FAITH REWARDED--"THY SON LIVETH."
--FEB. 5--JOHN 4:43-54.--
"Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself
believed, and his whole house."--John 4:53 .
TWO days were spent preaching to the woman of Samaria and completing the journey into Galilee, etc., ere the nobleman's son was healed. Galilee was a part of the territory which formerly belonged to the ten-tribe Kingdom of Israel, and the district called Samaria lay between Galilee and Judea. It will be noticed that, while our Lord journeyed hither and thither, he never went outside the territory occupied by the twelve tribes. It will be remembered that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, not far from Jerusalem, and that his parents, shortly after his birth, fled into Egypt, under the Lord's direction, before the slaughter of the babes of Bethlehem: and on the return from Egypt, instead of returning to Bethlehem, they located at Nazareth in Galilee,--"that he might be called a Nazarene," and that thus odium for eccentricity might attach to the Lord, as an offset to his wonderful personality and the "gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth" --"such as never man spake" before or since;--to the intent that only the Israelites indeed might hear in the true sense of the word, and be healed and accepted as sons of God under the New Covenant of grace.
It will be remembered that our Lord's disciples were known as "Galileans," and himself as the "Galilean." And recognizing the truth expressed in the proverb, "A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country," our Lord did not begin his ministry in Galilee, but in Judea. It seems probable that after his first miracle at Cana he, with his disciples, went to Judea, and was present there at the time of the Feast of the Passover, and at that time performed many notable miracles, on account of which his fame went abroad, not only throughout Judea, but also into his own country, Galilee: for it was the custom for large numbers of the devout Jews to go to Jerusalem to the Feast of the Passover every year, and these from Galilee had brought back word of the works and fame of their countryman. Hence our Lord was now returning to his own country, a great prophet, because of the fame first gained elsewhere.
Our Lord's experience was no exception to the general
rule: it is a trait of human nature to lightly esteem
things with which we are intimately acquainted. "Distance
lends enchantment to the view." When one sees
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a mountain at a distance, its outlines stand out with
boldness and symmetry, but when he comes close to it
the beauty and grandeur are apt to be marred, in his
estimation, because his eye rests upon the smaller fragments
and the silt and soil and tangle of common weeds.
Nevertheless, the view and thought from a greater distance
are the truer ones, the proper ones. So, too, some
of earth's characters who are highly esteemed to-day
were much less esteemed by those who came most closely
in contact with them in their day: not that the present
view is the false one, but because those who were
closest to them, and who were affected by the commonalities
of daily life, failed to rightly appreciate them.
This is often true in the households and family connections
of the world's notables. The little things of life
are seen, and the character is measured by these, rather
than by its larger features, which alone are seen in the
distance. For instance, Julius Caesar, who by all the
world is acknowledged to have been a great man, was
lightly esteemed by Cassius, his intimate friend and
servant, who once saved his life from drowning, and who
was with him when sick, and who measured him by
the weaknesses of these occasions and others, rather
than by the largeness and greatness exhibited at other
times. He, for instance, called attention to the fact
that "when Caesar was sick he cried, 'Give me some
drink, Titanius,' like a sick girl." His closeness hindered
him from seeing the greatness which others, less
close, could readily discern; and thus he says,--
"It doth amaze me,
So it was with Jesus: "Neither did his brethren believe
on him" (which expression in olden times signified
kinsfolk, including cousins as well as brothers).
They knew Mary, his mother, they knew his brethren,
they knew Joseph, the husband of Mary, and apparently
they knew also that Jesus was not the son of Joseph,
but was conceived before Joseph had taken Mary as his
wife (Matt. 1:18); for this was the evident purport of
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their sneer at him, when contending with him they
said, "We be not born of fornication." (John 8:41.)
They knew him as the young man who probably had
worked as a carpenter in their midst for years. They
knew that his home city, Nazareth, had never been reputed
for its wealth or its learning--its sons were not
the bright ones of the Jewish firmament. It was correspondingly
difficult for them to realize that this one
whom they knew so well could be the great one of whom
Moses and the prophets did write.
