But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. Matthew 8:8.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel but no one who came to Him in faith did He ever reject.
Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him.” Acts 10:34-35.
Faith is what I credited to Abraham as righteousness. And faith is how he entered Covenant with Me. But by faith, I do not mean just the knowledge that I exist, the spirits of disobedience, that is, the devil and his demons, have faith with no doubts that I alone am God and they tremble. They hide in the darkness.
By faith I mean not only knowledge that I exist and am all powerful but that I am good and I reward those who seek Me. Hebrews 11:6. True faith works by love, that is, knowing and believing in the love I have for you which then brings a response of love and trust from your heart into Mine. True faith makes you draw close to Me and seek My face. And I show My face to and let it shine upon those who have hearts towards Me. Those who love are known and loved by Me.
When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “I shall seek Your face, LORD.” Psalm 27:8.
Sometimes it may seem that I have failed you when you have been hoping for something and it does not seem to be coming to pass at the time you thought it would, but be aware that there are other people involved and I am working on their hearts, but often they reject what I am trying to accomplish with them for you. But I will never leave you or forsake you. Keep up your courage and cheer up for Jesus has overcome the world and He is in you.
“These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.
I will never let you be tried beyond your strength but will offer you a way out. But you can only take it by going out with joy and being led forth with peace. Let faith and patience do a perfect work. Keep up your hope for the good outcome, there is great peace in standing on My Word.
For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. . . Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 15:4,13.
The conversation we will consider today took place in Capernaum where Jesus and Mary had made their home when they left Nazareth after the townspeople rejected Jesus and tried to kill him by throwing Him over the cliff. But Jesus walked straight through their midst and shook the dust from His feet. The hour had not yet come when He would accept all your sins into His mortal flesh and give His eternal life to pay for the eternal life you all lost in Adam. That happened in that hour He spent with Me in the Garden of Gethsemane the night He was betrayed. But before receiving your sins He had an indestructible life in the flesh as Adam before he sinned and let death into the world. The wages of sin is death. You should never play with it. Sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is to dwell in you, but you can be its master. Genesis 4:7.
Jesus attended and taught at the synagogue in Capernaum and He did miracles there.
They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach. And they were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, “What business do you have with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are: the Holy One of God!” And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” After throwing him into convulsions and crying out with a loud voice, the unclean spirit came out of him. And they were all amazed, so they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding region of Galilee. Mark 1:21-28.
He also gave His teaching on the Bread of life at that synagogue as He taught in Capernaum when He returned to Capernaum the day after multiplying the bread and the fish. John 6:59.
Jairus was the leader of that synagogue and he himself received a miracle by putting his trust in Jesus when Jesus raised Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter from the dead.
The Roman centurion heard of these miracles for he had a heart for Me and My people and built their synagogue for them. Luke 7:3-5. So when his servant fell deathly ill, he came seeking Jesus for the servant’s cure. This servant was highly regarded by the Centurion, he spoke of him like a son.
Finding Jesus in Capernaum, the centurion came to Him, beseeching Him, and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, terribly tormented.” Even though this man had a high position of authority in the Roman occupation forces in Israel, you will note he addressed Jesus as his superior. He addressed Him as “Lord.” And he did not come commanding as he could have as the ruling empire but in the humble attitude of one beseeching one of higher authority. Jesus immediately said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion was taken aback at the willingness of Jesus to come to his home. He knew that Jews were not permitted to enter the homes of gentiles as it was believed to make them unclean. But later when I sent My angel to a centurion to summon Peter, I let Peter know that he was to call no man who was seeking Me and doing good to My people unclean.
But I want to stop here a moment. Jesus showed no resistance in replying to this man who was not in Covenant with Me as the Jewish people were and yet with the Syrophoenician woman, whom we will discuss in another conversation, He would not even at first enter dialogue with her or respond to her requests for the healing of her daughter. What was the difference? Simple. The unbelievers are judged by their works towards My people and the centurion was a man of enormous charity and good works among the Jews. The Syrophoenician woman was not, she was involved in satanic religion and the demons had entered her daughter. She had never done a work of charity for My people in her life. No one was there to give testimony about her good works to My Covenant people (who now include those in the New and everlasting Covenant with Jesus) as they were for the centurion. Luke 7:4-5.
