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.)
Revelation 14:19-20 is a powerful statement of the dispensing of divine justice at the end: “And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.” Later, in Revelation 19:15b, we read of Jesus that “He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” Thus, we see that God the Son will be directly and personally involved in the events of the end. The enormous extent of the bloodshed that results (at least 180 miles, and likely as much as 200 miles) is incomprehensible to us, but we must remember that the majority of the world will be arrayed against Israel and that each individual who opposes Jesus will be dealt with at that time. In contrast to this necessary justice is the everlasting salvation that Jesus offers to all now. It is deeply humbling to reflect on the fact that we are saved from this terrible time of judgment – and, even more, from the final judgment.