The Gospel of John goes out of its way to show us the Lord Jesus in an especially brilliant light. It puts the eternal Son of God in the spotlight – particularly in the spotlight of His divine glory. I wouldn’t say that the other gospels don’t also do that, but they don’t seem to have the same intensity as the Gospel of John. John has selected seven miracles which he calls “signs,” and he uses them as illustrations, or proofs, of Jesus’ deity. And then when he was finished he wrote, “Many other signs truly did Jesus in presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name” – John 20:30-31. The purpose of the Gospel of John is to have you recognize that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that eternal life is only through Him.
Our scripture for this morning describes John’s third sign. And the conclusion is the same as it is elsewhere – bow your knee to Christ – worship Him and trust His saving grace. Here we are encouraged to see Christ as Lord and King, but also to trust Him as the Creator/Saviour. We are not to honor Him as a moral philosopher, or presidential candidate, or even as great physician. Here we are encouraged to worship the Sovereign God who has absolute omnipotence and grace. Here we see a loving Saviour, reaching down into a human gutter to raise up and make whole a thoroughly unworthy person. This is the God we need. See the Saviour in action.
Intellectually, you may be searching for ways to avoid verse 4 with its description of the angel and the water. Perhaps you have heard someone say that verse 4 is only expressing a silly Jewish superstition. But keep several things in mind, beginning with the fact that at the end of this paragraph, a severely crippled man was healed in a spectacular fashion. Since this scripture ends in one undeniable miracle, why are people quick to deny the possibility of other miracles leading up to the primary one? God may have ordained the stirring of these waters for years – in preparation for eventually glorifying His Son in the healing of this particular man. And remember as well that this is recorded in the Word of God without any qualifying comments. We are not told that this was superstition, and there isn’t even a hint to believe such a thing. Always taking the Bible literally, unless we have Biblical reason not to do so, we should believe verse 4 to be factual and true. Furthermore, we are told that people in the past had been healed in these periodically-stirred waters. Apparently there was documented evidence to this effect. I will grant that nowhere else in the Bible do we read of this kind of miracle, and it seems to break some of the basic rules of miracles, but again I point out – “There it is.”
Believing that this miraculous healing actually took place in exactly the way it is described, I also believe that the Holy Spirit has higher and more important lessons for us. Not only was this middle-aged man able to walk home for the first time in about four decades, but his soul is most likely with his Saviour at this moment. So in that regard – in its spiritual aspect – we can look at this historical event and apply it to ourselves. If this man was NOT born again, he certainly can be used to illustrate saving grace. But I really do believe that he became a child of God through faith in Christ Jesus that day.
According to the Bible, ordinarily miracles were not commonly performed indiscriminately or randomly. In the Bible, miracles were graciously given to authenticate God’s message, whether we are talking about the miracles of Moses, Elijah and Elisha, the apostles or the Lord Jesus Himself. Miracles weren’t sent by the Lord simply to make people feel good or to improve their lives. No matter how many, or how few, there may have been, even the earlier healings at Bethesda set the stage for the coming of the Saviour and this more spectacular miracle. And yet, those other healings might have provoked a few spiritually-minded people to rightly think, “EVERY good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.”
Surrounding the pool of Bethesda there were five covered porches. And under them lay a number of sick people. At times there were dozens, if not hundreds of sick folk. All of those people, until they grew too tired, had their eyes firmly fixed on the surface of the water. Also, others were there to help the more crippled into the pool for healing.
As you may know, there are hospitals scattered across the country identified by the name “Bethesda.” Their emergency rooms are sometimes filled with sick and injured people, along with their friends, waiting for the stirring of the medicinal waters. And there are a few churches with the same name, again with people whose eyes are fixed on priests, crucifixes and communion wafers, hoping to be healed. None of those religious people, trusting in stirring waters, have been saved by such things. In fact the opposite might have happened. And I have to wonder if anyone was ever drowned trying to be the first into Bethesda’s waters, or crushed by others falling on top of them in the heat of the moment.
Into that scene of suffering – and religion with its special faith – came the Saviour and His disciples. John was there, and the things he relates, he saw with his own eyes – this was not hearsay. But why was Jesus there and not in the temple, or touring one of the extravagant palaces in the city? I think – He must needs go through Bethesda, because one of His chosen people needed His grace. Jesus stepped over people and around others, until He came to an apparently impossible case. He passed over blind people, people with withered arms, people with various cancers and diseases. Don’t fault the Lord for this. There was not a single person there at Bethesda deserving to be healed. For the Lord to save one in a hundred, or one in a thousand, is an act of grace for which He deserves to be eternally praised.
Having passed many, he looked down, probably with a smile and asked a man: “Wilt thou be made whole?” He didn’t ask if the man needed help getting into the pool. He didn’t ask if he wanted to know when the next stirring would be so he could be ready. He didn’t ask if the man wanted to be made wealthy, happy, cured of his addictions, or given a wife. “Wilt thou be made whole?” What a strange – if not silly – question. “Of course I want to be healed.”
