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.)
Both Revelation 9 and Ephesians 6:10-18 reference the ongoing wicked warfare of Satan and the demons. As we saw yesterday from Matthew 18:1-4, even the disciples closest to Jesus struggled to effectively employ “the shield of faith” against “the fiery darts of the wicked” (Ephesians 6:17). In Matthew 18:1, after arguing about which of them was the greatest (Mark 9:34), they arrogantly asked Jesus, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” The response of Jesus was surprising – and humbling: “Verily I say unto you, ‘Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4). Here is the very essence of genuine faith: childlike dependence on the omnipotent object of our faith, Jesus Christ. When trouble arises, a child will quickly and naturally turn to a parent for protection. This picture of total trust reminds us that we do not construct our own “shield of faith.” Rather, we agree with Psalm 3:3a: “But Thou, O LORD, art a shield for me.”