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 to Jesus’ detailed teaching about the future: “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken” (Mark 13:24-25). Jesus’ prediction of catastrophic cosmic events should have sounded familiar to His listeners for the same prophetic message is found in the Old Testament. Isaiah 13:10 foretells, “For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.” Isaiah 34:4 adds, “And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.” Decades after Jesus ascended to heaven (probably at least sixty years later), the Apostle John recorded this revelation: “And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together” (Revelation 6:12-14a). Because the entire Creation has been impacted by man’s sin (Romans 8:18-23), such cosmic disturbances are both logical outcomes and necessary judgments when our Savior God fulfills His Word. May we be stirred to serve Him now while there is yet time, and may we be genuinely grateful for His full deliverance of His people from all that is to come.