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.)
As we studied last week, the Word of God reveals that Jesus is coming again. Christians will meet Him in the clouds (I Thessalonians 4:16-17), indicating that the Church will be removed from this world before the final judgment of the nearly seven-year-long period called the Tribulation. Any serious student of Scripture should note the difference between I Thessalonians 4:16-17 and Zechariah 14:1-11. In the former passage, we are specifically told that we will “meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (verse 17). Verse 18 then exhorts, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” The Rapture (derived from the Latin for “caught up” in verse 17) of the Church is thus to be a source of great consolation, a truly “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). Conversely, the Zechariah passage says that Jesus’ “feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east” (verse 4). When Jesus sets foot on earth again, it will be a time of necessary judgment – really, what we should more accurately refer to as justice. The frightening descriptions of Revelation 19:11-21 (which we will consider in some detail at a later date, unless the Lord comes first!) stand in stark contrast to the joy of joining with Jesus in the clouds on our way to heaven. May the rapture of the Rapture lift our spirits, just as we will one day be lifted up together.