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 today to the beatitudes found in “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1). We jump ahead a bit to Revelation 22:14 (we will return to verse 8 tomorrow): “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” This promise of unlimited access to the good things of eternity is a reminder of the unchanging character of our Savior God. The same Jesus Who delivered the Sermon on the Mount (including the familiar Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-12) delivers the Revelation beatitudes. It is the same Jesus Who has blessed us, is blessing us, will bless us in our time left here on earth, and will bless us forever. Jesus blesses because He is the Blesser. His immutable goodness and giving provide us with a further and abiding blessing – certainty. A simple application from this brief study, then, is to “count your blessings – name them one by one.”