Jottings

It is a remarkable thing that the two persons whose faith the Lord described as great were both Gentiles, strangers to the covenants of the promise. In both eases their great faith in the Lord was exercised on the behalf of others, persons that were very dear to them; in the ease of the Centurion, in Matthew S. i;'13, it was on behalf of his servant, and in that of the Canannitish woman it was for her daughter (Matthew 15.21.28).

One can almost think that the Lord is finding relief for His spirit in these incidents in an otherwise dry and barren soil in Israel, largely destitute of faith, and is beginning to move toward the realization of the eternal purpose of His heart to bring in the Gentiles into blessing from which they had been so long alienated.

The same thought emerges in the book of Malachi. The remnant that had returned from Babylon and had rebuilt God's house, and had raised the wall of Jerusalem and set up the gates thereof, did not long evince the enthusiasm of the early days of this divine movement. The sons of the men who had left Babylon, and trudged the long weary miles over the desert to reach the land of promise, were, alas, not of the spiritual qualities of their fathers. Theirs was an easier life and a more sinful one, and they had descended to that low level, that anything would do for God. Cattle which their governor would not eat were good enough to be burnt on the altar of God. But God reminded the unworthy priests that there were others beyond the land of Israel who thought more worthily of Him. He says,

"From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My name is great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense is offered unto My name, and a pure offering: for My name is great among the Gentiles, saith the LORD of Hosts" (Malachi 1.11).

This statement by the LORD did not mean that He was at that time breaking His covenant with His people, the remnant which were in the place of the name in Jerusalem, and that He was moving out to the Gentile nations. It is the responsibility of all men to bow and adore their Divine Creator. The terms of the everlasting gospel call for this:

"Fear God, and give Him glory; and worship Him that made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters" (Revelation 14.7).

And Peter said in the house of Cornelius,

"a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is acceptable to Him" (Acts 10.34, 35).

The outworking of this statement of divine truth was seen in the actions of Cornelius, whose prayers and almsgiving had ascended for a memorial before God.

We know not how many there may be in whom God finds pleasure, and it

ill becomes the remnant of His people to-day to drift into a proud and careless condition, as the remnant were in Malachi's day or their descendants four hundred years afterwards in the Lord's time when religions hvpocrisy wrought like a plague amongst the Israel people. God has no place for religious humbug, and in the Lord's time the movement was under way of reaching out to that world which God loved with so great love that He gave His only begotten Son.

In that chapter (Hebrews 11) in which Paul recounts the triumphs of faith, he speaks of Enoch's life of faith as being well-pleasing to God, and says that "without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto Him." The great faith of the Centurion in Matthew 8, and of the Canaanitish woman in Matthew 15, must have been a joy to the Lord. Pride and faith are antagonistic to each other and they cannot lodge in peace in the same heart. Faith is trustful and dependent, pride is self-reliant and independent. Think of what the Centurion said:

"Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof:

but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed" (Matthew 8.8).

To whom was he speaking? To One who said that the foxes had holes and the birds of the air their nests, but He had nowhere to lay His head. The Centurion is not viewing the Lord's greatness by a comparison of homes or of what they each possessed. He looked far beyond the confines of material wealth and worldly circumstance. He saw in the Man of Galilee One of infinite power, whose worth demanded for Him the rainbow-circled throne of heaven, though He but yesterday had left the toil of the carpenter's bench and the lowly home in Nazareth. True greatness is not in what one has but in what one is. What you have is moveable, but what you are is permanent. Whom did the Centurion address? It was the Lord and that was enough. If He was the Lord then authority of an infinite kind was His. "Only say the word," said he, "and my servant shall be healed." "The word" is vital to faith. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, we are told.

"Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee" (Mark 14.86) finds a counterpart in "All things are possible to Him that believeth" (Mark 9.28). Almighty power and depending faith make possible the impossible. And so it was in the Centurion's case, for the Lord said, "Go thy way; as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And the servant was healed in that hour." Oh, to have greater reliance on the Lord's spoken word!

Also in the case of the Canaanitish woman we see clearly that pride and great faith cannot lodge together. "She came and worshipped Him, saying, Lord help me" (Matthew 15.26). He spoke to her as she lay at His feet that it was not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. The "Son of David," as she addressed Him, had come to find and tend the flock that David had cared for. She was an outsider. But she would take the place of the little dogs, if perchance she might receive a crumb of mercy from the table of Israel that the Lord had so lavishly furnished in His mercy, and which by the most part was despised. Her humility was great, but not too great. Great humility and great faith reposed within her. The Lord said to her, "0 woman, great is thy faith!" The mercy she sought was hers, for her daughter was healed that hour.

Pride and self-trust are seen in the Pharisee of Luke 18, but humility and faith in the publican, and the Lord's words about these two and others remain true about all who are like them:

"I say unto you, This man (the publican) went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted" (Luke 18.14).

A proud sinner cannot be saved, and faith cannot grow in the hearts of proud saints. But "why should the spirit of mortals be proud? ".

unknown | Jul 1954
Jottings