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.)
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is persistent, as Revelation 8 reveals. Verse 1 speaks of an unusual event in the midst of the Tribulation: “And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” This startling silence will attract people’s attention and will provide an opportunity for serious reflection. Moreover, it is a revelation of the character of Jesus. In John 8:1-11, Jesus revealed the hypocrisy of the religious leaders by His response when they brought a woman caught in adultery. He spoke only briefly to them (verse 7) and let His thundering silence bring conviction to their hard hearts (verses 6, 8-9). Luke 9:51, one of my favorite verses, speaks of the quiet, settled determination of Jesus: “And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up, He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” There was no fanfare; silently He set one foot in front of the other. At His trial before Herod, Jesus did not speak: “Then he questioned Him in many words; but He answered Him nothing” (Luke 23:9). On the Cross, He refused to respond to the taunts of the crowd: “And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided Him, saying, ‘He saved others; let Him save Himself, if He be Christ, the chosen of God’” (Luke 23:35). Similarly, the Resurrection was accomplished without any accompanying sound. All of these examples demonstrate that there is power in the silences of Jesus – persistent power.