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 Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1) has much to teach us about the love of our Lord: He “loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (1:5). Another example of this sweeping love for His Church is found in Jesus’ statement to the first-century church in Philadelphia: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (3:12-13). This message to all believers is really, like my wife, stunning. “A pillar in the temple of My God” refers to the Philadelphian custom of honoring an individual by inscribing that person’s name on a column in one of the temples in the city. The point is clear: Jesus intends to honor us in heaven. We do not deserve such recognition, “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a) – spiritual death, the second death. Instead, we are given life everlasting, for “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23b). Then, in heaven, Jesus will further honor us in a permanent way. Only the transformative love of Jesus could make this promise and its fulfillment possible.