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.)
We return to Jesus’ frank teaching of Mark 8:39: “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” The language employed by our Lord is extremely strong, for the stakes of rejecting the call of Jesus are everlastingly high. If we do not want Jesus as Savior, He will not force His salvation upon us; anyone who rejects His kind offer of eternal life will inevitably “be ashamed” when Jesus wraps up earthly human history. The parallel account in Matthew adds this statement: “Then He shall reward every man according to his works” (16:27b). This divine recompense has two distinct manifestations. Those who reject Jesus will be separate from Him forever. Those who receive Him will be with Him eternally and will enjoy reward, especially His presence: “Well done, good and faithful servant… enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matthew 25:23). May each one of us choose this second option.