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.)
Jesus is everlastingly creative, and He has created language for us. John 1:1 states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” As we saw yesterday, the use of “the Word” includes the creation of language; communication is inherent in the relationships of the Trinity. Language is a specific gift to mankind. Logically, since we are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27), we are made to communicate. This truth explains why non-Christians can write beautiful poetry, moving songs, and compelling novels. It also explains postmodernism’s attack on language. Why do we have political correctness and censorship? The developers of postmodernism (including Foucault, Derrida, and Chomsky) see language as a weapon that should be used to destroy anything traditional – family, marriage, freedom, the Constitution, and, especially, Christianity. They do not believe in absolute truth (contrary to John 14:6) and simply seek to “deconstruct” language; deconstruction essentially means destruction. Even these attacks must be understood in the context of Jesus as “the Word”; they are attacking Him. Evil people can use God’s good gift of language for evil purposes; for sin tarnishes everything in the universe (Romans 8:22). Let us instead use this creative gift of language for good, including to thank and praise the One Who speaks to us.