Scripture Reading: Hebrews 13:8
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever."
What does it mean to say, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever"? In this one sentence we see three different tenses: the past, the present and the future proving that Jesus Christ was, is and will be.
Jesus Christ Yesterday
Jesus Christ was in the Old Testament and every book of the Bible even though He did not come into the flesh until His incarnation in the gospels. In Genesis when God said, "Let us make man in our own image" He was including Jesus (Genesis 1 ).
In the Old Testament, Jesus was the pre-incarnate Word. In the New Testament, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, according to John 1:1. Jesus became incarnate in a human who was fully God and fully human.
In the New Testament, Jesus lived for 33 years teaching about love, forgiveness and having a relationship with His Father just as He was one with His Father.
Yesterday Jesus died on the cross for our sins so we might have redemption. This is because God was, and still is, involved with His people.
Jesus Christ Today
Jesus doesn't walk the face of the earth any longer. However, Jesus is still present with our through the presence of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Now, Jesus lives in our hearts (John 14:23).
Jesus is involved in our lives each and everyday. He is not a theoretical presence. Jesus is with us today because He said He would be with us always. We are living, moving and having our being because God is with us in the person of Jesus Christ. That's the meaning of Emmanuel "God with us."
Jesus Christ Forever
Jesus will be with you in the future eternally. He will be with us always. and that means forever. In all of eternity, the Lord Jesus will be forever interceding for us as He sits on the right hand of God Almighty.
Never in all eternity will we have to worry about God failing, about God changing His mind about us, or about being rejected in anyway. He is the same as He has always been. If any changing is taking place, it is not God but man.
Though the world changes, circumstances change, people change, and you change, Jesus never does. You can always count on Jesus.
We can always count on Jesus being there in our lives, even when it doesn't seem like He is. It means that you can always depend on His character to be tomorrow like it was yesterday. It means that you can always know that His love for you cannot decrease. It means that you can always depend on His commitment to you in all things, at all times, in all ways because Jesus is forever.
During this Lenten season, meditate on the things you can count on Jesus for.
Feel free to read Lenten lesson for Day 37.