Hence we find that in his own city, altho they said,
"Whence hath this man this wisdom, and this miraculous
power?" they also said, "Is not this the carpenter's
son? Is not his mother called Mary, and do not his
brothers James, and Joses, Simon and Judas, and all his
sisters, live with us?...And they stumbled at him.
...And he did not perform many miracles there because
of their unbelief."--Matt. 13:54-58.
But, returning to our lesson: The news that the
great Galilean Prophet and healer of the sick had returned
to his home, soon reached Capernaum, which
was only about twenty miles distant from Cana; and
a person of social and political rank in that city was
amongst the first to manifest his faith, and to receive a
corresponding blessing; for we are told that the healing
of his son was the "second miracle" performed by our
Lord after his return from Judea.
It was doubtless by way of testing his faith that
our Lord seemed at first to object to his petition, saying,
in effect, You do not have faith in me as the Messiah;
it is my signs and wonders that you are interested in.
The troubled and affectionate father showed by his answer
that his interest was not merely one of curiosity
and desire to see a miracle performed: his was a true
faith in Christ's power, which, he did not question, was
able to save his son from death--"Sir, come down ere
my son die." His true faith had its reward, and yet
he was required to exercise it still further, and to believe
that his request was answered, notwithstanding he
could have no proof of this for several hours. His faith
again stood the test, and he went his way, ascertaining
later that the child had begun to mend at the very time
our Lord had granted the request. And his faith brought
him a still greater blessing than the physical recovery
of his son's health, for it made him and his family
"believers" in the Messiah, and thus brought them
within reach of the great privilege of sonship and joint-heirship
mentioned in John 1:12.
Our Lord's object in this and other healing miracles
was evidently not merely the recovery of the sick from
pain and disease. Had this been his object, he might
have commanded the healing of all the sick in one
breath: and more than this, he might have remedied
the evil conditions which tended to promote sickness.
For instance, the nobleman's son had a fever, and quite
probably there were many others in Capernaum similarly
afflicted, as the city was built near low, marshy
ground, and is noted in history as a malarial locality,
unhealthful. The Lord did not do this work of general
healing, but this is no evidence of a lack of sympathy,
nor of a lack of appreciation of what would be necessary
to make that and other portions of the earth healthful,
any more than it could be considered a lack of interest
in mankind on God's part which had permitted
malarial and other evil conditions and resulting sickness
and disease throughout the whole world for thousands
of years. On the contrary, God foreknew the sickness,
and designed to permit the evil conditions, as accompaniments
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of the sentence against man as a sinner--as
accessories and concomitants to his death sentence.
The time will come when he who redeemed mankind,
and who redeemed also from the curse the earth,
"the purchased possession" (Eph. 1:14), will cleanse
it from all evil, baneful influences--and there shall be
no more death, nor pain, nor sickness, nor crying, for
the former things shall have passed away, and all things
will be made new. And the period of the renewing of
the earth and of mankind, for whose use and blessing
it was intended, is Scripturally termed, "the times of
restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the
mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began."
And this restitution the Apostle Peter, speaking under
the inspiration of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost,
tells us will begin at the second coming of our
Lord Jesus.--Acts 3:19-23.
At his first advent our Lord's mission was specifically
to give himself as the world's ransom price, and
secondarily to furnish evidences which to a certain class
would be a ground for faith in him, in his teachings,
and in his future work--to the intent that such "believers"
of the present age might come to the Father,
receive the adoption of sons, and the promises; and
through faith and obedience unto self-sacrifice might
become joint-heirs with Messiah in his great future
work of restitution--in the work of blessing all families
of the earth.
Bringing the matter down to an individual one, we
find that the nobleman received the blessing through
faith, and that his faith was attested by his conduct.
And so must it be with all who would be acceptable to
God, and who would win the great prize set before us
in the Gospel. "This is the victory that overcometh
the world, even your faith:" but "Faith without works
is dead." Faith cannot live without manifesting itself.
