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 Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1) emphasizes the holiness of our Savior God: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, [Who] was, and is, and is to come” (Revelation 4:8). His holiness in relation to us is both transactional and transformative. As we studied yesterday, the holiness of God the Son, Jesus Christ, is placed on our account in place of our sin, what Biblical scholars call imputed righteousness. Furthermore, the holiness of our Savior is so awesome that it transforms us. For example, we can now have abiding fellowship with Him. Imagine that you have arachnophobia, a petrifying terror of spiders. Imagine further that you have a deadly peanut allergy – just a touch of peanut oil will kill you. For good measure, imagine that you are severely allergic to gluten. You go to a new restaurant – and a massive spider serves you a plate of peanut butter injected with condensed gluten. Certainly you would ignore the spider’s pleasantry (“Enjoy your meal”) and recoil, retreat, and never return! As bad as this scenario is, it does not match how our holy God feels about sin. It is so repugnant to Him that Habakkuk 1:13a says, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.” Yet, He took our sin into His very being and died on the Cross to pay the full penalty of that sin. Thus, our relationship with Jesus becomes one of blessed, continuous interaction. As I John 1:7 says, “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another [that is, with God], and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Because we are given God’s holiness in our lives right now, what theologians call imparted righteousness, we have real fellowship with Him throughout each day. Thank you, Lord, for your precious, constant fellowship.