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.)
Before we move on in John 1:1-5, let us spend one more day thinking about our ever-creative Savior’s gift of language. He is “the Word” (verse 1) and provides us with the ability to express ourselves, including through music. The expression “a new song” is used a number of times in Scripture (see Psalm 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1; Isaiah 42:10; Revelation 5:9; 14:3). Some of these “new” songs are now old because they were written millennia ago, yet they retain a spiritual freshness as they direct our thoughts to eternity. Some await us in eternity (for example, Revelation 5:9-14). It is also interesting to note that the word “new” is used nine times in the book of Revelation (2:17; 3:12 – twice; 5:9; 14:3; 21:1 – twice; 21:2; 21:5). All of these usages are positive. Our eternally creative Lord is thus the source and object of new and glorious music. I like music now; but, as an old song exults, “It’s better farther on.”