon, and stars (Luke 21:11, 25).

Background and Original Languages

The Hebrew word ʾot means a mark, token, or signal; it is also used of the mark given to Cain (Genesis 4:15). In the Exodus narrative it is frequently paired with "wonder" (mofet). The Septuagint generally translated ʾot with the Greek sēmeion, and the New Testament uses the same word. Divining good and ill fortune from celestial phenomena was common in the ancient Near East. The Old Testament, however, forbids divination (Deuteronomy 18:10) and understands signs as given by God.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

The weight of a sign lies not in the sign itself but in the promise of God to which it points. The New Testament reads the "sign" given to the shepherds (Luke 2:12) and the signs in the Gospel of John as marks revealing who Jesus is. At the same time, Jesus told those who sought a sign that no sign would be given them but the sign of Jonah (Matthew 12:39-40). Paul, observing that "the Jews require a sign," preached the cross (1 Corinthians 1:22-23). Deuteronomy 13:1-3 warns against following a prophet who leads people after other gods, even if a sign or wonder comes to pass.

Interpretation and Debates

• The Immanuel sign: Matthew 1:22-23 cites Isaiah 7:14 as a word fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. The church has traditionally read the verse as a messianic prophecy. Some interpreters hold that it was first fulfilled in the time of Ahaz and then fully realized in Christ. Other scholars, by contrast, maintain that the sign refers only to events in Ahaz's own day.
• Signs of the end: Dispensationalism generally reads the signs of Matthew 24 as future events. Preterism regards them as fulfilled chiefly in the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. Many Reformed and evangelical scholars read the discourse as looking ahead to both the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Coming. Whatever their view, interpreters caution against date-setting, citing the words "of that day and that hour knoweth no man" (Mark 13:32).
• Signs today: Continuationists hold that God still performs signs today. Cessationists hold that signs served to confirm the message of the apostolic age. Views also differ on the practice of asking God for a sign before making a decision, as Gideon did (Judges 6:36-40). Some regard it as an expression of faith, while others warn against it as putting God to the test.

In the Korean Church

The phrase "signs of the times," drawn from Matthew 16:3, is frequently used in sermons on eschatology and at revival meetings. Events such as wars, earthquakes, and epidemics are sometimes cited as signs of the end. The date-setting end-times furor that predicted the Rapture for October 28, 1992, drew strong criticism both inside and outside the church. It has since been frequently cited as an example of turning signs into date calculations.