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 Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1) reveals that Jesus is fully fair in all of His judgments. We return today to the bleak words of Revelation 9:6: “And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.” We must not lose sight of the mercy and grace of God in evidence here. As long as these people draw breath, there remains the possibility of their repentance. Our Savior is not cruel in denying these folks death, for death always comes quickly enough. Mercifully and graciously, Jesus gives even these hard-hearted souls a further opportunity to “seek” Him rather than “seek death.” Romans 6:23 reminds all of us that “the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” All sin merits immediate death, but our Lord kindly withholds our deserved punishment. At the end of this age, He will do the same, “for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).