Life of Christ #2 -The Centurion’s Faith: Jesus, Spiritual Authority & the Unseen Realm

By the way, I do not see heaven with its harps here. I really don’t. This may be speaking of the time when we’re all together in the interface. That place that is both of the heavens and of the earth, sometimes called the New Jerusalem. Last spotted out of heaven, but having come from heaven, on its way to the earth. A kingdom that is totally spiritual, shared with those who were once very physical.

Please try to sense with me the freedom the Lord knew…unshackled by the heavens. He was not shackled by the heavens. He’s not shackled by the earth. He is a child of both realms. He moves. His mind moves back and forth between them. He can say east and west, kingdom of heaven. You people here on earth, dining with people who died several thousand years ago. He cuts through it all. I would encourage you to be able to shift from realm to realm with such ease. I encourage you to be free of all things, all realms. You’ll get to know your Lord better.

Well, that’s all I have to say. Now I’m going to change the subject and get off on something terribly theological. You’re all going to be surprised about what I’m about to say. As we go through the Lord’s life, I’ve tried to introduce you to the first time something’s mentioned. We have our first reference to what we would generally call “hell.” One of you has just said you don’t understand this. I’m going to challenge this passage as being a reference to hell. Don’t come to the scripture with preconceived notions. Here’s the first one, and I’m just telling you that you and I don’t have the foggiest idea what this means.

What this story says is there is going to be a feast, and feasts are generally, we think of them as given in the evening. Do we not? I guess we do. It’s an after-work affair. These people come from the east and the west, and they sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but some of the Hebrews are thrown outside where it’s dark. But Gene, it says outer darkness. What does that mean? I don’t know. The Greek here says “outer darkness,” referring to being over against the light that’s inside where the feast is being held. I don’t know what that means, but it does not have to mean eternal damnation. Now, maybe it does. I haven’t any idea, frankly. There’s so much I don’t understand, but in my not understanding, at least I’m free to not be bound.

I don’t question the teaching of eternal destruction, but I say to you, don’t go quote this as a passage that says that’s what it’s referring to. It may. It’s a frightening term. I know that I have seen passages of Scripture in the New Testament, especially the epistles, where it looks like Paul, especially, is really threatening folks. I mean, he’s got them. He’s threatening them, and you can tell he’s just consigning them to eternal perdition, and he will use a strong word, but it is not necessarily a word of destruction. “You will go into judgment.” Okay, that simply means that some of us won’t and some of us will. Frankly, I’d prefer not to be judged. I don’t ever go to court. I’ve been to one once. I don’t ever want to go back again. I won…but I might not win that one.

Let’s take the passages that are really terrible, and let’s believe them, but let’s be a little careful to just consign everybody to everything dark and terrible, just because we’ve been told. Outer darkness is a term we don’t know what he meant when he said it, but I want you to know something.  I don’t know how dark outer darkness is. I don’t know how horrible it is, but you have a hard time reconciling darkness with fire. Do you understand? Just be a little careful. That’s all. I got off the subject, but I’m still on the subject. Alright, that’s the end.

Now, concerning page 51, a widow’s dead son is restored. I do not have to comment on that passage at all. If you will turn to page 113, you’ll find all the truth about this chapter that begins on page 113. Alright, there’s one thing I want to say about the healing of the boy in the town of Nain. We are in the period of what is called by scholars “the time of the Lord’s popularity.” I don’t know if you recognize this fact, but the record of this miracle…I would call it the miracle that cost Jesus Christ His life. It will become very clear to you that up until this time, despite all that we’ve heard, He is not well known. It seems He is well known, but truly, He is not. Let’s say someone in this city was doing a lot of wonderful things, and folks were coming from all over this end of the state to hear him. He is still not well-known.

One day, He does something that causes Him to hit the…I think in the news media it is called the pipeline. That means that you get in the pipeline, and suddenly everybody knows. You become part of the big news. This is where He got national attention from the raising of this little boy from the dead. It was not until He did this that there was news that there was somebody around, news that a prophet, news that reached all the way to Jerusalem. You’re always in trouble when news reaches Jerusalem. That story was getting told in the barbershops. That story was getting told now by the spit-and-whittle club out on the courthouse lawn. Now, everybody is talking about it.

Some people are laughing, but everybody’s curious. What’s the guy’s name, did you say? Joshua? Where’s He from? Nazareth. You mean He’s not from Jerusalem? This is the kind of story now that is being spread by word of mouth from towns and villages. This is making people walk into their bedroom and say, “Mama? Mama, if we put you on a horse, do you think you can get to Capernaum? Mama, there’s a man down in Capernaum who might be able to heal you. We don’t know, but could you go?” This is the mother who takes the little child with a twisted foot and grabs him up in her arms and starts walking 15 miles to the nearest rumor. This is where the big crowds will come from. It is the beginning, and beginnings always predict the end. When there’s a beginning, then there’s an end.

Throughout history, mankind has always enjoyed killing their heroes. It’s almost a compulsion. I do want to say one other thing here that touched me. Two things in this touch me. Sometimes we pass over a scripture, a passage, without seeing things. When Jesus healed that little boy, what did the people who saw it do?  There was fear, and there was praise. Okay, that’s good. That’s really wonderful. That’s good. That’s all healthy. Fear is a wonderful thing to have when you stand in the presence, know you’ve stood in the presence of God, and you’re afraid of…you cease being a practical atheist, and you remember again there is a God.

But I want to remind all of you that the Jews knew how to praise God. It was part of their custom and tradition, and they did it, and they knew how. Now, that might not seem very important to you until you sit down with a Presbyterian. A Presbyterian will say, “Why does he want to do that? Why can’t he just go home and praise the Lord or give his thanks in a closet?” These people made a big noise. And praise is…if the Jews can praise God, a Christian ought to be able to make a little racket from time to time.

The other thing I’m impressed with is that these people were praising God in a dry spell. They were also praising God that a dry spell looked like it was ending. You cannot appreciate this little hidden passage here if you’re not a Jew, but the Jews knew that they had gone into Egypt with God’s blessing on them, had been greatly blessed there by Joseph. They also knew they had been forsaken for 400 years. Finally, after 400 years, God heard their prayers.