Image: Modern view of the traditional site of Cana of Galilee.
Note: The devotion below is taken
from the conclusion to last week’s sermon on
John 4:43-54.
The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die
(John 4:49).
Spiritual Applications:
1.
We see in his healing of the nobleman's son the power of Christ to do as he pleases.
He does not have to be physically present, but he can work
his power in men’s lives from a distance. This is especially true now in this
age, when he is at the Father’s right hand. We can come to him with boldness,
knowing his power.
2.
Though Christ can do as he wishes, we should not
presume to make his performance of miracles some kind of condition for our
belief.
This was the rebuke given to his skeptics in v. 48 when Jesus
said to his hearers, “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.”
We are not to attempt to try to straightjacket the Lord with
some kind of conditional faith. If you do this for me, then I will do that for
you. He does not work that way.
3.
Like this nobleman, we should seek the Lord on
behalf of the needs of our children and our loved ones.
We should not only intercede in prayer for their physical
needs but, more importantly, for their spiritual needs.
What will it profit them if they gain the whole world but
lose their souls?
4.
As with the nobleman, the Lord may use
difficulties and adverse circumstances, like the grave illness of a child, to
draw us to himself and to cry out to him.
Calvin notes that this man was humbled by the dread of losing
his son, adding:
We find the same thing in ourselves, for we are astonishingly
delicate, impatient, and fretful until subdued by adversities, we are
constrained to lay aside our pride and disdain.
5.
We must trust that Christ will do what he has
promised even when we do not see immediate evidence of it.
This is the essence of faith, “the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
We may not see immediate answers to our prayers or petitions
for healings that take place in this life, but we must not abandon faith in
Christ.
6.
We may recognize evidences of God’s word
fulfilled when they are made apparent to us and praise him for them.
Such evidences are not the basis for our faith, but they do
make it deeper.
7.
We are to pray that the Lord would work
throughout our whole household.
Calvin says of the nobleman after he came to faith:
His whole family joins him, which was an evidence of miracle;
nor can it be doubted that he did his utmost to bring others along with him to
embrace the Christian religion.
We saw in the Samaritan woman a model of evangelism, of
witness and invitation. Here is another kind of evangelism: that within
households. What father will not so pity his children that he will not go to
Christ daily for them and say, “Sir, come down ere my child die” (v. 49)?
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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