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.)
In Revelation 22:7a, Jesus promises, “Behold, I come quickly.” The teaching of this “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) is sometimes irresponsibly ignored, as we briefly studied yesterday. Another common reason given for shunting aside this Biblical doctrine is that it is too incomprehensible, too difficult to understand because we do not have a frame of reference for comparison. For example, there was no human witness to God’s great act of Creation, and only eight survived the Flood. The miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea was witnessed by 2-3 million people, but it was localized. Even the earthly ministry of Jesus was quite localized – and only a relative few believed in His Messianic claims (despite His compelling words and works and His complete fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy). The greatest miracle of all – eternal salvation – is personal and internal (although there are external changes that become visible to others over time). The point is that the return of Jesus will be worldwide and immediate; none of us have experienced anything quite like it. Thus, there is a temptation to bury it deep in our minds so that it has no significant impact on our lives. A pastor friend of mine, now with the Lord, tried to begin each new day by asking, “I it today, Lord?” These simple words focused his attention on the truth of our Savior’s sure return. May we learn to do so as well – “and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25c).