1912 Watch Tower - A2Z.org

A Centurion in the Roman army service correspondedto a Captain in our military service today. Palestine, asa Province, was subject to the Roman Empire, and littlegarrisons of Roman soldiers were stationed here andthere, usually under a Centurion. They were Gentiles,of course. One of these knew of Jesus and His mightyworks, and when his faithful and appreciated servantfell sick he went to Jesus asking for healing. In ourLord's metaphor this was another Gentile dog desiringa crumb from the children's table.The Centurion's faith, our Lord declared, was superiorto anything that He had found amongst the Israelites,God's favored people. He was so confident of Jesus'power that while he urged that, being a Gentile, Jesuswould not wish to honor or recognize him by comingunder his roof, yet he besought Him simply to say theword and he was sure it would be sufficient to heal hisservant. He explained that he had this faith becausehe himself was a man of authority and could commandhis servants to come and go, and that as Jesus had stillhigher authority, His messengers, whatever they were, bywhich He healed sickness and pain, could be commandedand would obey. He got his request.R5101 : page 295Jesus took the occasion to say that the Israelites, whowere counting so much on their relationship to God asthe children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, would findthemselves greatly mistaken in the end. Being the childrenof Abraham did indeed mean that they would havespecial privileges and opportunities, but these they wereenjoying and were not appreciating them. They should notthink that God would take them for His Elect people regardlessof their character, their faith, their obedience, ortheir likeness to Abraham. They were indeed the childrenof the Kingdom--the ones to whom it was properly firstoffered, but God would not thrust it upon them.God did take out of their nation the "Israelites indeed";meantime the rest were blinded, and for the pasteighteen centuries He has been completing the ElectKingdom Church, out of all nations, peoples, kindreds andtongues. But He is selecting none except such as havethe faith and obedience of Abraham and the spirit of HisSon Jesus--none but the holy, the loyal, the true. Thesewill be associated in the Kingdom, while the naturalIsraelites, over-confident, let the privilege go by.Nevertheless the Scriptures most clearly declare thatthe natural seed of Abraham, the Jews, are still heirs ofa certain promise of God, which in due time will cometo them. To their nation will come the great privilegeof being the foremost nation amongst men duringMessiah's glorious reign, when the Church glorified,spiritualized, will be with Him in His Throne, invisible tomen. St. Paul thus explains that the full number, to