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 open demonic attacks of Revelation 9 occur during the time of the Tribulation. However, demons and Satan are active even now, and they will seek to confuse and confound Christians. In John 8:44b, Jesus says of Satan, “There is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of it.” Thus, demonic activity will draw us away from the certainty of sound Scriptural doctrine (as we studied Saturday from I Timothy 4:1-3 and II Timothy 4:3) and will furthermore tempt us to lie. The chilling account of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11 is illustrative of this danger. Verse 3 is blunt: “But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?’” Verse 4 reminds us that we are lying not only to ourselves and others but also to God: “Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” If we are tempted to traffic in untruths, we are being led astray by Satan and the demons. Conversely, our God of truth will always speak the truth and will draw us into truth. Remember that Jesus proclaimed, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6a). The truth is thus our friend; even more so, the Truth is our Friend.