CHAPTER 5

(A.D. 31)

THE POOL OF BETHESDA

¹After this there was a Feast of the Jews (even though the Scriptures dont say, most think this was Passover; if correct, Jesus would have been little over a year into His public Ministry); and Jesus went up to Jerusalem (speaks of the express purpose of keeping this Feast).

²Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool (should have been translated, by the sheep gate), which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches (means, house of grace and mercy; it was somewhat like a public infirmary).

³In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered (presents a perfect description of humanity; due to the Fall, man is impotent, helpless to save himself), waiting for the moving of the water.

⁴For an Angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water (not given by John as folklore, but rather as a fact): whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had (earthly princes on entering a city resort to the houses of the great and rich, but the feet of the Prince of princes immediately turned to the abode of misery and suffering, the fruits of sin).

⁵And a certain man was there (the healing of the impotent man contrasts the quickening Power of Christ with the powerlessness of the Law; it demanded strength on the part of the sinner in order to obtain the life it promised; but man is without strength [Rom. 5:6]), which had an infirmity thirty and eight years (a perfect type of Israel, which because of her sin was helpless, shut up in the desert for thirty-eight years; the similarity is not coincidental).

⁶When Jesus saw him lie (presents a picture of Israel of Jesus day but, as well, of all humanity), and knew that he had been now a long time in that case(once again speaks of Israel), He said unto him, Will you be made whole? (This must, beyond a doubt, be the greatest question of all time! Man is not whole, and, in fact, cannot be whole without Jesus. This is where the great contention is.)

⁷The impotent man answered Him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool (proclaims his dependence on man, which has brought nothing but disappointment): but while I am coming, another steps down before me (Love, no doubt, selected this man as being the most miserable, needy, and helpless in all that sad company; and wisdom chose him as a vessel of instruction to the Nation).

⁸Jesus said unto him, Rise, take up your bed, and walk (a single word from Christ sufficed).

⁹And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked (strength was given, that fact demonstrated by the man carrying his bed): and on the same day was the Sabbath (and what a Sabbath of rest, relief, and joy for this man!).

¹⁰The Jews therefore said unto him who was cured (proclaims, as we shall see, no joy over his healing and deliverance, but rather the opposite, as religion always does), It is the Sabbath Day: it is not lawful for you to carry your bed (pointed only to mans laws, and not Gods Laws; Jesus paid absolutely no attention to the man-made laws, as numerous as they were).

¹¹He answered them, He Who made me whole (proclaims the man using Jesus as his authority, which is what he should have done), the Same said unto me, Take up your bed, and walk (Sabbath or no Sabbath, it was a command that he eagerly obeyed; it meant the Healing and Salvation of his physical body).

¹²Then answered they him, What man is that which said unto you, Take up your bed, and walk?

¹³And he who was healed knew not who it was (it seems that after the healing, Jesus left instantly, so as not to create a scene; consequently, the man really did not know Who it was that had healed him): for Jesus had conveyed Himself away, a multitude being in that place (He did so because He knew the hatred of the leaders and the result of His breaking their man-made laws; this is perhaps the reason He did not stay to heal others; at any rate, it was the Holy Spirit Who told Him what to do).

¹⁴Afterward Jesus finds him (the man He had healed) in the Temple, and said unto him (proclaims Jesus seeking him out, and for a purpose), Behold, you are made whole (refers to the Salvation experience, as well as physical healing): sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto you (this tells us first of all that his sickness of thirty-eight years had been brought up on him because of sin; as well, it tells us that disobedience to the Lord can open the door for worse things).

¹⁵The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole (some have claimed that this man was ungrateful; however, he had no way of knowing of the animosity of the religious leaders against Jesus, so he probably thought he was doing the right thing).

¹⁶And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus (the opposition from the religious hierarchy will do nothing but increase from now forward), and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath day (this is ironical; the religious leaders of Israel wanted to kill the Lord in the Name of the Lord; this is how blind they were!).

EQUALITY WITH GOD

¹⁷But Jesus answered them (proclaims that this was a face-to-face confrontation), My Father worketh hitherto, and I work (this says two things: 1. He claims equality with God, and that He was God; and, 2. The very Work of the Father and the Son was to deliver mankind, whether physically or spiritually, or both, which brought the true Sabbath to the soul of man, for which it was originally intended).

