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.)
As the bad gets even worse during the second half of the Tribulation, “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1) decrees that “the third woe cometh quickly” (11:14b). The extent of God’s majesty is stated in verse 15: “And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever.’” No matter how much men connive, it is impossible to reduce the “reign” of our Savior God. The fact that “the nations were angry” (verse 18a) highlights the stark contrast between the light of our wholly holy God and the darkness of totally depraved mankind. The doctrine of total depravity does not mean that all of us are as bad as we can be: not all of us grow rich running abortion clinics or trafficking women and children across the border. Rather, this essential doctrine of Christianity teaches that we are as bad off as we can be, with no way to approach a holy God, no way to save ourselves (see Romans 3:9-18). The presence of “the four and twenty elders” (verse 16), representatives of all Christians, indicates that the glorious majesty of God is sufficient to overcome all of our inadequacies if we simply place our trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ.