Come Up Here And See

On Multicultural Sunday, we celebrate all diversity and native lands intentionally. A scripture was read in Spanish about an uncountable people from every nation, tribe and tongue standing before the throne and the Lamb crying out with a loud voice to Him.

• Revelations 7: 9-10 NASB After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all the tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; ¹⁰ and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.”

We sang “How Great Is Our God!” and the chorus we sang in multiple languages: Portuguese, German, French, Italian and English.

• How great is our God, sing with me
  How great is our God, and all will see
  How great, how great is our God! Chris Tomlin/ Ed Cash/ Jesse Reeves

As we were singing that beautiful chorus of “How Great Is Our God!” I could hear the Holy Spirit encouraging us to see how truly great God is, His magnificence, the majesty of the King, the greatness of what He has provided for us, the riches of our salvation. See the power of the precious blood of the Lamb of God and the peace that only God can provide. Taste and see the joy of our salvation and the wonder of knowing God the Father as Abba Daddy. See the greatness of His forgiveness, His provision for healing and all that the Lord is. The line “How great is our God, and all will see” was ripping my heart and giving me hope at the same time.

As I continued to meditate on this thought throughout the day, I thought about whom Jesus told said that their faith was great. He only told two people their faith was great. I know the Holy Spirit was telling me to think deeply about why Jesus said their faith was great.

He encouraged me to ponder how the statement of their faith was intertwined what I was hearing from Him through the song “How Great Is Our God”.  I believe that when they heard about Jesus, they had already allowed themselves to see from Heaven who the Lord Jesus Christ truly is and their faith followed what they believed. I believe that is why Jesus was able to say to them that their faith was great. Think about having the Lord say to you that you have great faith.

One of those was a Roman Centurion. This commander understood authority. A Centurion was an exemplary soldier and a strict commander of approximately one hundred subordinates. He would lead, discipline, and train his subordinates so he understood orders. So, when this centurion came to Jesus and asked for his servant to be healed, he knew that Jesus had the authority to heal. We need to pray and believe like that centurion.

• Matthew 8: 5-13 NASB  And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, begging Him, ⁶ and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, terribly tormented.” ⁷ Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸ But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” ¹⁰ Now when Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. 

The other gospel story where Jesus said that your faith is great was a woman from the Phoenician territory that is unfriendly to the Jews.  A mom asked for mercy and deliverance for her daughter, and I understood her. The Lord does not respond to her. He says that His job is to only go to His people, the Jews.  She continued to cry out for help. Jesus responds by calling her a dog in Hebrew, which means a wild vicious dog that runs in packs. This momma is not offended about being called a dog. If the Lord called us a dog today, many would be offended, walk away and not receive an answer to their prayer. Others lose their answers to prayer because many have preconceived ideas how God will answer prayers.  This Phoenician lady replies to the Lord that even the dogs feed on crumbs falling from the master’s table. She understood that the dogs who eat the crumbs from the master’s table are children’s puppies, not vicious wild creatures that are hated. A child’s puppy dog is always loved, protected, and cared for by the family. Some pets sleep in the child’s bed with the child. We are not pet lovers, but we know many places where pet dogs are cared for well. Her response stopped Jesus in his tracks, she knew that God loved her. Jesus tells her “Your faith is great, and your prayer is answered.” Chuck Smith Commentary

• Matthew 15: 21-28 NASB  Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²² And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely demon-possessed.” ²³ But He did not answer her with even a word. And His disciples came up and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us!” ²⁴ But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” ²⁶ Yet He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ And she said, “Yes, Lord; but please help, for even the dogs feed on the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed at once.

The Centurion already saw Jesus as the King of the Universe. He saw Jesus with the authority who would split heaven open and seated on a white horse. Since the centurion saw Jesus in this capacity, he did not doubt that Jesus only had to speak, and his servant would be healed. We need to be like this today.

• Revelation 19: 11 NASB And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.

The Phoenician woman had already stepped through the veil and was on the Father’s lap being caressed by His love knowing that He is the healer and that her daughter would be healed. This is amazing because Jesus had not yet gone to the cross and the veil was still in one piece. If this woman saw in faith the torn veil, knowing the Father’s love for all the world and we live in the day that the veil is torn then our faith should be great!

• Matthew 27: 50-51 NASB And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and gave up His spirit. ⁵¹ And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 

Holy Spirit please reveal to us why we do not have great faith. Show us what we are not believing about the Lord Jesus. Continue to expose to us the steps that are needed for great faith. Lord thank you for encouraging us that every pace is growth. We thank you Holy Spirit that you will continue to remind us of an action that we can do to grow in our great faith, in Jesus’ name, amen.