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.)
Jesus is the reasonable choice, even though many try to deny Him. For example, when He began speaking about commitment in John 6, many people responded negatively in verse 60: “This is a hard saying; who can hear it?” What they overlooked is that there are no legitimate alternatives to Jesus Christ. The underlying concepts of all philosophies, ideologies, or other religions are some form of evolution and/or the exaltation of man. Whether it is New Age self-improvement or religious emphasis on salvation by good works, any competing worldview focuses on man more than God. Christianity is the exception. Verses 61-69 record the tragic results of wrong thinking. Verse 66 sadly states, “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.” A handful remained, and Peter articulated their correct understanding of Jesus’ claims: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God” (verses 68-69). Jesus proved His absolute claims by His Resurrection. While men were sleeping, Jesus stepped through the walls of His stone silent sepulchre. In the morning, the tomb was empty, and it still is. There are no viable alternatives to Jesus Christ because He is no longer dead and buried. Our faith is based on fact. Let us then be confident, and let us beware any attempt to exalt mankind. Revelation 4:2b says, “A throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne” – just One, and that One is not me and not you.