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 unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8) include His setting apart of us for His glorious purposes. Last week, we briefly studied future or ultimate sanctification and experiential or progressive sanctification. Before these comes positional sanctification, which is equal to salvation. I Corinthians 6:9-10 provides a partial list of “the unrighteous.” Verse 11 then states, “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” Note that the verbs are in the past tense, for the moment of faith in Jesus as Savior changes everything. Note also the Trinitarian teaching, including “the Spirit.” Ephesians 1:13b assures believers that “ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.” Thus, our position in Jesus is secure: we have been set aside into His family (Romans 8:14-17), sealed as His daughters and sons. Because of “the unsearchable riches of Christ,” we are rich indeed – rich eternally.