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The Gospel of John, The Period of Controversy, The Healing of the Impotent Man, John 5:8-19 - Lesson 30
Read Verses 5:1-7 for review:
Verses 5:8,9, Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
Look at the power of the Word of God!
This man was make perfect by the Word.
Jesus commanded it and it was done.
He said, "Get up." The man got up.
He said, "Roll up your mat and then walk about the town with your mat even though it is the Sabbath."
He could have said that the sabbath was his idea and not the rabbis.
The man did what he was commanded to do as the Word of God empowered him to do.
A moment before when he depended upon himself he was powerless but the Word spoken be Jesus Christ enabled him to do something he had not done in 38 years.
No physical therapy needed, no muscle rebuilding needed, no long recovery with many doctors in attendance, no insurance claims, no bills to pay for many months.
Jesus, as the Great Physician, made one whole!
Is there rejoicing in the street?
Oh, Happy Day, that fixed my choice, in thee my Savior and my God!
My what a happy occasion for this man.
What a happy occasion for the Lord Jesus Christ.
He had made this man whole.
But no, there was no rejoicing in the streets.
Just criticism by the religious crowd.
Verses 5:10-13, The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.
Jeremiah 17:21, says, "Thus saith the Lord, take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem."
Interpretation of this law by the Jews, one of the numerous explanations of this law was, "Thou shalt not carry thy bed on the sabbath day."
He knew it was the sabbath and he told the man to carry his bed. He is the Lord of the sabbath.
They did not see the miracle of the healing of this man.
This is the man that obeyed the Word of God and now the religious crowd is challenging him.
We are reminded here of Gal. 5:1, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage.
All they could do is think of their rules and regulations.
They were interested in binding this man to their system that the rabbis had established.
But Jesus knew the purpose of the sabbath.
It was given to be a blessing and not a burden to human beings.
He did not regard acts of healing and relief of suffering as work on the sabbath, but as deeds which should be done in preference to other acts done on that day.
A child of God who is regulated by the scriptures knows that he is pleasing the Lord by obedience to his Word.
It matters nothing what his fellowmen or his fellow Christians may think or say about him.
Far better to displease our fellowmen or our fellow Christians then to displease God and be entangled in the yoke of bondage.
Paul said in Gal. 2:21, "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is died in vain."
The Jews were interested in bondage.
That was their business.
Binding men and women to their rules and interpretations so that the grace of God would be frustrated.
But don't we like the answer of the man?
He did not get into an argument about the sabbath or the sublities of its observance.
He simply falls back on the Word of God.
He says to his critics, I am doing what I was told by the one who healed me.
Should not our response be to critics, I'm doing what the Bible tells be to do!
God said it and that settles it!
I'm standing on the authoritative, infallible, inerrant Word of God. I do what I do because of my obedience to the Scriptures.
This man was sure that the one who had given him strength to walk and to carry his bed had more authority than these who were now critical of him for his sabbath breaking.
He had waited 38 years for help but none came until Jesus came to the pool and commanded him to walk.
These Jews had not demonstrated any power with God like this unknown healer had.
The impotent man knew where his loyalties should be.
These Jews were the sabbath police.
They ask, "Who was it that told you to take up your bed and walk?"
Focused, intent eyes on the law and blind to the miracle that Jesus had done for the man.
They have got to catch this lawbreaker.
This act of defiance must not be left unpunished.
The lawbreaker must be sought out and dealt with.
But the healed man did not know the name of the one who gave him back his health.
Jesus had slipped away to avoid the publicity and the clamor of the multitudes.
God's grace goes so unnoticed by the world.
Daily we are loaded with his benefits, and not only his children but the whole world uses his gifts daily without so much as thinking from whom they came.
Jesus slipped away. He was meek. He was humble.
He ministered without desiring notice.
He never sought to be popular or the center of attention, in fact he shunned it.
He "received not honor from men."
Verse 5:14,15, Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which made him whole.
Jesus withdrew from the newly healed man in order to test him.
The man now had new strength.
His whole life was before him to do as he pleased.
What would he do with it?
He did right.
The Jewish critics had not intimidated him.
He did not know where to find Jesus but he did know where to find God.
He goes to the temple, the House of Prayer and Praise.
He rejoices and gives thanks before God in the temple and Jesus finds him there.
We are certain that a work of Grace had been done in this man's body and in his soul by Jesus Christ.
Jesus admonishes the man to sin no more lest a worse thing come unto him.
Was his infirmity caused by sin 38 years ago?
Was it some sin that the man had committed in his youth?
There appears to be some unrevealed connection between this man's sickness and his sin.
Whatever it was it had robbed him of the best, most productive years of his life and had left him crippled into middle age.
Jesus warns him to learn from this and to realize that, even though he had suffered horribly for 38 years, further sin could bring about an even worse condition.
The man now knows who healed him.
The man Jesus.
In innocence he returns to the Jews and witnesses the miracle that Jesus did for him.
He does not mention the sabbath, which was so important to the Jews, but he mentions the important thing in his mind.
Jesus made him whole.
