THE POWER OF THE SPOKEN WORD OF AUTHORITY

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LUKE 7:1-16

Lesson #20
THE POWER OF THE SPOKEN WORD OF AUTHORITY

• Memory Verse: Deu 32:1
• In this part of the Gospel of Luke we find a series of events in the life of Jesus that the other gospels do not tell us.
  • Jesus raised people from the dead. Two of these miraculous events are told to us only by Dr. Luke.
    • The raising of the son of the widow from Nain. (Luk 7:11-15)
    • The raising of Jairus’ daughter (Luk 8:54-55).
  • Therefore, we can legitimately assume that Jesus healed and raised from the dead more people than any of the four gospels tells us.
  • Remember we learned in Luk 6:19 that Jesus healed all that came to Him for healing.
• Read Luk 7:1-10 The Healing of the Centurion’s Servant (Mat 8:5-13)
  • To understand this healing, it is important to understand about a centurion.
    • A centurion was a Roman soldier, a gentile, in authority over 100 other soldiers.
    • The Roman army was known for its organization and its levels of authoritative power.
  • The location of this miracle: Capernaum. Five of the twelve disciples came from this city.
  • Putting the two accounts of this event together (Mat 8:5-13) and Luk 7:1-10):
    • We can understand that this servant was paralyzed and had periodic convulsions with great pain and at the point of death. (Mat 8:6)
    • The centurion sent for leaders of the Jews in the city of Capernaum to bring Jesus to the centurion’s house.(Luk 7:3)
      • The leaders thought Jesus should perform this miracle because the Jews were indebted to this centurion for building a synagogue in that city. (Luk 7:4)
      • This was the basis of the Jewish leaders for asking Jesus to heal the centurion’s servant.
        • However, this was not Jesus’ basis for healing the man.
        • This tells us that we need to be careful on what basis we ask God to do something. Often we ask out of a wrong reason.

What should be the reason why we ask God to do anything?

The foundation of our faith must be in who Jesus is and not in the goodness of the person that needs the miracle.

The foundation of our request must be based on the Word of God.

The foundation of our motive must be that God’s kingdom be extended.

The results should be that God receive the glory.

Any other motive or foundation is a wrong basis for prayer.

• • • On approaching the house Jesus is met by the centurion.
    • According to the account in Mat 8, Jesus offered to go into the house to see this man and heal him.
      • The centurion said that he was not worthy to have Jesus come into his house, but that only His words were sufficient. (Luk 7:6)
      • The centurion was very familiar with the hierarchy of authoritative power and how that power flowed from one high level to the lower levels of the hierarchy.
        • In other words, if the power at the top of the hierarchy was not acknowledged, no power would flow to the lower levels of the hierarchy.
        • The power at the top had to give the order to be passed down to the lower levels.

“…but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.” (Luk 7:7)

Here is where faith comes in. The centurion believed by faith that Jesus had the power and authority to do the miracle.

The centurion believed that the spoken word from the one at the top of the hierarchy was all that was necessary for the miracle to take place.

How did the centurion know that was all that was necessary?

He knew it by his own experience in the Roman army. (Luk 7:8)

How do we know that the spoken word is all that is necessary?

We know it by the creation account in Gen 1. God said, let there be….and there was. (Heb 11:3)

