Monday, August 21, 2023

THE GREATEST AUTHORITY

 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.

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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 “marveled” but the centurion had not! The centurion had so much faith, that he did not marvel at what Jesus could do because his faith was solely in the Power of Jesus.

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)

 The rich man called too late. The centurion called just in time to save his man from torments. The manservant to the centurion was destined for this place — a division of the Third Heaven, according to the Book of Enoch, wherein Hades and Paradise are separated by a great gulf. His future would be with the rich man in torment, but Jesus intervened. Marvel not; Jesus changed his future! He preserved the man from his fate.

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.

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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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