There was a royal official in the time of Jesus whose dying son led him into utter helplessness and hopelessness. So desperate was he that he hot footed it 30 km from Capernaum to Cana, mostly uphill, to appeal to Jesus (John 4:43- 54).
This official was genuine. He spoke to Jesus respectfully, calling Him “Sir” but Jesus wanted to lead him from a superficial faith into a real and authentic faith. Jesus told him that his son would live.
At this point the official took Jesus at His word, without seeing any outcome or tangible evidence. It was 1 pm (if we take the “7th hour” (v52) to be in Jewish time). He could’ve easily made it back (walking mostly downhill to Capernaum) by nightfall, but he hadn’t for we are told he met his servants, who were coming towards him, the next day. It was then that he found out that his son was healed at the same time Jesus had told him that his son would live.
Clearly the official had believed Jesus and delayed his departure from Cana. Faith is taking Jesus at His word, accepting He is the Son of God and that He will deliver what He has promised. We read that: “Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it” (Heb. 11:1 NCV).
So what do we believe will happen based on the word of God even though we haven’t seen it yet? Here’s a few to start with:
1. We believe we are made in the image of God and that determines our significance as sons and daughters of the living God (I John 3:1).
2. We believe Jesus is the resurrection and that we will rise again after we have died (John 11:25).
3. We believe that all our needs will be met (Matt. 6:33).
4. We believe God loves us, gave us Jesus so we won’t perish, that we have eternal life assured to us now and that we will live forever with Him (John 3:16-18; John 5:24).
5. We believe there will be signs following those who believe in Jesus like the healing of the sick (Mark 16:16-18).
6. We don’t live by bread but by every word that comes from God (Matt. 4:4).The only way we can know God’s word and the power of the Holy Spirit to change our hearts is to meditate on the word of God each day. This is the secret to knowing the promises of God and strengthening our faith so that we will be unshakeable in any calamity.
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My blog today has been generally based on a sermon given by Campbell King 6.3.22 https://youtu.be/C8jSgqMsBVg
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