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.)
One of the most compelling characteristics of Jesus is that He does not duck the hard questions. We can contrast Him with the prototypical politician who ridicules the questioner, attacks the position of other candidates, and shifts to a more comfortable topic. Just answer the question – even if it is a hard one! Well, does it really matter how we live? Jesus answers that serious query in I John 5:18: “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” “Sinneth not” – I don’t want to speak for you, but that sounds like trouble for me! We must understand the grammar (sorry) of this verse. “He” is Jesus, Who “keepeth” the believer (“himself”). How does Jesus keep us? He imparts His very nature to the believer (Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10) a nature that is incapable of sin. Thus, when we sin, we are, at best, ignoring this new nature; at the worst, we are rebelling against this new nature – and either way the battle of Romans 7 is on! The verb “sinneth” indicates a persistent practice that makes no resistance to evil. All of this detail prepares us for a discussion that will answer the question. Obviously, Jesus is much better and much quicker about answering questions than I am! For now, let us be grateful that He truly has the answers to our toughest interrogatives.