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.)
In Exodus 17:1-7, we find the people of Israel complaining, whining, and arguing (and not all of them were even married!). This would be an unusual and unexpected place for Jesus to be; certainly the Israelites did not believe that he was present. Verse 7 records that they not only doubted the presence of the Lord but also openly verbalized this doubt. Yet, Jesus was there, both in His provision and in His personal presence. The people needed water to survive, and he miraculously provided it. I Corinthians 10:1-4 applies the main events of Exodus to Jesus, including the imagery of the rock (verse 4 “they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ”). A silly and speculative rabbinical tradition is that a large and literal rock followed the Israelites for forty years as they wandered in the desert wilderness. Such a misinterpretation misses the important truth: the Lord was always with His people, even when they were cranky and cantankerous, angry and antagonistic. Let us remember that every good thing provided to us is a gift from our Lord, and let us also remember that when the good things are scarce that Jesus remains alongside.