But notice that the man didn’t exactly say that. If I might digress for a moment. What the man said was, in effect, “I need a friend.” “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool.” “I need a helping friend.” This is one of the great needs of the world today: loving friends. “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” – Proverbs 17:17. Here was a place of adversity, and this man needed assistance in his infirmity. The spiritually sick and maimed around us need a Christian friend to bring them to the Saviour. And conversely, they need a friend who will bring the Saviour to them. This man needed a friend.
Recognize this man’s utter IMPOTENCE.
That great multitude around the pool included representatives from every walk of life. There were men, probably women and even perhaps children there; grandmothers and grandfathers. There were city people and country people who had hobbled into Jerusalem to be healed. There people who were once rich, but who because of their disease or injury had been leveled to the same poverty as everyone else. There may have been Levites, priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians and maybe even foreigners. All those people – all that variety – had been brought down to the same level – they needed healing.
We see illustrated here what great misery sin has brought to every corner of this planet. Here we read of a man who apparently had partial or complete lower limb paralysis. He is described as impotent and infirmed; he was unable to walk. Perhaps we’d call him today a “paraplegic” or perhaps some more horrible name. His life had become a living death, and at this time he lay in a cemetery among other semi-corpses. Furthremore, in God’s sight, in the sight of Christ Jesus, he was dead in his trespasses and sins.
It is pointless to speculate on how he became lame; maybe he was born this way. I can’t tell you how. I can tell you, with authority, exactly WHY he was there: The cause of his malady was sin. Sin rendered this man incapable of going into the temple to worship the Lord. Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t believe that the Lord punished this man with this infirmity because of some specific act of rebellion he had committed. Please don’t accuse me of saying that if someone has sore throat he or she must be living in sin. Such a thought is wicked and sinful, and I’ve often tried to say so. But the fact remains, there would be no pain, no death and no suffering if there was no sin in the world. There certainly wasn’t a minute of illness in Eden; and not a single living thing died there. But once sin was introduced into creation there has been nothing more sure than pain and death. As I tried to say a few weeks ago: “The LORD God commanded (Adam), saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Oh, how deeply we ought to hate and fear sin in every one it’s forms. In all the infirmity at Bethesda we see the effects of God’s curse against sin and sinners. And among its ultimate effects, we see man’s impotence against disease and death.
But there is an illustration of even greater impotence found there. Far more than the inability of the body to overcome illness or injury – is impotence of the human spirit. I believe and preach the liberty of any soul to come to Christ. I believe that “whosoever will” may come to the Lord, and I preach that they should come. I plead with souls to repent and believe on the Saviour. I urge you to hate your sin and to trust Christ for salvation. But I also know: no one will ever turn to the Lord until the Lord first plants a desire within him to do so. No one will come to Christ for salvation until the Holy Spirit gives him the ability to do so. I believe that in Jesus was power to heal every single body and soul at Bethesda that day. Furthermore, I think that if anyone had asked Him, that person would not have been denied. There was not a single individual at poolside that day who was absolutely incurable. And if dozens, no matter what their sin or sickness was; if fifty, or if two hundred and fifty, had asked Him, the Lord would have healed every one of them. But not one person asked. It was contrary to their nature to ask. Christ Jesus took the initiative in saving and healing this man. And with that in mind, I will tell you, if you truly yearn for salvation from sin, trust and ask Him for it.
The Lord wasn’t checking social security cards, insurance papers, skin color, or church membership as He walked along. He has no respect of persons in such ways. But the fact is that not a single soul even looked in His direction. Not even the man who was eventually healed. Their attentions were firmly fixed on the possibility of angelically-stirred waters. They were more interested in what had become their man-centered religion than in the Saviour. What is more, there is no word that anyone sought the Lord even after He healed the paralytic man. In verse 40 of this chapter, Jesus will say, “Ye will NOT come to me, that ye might have life.” It is against the nature of the sinner to seek the Saviour. Those people would rather “search the waters of Bethesda; for in them they thought to have eternal health.”
When Jesus asked His strange question: “Wilt thou be made whole?” He was showing that man does NOT WANT salvation. As I said, the Bible teaches, and I believe, that “whosoever will to the Lord may come.” But the fact is – man’s free will is not really free; it is bound by corruption, blinded by Satan and dead. Just as we see in this case, Christ took the initiative. He had to start the conversation, because the crippled man wasn’t going to do it. Only the direct intervention of the Lord can open the human heart and give life to soul. Does that make matters hopeless? Or does that mean sinners have nothing to do in this matter? Please, please don’t despair. This man’s story isn’t finished yet.
Jesus asked His question to show us all how MISDIRECTED we are is by nature.
