Sign Language

Instead of letters as you are reading now, the ancient Egyptians wrote with signs called hieroglyphs. Many hieroglyphs were representational pictures, such as the drawing of a bird for "bird." As simple as some of these hieroglyphics appeared, this ancient Egyptian method of written and spoken communication remained a mystery to the world until less than a couple hundred years ago.

In 1799, French soldiers discovered the Rosetta Stone, now kept in the British Museum of London. It's a slab of black basalt, engraved with the same inscription in three different languages. By comparing the Demotic and Greek scripts alongside the hieroglyphics, French scholar Jean Francois Champollion could translate the mysterious signs for the first time in 1822.

In Acts 2:17-20 (KJV), Peter quotes Joel's prophecy: "Saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come."

God is big on signs. He used them throughout the Bible, from the time of creation, to the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, to the early days of the Church. Some signs, like the Egyptian hieroglyph for "bird," are easy to understand, but others require a little extra help. Yet, when someone erects a sign, its purpose is to be seen and understood.

God is still erecting signs today. Some will be unmistakable; no eye will fail to see the "handwriting on the wall." Other signs will send people like King Belshazzar to search out a Daniel to translate it for them. (See Daniel 5.)

Every Christian is a Daniel, and the Bible is our Rosetta Stone for understanding. It explains clearly what the signs of the times mean--that Jesus Christ is coming back to the earth. He's coming soon! The signs announcing his arrival are already visible, and God is putting more up even now for the world to see.

Can you read them?