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.)
As we continue to contemplate the difficult subject of God’s transcendence, we come again to “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1). In a seeming paradox, part of this revelation is sealed up by the direct decree of God (Revelation 10:4). The covering up of these particular Tribulation details is actually an uncovering of a crucial aspect of the character of God: as we have seen from Deuteronomy 29:29 and Isaiah 55:8-11, God is far above us in thought and deed yet still chooses to communicate to us what we need to know. This truth is comforting. Furthermore, it is only logical to expect God to be different from us, for if He is just like us, He cannot save us – just as you or I cannot eternally save another person. However, because He is decidedly distinctive, He can and will. Moreover, our Savior has gracious expectations for us: He expects us to act in accordance with what we do know. James 4:17 is a succinct commentary on this subject: “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” The things that are not sealed up are for us to know and to do.