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) rejoices that “the prayers of all saints” are “before the throne” of God (8:3-4). As we saw a week ago Saturday, the Apostle Paul is a fine example to us of a praying person. In Romans 10:1, he wrote, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.” Paul was Jewish, and, before his conversion to Christianity, he hated all Christians. After his conversion, many Jewish people hated him; they were the primary instigators in the persecution and imprisonment of Paul. Acts 9:23b records, “The Jews took counsel to kill him,” beginning an ongoing opposition (Acts 13:6-8, 50; 14:2; 17:5, 13; 18:12-16; 21:27-30; 22:22-23; 23:9-10; 28:19). However, Paul did not return their enmity; rather, he prayed for their salvation and rejoiced, “And so all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:26a). His godly concern for his oppressors is an excellent exposition of Jesus’ command in Matthew 5:44: “But I say unto you, ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” May we have this appropriate attitude as we pray.