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.)
Revelation 12:15-16 records a direct assault by the Devil against the nation of Israel in their divinely-prepared wilderness refuge: “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.” Could this be a literal flood? It seems unlikely, given the topography of Israel and the surrounding regions. God has the power to alter land forms (Zechariah 14:4 is one relevant example), but Satan does not have this power over nature. A more likely interpretation is found by comparing Scripture to Scripture, as every Christian should do. In the Old Testament, there are figurative uses of “flood” referring to destruction by enemy forces (Psalm 32:6; 69:1-2; 124:2-5). Since we know from Zechariah 14:1-3 (and other passages) that a literal invasion of Israel will take place during the Tribulation, it is far more likely that the “flood” symbolizes Satan’s exhaustive attempts to exterminate Israel. His efforts will fail due to the direct intervention of the Messiah, Jesus Christ (Zechariah 14:1-5; Revelation 19:11-21). Just as He was at the Cross, Jesus is victorious again at Jerusalem.