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 continue to consider the humility of Jesus, we must remember that He always exercised this humility to benefit others. Galatians 4:4-5 is a paramount example: “But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” To be a substitute for us, Jesus had to be like us, and He “was made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7). He had to be fully human to take our deserved punishment on His Cross, and He was. He was born (“made of a woman”), grew (Luke 2:52a- “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature”), lived “under the law” but did not sin (I Peter 1:19), and died. His flesh was not a cloak hiding His divinity; no, He was flesh and blood just like us in order to be our substitute. Of course, He was and is fully God (note the clear Trinitarian teaching of Galatians 4:4-6), for He had to be our perfect substitute, “without blemish and without spot” (I Peter1:19). Only God is perfect, and only God the Son is the perfect substitute. If we are humble – that is, inwardly honest – we will know that we need this Savior. The great barrier to salvation is pride. Rather than pride, Jesus chose the opposite way of humility, and we must do the same.