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 Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1) reveals in chapter 8 that He is persistent. Verse 1 says, “And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” This stunning soundlessness will certainly grab people’s attention at this time in the Tribulation period. Furthermore, it is an opportunity to reflect seriously. Psalm 46:10a compassionately commands, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Of course, we can know God without being still and silent; for example, the “new song” of Revelation 5:9 is sung with “a loud voice” (verse 12) and is pleasing to God. However, we cannot know Him as well as we should unless we are quiet before Him at times. When I taught English for many years, I encouraged my students to study according to a simple formula: “Read. Think. Write.” Similarly, as Christians, we should open God’s Word with reverence and read, think, and worship. All can be done silently, of course, but it is especially the thinking part that we must spend time on. Meditating on God’s goodness can be done at any time; such focused thought will draw us closer to Jesus and, in part, will help us to further admire His persistence, His persistent goodness.