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.)
Is Jesus fair in using Satan and the demons in His Tribulation judgment upon the earth, as we find in Revelation 9? Clearly, comparing verses 1 and 11 with Isaiah 14:12-15, Satan is being referenced here. The “locusts” of Revelation 9:3 must be demons. Their location in “the bottomless pit” and their destructive activities against mankind are clear indications that they are demonic. The unusual descriptors of verse 7-10 remind us that John was seeing something that he had never seen before (note the comparative words “like” and “as”); within the limits of his vocabulary, he employed “locusts,” creatures that are unfortunately common to the Middle East and that are insatiably destructive. Remember that Satan and these demons were all angels; II Peter says that “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” Jude 6 speaks of “the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation.” Satan and all of these demons are fallen angels. They saw and experienced all of the great goodnesses of God – and they all rejected what they knew and still know to be true. If anyone thinks that our absolutely holy Savior God should not dispense righteous justice, that person is asking the impossible: he is asking that God should stop being God. Our unchanging Savior “cannot deny Himself” (II Timothy 2:13). Thus, He is completely fair in judging all rebellion.