The Meaning of the LORDs Second Miracle: The Nobleman's Son.

Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Tree of Life
Weekly Review
111520
The Meaning of the LORDs Second Miracle: The Nobleman's Son.

We have begun with our second miracle of the LORD which is known as The Noblemans Son in JOH 4:43-54. Theres a very important principle regarding the importance of humility and repetition. Under humility, David gives us some excellent guidance.

PSA 25:8-10, Good and upright is the Lord; Therefore He instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way. All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.

We noted that our Lord could not do many miracles among His family and friends because they were too familiar with Him. They could not accept the fact that God was alive in Christ right before their eyes and living right before them. Can you imagine what is must have been liked for those who had seen the Lord every day and had the privilege of seeing Him operate with the power of grace and truth?

However, even He had to overcome certain problems like familiarity with others. Even though he was perfect and He loved others with impersonal and unconditional love that they had never seen before. And therefore, He knew that He was going to have problems with those who lived right before His eyes.

JOH 4:43-44, “And after the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.”

Most believers experience this in some way and they think that the best thing for them to do is to change friends or change geographical locations.

JOH 4:45, So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.

This all had to deal with the principle that friends and family had rejected the Lord Jesus Christ.

JOH 4:46-49, He came therefore again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain royal official, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him, and was requesting {Him} to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said to him, “Unless you {people} see signs and wonders, you {simply} will not believe.” The royal official said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

All this man could do was to request that the Lord would be gracious and have grace and mercy on him and heal his son.

JOH 4:50, Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he started off. -- that is the man went back home to be with His son while he was dying.

Little did this man know that the King of kings and the Lord of lords was about to come to his home and perform a miracle of healing his son.

JOH 4:51-54, And as he [the nobleman] was now going down, {his} slaves met him, saying that his son was living. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” So the father knew that {it was} at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives”; and he himself believed, and his whole household. This is again a second sign that Jesus performed, when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was imploring Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. So, Jesus said to him, unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe. The word for “you” here is in the plural, our Lord is talking to the crowd that is following Him instead of to the nobleman. The nobleman is not looking for a sign, he just wants his son healed. Most of the Jews that followed Him just wanted more signs.

The nobleman was not seeking for a miracle but he was seeking for the Lord to heal his son. And this is why we cannot call the nobleman a Jew, because Jews seek for signs and wonders and miracles, this noble man just wanted the Lord to heal his son. This was probably a Roman nobleman or a Roman official. Notice a few principles here emerge such as the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and he started off back home.

As he was going back home, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living. So, he inquired of them the hour when his son began to get better. And He was amazed when he found out that his son was healed at the same time that he requested the Lord, which was the seventh hour. Remember, under the doctrine of numerology, the number seven stands for the “Finished Work” or completeness and perfection (both physical and spiritual).

So, the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And this miracle was so powerful because it had such an effect that the Nobleman’s son and all the servants in his home believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

Now, there were some very important events that have occurred between the first and second miracles. Our Lord has been in Jerusalem, He had a conversation with Nicodemus, He spoke to John the Baptist, through Johns disciples who were told by John the Baptist that “He (the Lord) must increase and we need to decrease.” (JOH 3:30). Our Lord also talked to the Samarian woman who was told that salvation is for all, including the Samarians who were half Jew and half gentile. This sets us up for the Nobleman’s arrival.

The nobleman has heard of Jesus and believes He has the power to heal his son and he is willing to travels 20 miles to seek the healing. So, he searches our Lord out and walked at least 20 miles to seek for Him. Remembering the big picture of we have seen many times in relationship to miracles: If you need to see a miracle to believe, then that means you just want to seek signs and wonders and be entertained by magic or see a dog and pony show.

So, we begin with our main passage, Miracle # 2. The issue is I want you all to see that different believers respond in different ways to similar situations. Because of their decisions there were certain things our LORD could do and certain things HE could not. In Corinth there were a lot of different believers who responded to things in different ways which brought on different results.

1CO 11:17, “But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.”

