In Luke 12:54-56, the Lord rebukes a multitude of Jewish listeners. He points out that they can figure out when it will rain and when it will be hot. All they have to do is look at the “face of the sky.” When a cloud forms in the west over the Mediterranean Sea and moves towards them, it’s going to rain. Those clouds, full of water, will meet the colder air of the mountains of Israel and release their contents.
When those Jews see a wind blow from the south, they know it’s going to be hot. The desert lies to their south, and that southern wind will bring the desert heat with it.
Pretty simple stuff. Anybody in the audience could predict what would happen in those situations. All they had to do was look for the signs that were right in front of their faces. All of them had the ability to do that.
Then the Lord tells them there are signs that are even easier to see. These are the signs of the times (v 56). He is talking about His earthly ministry in Israel. His coming fulfilled OT prophecy. His miracles showed that He was the long-awaited Christ and that He was offering the kingdom of God to that generation of Jews.
Jesus calls the people hypocrites because they rightly predicted the weather, based upon the signs they saw, but did not rightly interpret the more obvious signs concerning Him. He rebukes them for not doing what was right (v 57).
These people had the ability to discern the signs that pointed out who Jesus was and that demonstrated that He was telling the truth. He made the blind see, the lame walk, and the deaf hear. He even raised the dead. He cast out demons. Any of the people willing to discern the times in which they lived would see that Jesus was the Christ.
The whole point of Jesus’ rebuke is that they had the ability to see who He was. They could look at the signs and see. It was not that they were unable to do so. Their problem was that they were unwilling to look at the signs.
This shows a major flaw in Calvinism. That theology says that the unbeliever cannot look at the evidence and believe what he sees. But the Lord says the unbelievers in His audience could discern what was happening around them. They could understand and believe that Jesus was the Christ.
The Lord Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” Coming to Jesus in John’s Gospel is believing in Him (John 6:35). Had they been willing, they would have believed in Him, as over 500 did during Jesus’ ministry.
The Lord says that if you’re able to know it’s going to rain when you see a dark cloud coming, then you’re able to believe that He is the Christ who gives eternal life to all who believe in Him. If we see a strong wind coming from a desert, we can know it will be hot.
Those who believe in total inability ought to consider the words of the Lord Jesus about the wind and the rain. The evidence that Jesus guarantees everlasting life to all who believe in Him is persuasive. We just need to be open to the evidence.