I have shown you this in the revelation Jesus gave you of the great white throne judgment at the end of time as you know it now, where those who have never received Jesus as Lord or had faith in My Name and the Name of My Son are judged. Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 20:11-15. These are the ones I call the “nations,” in Greek the word is “ethnos (ἔθνος)” and in Hebrew it is “goyim (גּוֹיִֽם),” both of which you will see translated as nations, Gentiles, or heathens, meaning the heathen world of those who do not know Me, whether out of ignorance or rejection. My Son shows you that even here I am most merciful, for though you who are in Covenant with Me in Jesus, the Church, the new creation, are not judged by your works, though you do receive rewards and crowns in Heaven based on your deeds, but are saved by the works of Jesus and His blood that released you from your sins, those who do not know Him and have not received him can still be saved by works. The Jews by the Law of Moses and the Gentiles by the law of works, but not just any works, but acts of goodness they do towards those who are in Covenant with Me, the ones Jesus calls His “brothers and sisters” for He is their kinsman redeemer and receiving Him empowers you to be My child and a joint heir with your brother Jesus.
So it is how unbelievers have treated the people of the Covenant of Abraham, the Jews, and now also how they have treated the members of the Body of My Son, the Church, that determines there eternal destiny. Remember when Paul persecuted the Church, that is, the early believers, when My Son revealed Himself to Paul in His glory on the Road to Damascus, He asked Paul why he was persecuting Him, not the Church, but Him personally.
The Jews who have not received Jesus as Lord are judged by the Law of Moses.
So there are three groups you are looking at in this age of grace and they each have a different standard of Judgment, the heathen, the Jews, and the Church, the body of Christ. Remember too that I have given all judgment over to My Son for He is Son of Man and is able to sympathize with your weaknesses.
Now all that being said, take a look at the judgment of the nations (or you can say the judgment of the Gentiles, heathen, or pagans), and of these who it is that gets saved:
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the “ethnos, goyim, nations” will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’ Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or as a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these you did not do it for Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”Matthew 25:31-46.
As a second witness on this in My Word, I describe the white throne judgment again to John in the book of Revelation. There you see the dead, which is the unbelievers that do not know My Son, for their spirits are not born again but dead to Me, and they are judged by their works. “The dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them; and they were judged, each one of them according to their deeds.” Revelation 20:12-13.
But the Syrophoenician woman overcame this by putting her faith in Jesus as Lord, she humbled herself as she worshipped before Him and entered the Covenant the same way Abraham had, by her great faith. No longer an ethnos, she had joined the family of believers made up of both Jew and gentile into one new man, a new creation in Christ, the church of the Firstborn. And then she received the children’s bread of healing.
Faith is a wonderful thing, it turns your life around, it fills your days with beauty and takes away your frown, it turns you into a prophet telling the good news, that I am here among you, making all things new.
But let us go back to the centurion who qualified by good works to My people to come close to Jesus. When Jesus told him that He would come to his home to heal the boy, the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 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.” Matthew 8:8-9.
My Word made all, sustains all, and is filled with power. This man, being in a position of authority over many soldiers, as well as under authority to those of higher rank in the Roman army, knew the power of command, the power of a word of authority. It moved hundreds of soldiers into battle and sent the one so commanded running swiftly to obey. A word of one in authority brought results and had to be obeyed. And He saw Jesus in that light, but in a supernatural light, the centurion believed Jesus could command sickness and it would have to leave, even if commanded from a distance.
And they came close to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He saved them from their distresses. He sent His Word and healed them and saved them from all their destructions. Psalm 107:19-20.
Now when Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. And 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; but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. Matthew 8:10-13.
This centurion had faith in the Word spoken by Jesus to heal and deliver his servant without Jesus even going to lay His hands on the boy. Jesus called this great faith. And you can have this same faith wherever you are right now. Just ask Me to speak the Word, but even better, you now have My Holy Spirit dwelling in you and Christ (the anointed One and His anointing) in you, your hope of glory, and YOU can speak the Word and I watch over My Word to perform it as Jesus, the High Priest of your confession (homologia, which means speaking words in line with My Word in agreement with Me). Glory is the manifestation of My goodness, power, and presence operating in love to bring about miracles, signs and wonders of healing, provision, protection, deliverance, and salvation. And you can set it in motion.
I want to point out one more thing to you here that you may not have noticed. My Son never spoke the word of healing for the servant. The centurion had already declared the result of healing over his servant, he was just asking Jesus to enforce it. And that is what Jesus did, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” It is just like Jesus told the woman with the issue of blood that was healed when she touched His cloak. “Your faith has healed you. Go into peace.” It is the connection of your faith with My power that causes wonders beyond number. The power is there, in you and on you by My Spirit, but without the faith connections it is like electricity with no conductor. Yes, current electricity needs a conductor to flow; a conductor is a material that allows the movement of electric charge, which is necessary for current to exist. And that is your faith.
Yes, faith is a wonderful thing, it turns your life around, it fills your days with beauty and takes away your frown, it turns you into a prophet telling the good news, that I am here among you, making all things new.
I love you. Faith puts you right with Me. I think you are beginning to see you learn more than you thought from the conversations of Jesus.