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 of the continuing activity of Satan and the demons (Revelation 9), we are instructed to “stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth.” As we studied yesterday, this “truth” is God’s Word. Without this “truth,” we would know nothing of the eternal salvation that is freely available through faith in God the Son, Jesus Christ. In John 17:17, He prays for all believers: “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.” It is through God’s Word that we are set apart (the meaning of “sanctify”), for it is here that we find absolute “truth.” We find, for example, that Jesus is fully God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). If Jesus is not God, He cannot be the Savior – but He is God, and He is the Savior! Furthermore, if Jesus did not die in place of us for our sins, we are everlastingly condemned – but His substitutionary atonement is complete: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:3). Moreover, if Jesus did not resurrect from the dead, neither will we (I Corinthians 15:19). However, His bodily resurrection is real: “And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:4). We are also promised that He will return personally for His people (I Thessalonians 4:16-18). These essentials of the faith are foundational to our certainty of salvation. When we put on the Biblical belt of truth, we are following Romans 13:14a: “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.”