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Army Officer Asks Help for His Servant
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having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth;
and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this,
and he doeth it.” As I represent the power of Rome, and my soldiers
recognize my authority, so You represent the power of the Infinite
God, and all created things obey Your word. You can command
the disease to depart, and it shall obey. You can summon heavenly
messengers to impart healing virtue. Speak but the word, and my
servant shall be healed.
“When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned
Him about, and said unto the people that followed Him, I say unto
you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” And to the
centurion He said, “As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.
And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.”
In their self-righteousness the Jewish elders commended the
centurion because of the favor he had shown to “our nation.” But the
centurion said of himself, “I am not worthy.” He trusted not to his
own goodness. His faith took hold on Christ in His true character,
the Friend and Saviour of mankind.
When Satan tells you that you are a sinner, tell him that Christ
came into the world to save sinners. The plea that we may urge now
and ever is our utterly helpless condition that makes His redeeming
power a necessity.
In my hand no price I bring;
Simply to Thy cross I cling.
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The Jews saw in Jesus nothing to be desired. But the centurion,
educated in the idolatry of Rome, seemingly cut off from spiritual
life by education and surroundings, and shut out by the bigotry of the
Jews—this man perceived truth to which the children of Abraham
were blind. The “Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into
the world” (
John 1:9
) had shone upon him, and he had discerned
the glory of the Son of God. To Jesus this was an earnest of the
gathering of souls from all nations to His kingdom.
A Dead Man Raised to Life
More than twenty miles from Capernaum lay the village of
Nain, and thither Jesus next bent His steps. All along the way the