The Seventh Hour

 Topic: The Seventh Hour

Main Scripture Reading : John 4:46-53                                                                                             

Introduction and Background

In John 4:46-53, we encounter the story of a nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.

This man came all the way to Cana of Galilee to beseech the Lord for his sick son.

 

Consider the nobleman’s request…

    49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”

        John 4:49

 

The Lord’s Response…

    50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke             to him, and he went his way.

        John 4:50

 

The conversation on the way home…

    51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.

    52 Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. 

          And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.

           John 4:51-52

 

Unlike in the story of Jairus' daughter where Jairus was told he should not bother the master anymore because his daughter had died (Mark 5:35), here the nobleman is told his son lives, Hallelujah!

 

The nobleman then enquired of his servants what hour his son began to mend.

    52 Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. 

        And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.

    53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth:             and himself believed, and his whole house.

        John 4:52-53

The Noble Question

His question/enquiry to the servants is of great interest to me.

Let us diagnose his question…

    52 Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend…

          John 4:52

Why would he ask about the particular hour ?

Why did it matter ?

The boy is healed, why the investigation?

There was clearly an effect on his son and this was coming from some particular cause.

So the most probable reason was that He wanted to connect his miracle (effect) to the cause. Hallelujah!

 

The law of cause and effect says every effect has a specific and predictable cause.

Talk about the law of cause and effect in this context.

Undoubtedly, when the servants responded that it was at the seventh hour that the son began to amend, he connected this effect to Jesus as the cause. It was not coincidence that his son began to mend at a particular hour.

 

This man’s approach left no room for errors in attributing cause to effect.

Even if his son was taking medication, he did not amend because of some medication that had now started working at that particular hour!

 

So if this worked … surely we can repeat this!

 Consider this...

    13 And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said,         Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and             came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.

    14 And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash,         a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.

         Judg 7:13-14

In the above passage Gideon overhears a dream in the camp’s enemy and its interpretation is given right away. Sometimes the enemy can interpret our victories and their source more than we can, sadly!

 

What is of great interest here is that, on his way home, in the nobleman’s mind there was already ‘a post-mortem of my journey to Jesus’

In his mind there was this big question, ‘when my son was sick, what worked ?’ a rare need of confirmation especially after you have been to church Mr. Nobleman !

Child of God, I find this attitude from Mr Nobleman as a noble attitude which we could all learn from.

No wonder why he was called a Nobleman !

 

A critical success factor

One of the key success factors of a Christian is the ability to recognize what works and what does not.  Some people have no idea what works! They try out everything and are often left disappointed when things don’t work out.

 

What works for you ?

What makes you connect with God better ?

Is it deep worship ?

Meditation ?

More prayer ?

Fasting ?

 

At times when you feel low and dry, what is the solution that works for you ?

What happened in this man’s 7th hour?

The Lord said, ‘Go your way, your son lives’

 

So nobleman… your 7th hour is your miracle hour. There was no direct physical contact - no laying on of hands - no deliverance session - just His word, and the son began to mend and he lived. Hallelujah!

Can you connect the dots ?  Can we repeat this tomorrow?

When you don’t know what works (ed) at the 7th hour you become an unwise believer.

You can easily ignore doing the things that work.  

Child of God, the Christian walk is not a matter of trial and error!

 

Some of us try to be what we are not and we are disappointed every time.

Can everyone pray for 10 hours straight … no break? 

Prayer works brothers and sisters and we should all pray but what is your particular style ?

The God kind of Faith works all the time, however, the way we express faith is different though.

 

Consider the following cases;

·        The Syrophoenician woman approaches Jesus and beseeches Him to set her daughter free. Her daughter is set free after what many could term a difficult conversation.

 

·        The woman with 12 years of blood approaches Jesus and finds a point of contact-the hem of his garment. She was made whole instantly, without Jesus saying anything to her.

 

·        Jairus says please come… His daughter is raised from the dead.

 

·        The centurion says please don’t come, just say the word…

It’s all faith but we differ in how we express it. Hallelujah!