All of our services to the Lord are valuable chiefly as
proofs of our faith in his promises.--1 John 5:4; Jas. 2:26;
Heb. 11:6.
A story is told of how a private soldier in Napoleon's
army exercised faith in his word, and as a result
of acting thereon received promotion to a captaincy.
Napoleon was reviewing his army in the city of Paris,
when the bridle dropped from his hand and the horse
started on a gallop. A soldier leaped from the ranks,
caught the horse and returned the bridle to Napoleon.
The Emperor thanked him, saying, "Much obliged,
captain." The soldier immediately responded, "Of
what regiment, sir?" And the Emperor, pleased with
his quickness and confidence, answered, "Of the
Guards." The soldier immediately took his place
amongst the officers, altho his clothes were those of a
private and notwithstanding the fact that they ridiculed
his faith. He believed the Emperor's words, and acted on
that belief, and was a captain. So our Lord has given unto
us "exceeding great and precious promises, that by these
we might become partakers of the divine nature;" and
those who will attain the exceeding great and precious
things which God has in reservation for them who love
him will be the ones who take him at his word, become
"children of the light," and "walk in the light." Such,
ultimately, shall be members of the great Sun of Righteousness,
which shall arise with healing in its beams,
to refresh and bless the world by scattering the darkness
of sin, superstition, evil.--Matt. 13:43.
But let us guard ourselves against the error of
some who have great faith in themselves, and consider
this a proof that they are of the "elect." Only the
soldier who served as well as believed Napoleon was rewarded.
Each should therefore ask himself--Are the
exceeding great and precious promises to me? Are there
conditions attached to those promises? and if so, am I
living up to the conditions so as to make sure of my
calling and election?
To answer his question so as to have "full assurance
of faith," he should search the promises--their
significance and conditions, and then act accordingly,
if he would win the prize: remembering our Lord's
word's, "Not every one that saith, Lord! Lord! shall
enter the Kingdom, but he that doeth the will of my
Father in heaven."
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ENCOURAGEMENT TO FAITHFULNESS AND PROGRESS.
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"Rouse up, O heart, brooding o'er earth's broken friendships,
"Fret not, O heart!--not because of evil-doers.
"Awake, O heart! Hurriedly from drowsy slumbers
====================
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the start of the majestic world,
And bear the palm alone."
Mistakes and griefs. Retrospection truly brings
Relief at times; but to scan too oft life's pages
Brings weariness, sapping strength thou need'st for progress.
The past forget! As a mighty vessel swings
To right her course, while the skies, serene and fogless,
And calming seas, tell no tale of tempests' rages,
So thou, O heart, whilst her pennant Mercy flings,
Retrieve the past; and returning calm and sun
Shall not condemn--only speed thine onward journey,
Forgiving and forgiv'n.
They soon shall cease. When their cup of crime is full
To overflow, then the great and just Avenger,
With girded loins, sword unsheathed and wrath enkindled,
Will tread the press, and his blood-stained hand annul
Their ill kept lease, and shall vanquish all the tinseled
Recruits of sin. But, O heart, heed thy great danger.
Besetting sins, and fair vanities which lull
To fancied safety the listless, thou must fear,
Lest that dread sword thee mark also for its victim,
A reprobate despised.
Arise, arise! Night is sleeping time, not day.
Press nobly on, heeding not the faithless numbers!
The mid-day glare tempts to quietness and shadow;
Suave lethargy, friendly false, persuades the way
Is soon retraced from the cooling brook and meadow;
But he who turns from the strife and glare, and cumbers
Himself with pleasure's delights, will ne'er essay
The path again; and yet thou, O pilgrim weary,
Foregoing rest, shalt be strengthened with all might:
Thy faith, sore tried, shall develop eagles' sight,
And penetrate, past environment, to glory
Unspeakable, where in Heaven's effulgent light,
Thy glorious Leader dwells." --Unknown.