This is true in a lot of places where believers are challenged concerning what was going on in their own assemblies. They had some unity but not enough. We read that they had had become useless in 1CO 11:18, “For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part, the apostle Paul says; “I believe it.”

Then in 1CO 11:19, Paul says, “For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you.”

The phrase “those who are approved” is the adjective adokimos which means, “those who pass the test of unity may be approved” or “may pass the tests that the LORD brings upon the Church as a whole.” Even though this may have some negative vibes, this type of believer passes the test and glorifies the LORD.

In 1CO 11:20-21, “Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the LORD's Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk.”

They completely missed out on what our LORD was trying to do.

1CO 11:22, “Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God, and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.”

They were not using the Word for sharing and helping each other out, they were using the word of GOD for self- promotion. Their thoughts were all about: Whats in it for me or my family and friends, they were using the Word to honor and serve one another instead of the LORD.

This is the same crowd that the Apostle Paul wrote to in 1CO 11:23-30, “For I received from the LORD that which I also delivered to you, that the LORD Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me. In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the LORD's death until He comes.

Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the LORD in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the LORD. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.”

Now, it was because of this attitude that our LORD could not do many miracles among HIS family and friends. They were too familiar with HIM and they could not accept the fact that GOD was right before them, and living among them. As the apostle John tells us this in JOH 1:9-11, There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. (Shines in the conscience). He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. The apostle John gets right to the point and says, “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”

So, with that lets get back to this second miracle.

JOH 4:43-49, And after the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him (Why?), having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast. He came therefore again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain royal official, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him, and was requesting {Him} to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said to him, “Unless you {people} see signs and wonders, you {simply} will not believe.” The royal official said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

All this man could do was to request that the LORD would have mercy on him and heal his son. There are times when the only solution is the divine solution with the patience of GOD as our only strength.

In JOH 4:50, Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” [then notice that] the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he started off.” So, the man went back home to be with His son while he was dying. It cannot be stressed enough about the importance of the word Faith.
We are saved by faith, EPH 2:8-9.
We walk by faith, 2CO 5:7.
We serve by faith LUK 16:10.
We please God by faith; HEB 11:6.
We are cleansed by faith; ACT 15:9.
We are strengthened by faith; ACT 16:5.
We live by faith; ROM 1:17.
We are justified by faith; ROM 3:28.
We are strong in faith, ROM 4:20.
We are wise by faith; 1CO 2:5.
We stand firm in faith, 1CO 16:13.
We are established in faith, COL 2:7.

Little did nobleman know that the King of kings and the LORD of LORDs was about to come to his home and perform a miracle of healing the mans son. The nobleman is not looking for a sign, he just wants his son healed. The Jews that were following HIM just wanted more signs. However, the nobleman was not seeking for a miracle, but he was seeking for the LORD to heal his son. Notice a few principles here emerge such as the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and he started off back home.

There were some very important events that have occurred between the first and second miracles. First of all, if you need to see a miracle to believe, that means you just want to seek signs and wonders. Nothing wrong with asking for miraculous healings or other interventions by GOD in certain situations. The real issue is the faith that the Nobleman operated in though is not in the miracle, it is in the person and the power of Jesus Christ.

The condemnation here is against people who think they need to see a miracle to believe in Jesus as LORD. We also need to beware of 1JO 4:1, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. We need to cautious here because of passages like 3JO 1:9, where the apostle John said in his last days; “I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. There are also warnings given to us like 1JO 4:1, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Our LORD even taught this principle of persisting after GOD for something and not quitting. Our LORD taught that we have the mind of Christ and we should seek answers from HIM. This Nobleman was a leader himself, he had authority in the natural realm, and he recognized authority and he followed it. When Jesus said, “Go.” The man went. The result was that the man and his whole household believed. Perhaps when he heard that the son got well at the same time that Jesus had said, Your son lives, that there was the final realization of who Jesus was. He was the Messiah.

This is the second sign that HE performed. It is a sign of HIS Messiahship, and demonstrates HIS Deity. Also, the purpose of the miracle in its context was to magnify the importance of faith. Faith is the result of trusting the words of GOD.