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.)
We return to an overview of Revelation 11 in “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1). We have seen that He reigns over all (11:13), including the earth (11:15). Thus, He also reigns over life. In the midst of the destruction associated with the predicted Tribulation, Jesus raises up “two witnesses” (11:3) to preach the truth. Of course, Satan, the demons, and the cruel Antichrist will seek to immediately silence these good men who bring the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. However, for a period of almost 3 ½ years, these faithful two will be fully protected by the power of God: “If any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed” (verse 5). It is sad that the only way to protect life is by such vigorous self-defense, but it is necessary. This protection will be great encouragement to believers then and will be a thought-provoking challenge to others, for grace and opportunity will continue to be available: “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Romans 5:20b).