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) tells us that Jesus wins and that He is coming again to rapture His Church and to dispense His justice upon the whole world. We see also that the love of Jesus thwarts the hatred of Satan. At times in human history, Satan thought that he had won: in the Garden of Eden when Adam sinned, in the murder of Abel (who Satan thought might be the promised Messiah of Genesis 3:15), in the captivity of Israel in Babylon (for the Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem – Micah 5:2), in the murders of the children of Bethlehem after Jesus was born (Matthew 2:16-18), especially in the death of Jesus on the Cross. Satan was wrong, but he persisted and thought that he was winning in the life of John. This apostle was at least in his 80’s, perhaps 90’s, at the time of the Revelation: in the ancient world, John was ancient! The average lifespan was much shorter then than it is today. He was the last apostle living, and he was imprisoned on the island of Patmos (1:9). Yet, at that very time of advancing years, confinement, and loneliness, Jesus gave John this final Revelation to share with other believers. Jesus has “loved us” (1:6), and part of this love is His remembrance of the aged Apostle John. Once again, the love of Jesus is stronger than the hatred of Satan.