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 reality of demonic activity (Revelation 9) requires our attention. We must “put on the whole armour of God” (Ephesians 6:11) to successfully defeat Satan and the demons. “The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” (verse 17) is the ability to use Scripture to silence our fierce foes, and the exalted example of Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11 clarifies this usage. Jesus, famished from forty full days of fasting, faced this first temptation: “If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread” (verse 3). Eating is not sinful, but giving in to Satan is. Jesus thus responded, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God’” (verse 4). This quotation is from Deuteronomy 8:3 (everyone’s favorite book of the Bible) and is part of a lengthy passage that details God’s care of the Israelites during their forty years of wilderness wanderings. The parallels to Jesus’ situation are obvious, and Jesus appropriately applied this verse to His current situation. Yes, He was hungry and needed food. However, the spiritual war is always ongoing and must take priority. This great and necessary lesson is memorably taught by Jesus’ use of “the sword of the Spirit.”