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.)
The experiences of John (Revelation 1:17) and Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-9) when confronted by the holiness of the Lord are just two examples of many. Abraham “fell upon his face” (Genesis 17:17) when God told him that he would have a son with his wife Sarah, even though he was 100 and she was 90. Moses “hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God” (Exodus 3:6) when God first appeared to him in the burning bush. Joshua “fell on his face to the earth, and did worship” (Joshua 5:14) when the Lord visited him at the beginning of the conquest of the land of Israel. Both Manoah and his wife, the parents of Samson, “fell on their faces to the ground” (Judges 13:20) when God told them of the coming birth of their son. When called as a prophet of God, Ezekiel said, “I fell upon my face” (Ezekiel 1:28). Daniel would not bow before idols (Daniel 3), but he willingly bowed before God – “my face toward the ground” (Daniel 10:9). These people of God and others like them found the holiness of God something to be cherished and revered. Their encounters with the Lord helped to prepare them for the important work that He had for them to do. We are not disqualified from serving our Savior because of our sin. Instead, we are bathed in His holiness such that we can serve. I Peter 5:6 kindly commands, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” If we bow before Jesus, He will lift us up and set us where we should be in service to Him.