Monday, February 27, 2006
Good Health?
Matt. 8:13. And Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; let it be done to you as you have believed." And the servant was healed that very hour.
Luke 7:10. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
Our focus returns to the subject of faith; healing is merely temporary and a far less important issue than that of one’s faith. The miraculous healings that Jesus performed while He was here was merely to demonstrate His sovereignty over His creation. Faith, on the other hand was the responsibility of these who had been enlightened by His Father. John 6:44 "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. Jesus was looking for faith and marveled at the faith of this centurion. He was coming as the Jewish king but found little faith among the Jews, but then there is this Roman soldier with such great faith. It is no wonder that He was taken back. This type of example displays regeneration must precede faith. Faith is the resultant of that regeneration defined in Heb. 11:1-2 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2. For by it the men of old [Abraham] gained approval. Faith comes not by a whim or an emotional stimulation but by rebirth.
God, by His sovereign decree, orchestrated this whole encounter that this conversation be made public, “Go your way; let it be done to you as you have believed.” The healing was according to the faith of the centurion (as you have believed) and is demonstrated by Dr. Luke’s diagnosis, “They found the slave in good health.” This man had great faith in Jesus that his servant was healed that very hour.
I close this section with the words of Don Carson, “Not everyone recognizes Jesus authority; others sense the power but do not respond with faith. Even some who naturally belong to the kingdom, that is, the Jews who had lived under the old covenant and had been the heirs of the promises, turned out to be rejected. They too approach the great hall of the Messianic banquet, lit up with a thousand lamps in joyous festivity; but they are refused admission, they are thrown outside into the blackness of night, “Where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The idea is not that there will be no Jews at the messianic banquet. After all, the patriarchs themselves are Jews, and all of Jesus’ earliest followers were Jews. But Jesus insists that there is no automatic advantage to being a Jew.”
Faith is the only key to the kingdom; you either possess it or you need to be seeking it. Isn’t it about time?
# posted by Castusfumus : 4:36 PM
