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.)
Let us use the tools of interpretation that we briefly outlined yesterday to dispel a false teaching about the book of Revelation. Because some people do not believe in the possibility of predictive prophecy, they erroneously teach that all of Revelation was fulfilled in A.D. 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans (Revelation was written in the 90’s). Such speculation demeans the sovereignty of God, Who controls all things (including time, as we studied last Wednesday), and destroys the plain meaning of verse after verse. For example, Revelation 6:12-17 speaks of a “great earthquake,” celestial disruptions, and “the kings of the earth” trying to hide from God. None of these events happened in A.D. 70. Revelation 9:18 says that judgment by fire, smoke, and brimstone will kill “the third part of men.” Such a mighty judgment did not occur at that time – nor has it happened since. Revelation 20:2 teaches about a period of “a thousand years” when Satan will be bound (and verses 7-9 reveal the events after that millennium). From a historical perspective, this event must still be in the future. The entire book is filled with such examples. We must also remember that this book is “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” and presents Him as the ultimate winner. He predicted the destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37-24:2), but that was a temporary judgment, as Zechariah 12:10 makes clear. The judgments of the book of Revelation are final and eternal. Jesus has the last word in His Word, and this Word tells us that He wins.