The Day Jesus was Amazed!

The day Jesus was amazed began with a fellow asking a favor of Him.  The favor was that Jesus heal his servant.  Now mind you, all he did was ask a favor and did so through 3^rd parties, some Jews whom he knew well.  This was because he wasn’t a Jew but had a warm spot in his heart toward them, and their God, so much so he had built a synagogue for them in Capernaum.

This was interesting, a gentile of some stature asking a favor of Jesus.  This favor wasn’t inconsistent with the man’s life stance—had he not built a synagogue for his Jewish friends, not to curry their favor, but one might well think the favor of their God?  So Jesus elects to check out this situation by heading toward the Roman Centurion’s home (the whole story is found in Luke 7:1-10), but before Jesus can get there, the Centurion sends other friends protesting Jesus’ coming to his house with these words, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof.  Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You.  But say the word and my servant will be healed” (Luke 7:6b & 7).

This was a powerful word of “faith” and then the Centurion included his rationale for such faith:  “For I also am a man placed under authority (implying the Centurion recognized Jesus was also a man “under authority”), having soldiers under me.  And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it” (Luke 7:8).

Not often was Jesus amazed (NKJV says “marveled”) by persons or events, but here was one such situation and it prompted Jesus to turn to the crowd following Him saying, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (Luke 7:9).

The scriptural account does not indicate Jesus gave any sort of dismissive word, but the account shows the Centurion’s emissaries took action.  “And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick” (Luke 7:10).

From this account there are possibly some things we might infer:

1) The Centurion’s household would never be the same.  All of the household were aware that the servant was “sick and ready to die” (Luke 7:2), now he was “well”.  More apt than not the majority of the household servants would have been Jewish and would have been aware of the prophetic traditions of Israel—where the prophets moved in demonstration and might of the power of God.  In fact, a little later on in this same chapter when He approached the City of Nain, Jesus encountered a funeral entourage bearing a dead man.  Jesus looked upon the mother of this dead man, had compassion upon her and proceeded to raise him from the dead.  “Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen up among us’; and ‘God has visited His people’” (Luke 7:16).  They were right on both counts.

2) The Centurion’s faith would have been an inspiration to his household and to all his Jewish friends who interceded on his behalf toward Jesus.

3) Be sure, God was pleased.  “But without faith it is impossible to please Him (God), for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).  Remember faith is both a noun and a verb, an experience and action.  God wants and expects both of His children.

Are you pleasing God?

Jews--Go Home--You Must!

Jews have wandered in diaspora for nearly 2,000 years.  That was clearly God’s judgment upon them.  Jesus spoke of that judgment to come:  “now as He (Jesus) drew near, He saw the city (Jerusalem) and wept over it, saying, ‘If you had known even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!  But now they are hidden from your eyes.  For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation’” (Luke 19:42-44).  This happened exactly in 70 A.D.

That judgment was of the severest sort, but their sin in rejecting Jesus as their Messiah was the most severe in all Israel’s history and can never be exceeded.

Does God relent in His judgment?  Yes.  Listen to what Israel’s “Prince of Prophets”, Isaiah, says:  “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” ‘Says your God.’ “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:1,2).

The most comfortable thing that can be spoken to the Jew in diaspora is, “Go home! There you will be accepted, comforted and loved.”  Many in the world are attempting to persuade the Jews to do this in a most negative way with the rise of anti-Semitism particularly in Europe.  The same folly that kept many Jews in Hitler’s Germany until there was no getting out, is at work in many places in Europe—they see themselves as part of the culture in which they are hosted, but they are not—they are Jews and must go to the one place God has designed for their comfort and protection, the land of Israel.

Here is what will happen, first, the general order of God’s invitation and then specific pressure.  This sentiment is expressed by the prophet Jeremiah, “Therefore behold, the days are coming,”says the Lord, “That it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ “but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’  For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.  [And here is how God will do it.] “Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks (Jeremiah 16:14-16).

Note:  “fishermen” draw their prey with enticing bait; “hunters” drive their prey with fear.  In both instances the objective is to get the Jews back into the land.  It must be understood in every place that a Jew living outside the land of Israel is a contradiction and a sign of judgment.  God wants them back home.  Whatever pressure it takes to get them back, God will apply it.

Once back, there God will deal with them.  Those dealings will be harsh because the Jews, historically, are a very stubborn people, but ultimately they will be “refined” and come forth, in God’s sight, as “purest gold”

Gentiles need to be as supportive of this process as love dictates, because the Messiah for whom both Jews and Christians (with a Biblical world-view) long cannot and will not return until the Jews are in the land.

God "Tipped His Hand" in the Incarnation

I’ve recently read Gwen Shaw’s Our Ministering Angels and will be distilling some of her notable teachings in an article or two, but am not yet ready.  Meanwhile there is another author, Paul Billheimer, in his book Destined for the Throne , p. 34, who speaks of the gulf between angels and men in a most exciting way.  Here goes.

