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.)
The doctrine of Jesus’ return is an essential aspect of “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1). His promise is unequivocal: “I come quickly” (22:7, 12, 20). Why do we not then spend more time considering this great teaching? One reason is that we are quite comfortable with our lives. God is good to us and has given “us richly all things to enjoy” (I Timothy 6:17). However, because each Christian still possesses a sin nature, we can be ensnared by “the deceitfulness of riches” (Matthew 13:22). Yes, we can take the good things of God and misuse them. American Christians are the wealthiest believers in mankind’s history; we thus have to be especially careful that we are not looking at our accumulated belongings instead of “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). When life gets hard, we are likely to think or say, “Now would be a good time to come, Lord.” Indeed, it would be a good time for Jesus’ promised return – but any time would be! Let us not become comfortable in our affluence. Instead, let us focus on “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8), including His imminent return.