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 persistent nature of Jesus is displayed in Revelation 8, including in the seeming silence of verses 2-6. In Luke 18:1-5, our Savior spoke a parable “that men ought always to pray and not to faint [give up]” (verse 1). The accompanying story references a determined widow and an unjust judge, who finally gives in to her rightful claims. Certainly by comparison, our just God will respond to His own children (verses 6-8). Verse 7 affirms, “Shall not God avenge His own elect, [who] cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?” Yes, He will. We studied Revelation 6:10 a few weeks ago: “They cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?’” That heartfelt and hurting plea is answered in our primary passage, where we find that “the prayers of the saints ascended up before God” (Revelation 8:4). What appears to be silence is actually a divine delay as our Savior saves more people – even one more person! – and prepares His righteous justice. Let us then “pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17), for Jesus persists in listening and answering without ceasing.