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.)
As we began studying last week, Jesus is light. A verse that presents a different perspective on this subject is Isaiah 10:17: “The Light of Israel shall be for a fire; and His Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.” In the ancient world, light and fire went together, for there were no artificial light sources. Some kind of fire was necessary to provide illumination indoors (many inner rooms had no windows) and at night. The mention of “thorns” and “briers” was certainly relevant in an agricultural society, for they inhibited the growth of a good crop. The imagery of the vine and branches in John 15 is similar: we need to be pruned (verse 2) in order to provide good fruit for our Lord; the unproductive part of the branch is then burned (verse 6). Hebrews 12:29, quoting Deuteronomy 4:24, says, “Our God is a consuming fire.” Jesus, then, is shining His light such that our “thorns” and “briers” can be eradicated. His light is powerful and efficacious in removing unprofitable attitudes and actions from our lives. Light is a good disinfectant; “the Light of Israel” is the best of all.