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.)
Revelation 7 demonstrates that Jesus keeps His promises to the nation of Israel, to all nations through the birth of Jesus Christ, and even to the martyrs of the Tribulation period. Before we move on to chapter 8, this is a good time to distinguish between a promise and a principle. The Bible is replete with promises, but, as we studied last week regarding Israel, we have to be careful not to misappropriate promises made to specific individuals. For example, King Hezekiah was told that he would soon die. He prayed, and God granted him an additional fifteen years (II Kings 20:1-11). Many Christians have prayed for an extension of life for themselves and for others and have not received a similar outcome. Conversely, Elijah, discouraged and depressed, pleaded with God to let him die (I Kings 19:4). Instead, God empowered him for renewed service and later took Elijah directly to heaven (II Kings 2:1-11). Thus, Elijah never died! Should we therefore pray to die, expecting God to translate us into heaven? Of course not! Instead, from these two disparate accounts we can draw helpful principles. First, God listens to His people, no matter what the content of our prayers. Second, God knows each individual and is aware of both our joys and our sorrows. Third, God offers eternal life. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27); however, our Savior God offers an everlasting solution to this reality. The resurrection of Jesus Christ confirms that He is the God of life. His statement in John 14:6 – “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father but by Me” – stands in stark contrast to the hopelessness of the world. All of the promises of God provide abiding principles that are always applicable to all of us.