Thursday 15th
Hebrews 13:8
NIV (v8) – ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.’
ESV (v8) – ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.’
Oh, how sweet the glorious message simple faith may claim:
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same;
Still He loves to save the sinful, heal the sick and lame,
Cheer the mourner, still the tempest—glory to His name!
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same,
All may change, but Jesus never—glory to His name!
Glory to His name! Glory to His name!
All may change, but Jesus never—glory to His name!
This verse that we have before us today is a wonderful source of strength and encouragement to the believer, it gives to us a confident hope that we have put our faith and trust in something, that is, the effectual work of the Cross and in someone, the unchanging Lord Jesus Christ. And the words of the song lyrics that I have started with remind us that he is the same in his constancy, his consistency, his support, and his sufficiency, his effectualness today is as it always has been, to sum up, in every way, he remains, unchanging and ever present toward those who have put their faith and trust in him.
‘His love has no limits, His grace has no measure, His power no boundary known unto men; For out of His infinite riches in Jesus. He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.’
There is no change in his person, there is no change in his love, there is no change in his grace, there is no change in his power, even though we are living two thousand years post Calvary, the Lord Jesus Christ is exactly the same today as he was then, he has not diminished in any way, he has not become more distant with time, but is as ever present toward us as he was to those who were his first disciples, and still working in every way toward us who have believed.
In the context of this book of Hebrews, he is still the eternal Son whom God has chosen to speak through in the last days, he is still greater than the angels, he is still greater than the prophets, he still has the name which is greater than any other name, he is still the effectual sacrifice, he is still the effectual great high priest, he is still the effectual intercessor, he is still seated at the right hand of God and he is still reaching out to lost humanity as the Shepherd seeking out and finding the lost sheep, he is eternally faithful and true. And he is our Saviour, he is our Shepherd, he is our Lord, he is our great high priest.
All this should give us a confidence assurance as we live in this perverse, foolish and wicked generation in which we are found that we have an unchanging hope which is also our unchanging foundation, our solid ground in which we can anchor our souls – Jesus Christ the righteous. While all around is shifting sand, he never changes, he is constant in his care towards us, constant in his protection over us, he is the most loyal and trustworthy friend we can ever have.