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 gentleness of Jesus in raising the daughter of Jairus from the dead (Mark 5:22-43) is seen in His tender holding of her “hand” and His kind words of power: “Damsel, I say unto you, arise” (verse 41). This miraculous event pictures the future resurrection of each Christian. By holding the hand of this dead girl, Jesus would have become ceremonially unclean and thus unable to engage in worship services. However, since she was immediately restored to life, no such defilement took place. In a similar way, Jesus took our sins, paid the full price for them by suffering both physical and spiritual death, but never compromised the fullness of His divine holiness: “For He [God the Father] hath made Him [Jesus, God the Son] to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:21). The hands that our Savior reaches out to us are nail-scarred (John 20:27), evidencing that His death and resurrection have ensured our eternal salvation. Ephesians 5:14 compassionately commands, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” – everlasting light. May each of us be certain that our faith is solely and securely in the Savior, Jesus Christ. May we know that one day we will also hear Him say, “Arise.”