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 find in Revelation 21:12 that the heavenly city which John saw “had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.” Verses 13 and 14 add, “On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” The careful and consistent expositor of Scripture notices that “the names of the twelve tribes of Israel” are written on “the gates,” whereas “the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” – representing the Church – are found on the “twelve foundations.” This precise description reminds us that God keeps His promises both to Israel and to the Church. Some glibly assert that the Church has replaced Israel in God’s plan; they might as well just state that God has broken His promises to Israel and might break all of His promises to Christians, too. The Bible says otherwise, and this passage is one (of many) that affirms that God keeps all of His promises. He is eternal and faithful; thus, He is eternally faithful. All of God’s people know that “here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Hebrews 13:14). All of us are certain that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39b).