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 Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1) reveals that Jesus is coming again. “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen. ‘I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,’ saith the Lord, ‘[Who] is, and [Who] was, and [Who] is to come, the Almighty’” (1:7-8). Three times in Revelation 22 Jesus tells us, “I come quickly” (verses 7, 12, 20), indicating that when the events of the end times occur they will unfold with extraordinary rapidity. The good news of the Christian message includes the imminent return of Christ: it could happen at any time. I Thessalonians 5:2 states that Jesus’ return will be largely unexpected: “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” As Jesus ascended to heaven, angels assured the gathered disciples, “This same Jesus, [Who] is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). “A cloud received Him up out of their sight” (Acts 1:9); thus, “in like manner” means in the clouds, as is specified in I Thessalonians 4:16-17: “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we [who] are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” As we have already seen from Revelation 1:7, “Behold, He cometh with clouds.” I have always enjoyed clouds, for they generally mean cooler temperatures and needed rain. However, we have an even greater reason to like clouds, for each one is a reminder from our Savior that He will return for each one of His followers.