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.)
We return to Isaiah 59 today, continuing to think of Jesus as the One Who loves life and gives life because He is the Life (John 14:6). Verse 1 makes it clear that the problem of evil in this troubled old world does not have its origins in Jesus, Who is powerful (His “hand is not shortened”) and active (it is erroneous to say that He ”cannot save” or “cannot hear”). No, the problem is with us. Note that verse 2 begins with “but,” indicating a complete contrast. It is our “iniquities” that cause problems, separating us from our Savior God Who is absolutely holy. The following verses provide a sad summary of mankind’s sins, culminating in the awful indictment of verse 7a: “Their feet run to evil.” This is a picture of eager desire, of the enjoyment of evil as a preferred way of living. We can contrast that soul-suffocating sprint to sin with out fleet-footed Father running to redeem us and rescue us from that sin (Luke 15:20 – the story of the Prodigal son). When we are saved from this slavery to sin and Satan, we can start to speed in the steps of the Savior: “I will run the way of Thy commandments” (Psalm 119:32a). The problem is with us; the solution is with the Savior.