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.)
Mark 1:14-15 introduces the core of Jesus’ preaching ministry: “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.’” The meaning of “preaching” is quite simple: it means to proclaim. It does not mean to argue, reason, or dispute, although these methods may be used as styles of presentation in openly making known the message of “the gospel.” It also does not mean to convince, for the vast majority of people who heard Jesus preach rejected both His words and Him. We should recall that John preached the same message (verse 4-8), with one result being that he “was put in prison” and later executed; clearly, John did not convince everyone of the truth of his preaching – but he continued to be faithful in proclaiming that truth. The application for us is that we must be faithful as churches and as Christians to proclaim Biblical truth, even if many refuse it. It is comforting to know that the results always rest with our Savior God; as Paul said, “I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (I Corinthians 3:6).