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.)
The Messianic message of Isaiah includes kind commands that deal with our penchant to be afraid. Isaiah 35:4 records God’s encouragement to and through the prophet: “Say to them that are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, fear not; behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; He will come and save you.’” The entire chapter is a description of the Millennial Kingdom, the time after the Tribulation when Jesus Himself will rule on earth. We studied this thousand-year reign not too long ago during our lengthy analysis of the book of Revelation. For today, I want to focus on the promise that God “will come and save you.” After the angel said, “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 1:20); we read his further explanation: “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins” (verse 21). The name “Jesus” is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew “Yeshua” (or “Joshua,” as we know it) and literally means “the Lord (Yahweh) is salvation.” What we most need is to be saved from our sins. Without Jesus, our fear of having no means of salvation would be absolutely legitimate. However, He has come to us, and He has come to save us. Thank you, Jesus, that our greatest fear is vanquished and has vanished.