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.)
We return today to “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8), “the riches of His glory” (Ephesians 3:16). Because the rich character of Jesus characterizes His relationship with us, He is rich toward us in all ways, and we are thus truly rich. Ephesians 1:7 says of Jesus, “In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” In simple terms, grace is God’s giving of good things to us; grace is gift upon gift from our Savior. The context of this verse points us to “redemption” (being bought back at the cost of Jesus’ death) and “forgiveness.” This combination is a powerful statement of the certainty and security that we have in our relationship with Jesus. Moreover, no gift of God stands alone, for with the gift comes the knowledge that our loving Lord has bestowed the gift upon us. Thus, we are doubly blessed with each gift. We also have the sure expectation of future gifts, for Ephesians 2:7 reveals the eternal purpose of God: “That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” We are truly rich now and forever.