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 addition to the irrational hostility of the Pharisees and the expectations of the crushing crowd, Jesus was also regularly challenged – unsuccessfully, of course – by the demonic realm. Mark 3:11-12 records one such encounter: “And unclean spirits, when they saw Him, fell down before Him, and cried, saying, ‘Thou art the Son of God.’ And He strictly charged them that they should not make Him known.” The bible is clear that demons exist, and they are decidedly “unclean spirits.” I Timothy 4:1-2 warns, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils [demons]; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” Thus, demons are “seducing spirits,” subtle in their dangerous and destructive dastardliness. These sinister Satanic spirits superstitiously thought that they could control Jesus by using His name, but they were no match for “the Son of God.” This event and others like it demonstrate that spiritual warfare is an ongoing reality. The wise Christian prepares himself for the inevitable conflict (see Ephesians 6:10-18).