SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2021 10:18 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Respected Man: A Gentile”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt. 8:5-13
Message of the verses: “5 And when Jesus
entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, 6 and saying,
"Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented." 7
Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." 8 But the centurion said,
"Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the
word, and my servant will be healed. 9 "For
I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one,
‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do
this!’ and he does it." 10 Now when Jesus heard this, He
marveled and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have
not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. 11 “I say to
you that many will come from east and
west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the
kingdom of heaven; 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the
outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth." 13 And Jesus said to the centurion, "Go; it shall be done for
you as you have believed." And the servant was healed that very
moment.”
We
move on in this section of verses concerning the centurion, as he also
understood delegation of power. “For I,
too, am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and
to another, ‘Come!’ and comes, and to my slave, ‘do this! And he does it.” This man recognized authority when he saw it,
and he certainly saw it in our Lord Jesus Christ. The centurion knew that if he had the power
to make his soldiers and slaves do what he told them to do by simply giving
them orders, Jesus’ supernatural powers could even more easily allow Him simply
to “say the word” and this would cause his servant to be healed. As I look at this section and what will
follow as to what Jesus said about this man it makes me wonder how many who
read this will understand that we as believers are to do the commands that
Jesus has told us to follow. Mostly I am
speaking about praying, and specifically praying for revival, revival in my
life, in my churches lives, and in my countries life, as it is needed like
never before in our history.
As
I have stated that when Jesus heard this He was truly amazed and stated that He
had not seen such faith in Israel, all of Israel. MacArthur writes “Although, as God, Jesus
knew all men’s hearts, in His humanness He was amazed that this Gentile soldier
showed more genuine faith in Him than He had found with anyone in Israel. Many Jews had believed in Jesus, but none had
shown sincerity, sensitively, humility, love, and depth of faith of this
Gentile soldier. Even to His disciples
Jesus would say a short time later, ‘You men of little faith’ (8:26). Still later in His ministry He would say to
Philip, ‘Have I been so long with you, and you have not come to know Me?’ (John
14:9).”
Now
we come to a difficult time in this section as Jesus goes on to say “many will
come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be cast
out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth.’” MacArthur helps us
understand this passage by writing “Those who had less spiritual advantage and
less opportunity to know God’s truth—the Gentiles ‘from east and west’—would show
greater response to the gospel than God’s own chosen people, who considered
themselves to be ‘the sons of the kingdom’ simply by virtue of racial descent.”
We
will continue looking at this section as we begin, what I hope will be our last
section in this series of verses.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is surely my desire to do the things that Jesus
wants me to do in order to bring glory to His name.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trusting the Lord that my wife will have a
successful surgery on her ear this coming Wednesday.
3/29/2021 10:47 AM
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