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.)
As we studied in some detail last week the “woman” of Revelation 12 is the nation of Israel; no other interpretation is Biblically feasible. We briefly touched upon part of verse 5: “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.” Obviously, this “man child” is Jesus, God the Son, the Messiah. His Jewish lineage is featured in Matthew 1:1-18 and Luke 3:23-38, in fulfillment of numerous Old Testament prophecies. For example, Genesis 3:15 promised One Who would crush Satan. Genesis 12:3 vowed that in Abraham “all families of the earth shall be blessed.” This blessing was repeated to both Isaac (Genesis 26:4) and Jacob (Genesis 28:14). Later, Jacob prophesied that this Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:9-10 – note “Shiloh,” which means “the One Who brings peace” or “the One to Whom it belongs,” referring to the ruling “sceptre”; this connection to “a rod of iron” in Revelation 12:5 is extremely specific). Even later, David was assured that the Messiah would be from his line (II Samuel 7:16). Throughout the centuries, Satan endeavored to destroy the Messianic line (remember Revelation 12:4b: “The dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born”; compare specifically Matthew 2:1-18). His angry antagonism has caused great harm – and it will cause even greater damage as the Tribulation unfolds. However, he has failed – miserably failed – to unseat God and to stymie His plan of eternal salvation. Our Lord is stronger than Satan, and the love of God is mightier than the malice of the Devil.