Matthew 16 · a question people ask
Jesus says, "you can’t discern the signs of the times!" (16:3). What are the signs of the times?
Jesus doesn't name them here, and Matthew doesn't explain the words. He says them to the Pharisees and Sadducees who had asked him "to show them a sign from heaven" (16:1), after speaking of the sky at evening and in the morning: "When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ In the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’" (16:2-3). Then he says, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah" (16:4), and leaves them. In the WEB, the words signs of the times are only in this verse. These notes don't say what the signs were, and apply none of it to any event or time today.
The verses
“The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven. But he answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ In the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you can’t discern the signs of the times! An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” He left them and departed.”