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 21:8 forthrightly declares, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” The mention of “sorcerers” causes some to scoff. However, we know that there are those who believe in so-called spiritualism and practice various forms of it. This infatuation with the spirit world is often based on charlatanism, yet the supernatural is real. Those who engaged in such activities in Israel were to receive the death penalty; the Law of Moses dealt with this issue in Deuteronomy 18:20-22. God’s attitude toward “sorcerers” obviously has not altered, for He has not changed and, indeed, cannot change. We should also remember that sorcery involved drug use. Today’s widespread use and abuse of drugs is a precursor of this future explosion of sorcery. Since drug use is increasingly being legalized, the perceptive Christian must be alert and must not be lured into that which is physically dangerous and spiritually destructive.