“Created originally in the image of God, redeemed humanity has been elevated by means of the new birth to the highest rank of all created beings.  ‘He took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham’ (Hebrews 2:16).  However else he might manifest himself in nature, God could not become incarnate in angels because they were not created in the full image of God.  No other created being approaches the capacity of the human being to “contain God”.  Only human beings have a nature in which God can become incarnate.  God tipped His hand, so to speak in the incarnation.  By this He dignified the human race and elevated redeemed humanity beyond the highest ranking angelic star in the radiant canopy of the firmament.

“Because angels were not made in the full image of God and God could therefore not become incarnate in them, the fallen angels cannot be redeemed.  No angel can ever become a member of the family of God.  They are created, not birthed from above; therefore, no angel can become a blood-born son of God.  Angels can never be partakers of the divine nature.

“None can ever become a member of the Bridehood.  These marks of privilege and rank have been reserved for redeemed humanity alone.”

So, quit being envious of the angels and learn to walk in all your redeemed state.  That means to jump into the pursuit of holiness with all your might, making absolutely no excuse for sin, being ruthless with your flesh (the self principle), actually crucifying it (Galatians 5:24) and then get on with the race that God has set before you (Hebrews 12:1).  Then give your angel something to talk about!

Words are My Friends

Permit me the luxury of sharing some thoughts about “words” without a single, Scriptural reference but which thoughts are totally based on the Scriptures.

The spoken word, persisted in, carries a creative power—an attribute of God.

Our words call into being that which now abides in the invisible world.  Mind you, this goes beyond “thoughtless” words so much so that we need to become master “word practitioners”, framing every situation with our words.

In “calling” things into the visible world from the invisible, it is not a matter of “straining”, but gentle, persistent believing and speaking.

Words become the instruments of our believing.  In fact, it appears that “believing” apart from words is impossible.

I believe God is pleased with our “large believing” and “large asking”.

We need to be friends with our words, using them most judiciously.

Note:  The way I have put some of these thoughts together may be original with me, but their origins  stem from several authors and principally, the Scriptures.  Use them as a spring board for your own thinking and speaking.

It's Kingdom Building Time--Part V (God Calls and Prepares at the Same Time)

A Dungeon Becomes an “Ante” Room to the Throne Room.  Keep in mind God allows no experience yielded to Him in obedience to be unprofitable (See Romans 8:28), as in Old Testament Joseph’s experience.  He had a dream of ruling and reigning, the legitimacy of which was acknowledged by his father, Jacob, in presenting Joseph with a coat of many colors (signifying royalty).  Because this dream involved his brothers bowing down to him, his sharing of it with them stirred them to anger and jealousy.  So intense were these emotions they would have killed him, but for the providential passing by of a caravan bound for Egypt to which his brothers sold him as a slave.  (Isn't it ironic Joseph was clad in his many-colored coat when they betrayed him.  Oh, yes, they stripped him of that coat almost as if to say, "Now let's see what becomes of your royal dream.") 

In Egypt, because God’s favor was upon him, Joseph soon became head of Potiphar’s household.  When Joseph had learned all he could in that household, the Heavenly Father arranged for him to have advanced training in Pharaoh’s dungeon.  Actually, Joseph was betrayed again, this time by Potiphar's wife accusing him of an act of which he was completely innocent.  No matter.

God’s favor which had been upon Joseph in Potiphar’s household, attended him in the dungeon with the result he soon had authority over all the inmates.  This meant the very enemies of Pharaoh, highly placed persons in the Egyptian court, were now persons over whom Joseph exercised authority.

To the natural eye it would appear "all the parts” were in place.  Joseph had superb mastery of the Egyptian language along with its customs and his administrative skills had been sharply honed.  But the time was not yet.  Two more years elapse before a realistic expectation of release might occur.  Then one day, almost suddenly, there came a call for him to present himself in Pharaoh’s throne room.  As a result of the interview that followed, which involved some dream interpretation, and some suggestion about requirements needed in a person to carry out implementation of the dream, Joseph became “Prime Minister”, 2^nd only to Pharaoh, of the most powerful nation on earth. 

In time, his brothers would bow before him, just as Joseph had seen in his dream.  God’s destiny for Joseph played itself out and because the his character had been thoroughly dealt with, he could say to his brothers at a point of reconciliation, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive” (Genesis 50:20).

Training will be commensurate with the “job description” God has for you—willingness to submit to that training will be determine where the Heavenly Father “plugs you in”.

