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.)
Yesterday, we began to consider the hard question about the existence of evil, a question that Jesus does not duck. I John 5:19 directs us to the answer: “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness [the wicked one – Satan].” Thus, we belong either to the family of God through faith in Jesus Christ or to the world system which willingly serves Satan. Why does this evil system exist? The ultimate answer is found in the character of God and in man’s response to that character (what is often called man’s free will). Because God is Triune (One God in Three Persons), He is inherently relational. The multiple relationships within the Godhead are the basis for all other relationships. Because mankind is created in the image of God, (Genesis 1:27), we are relational beings, and we thus choose our relationships. A thoughtful student once asked me why God didn’t make us so that we could not choose sin. In simple terms, He could not make us that way and also create us in His image, for there could then be no relationships at all. You and I would be little robotic vacuum cleaners bumping into the furniture and walls of God’s living room. Because we are instead made in God’s image, we make choices. Evil exists and continues to exist when we choose evil. When we choose the good relationship of faith in Jesus, evil ends – without God being forced to deny what He cannot deny, and that is His very nature (II Timothy 2:13).