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 predicted demonic activity of the Tribulation period (Revelation 9) points us to the present reality of spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:10-18). Like Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11, we are to wield “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). This practical application of Scripture had an impressive outcome: “Then the devil leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him” (Matthew 4:11). We should not think that this result pertains only to our Savior, for James 4:7 commands and promises, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” This verse does not mean that Satan will never attack us again. For example, in the parallel passage to Matthew 4, we find that Satan “departed from Him for a season” (Luke 4:13); that is, the assault was not as open and blatant for a period of time. We remain in battle mode, the good (including “angels,” who are “ministering spirits” – Hebrews 1:14) against the implacable and insensate evil. Our ultimate victory is secure in Jesus, “the Captain of [our] salvation” (Hebrews 2:10).