Don’t copy the centurion if you are brother Jairus.

What works for you?

WhatsApp now has this interesting function…Pin it … 📌

If you are in a Group and you need to remember a particular message, you don’t want that message to be swallowed by other messages, you Pin it! 📌

Whenever you Pin it 📌 you can easily refer to it despite the number of other messages present in the chat.

What works for you? Pin it! 📌

At a particular instance when you needed divine intervention;

Was it sowing that worked for you ?

Was it fasting that worked?

Can we repeat?

If you don’t know what works for you, you can easily take certain things lightly and not know what to do in the future. In other words, you will not be able to use the key learnings in future!

No wonder Hosea says…

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee…

Hos 4:6

A miracle that lasted a lifetime happened on a particular day at the 7th hour…

When the Master released a word… PIN IT! 📌

There are many churches and many servants of God out there but if you don’t know the MOG or Wog for you, you can easily depart and only realise when you have left that you have made a big mistake. There is unique grace associated with each church of God. You are not called to attend and be part of every church available. There is a unique setting for you which allows the flow of an abundance of grace in your life.

 Which Servant of God?…Pin it! 📌

Which church?…Pin it! 📌

 

Consider this…

    68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

        John 6:68

Many people who were following Jesus started departing because they had misinterpreted the word when Jesus spoke of his flesh and blood to them. The Lord then asks Peter and the others that remained if they were going to depart as well. Peter then assures Him that they would not depart because Jesus had the words of eternal life. When you get to this level of not easily departing despite the controversy or other unfavourable  circumstances, you have banked key learnings for the future!

 

To whom has God has entrusted your life?

        22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among                 you, but of the ship.

        23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,

        24 Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all                     them that sail with thee.    

            Acts 27:22-24

In the above passage, in the midst of a threatening shipwreck, God showed Paul that he had entrusted the lives of those on board to Paul, and they were to stay in the ship for their safety. Which ship should you stay in?

If you are unable to learn and connect the dots you are unwise.

A brother of mine once approached me with an interesting question…

He said ‘my sister, How come I no longer hear God as much as I did in the past?’

I then asked him  to narrate how he was seeking God back in those days when He heard God clearly and frequently.

He then narrated how he would fast often, pray often, seek God like there was nothing else to do…

I said to him, “how about now, how much do you seek God?”

He then presented a more casual approach, apart from Sunday church, nothing much in terms of seeking God.

I simply told him he had his answer right before him. The more he sought God the more he heard God. The less he sought God the less he heard Him.

    Cause: Seeking God more

    Effect: Spiritual antenna open

    Pin It! 📌

 

For some what works is prayer on top of the mountain…at the top of their voices…

For some it’s silent earnest prayer with background music…

Either of these types can still achieve results

What works for you ? Pin it! 📌

Can I influence you to eliminate coincidence in your Christian life ?

You are not in charge of coincidence but you are in charge of certain deliberate actions that you can take and realize an effect.

We can tolerate coincidence elsewhere but not in our Christian walk. Hallelujah!

The Nobleman’s question was mainly so that he could eliminate the possibility of coincidence…

He wanted to authenticate this miracle and link it to its source.

 

Do you do everything available just hoping maybe perhaps something works ?  Or you do things that you know work, and you probably tried them before? Do you normally take an approach which says let’s try this today if it doesn’t work tomorrow we try something else?

Can we trim our activities to those that work?

In general, the 80/20 rule or Pareto principle, states that 80% of outcomes result from 20% of causes. What are the 20% of causes that you should be focusing on? Pin it! 📌

 

 

Conclusion

I am convinced that if some Doctor was to tell him that what worked were the drugs or herbs (if any) that were being used on this boy, he would not have believed this. He had already linked his cause and effect and had no doubt about this miracle. The result was that he and his family believed in Jesus. When you get a promotion, do you link it solely to your hard work ? How many are working hard and not getting where you are ? When we can link our cause and effect, we derive key learnings which can help us in future in our walk with God. Our faith in Him grows and we know surely that in future we can repeat certain things and still get the desired effects!