Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
I frequently say that Jesus is blessedly consistent but that he still manages to surprise us by doing the unexpected. In Exodus 33:9-11a, we read of a particular display of the power and purity of the Lord. In verse 9, “the cloudy pillar” is the subject of all three verbs, including “talked.” In verse 11, “the LORD” is the subject of the verb “spake.” Thus, “the cloudy pillar” is a visual manifestation of “the Lord,” giving us a glimpse of His glory and majesty. Scholars refer to this kind of appearance as a theophany. More precisely, it is a Christophany, for it is God the Son Who reveals the nature of the Godhead (John 1:14 – “dwelt” means “tabernacled” and reminds us of the presence of God in the pillar of cloud at the Tabernacle – and John 1:18 “declared” means “revealed”). This revelatory rule of Jesus is both powerful and personal; note that He actually talked directly to Moses. In Luke 9:28-31, nearly 1500 years later, Jesus again speaks with Moses at the Mount of Transfiguration. The conversation was about Jesus’ “decease”; that is, Elijah, Moses, and Jesus were discussing His “exodus,” His fast-approaching death on the Cross, the most prophesied but also the most unexpected event in history. Through all of this, Jesus was communicating truth, and this communication was personal. What Jesus was saying then He is saying now to each one of us – His death on the Cross is a personal sacrifice for each one of us.