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 sequence of resurrections that we have been studying is in keeping with the considerate command of I Corinthians 14:40: “let all things be done decently and in order.” First was the Resurrection – Jesus rising from the dead as he had promised (I Corinthians 15:20). Quickly came the resurrection of “many…saints” (Matthew 27:52-53) to fulfill the Old Testament typology of the Feast of Firstfruits. Sometime before the Tribulation – likely shortly before – is the resurrection of believers from the Church Age, from the day of Pentecost to the Rapture of the Church (I Thessalonians 4:16-17). The “first resurrection” associated with the Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20:4-6) includes the martyrs of the Tribulation: “I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (verse 4b). (The resurrection of the two martyred prophets of Revelation 11:3-13 at the middle of the Tribulation is a separate event but is also something of a precursor to this one.) The believers from the Old Testament will also be resurrected at this time, fulfilling the precise promise of Daniel 12:1-3. Many of these believers, like those of the Tribulation, are Jewish. The repeated attempts of Satan to destroy the Jewish people will end. The sick strength of anti-Semitism today is sad and will only increase, but it will be defeated by the saving strength of Jesus Christ, Israel’s Messiah.