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.)
We return to Jesus’ seminal statement regarding our dual citizenship, earthly and heavenly, found in Mark 12:17: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” These few words are foundational to Western civilization. We have seen the Biblical basis for government (including Jeremiah 17:9 and Isaiah 33:22) and the Christian’s basic responsibilities regarding government (Romans 13:1-7; I Timothy 2:1-2). Should Christians recognize limits upon governmental authority? Acts 4:19-20 sets an early example for Christians: “But Peter and John answered and said unto them [the religious leaders, who also exercised legal authority], ‘Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.’” Later, in Acts 5:29, we have an operative principle: “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.’” If our government forces us to do what is clearly wrong, we cannot cooperate. For the most part, American government has recently permitted and even encouraged bad behavior, but it has not required that behavior. One exception was the Biden regime’s experimental shot mandate for some workers; the forced use of experimental drugs violates international, national, and natural law. We are blessed, though, to have better people in charge now and to have the freedom to do that which is good.