• • The great faith of the centurion:
    • Jesus said, “…I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” (Luk 7:9)
    • Jesus is pointing out the difference in the faith of some gentiles compared to the lack of faith of the Jewish leadership.
  • The interesting thing about this healing is that the sick servant never came into physical contact with Jesus. Jesus did not have to see this servant to heal him.
    • What does this tell us about Jesus?
      • He is the sovereign God over all creation. (Col 1:14-17) He is at the top of the hierarchy of power and authority.
      • He is the omniscient one (knows everything) over every event in time.
      • His power by the Holy Spirit is not limited to time and location.
    • Remember we learned earlier in our study of Luke that Jesus’ ministry as the Son of Man was by the power of the Holy Spirit.
      • We learned that truth by reading it in Luke 4:1, 14.
      • We learned about the prophecy of Jesus’ ministry from Isaiah 61:1-3
        • “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luk 4:18-19)
        • .Now we see Jesus fulfill the prophecy by the Word of His mouth when He spoke into being the healing of the centurion’s servant.
• Read Luk 7:11-16 The Healing of a Widow’s Son
  • Only the gospel of Luke has this healing.
  • Jesus happens to come across a funeral procession. He had compassion on the widow that lost her only child.
  • Notice that Jesus touched the casket that held the dead body. (Luk 7:14)
    • This action broke the ceremonial taboo that forbade the touching of anything related to death.
    • Why did Jesus do that?
      • He is proving that He is the Lord over life and death.
      • Death had no power of pollution over Him.
  • An important note: While some call this a resurrection from the dead, there is a difference.
    • A resurrection is to raise someone from the dead into a new body that will not die again.
      • That is what God did for Jesus. He is the firstfruits.
      • Read 1Cor 15:20,23
      • That is what God will do for us at the rapture of the church when we will receive a new body.
    • A healing or raising of the dead is to raise a person from the dead into the same body he had before and will one day die again.
      • This event in Luk 11 with the widow’s son is this kind of event.
      • The raising of Lazarus from the dead is this same kind of event.
      • Jesus probably raised more than three people from the dead in this way.
        • Why does the Bible only tell us of three?
        • Probably these three represent the 3 different stages of life.

A child – Jairus’ daughter. (Luk 8:41-42, 49-56)

A youth – the widow’s son. (Luk 7:11-15)

An adult – Lazarus. (Joh 11:1-45)

• • • Jesus always used the same method in dealing with the dead.
      • He spoke directly to the dead person which tells us immediately that when a person dies he still exists somewhere.
      • At the rapture of the church, our resurrection will be in the same way also. A shout from heaven will call us home.
  • What is the important concept to notice here that ties the healing of the centurion’s servant with the healing of the widow’s son?
    • With both the healing of the centurion’s servant and the raising of the widow’s son, it is the authority of the spoken word of Jesus Christ that brought the miracles into reality.
    • The spoken word of authority releases spiritual power.
  • ^“ And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.” (Luk 7:16)
    • Why did the people say Jesus was a “great prophet”?
      • There are 2 answers to this question:
        • -1- They remembered that the prophets Elijah and Elisha had raised people from the dead.
        • -2- They recognized that Jesus was the Messiah.
      • I prefer answer #2 because Luke says “ that God had visited his people”.
    • Read Deu 18:15-19
      • This is Moses speaking and telling the people that God will raise up a “Prophet” like Moses but He will be greater than Moses.
      • Notice that it says in verse 18 that God, the Father will put His words in the Prophet’s mouth.
        • We have just seen in Luk 7 that the spoken word of Jesus healed the centurion’s servant.
        • Then we saw that the spoken word of Jesus raised the widow’s son from the dead.
      • Notice that in the King James Bible the word prophet is capitalized in this passage in Deuteronomy indicating that this is a Messianic title.
      • All of this means that Moses was giving the people a prophecy about the coming Messiah. This Messiah would be a Prophet, a Priest, and a King at different times in His ministry.
        • A Prophet for 3 ½ years of His earthly ministry.
        • A Priest for the New Testament age of grace when Jesus intercedes for us as our Great High Priest.
        • A King for the 1000 year reign on earth when Jesus will reign in the Millennial Kingdom.
    • Therefore, according to Luke 7:16 some people were recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, the fulfillment of the prophecy given by Moses.

Homework
Luke 7:16-35

• Application of Luk 7:1-16
  • What have you learned about praying with the authority of the Word of God?
• Preparation for Luk 7:16-35
  • Read Luk 7:16-35
    • How did Jesus prove to John the Baptist that He was the Messiah?
    • What did Jesus mean when he said, “but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” in verse 28 referring to John the Baptist?
    • What did Jesus mean when he said, “wisdom is justified by her children”? (35)
      
• Memory Verse: Pro 4:11