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 Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1) tells us that He “loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (1:5). This love reaches into His Church in a multitude of ways; one way is through this book’s commendatory and exhortatory messages. In Revelation 2:25-29, the first-century congregation at Thyatira is told, “But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of My Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” This promise is thus to all Christians through the ages. Through saving faith in Jesus, we are “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). Jesus will reign over us, of course, but He will graciously include us in this reign. He will give to us “the morning star”; that is, He will give Himself to us (Revelation 22:16 specifically calls Jesus “the bright and morning star”) in the fullness of fellowship that can occur only after we are changed (I Corinthians 15:51-58). Jesus says, “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5), and that includes making us new so that we can reign beneath His impeccable authority.