But the Jews now have the knowledge that delights them.
Jesus the lawbreaker.
The opposition is getting organized.
They have evidence that will focus that opposition.
Verses 5:16,17,18, And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
Jesus says an interesting thing here.
He says the Father works on the sabbath and because the Father works on the sabbath, he also works.
Not since the creation, has the Father rested.
The sabbath day of creation was a very brief one because sin entered the world and God has been at work since, in the business of redemption.
Sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath.
When God gave this day to man he had no rest himself, he could not rest as long as men are under the bondage and fruit of sin.
As long as people are in sorrow and affliction, he must work.
As Isaiah says in Chapter 40, verse 28, "the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary.
The Father is always working supplying the needs of his creatures.
Jesus was one with the Father and he came to seek and to save that which was lost, whether it was on the sabbath or not.
He said, "As long as my Father has to work, as long as men such as this man lay sick and suffering,I must work. I am one with my Father.
Jesus said, "I go right along with him.
Whatever he does, that's what I'm going to do.
And if there is no rest for my Father, there is no rest for me."
In the last chapter Jesus said, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."
He could say, I do always those things that please him.
I have one ambition in life and that is to do the Father's will.
What a lesson for us as we live and breath in him, and are conformed by the Holy Spirit to the Son.
This also is our purpose.
If we love God, and are in Christ, then we are to do those things that please the Father.
We are to do his will.
My, the Jews hated to hear these things.
They felt so zealous and righteous as they sought to rid Israel of this blasphemer who thought himself equal with God and had broken his sabbath.
Jesus was unequivocal in his connection of himself and the Father.
He places himself on the same level with God.
He makes himself equal with God.
For anyone else to say this, would be the most blatant form of blasphemy.
The carnal mind is at enmity with God.
Jesus is bold in his claim to be one with the Father.
This event is designed to draw out opposition, to reveal the hearts of the Jews.
He continues in this direction by boldly preaching the oneness of himself and the Father.
The rage of the Jews did not deter him.
The fear of man brings a snare, a trap, but Jesus had no fear of man.
Jesus is "the truth" and he does not shrink from proclaiming the truth.
Verse 5:19, Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the son likewise.
Note the solemn words, verily, verily, of a truth, of a truth.
When Jesus uses these words, he means for the listener to shut his mouth and listen.
Close your mouth and open your ears!
Quit trying to impress someone with your thoughts.
Listen to the Word of God for once instead of your own mouth!
Oh, so often we are impressed by what we say.
We barge in on the speech of others so as to hear our voice again and again.
But it is a wonderful voice, is it not, and we need to allow the people to hear it, ought we not?
It certainly is a gift of God and we must share those gifts, mustn't we?
But Jesus always has something better to say than what comes out of our mouth.
He says to the Jews and he says to us, Listen to this truth!
He speaks of the unique relationship he has with the Father, the special sphere of authority in which he operates.
Within this sphere there are things he can do and things which he can not do.
This indicates in no way, limitation on his part, but only perfect unity with the Father's will.
He says that he does what the Father does.
God could raise the dead and make them live and so can Jesus.
God can heal and so can Jesus.
The Father works on the sabbath and so does Jesus.
God has power and so does Jesus.
There was no independence, no friction, between the members of the Godhead.
The Son of God had become the Son of man.
Jesus Christ is the Word of God.
As the Word of God he must express exactly what God wills.
God's Word must match exactly what God intends and what God wills.
There is no division between what God thinks and what his Word says as there is in human affairs.
What I say, what my word is, does not necessarily match my will.
I am a sinner and my word is fallible.
But keeping my word and having my word match what I do is part of being conformed to the image of Christ.
That is why keeping ones word is so important because it it godly.
It is an example of the relationship of the Father and the Son, who is the Word of God.
Jesus still possessed all the attributes of deity, but he did not use them except to do the Father's will.
He says that the Son can do nothing of himself.
The thought of acting independently of God was a foreign thought, a sinful thought, a satanic thought.
The same thought that Lucifer had in rebellion against God.
John Phillip's in his commentary on the Gospel of John paraphrases Jesus words this way: ""While I, as God, am never anything less than God, so I, as man, am never anything more than man." He was here to make all that he was as man available to all that the Father was as God, so that all that the Father was as God might be available to all that he was as man. Independence was impossible. Perfect deity was enshrined in perfect humanity."
Jesus goes on further to say that he did the things he saw the Father do.
Jesus knew all the things that the Father did.
Jesus had the mind of God.
He had the mind of omniscience in order to grasp all that the Father had done.
Simplified, what Jesus is saying is this:
It is for the Father to initiate; it is for the Son to obey.
It is for the Father to show the Son what to do; it is for the Son to follow the Father's example.
The activity which originates with the Father, then is manifested in the Son.
All is of the Father-all is by the Son.
Did the Father create the universe? So did the Son.
Does the Father uphold the universe? So does the Son.
Is the Father the Savior of the world. So is the Son.
So we see that the Jews came to the right conclusion when they said of Jesus, that he maketh himself equal with God. |