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.)
Let us again consider the danger of seeking signs from Jesus rather than of trusting Him: “And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with Him, seeking of Him a sign from heaven, tempting [testing] Him. And He sighed deeply in His spirit, and saith, ‘Why doth this generation seek after a sign? Verily I say unto you, “There shall no sign be given unto this generation.”’ And He left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other side” (Mark 8:11-13). As Paul would point out thirty years later, people can always find excuses to reject Jesus: “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks [non-Jewish people] seek after wisdom” (I Corinthians 1:22). He called this infatuation with signs “a stumbling block” to faith (verse 23). This is strong language, but Jesus spoke even more strongly and sternly: “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas [Jonah]. For as Jonas [Jonah] was three days and three nights in the whale’s [large fish’s] belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:39-40). Would any of us want to be called “evil and adulterous” by Jesus? Of course not! Let us then flee from the very idea of testing our Savior, of seeking signs rather than seeking His way and will.