“Unto you, therefore, which believe He is precious” (1 Peter 2:7).
Yes indeed, Jesus is precious.
May we join John the Baptist in agreeing that we are unworthy to unloose the straps of His sandals.
May we continue to know more of His preciousness and our wretchedness.
May we know Him as our Prophet, Priest and King. May we love Him, glorify Him, worship Him and work for Him. He is of immense and incalculable worth. He is precious!
It is sad to say, however, that often our lives are focused on us and not on Him. Oh yes, we love Jesus, but we relegate Him to responsibilities of making us feel good and of sweeping up after us. But the Lord Jesus didn’t come here to make us feel good about ourselves. He came here to be Lord of All and Master of Everything.
“To you who believe He is precious.”
May I remind you, He is not only our redeemer, but He is the divine intention in human form. May we be reminded that all things shall be gathered under His headship, and He shall rule everything! (See Ephesians 1:10). Jesus has a right to be the center of everything and I mean everything. He is the Lord.
In Luke 2 we get a glimpse of Him as a boy of 12. There we find Him amongst the teachers in the Temple. The wisdom of the ages poured from their grizzled beards, but they were confounded by the questions of the young boy from Galilee.
Yet the Lord Christ was human, perfectly human. He was in some ways just the same as other boys of His age. If we could travel back in time to His boyhood days in Nazareth, we might hear things like Mary saying, “Jehesuah, run for water.” Or we might listen as one of the neighbours says, “Look there goes Jehesuah, Mary’s boy; He’s been a big help to his Mother since Joseph died Or another asks, “Who’s that young boy?
The answer comes, “That’s Jehesuah, Mary’s boy, He’s so polite.”
But where is this same Jesus today?
Why He’s running the universe. Think of it … one of us is in charge. It’s Jesus up there … It’s not Napoleon, not Alexander the Great. It’s Jesus!
And He’s approachable, and He cares and He’s able to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He is precious!
It’s Jesus the Nazarene up there, ruling and reigning and subduing all things unto Himself. He is the centre of everything … Look at Him now, Mary’s boy, Jesus of Nazareth seated in cosmic authority.
He is precious; He is everything that is glorious. We can never think highly enough of Him or speak well enough concerning Him but let us try, for “Unto us who believe He is precious.’
John Newton was a rough, dirty sailor with a foul mouth and an appetite for filthy living. He hated life and life hated him. He was captain of a slave ship and eventually became a slave himself. In due course, he escaped and was in a ship that hit an unmerciful storm and he ended up in the sea crying out “Lord Save me!”
The Lord saved him physically then saved him spiritually and made him into a great gospel preacher and hymn writer!
He preached for years and when he was well past his “retirement” age, he had to have an assistant stand in the pulpit with him on Sundays. He was nearly blind and spoke in whispers, but nothing could keep him from preaching while he still had breath.
One Sunday, while delivering his message he repeated the sentence: “Jesus Christ is precious.” His helper whispered to him: “But you have already said that twice.” Newton turned to his helper and said loudly, “Yes, I’ve said it twice, and I’m going to say it again.” The stones in the ancient sanctuary fairly shook as the grand old preacher said again: “Jesus Christ is precious!”
And that’s the Gospel Truth!