Our Spiritual Awakening: Post #5 (Post #4 of Our Spiritual Awakening can be found here.) And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.  —Matthew 16:1-4 When Jesus began his public ministry, the religious leaders of Israel were flummoxed. Jesus had announced that the fulfillment of the coming of the Messiah was at hand. But none of the signs that would have indicated that the Messiah had come were to be found.  Yet, today, 2,000 years later, we know Jesus achieved the position of Messiah despite these prophecies not being fulfilled in their literal meaning. Some Christians dismiss these discrepancies by saying the prophecies that Jesus didn't fulfill are intended to be fulfilled at his Second Coming. But what if they're wrong? What if, as Jesus says in Matthew 16:4, that only “an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign?” Furthermore, what if the bible prophecies were never meant to be fulfilled literally, but, rather, are meant to be fulfilled in a symbolic or figurative sense? (More about this later.) If so, then most likely the new Messiah will be persecuted and rejected just like Jesus was persecuted and rejected upon the beginning of his public ministry. Jesus hinted at this possibility as we see in the following passage: And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh NOT with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be REJECTED by this generation.  —Luke 17:20-25 First, Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is not coming with observation. Then he is saying the “Son of man” must suffer and be rejected by “this generation.” Which generation is he referring to? To his current generation? Or is he referring to the generation of the future Messiah? It's hard to tell. (I believe the latter.) Either way, Jesus is saying the kingdom of God is coming without signs, but will be discovered within our hearts. This validates what I said in the last post about needing to OVERCOME our evil nature if we want to be worthy enough to learn Jesus' new name. Are you ready for the Great Awakening? This is our current situation: The new Messiah came without signs and he suffered and was rejected. So far, only those people who received visions or dreams, as prophesied in Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:1, have been fortunate enough to discover who the new Messiah is. These are the people who are first to be redeemed out of the history of mankind and who were allowed to learn the new name of Jesus: “Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had HIS NAME and his Father's name written on their foreheads.... These have been redeemed from mankind as FIRSTFRUITS for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.”  —Revelation 14:1 and 14:5-6 P.S. The 144,000 is a symbolic number, not the specific amount. It could be more; it could be less. Nor is his name literally written on our foreheads.  (To be continued.)