It's Kingdom Building Time--Part IV (God's Talent Search)

I began this series saying “It’s Kingdom Building Time” and conclude it with “God is looking for talent” He can press into service to enlarge and speed completion of His kingdom—“For the eyes of the Lord run to and from throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him” (II Chronicles 16:9a).  This verse is written in what is called the “present active” tense meaning He is still searching for persons who will make themselves available to Him for life’s highest service.  In submitting to such a “call”, persons actually fulfill the purpose for which they were created.  In the prophet Jeremiah’s case, this call was “issued” while he was still in his mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5).  And inasmuch as “. . .God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34b), there is probably a great many who have been “called” of God from the womb.

Isaiah’s “call” was of a different sort.  First, he had a vision of the Lord. . .”sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1).  Then he experienced being “undone” because he was a man of unclean lips dwelling in the midst of a people of unclean lips (see Isaiah 6:5).  Next came his purging by an angel applying a live coal from the heavenly altar and touched Isaiah’s mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged (atoned for)” (Isaiah 6:7).

Immediately after this life-changing, purging exercise, Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then I said, ‘Here am I!  Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).  And it was done.

For Moses his “call” formally began with his turning aside to see a burning bush which was not consumed.

Samuel was placed into the Lord’s service by a mother who was desperate to have a child and agreed to present this man-child unto the Lord were the Lord to be gracious to give her such a son.  He would usher in the monarchy.

While attending sheep David was anointed by Samuel, ultimately, to be king over Israel and become the prototype of the Eternal King, even Jesus.

The “calls” of God as related in the Scriptures are many and varied and none more simple than that of Jesus calling the disciples saying, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).

These persons responded positively to God’s “call”, what of those who don’t?  or, more precisely what happens when persons refuse their “call”?  Hear the plaintive cry of the Lord in Ezekiel’s mouth, “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.  Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” ‘says the Lord God’ (Ezekiel  22:30).  In a word the consequence is destruction.

But lest anyone should think God’s “call” is optional hear these ominous words also from Ezekiel.  Though specifically given to Ezekiel this exhortation speaks as a challenge to all “witnesses”:  “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from me:  When I say to the wicked ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand”(Ezekiel 3:17,18).  Will you heed the “call”?

It's Kingdom Building Time--Part III (Beware Disqualification!)

In the previous segment (II) I spoke of “bits and pieces” of rebellion that have to be “worked out” of our nature and character.  Serious consequence can derive if we do not permit God to have His way with us in this process.  “Exhibit A” of this process is Old Testament Jacob.  Though he had had his rounds with his Uncle Laban, deceitfulness matched against deceitfulness, Jacob had actually met all his financial obligations to Laban and then some.  He leaves Laban and heads back to Canaan, to face his brother, Esau.

Subterfuge had been so much a part of Jacob to this point and was much on display in the strategy he employed in sending ahead his family and all his possessions, with appropriate and extravagant gifts, to assuage Esau’s probable anger, so Jacob imagined.  Meanwhile, Jacob remains behind and begins a “wrestling match” for the ages (Genesis  32:22-28). There had never been a wrestling match like this before and never would there be another one quite like it until his grandson (to the umpteenth power), Jesus, wrestled in the garden.

What was at stake in this wrestling match?  Jacob’s character, his nature, the future of his family and the nation that will soon bear his name and, dare it be said, ultimately the future of the entire world!  One slip and all would be lost.  How much Jacob understood beyond the fact that if God did not have mercy upon Him, Esau would destroy him—one does not know?  And is that not the way such titanic struggles frequently happen—the participants do not realize the stakes involved?  Yes, Jacob could have been disqualified had he not pursued the “wrestling match” to its conclusion.

Consider Judas in his betrayal of Jesus, positioned to be a founding Apostle of the Church and yet disqualifying himself for a mere 30 pieces of silver. 

With full awareness of betrayal by Demas concerning whom Paul said, “has forsaken me, having loved the present world. . .”(II Timothy 4:10) and other covenant people over 1500 years, Paul said, “. . . I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (I Corinthians 9:27).  Much later the great reformer, Martin Luther, said in a hymn, “Leave no unguarded place, no weakness of the soul”.  The Bible, secular history and the contemporary scene all furnish illustrations of persons who in “one moment” cast away something very precious, and disqualify themselves.

In speaking of “disqualification” I’m not speaking necessarily of a person’s losing his/her salvation, I’m talking about “victory”, “abundance of life” (John 10:10), and “ruling and reigning” in this life.  The disqualification can come at the point of falling short of a God-designed goal and then repentance enters in—but then, again?

So let us suffer to be so trained that all the Heavenly Father has to do is “lift His eyebrow” and we catch the signal.  If this were needful for Jesus who said, “I always do those things that please Him [the  Father]” (John 8:29b), how much more needful for us.

A critical part of this training process is being accountable to someone, possibly in a same-sex, small group where we can “Confess [our] trespasses [faults] to one another, and pray for one another, that [we] may be healed” (James 5:16).  God wants to take us from victory to victory and the sweetest part of that victory is the one over self--this knocks "disqualification" in the head.