Eld Chew Chong Kiat

Introduction 

Most of us are familiar with the story of the centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant (slave) at a word instead of visiting him. A centurion was a distinguished Roman soldier, a Gentile, who was in command of a hundred soldiers. His faith was indeed marvelous, i.e. admirable. But what we often miss is that this is what faith is supposed to be. His faith was not highlighted so that we too will marvel and wish for such a faith. When we see someone do a marvelous stunt or feat, we are impressed by that peculiar and amazing power or skill, and marvel at that performer.  But we think that we will never be like him. This must not be the case when we marvel at the faith of the centurion. True faith from God, given as a gift to His elect that they can believe to the saving of their souls, is supposed to be a faith that is marveled at by all in this world that is void of such faith.  

What is faith? Faith is to take God at His word and obey it. It is to trust all that God says in the Bible even though it may run counter to every expectation and nature of things. Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1 as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. We have no sight of heaven and yet we have this hope that we will be there forever. We have not seen Christ and yet we believe in Him as our Saviour, born of a virgin (which is counter to every science and nature of humankind), who kept all the laws of God perfectly for us and fulfilled all righteousness (which is impossible for any man to do).

We believe that He gave Himself willingly for us all, “to be sin for us, who knew no sin” (again something incredible and yet we accept it with simple faith without doubting). We believe that His death is sufficient to save us to the uttermost and all who believe in Him will be completely saved from sin and its consequences, and no work is needed nor can be added, (which is counter to our proud human nature that think highly of ourselves).  We believe that Christ did not just die and was buried, but that on the third day He rose from the grave, and was seen of many, and then He ascended to heaven, and is alive evermore as our Intercessor, and soon He will come again to take the church to be with Him. To believe all these require an incredulous faith that is marvelous, does it not? Tell that to those without faith and they will marvel at what you take by faith. True faith is always marvelous. 

Not only is the faith that saves us marvelous, so is the faith to walk with God. The just shall live by faith, to walk by faith, day by day, and not by sight. We don’t see to believe, we believe and then we see. Jesus says to all of us: “blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). 

Why did Jesus marvel at the faith of the centurion? He marveled that out of the millions in Israel, few had the faith of the centurion! They were all blinded by unbelief, superstition and traditions. Christ came to His own people, and they rejected Him. Jesus declared “And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt 8:11-12) Many Gentiles from the East and West (i.e. the rest of the world outside of Israel, such as this centurion) will believe and be saved, and those who are the children of the kingdom in Israel will go to hell because of their unbelief in the Messiah who came and lived among them. It is marvelous that this Gentile had the faith which the children of the kingdom did not.   

Let’s look at the faith of this centurion and compare it with the faith of the Jews.  

1. The centurion had only heard of Jesus and what He did, and he believed that Jesus could heal his servant who was nearly dead and deemed incurable by every physician he could find in Israel. The Jews saw much of the miracles and yet asked to see more before they would believe in Him. “Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.” (John 4:48) Great was their unbelief. See also Matthew 12:38-42.
2. The centurion felt so unworthy to come to Jesus that he sent elders and his friends to see Jesus. He had power and authority, and done much good for Israel, yet he felt unworthy for Jesus to come to his residence. The elders of the Jews, on the other hand, pleaded with Jesus to go on the basis that the centurion was worthy and deserving of help, while they were usually disapproving of a Jew entering the home of a Gentile, and asked Jesus to make an exception for this centurion. The centurion’s faith pleased God and obtained His blessings because he came empty handed to beg. He did not presume that he was worthy to come personally or that he deserved any of these things. On the other hand, the Jews respected the faces of persons based on their works and believed that God would accept one who does good for Him.
3. The centurion came to Christ with high regard for His power and authority. He called Christ “Lord”, meaning one who has the power and can do what He wills. He likened that power to one who says to a soldier to come and go and the soldier would come and go at his command. In the same manner, he believed that it was nothing for Christ to just say the word for the sickness to go away and there was no need for Christ to come near or to touch or use any instrument or medicine. His understanding of Jesus was marvelous and he saw Jesus as God.  The Jews on the other hand thronged him to touch him and brought the sick to him that He may do something for them. Christ honoured all these too because He had compassion on them, and He healed them all.

But the nobleman whose son was sick, who believed Christ’s words “Go thy way, thy son liveth” (John 4:49), he believed and when he returned home, he saw his son healed that very hour that Jesus said the words. By and large, such faith in God was rare. The centurion believed in the omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence of Jesus while Jesus walked on earth as a man! What marvelous faith! Many wanted to see Him to touch and do something to heal the sick. They believed that proximity was needed.  Jeremiah declared, “Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?” (Jer 23:23) This is also the concept of many. They think of God as a God who is localized. But God is never far from any one of His children; when we call, he is near and can hear and do wondrously. Only believe that He is near, wherever we are. All power is given unto Him and there is nothing that He cannot do.  

Do you have such marvelous faith in Christ?  This centurion’s faith was seen as marvelous because his problem was huge but he trusted in Christ. Do we also trust in Christ in the same way?  The faith we receive is marvelous because it is not of man, but God. And only when we see evidence of such faith can we say that we are born of God and we begin to please God. All born again believers have this marvelous faith!