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 today to the broad implications of Revelation 18:5b: “God hath remembered her [Babylon’s] iniquities.” As we saw yesterday, the forbearance of God is in view, for His omniscience guarantees that He know all things, both good and evil. He provides many opportunities for us to repent of the poor choices that we all too often make. Psalm 103 speaks of our Lord’s fundamental attitude toward us: “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust” (verses 10-14). Yes, He remembers “iniquities,” but He also “remembereth that we are dust.” Our Savior remembers our “frame,” our frailties, and He remembers to forbear. It is our part to respond to Him in repentance. Babylon will refuse God’s goodness; let us instead embrace His eternal kindness.