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 first part of Revelation 12:4 says of Satan, symbolized as “a great red dragon” in verse 3, that “his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth.” Some have reasonably suggested that this description could refer to cosmic destruction of actual stars, leading to catastrophic earthly results. Earlier, Revelation 6:12-17 referenced such events. An intensification of this judgment is certainly possible. However, that righteous judgment is from God, not from unrighteous Satan. Moreover, the immediate context of Revelation 12 provides a much more likely interpretation. Verse 7 records a spiritual battle between the forces of good and evil: “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.” The result of this conflict is that Satan “was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (verse 9). There is far more to discuss about the details of this passage, but for now we should be encouraged that even a full-scale Satanic assault cannot touch heaven. Our faith is secure because it is in Jesus, Who cannot be defeated by even the accumulated evil of all the ages.