Luke 12:54

And he said to the multitudes also, When ye see a cloud rising in the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it cometh to pass. And when ye see a south wind blowing, ye say, There will be a scorching heat, and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye know how to interpret the face of the earth and the heaven; but how is it that ye know not how to interpret this time?

VII. Warning against lack of perception.

Men are much better at reading the signs of the weather and of nature, generally, than they are at discerning the times spiritually; of course, this is due to the fact that men apply themselves in one area, and not in the other. The implication of Jesus here is that a little diligence would have enabled them to have interpreted the times, no less than the signs of the weather. Jesus did not here endorse the current methods of predicting rain or hot weather. It was an argument "ad hominem".

In this connection, it is well to inquire what were the signs of that time, and why were that people so guilty in failing to discern them? They were the following:

The prophetic weeks of Daniel were expiring.

The great herald, John the Baptist, "that Elijah," had come.

The scepter had departed from Judah (Genesis 49:10).

A "sign from heaven" had occurred at Jesus' baptism.

It had been revealed to aged Simeon that the Christ would appear in his lifetime; and he was dead (presumably) by the time of the events here.

All the world expected the coming of some mighty one.

The Christ himself had appeared on the Jordan river, had been baptized and identified by John as "the Son of God."

VII. Warning against procrastination.

Like every good sermon, this one concludes with an exhortation to do something now.