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 fifth trumpet judgment of Revelation 9 reveals that Jesus is fair when He makes out His righteous justice. Is it indeed fair that He judges Satan and the demons? Most certainly, it is. Satan’s activity in verses 2 and 3 is most nefarious: “And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.” Here, we see what the reign of Satan would be like. He would spend all eternity endeavoring to undo God’s good work. Our “adversary, the devil” (I Peter 5:8), ever seeks to destroy (see Revelation 9:11 – both “Abaddon” and “Apollyon” are titles of destruction). Some try to make Satan a sympathetic character because he could rise no higher. At best, this sympathy is misplaced and silly: Satan chose to go lower, and there is no way to improve on God’s plan. This judgment on earth is a serious reminder of the implications and consequences of rank rebellion.