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.)
Mark 9:12 records Jesus’ response to His disciples question about Elijah: “And He answered and told them, ‘Elias [Elijah] verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that He must suffer many things, and be set at nought [be rejected, be treated with contempt].” Jesus provides more detail about Elijah in verse 13, but first He corrects their understanding of the Messiah. When they heard “Son of man,” they thought of Daniel 7:13-14, which speaks of the eternal victory of the Savior. However, there are numerous Old Testament passages that predict that He would suffer. Psalm 22 is one such passage that even details crucifixion (especially verses 13-18). Jesus quoted verse 1a in Matthew 27:46 as He was suffering and dying on the Cross: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Isaiah 53 is another familiar Messianic section that delineates His suffering and His death (“He was cut off out of the land of living” in verse 8, for example). Jesus’ overall point is that His disciples had too narrow a view of “the Son of man.” There are good reasons why mature Christians continue to study the Word of God. One is that we must “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18a).