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.)
Those of you who have listened to me preach over the years know that I often turn to the lengthy book of Isaiah (often for lengthy sermons). I would like to spend some time in chapter 59, where we find that Jesus loves life and gives life because He is the Life (John 14:6). Chapters 40-66 of Isaiah are specifically Messianic and are fulfilled by Jesus. In verses 1-15, we find that He knows exactly what this old life is like. The problem is not with Him, for “the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear” (verse 1). Man’s immediate impulse to blame God is just another indication of our inherent sin nature. Such a critical attitude willfully overlooks the powerful activity of Jesus each and every moment, for “all things were created by Him, and for Him…and by Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:16-17). Often, people question the existence or goodness of God by pointing to the obvious evil in the world. I frequently point out that it is not surprising that evil exists. Rather, it is the existence of good that cannot be logically explained without the direct intervention of God. It is God the Son, Jesus Christ, Who holds things together (“by Him all things consist”); even one good thing is proof of that truth. No, the problems of this old life are not the fault of Jesus; they are sinful mankind’s alone. He continues to hold things together even when we are doing our worst to break them apart. If we acknowledge that the problems lie with us, then we can turn to our powerful, active Savior for genuine solutions.