Do you know the meaning of the word “Bethesda”? It comes from the word for “house” – “beth” and another word often translated “mercy.” “Bethesda” literally means “House of Mercy.” As I have said, there are a few hospitals around the country that are named “Bethesda.” But it is actually a better name for a church than a hospital. But “Bethesda” is a misnomer without the presence of Christ. Only in the Lord is real mercy, because, remember, all sin is against Him. It is a fact that there are thousands of people who go to church, thinking that by sitting close to the waters: the altar, or the pulpit, they will be somehow spiritually healed. But their eyes are turned in the wrong direction. Some them are looking at preachers or priests with long, flowing robes, appearing almost angelic. Multitudes are waiting the stirring of the baptismal waters, or the offering of the mass.
Jesus’ question has to be asked and re-asked today, “Wilt thou be made whole?” Nearly everybody would say, “Certainly,” but they don’t really understand the question. Many mean, “I want to be rid of effects of my disease, but I am not really interested in being complete – whole in the sight of God.” They want to go to heaven and escape hell, but they have no desire to identify with the Saviour. Jesus’ question was not simply: “Do you want to go to heaven?” but “Do want to be whole?” It was not “do you yearn for restored health?” Jesus’ question is: “Do you want to be all that God created man to originally be – whole?” The question for us all is: “Do you yearn for the fellowship with God that Adam lost?” That is entirely different from just: “Do you want to be free from pain; do you want to escape Hell?”
When this man was healed, Christ was walking up the path toward Calvary. This healing was performed on the Jewish Sabbath, and that will be charged against Him. It will be said that Christ was a sinner – a rebel against the Jew’s interpretation of the law. This will be a charge which leveled against the Lord later. When, at the command of Christ, the man picked up the mat or blanket on which he was laying, he was taking sides with the Crucified One.
THAT is the meaning of the question, and it still applies to us: Why are you here this morning? “Wilt thou be made whole?” Really? Do you want to be free from the corruption of your sin and sins? To be honest, most people do not want that kind of wholeness. There is too much fun in telling a lie; too much titillation in a steamy story. There is so much they might do with their stolen, ill-gotten gains. They enjoy too much their wicked or atheistic friends. There is too much pleasure in sin during this season of good health. When I get sick enough, weak enough, old enough – then I will reconsider Christ’s question. No, you won’t, because it is unlikely that you’ll hear it in the same way in that future day. “Now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation” – II Corinthians 6:2.
Obviously, in asking that question, Jesus was telling the man that he was not wholly whole. Of course that man well knew that his body was broken down. But what about his soul? We’re being told today that our handicaps are only what we allow ourselves to accept. That may be true in a few physical areas, but exactly the opposite in the things of the spirit. It doesn’t matter what you might think about yourself, you are not whole before God. But will you admit it enough to turn to Christ as Lord and Saviour?
When Jesus asked this question, He was prompting the man to EXAMINE HIMSELF.
“Are you ready to be whole?” “Are you willing to do anything necessary to have my eternal blessings?” If the Lord is asking you that question, and you hear it down in the depths of your heart. If you will say “Yes” to the Lord, then wholeness will be given. Christ was speaking to the heart of this man and saying, “If you want it, really want it, you may have it.”
What was required of him? Simply to submit to Christ. Don’t worry whether there is anyone available to baptize you in that pool. Simply, get up and take your bed, and walk. Walk with the Saviour. Follow Him. Salvation from sin, as illustrated in this man is a matter of trusting Christ and trusting what He has said. Just as the fall into sin was instantaneous, so is deliverance from the effects of that fall. Deliverance from the penalty of our sin is not in something we do physically or even in something we intellectually believe. Salvation is in Christ – Salvation IS Christ Jesus.
The man was healed the moment he believed the Lord, and then he proved it by his effort to stand. It was not his act of faith so much as it was what he believed the Lord was doing. It was the grace and power of Christ which healed the man. And so it is in redemption from sin; believe the promise of Christ – the work is finished. Now quit your sin, take up your bed and walk with the Lord without leaving any excuse to come back.
Is Christ’s question silly? No, it is an absolutely essential question. “Wilt thou be made whole?” The only people who truly want to be made whole are those whom the Spirit of God has convicted about their need. And if the Lord has given you that desire, then take your eyes off your sins and your maladies and look into the face of the Saviour. Stop staring at the waters of human religion and look at what the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross. Hasn’t He said, “Get up?” Then believe Him and take up thy bed and walk. Saving faith is not merely an agreement with God that Jesus died on the cross. Saving faith is reaching up for the bloody, nail-pierced hand of the Lord for strength to stand and walk. It is identification with the Saviour. It is trust in the Saviour and trust in His Words. “Lord I believe. I trust what you have told me about your sacrificial death on my behalf. And I have confidence that you have made me whole in your sight.”
Once again I say to you, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” – made whole. Won’t you call upon Him this morning?