As I began my study of scripture this morning, I was tempted to bypass the story of the faithful centurion because it was so hard to comprehend. However, I was assured by a thought that I will understand it if I only go there. Hence, I went there, and the following is the understanding that God put into my mind. The “Word” did what I feared that I could not do. I had had little faith, but the story is about a centurion with great faith.
Faith is a variable. Some have
little faith and others great faith. During trials and tribulations, the degree
of faith varies. Faith is the degree that Jesus is trusted over time. Faith is
all the time, but the degrees of faith waver. Even those with a little faith will inherit the
Kingdom of God, but those with great faith will be an authority there.
Jesus encountered a centurion
with great faith. His faith in Jesus did not waver. This is the story of the great
faith exemplified by that Gentile man.
Jesus continued his journey and
as he approached Capernaum, he encountered a centurion who had high authority.
However, he compared himself to Jesus, “I am not worthy that You should come
under my roof: but speak the Word only, and my servant shall be healed” (Mat
8:8). Usually, his own word made things happened, but in spiritual matters, he
turned to Jesus for help with his servant with the palsy (paralysis), even
though he was in severe pain. (His flesh was as dead but his pain was alive.)
The man was paralyzed — as if
dead — but he was still tormented; he could still sense pain even though his
flesh was as dead.
The centurion, rather than take
him to a doctor for a physical condition, took him to Jesus for a spiritual
one. It seems that the man was experiencing Hell.
Many people say they experience
heaven as they are dying, but this man was experiencing Hell. That is not extraordinary
at all. Evil people, as they lie dying, often experience great torment.
One person of note was the leader
of the mob that lynched two innocent men. On his deathbed, he even said that he
was in Hell, and asked that a blanket be placed between him and the fireplace
some distance away. It was not the fire that he was experiencing but a
foretaste of Hell and he acknowledged that. [1]
Can you imagine that; the man, if
this interpretation is true, was as if already in Hell; not quite there but
well on the way. The centurion knew that, and although he could command people,
he had no power to exorcise demons.
Paul wrote of such a man as that years later, “1 …Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus… 3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. (2 Tim 2:1,3). A good soldier is strong, not because of himself, but because of faith in Christ. The centurion, the “good soldier” that he was, turned to Jesus to fight the spiritual battles. His sword was of no use, but “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephes 6:17) was effective against unseen powers. Jesus fought the spirit in that man with the Word; that was His “Sword.”
10 When
Jesus heard it (the centurion’s faith), He marvelled, and said to them that
followed, “Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in
Israel.” 11 And I say unto you, ‘That many shall come
from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,
in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the children of the kingdom shall
be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
(Mat 8:10-12)
Jesus had said in an earlier
account, “Marvel not; you must be born again” (John 3:7). The centurion had not
marveled at the miracle of Jesus; he was born again. His power came neither
from Caesar nor himself, but from Jesus. He was a “Christian soldier” who
relied on the Power of Jesus to defeat the unseen principalities.
The centurion’s faith had salvaged
what was left of the manservant, but Jesus performed the miracle. The Gentile centurion’s
faith had exceeded the faith of the Jews who depended on Abraham and at death
would rest in “Abraham’s Bosom” (Paradise in Heaven; Luke 16). Jesus was
indicating that the centurion would rest in His own Bosom upon death!
Then Jesus marveled further, “But
the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
The “children of the kingdom” were
in Abraham’s kingdom here on Earth as opposed to Abraham’s Kingdom in Heaven. [2] Jesus, because He lived
here on Earth, was not yet glorified until death, so those who had died, rested
in Abraham’s Bosom.
That recalls the rich man of that story. Where did he reside at death?
22
“…the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in Hell
he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and sees Abraham afar off, and Lazarus
in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, “Father Abraham,
have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water,
and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” 25 But
Abraham said, “Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good
things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and you art
tormented. 26 And beside all this, between us and you
there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you
cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.” (Luke 16:22-26)
It is likely that the tormented
man was a Jew because at that time Jews were servants to the seed of Japheth —
the Romans. The man might have thought that because he was a Jew that his reward
would be heaven because of his genome. On the other hand, the genome of the
centurion was Gentile, and he had no expectations that he would deserve
a Jewish Paradise. Because he knew that he deserved nothing from the Jew Jesus,
but had faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Gentile centurion
became “a Jew inwardly” since his faith had circumcised his heart (Rom 2:29).
Not only did Jesus change the
destiny of the servant but the destiny of the servant’s master. If the centurion
had died right then, he too would have been in Abraham’s Bosom although his genetics
were not of Abraham! However, he had become a “son of God” and because of his
faith, would have been endowed with the genetics of Jesus, becoming a fellow
heir with Him. Jesus, with the Spirit of God within, made known a forgotten
secret, “That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and
partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel” (Ephes 3:6).
The master and the servant, in
death, would not be apart! Both would be succored in Abraham’s Bosom during the
times of hardship and distress, here in this world.
I gained much insight as I
studied the Word this morning. My wish for you is that you did as well.
[1]
My own father told me the story of a man he knew, and many in Pulaski County,
Kentucky repeated the exact same story. That man was a politician who took the
law into his own hands to punish two young man even without evidence. Later, it
was revealed that they were innocent. The politician, by then a distraught
seller of salve believed he was sensing Hell and its torments. (The name is
withheld to shield his family from shame.)
[2]
The Book of Jasher reveals that Abraham resided in the Promised Land of
Canaan, although his Kingdom was of another world. Those who only resided in Judea
then would suffer Hell in another world. Without the knowledge from Jasher —
the “righteous” this passage would mean nothing. I marveled at Jesus because he
credited the Book or Jasher.
(picture credit: World History Encyclopedia; "Centurion")
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