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.)
Because He is fully God, Jesus both joins and divides, based on our response to Him and His absolute claims. In Luke 12:49-59, Jesus employs powerful imagery that confronts each one of us with a choice. In verse 49, Jesus says, “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?” The New International Version is helpful in its translation: “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” This is an unexpected statement, not at all what we would expect Jesus to say. We must remember that He is absolutely holy and that even the smallest of our sins is abomination to Him and worthy of judgment. Modern man in his humanistic self-worship does not want to hear about fiery judgment, but we all need to be warned (II Peter 3:10-13; Revelation 20:11-15). We need to know that fire is also a symbol of purification (I Corinthians 3:11-15). The same fire that consumes hay and wood purges the dross from silver and gold. The fire of Jesus presents a great divide; each one of us must ask, “On which side do I stand?” If we trust in Jesus for salvation, we are joined safely to Him, and His fire of judgment becomes a beneficial fire of purification.