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.)
Before we move to a different Biblical topic, let us spend one more day considering the promised return of Jesus for His Church (Titus 2:13). In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), we learn many lessons. We will focus on just one. In verse 20, we find that the father, who represents God the Father, “ran” to greet his wayward child. It is with deep reverence that I state the following: this is the only place in Scripture where God is in a hurry. Whereas we should be running to Him, we find that He is the One enthusiastically seeking us out. This word picture of God informs our understanding of I Thessalonians 4:17. Why does Jesus bother to come in the clouds for us, when we will so quickly be in heaven, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (I Corinthians 15:52)? Certainly He is fulfilling specific prophecy, and fulfilled prophecy is a compelling reason to believe in Jesus. Moreover, we find here the heart of Jesus: He wants to be with us, and He wants us to know that He wants to be with us! Even if it is only a nanosecond, that brief extra time with us is revelatory of the intense, all-encompassing love that our Savior has for each one of us. He has always been looking for us; let us then be looking for His return.