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 confinement of Satan in “the bottomless pit by “an angel come down from heaven” (see Revelation 20:1-3) inaugurates the Millennial Kingdom, the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth. This will be a period of peace as “The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6) rules: “And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:4). With this advent of peace will come productivity and prosperity: “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God” (Isaiah 35:1-2). Even more importantly, the growth of goodness will abound as the righteousness of Jesus is seen by all, for “righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins” (Isaiah 11:5). Isaiah 56:1 adds, “Thus saith the LORD, ‘Keep ye judgment [justice], and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.’” This time of Jesus’ reign on earth will be an extraordinary blessing, consistent with the kind character of Christ Jesus.