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.)
In Revelation 22:10, we read, “And he [the angel] saith unto me [John]: ‘Seal not the sayings of the prophesy of this book: for the time is at hand.’” The command to “seal not” reminds us that some information is currently unavailable to us. Deuteronomy 29:29a speaks to this point: “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God.” Isaiah 55:8-9 is a similar passage: “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ saith the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” We read specifically in Daniel 8:26, 12:4, and 12:9-10 that God has not revealed all things through that prophet. The Apostle Paul was strictly forbidden to write down all that he had experienced (II Corinthians 12:1-4). Jesus reminded us that the exact timing of prophetic events cannot be known by us (Matthew 24:36). We must recognize that our Savior God understand our limitations. Not only are there matters that are inherently incomprehensible to us now (like quantum physics to a baby), but also there are matters that would not aid in our spiritual growth. For example, if we did know the date of our Lord’s return, we might be tempted to coast spiritually. If the date were a hundred years from now, we certainly would lose the sense of anticipation and expectation that is good for our spiritual development: we would stop “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). God is gracious to us in both the sealing and unsealing of information. He provides us with everything that we need to know in order to be saved eternally and to serve effectively.