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.)
Part of “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8) is His absolute holiness: “For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). We are not holy, but through faith in Jesus we are made holy for eternity. Holiness is not the same as sanctification, although the final stage of sanctification brings us to the same place, as we will see in a moment. Sanctification is being set apart by God for His great and grand purposes and for His glory. The last stage (or type) of sanctification is called future or ultimate sanctification. God is thorough, and He is eternal. Thus, He is eternally thorough, as we find in Jude 24-25: “Now unto Him [Who] is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding great joy, to the only wise God and Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” He has declared us righteous (Romans 3:24); and as we enter into His presence, we will no longer have a sin nature, for “we shall all be changed” (I Corinthians 15:51). With all sins forgiven and without a sin nature, each Christian can fully enjoy the holiness of God in heaven. We will then be able to better search out “the unsearchable riches of Christ.”