¹⁸Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him (means that He not only did not seek any type of accommodations with these hypocrites, but rather reinforced His position to such an extent that no one had absolutely any doubt as to what He was saying or doing), because He not only had broken the Sabbath (He had not really broken the Sabbath, but only one of their silly man-made rules), but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God (presents a charge not disclaimed by Jesus, because He did make Himself equal with God, and rightly so).

¹⁹Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself (proclaims the Humanity of Christ, with Him freely giving up the expression of His Deity while never losing its possession), but what He sees the Father do (proclaims His total subservience to the Father, which as a Man He was to do and did do): for what things soever He does, these also do the Son likewise (setting an example of humility and dependence, which the human family seriously lacked).

²⁰For the Father loves the Son (the obedience of the Son is based on the love the Father has for the Son), and shows Him all things that Himself does (plainly says that everything Jesus did is that which the Father told Him to do): and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel (has to do with Verses 28 and 29, which speak of the coming Resurrection).

²¹For as the Father raises up the dead, and quickens them(proclaims as a fact the Truth of the coming Resurrection of Life); even so the Son quickens (makes spiritually alive) whom He will (portrays the truth that Salvation is not of him who wills [in the sense of willing Salvation by works, etc.], but of God Who shows Mercy).

²²For the Father judges no man (judges no one who has come to Christ, for all sin has been settled in Christ), but has committed all judgment unto the Son (Christ is the Saviour today, but will be the Judge tomorrow):

²³That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father (claims equality with God in honor [Heb. 2:7-9]). He who honors not the Son honors not the Father which has sent Him (proclaims in no uncertain terms that if Jesus is dishonored, the Father is dishonored as well!).

²⁴Verily, verily, I say unto you, He who hears My Word (the Word of the Cross [Jn. 3:14-15]), and believes on Him Who sent Me (if one doesnt believe in Jesus, they cannot believe in God; to have the Son is to have the Father), has Everlasting Life (outside of Christ, there is no Spiritual Life), and shall not come into condemnation (Christ took the condemnation at the Cross); but is passed from death unto life (Born-Again).

²⁵Verily, verily, I say unto you (always signals a statement of the highest authority, and proclaims Jesus as that Authority), The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God: and they who hear shall live (has a double meaning: 1. It refers to people being Saved, thereby, coming from spiritual death to Spiritual Life; and, 2. It refers to the coming Resurrection of Life, when all Saints will be Resurrected).

²⁶For as the Father has Life in Himself (refers to God as the Eternal Fountain of Life, the Source Ultimate); so has He given to the Son to have Life in Himself (Jesus saying that He is not merely a participator in this Life, but in fact is, as well, the Source of Life and, in Truth, the Ultimate Source exactly as the Father; consequently, He again claims Deity);

²⁷And has given Him Authority to execute judgment also (this speaks of The Judgment Seat of Christ, which will be for all Believers and, as well, the Great White Throne Judgment, which will be for all the unsaved), because He is the Son of Man (refers to Him paying the price on Calvarys Cross, and by the merit of such, He will also be the Judge).

²⁸Marvel not at this (these statements, as given by Christ, left the religious leaders of Israel speechless): for the hour is coming, in the which all who are in the graves shall hear His Voice (speaks of the Resurrection of Life and the Resurrection of Damnation; again, these statements proclaim Christ as the Lord of both life and death),

²⁹And shall come forth (portrays both Resurrections as we shall see, and according to His Voice); they who have done good, unto the Resurrection of Life (pertains to the First Resurrection, or as commonly referred, The Rapture [I Thess. 4:13-18]); and they who have done evil, unto the Resurrection of Damnation (this last Resurrection will take place approximately a thousand years after the First Resurrection of Life [Dan. 12:2; Rev., Chpt. 20]).

³⁰I can of Mine Own Self do nothing (in His Humanity, He derived all Authority from the Father): as I hear, I judge (the Judgment He pronounced was that which He heard in His Ear, as given by the Father [Isa. 50:4]): and My Judgment is Just (it is perfect, because it comes from the Throne of God); because I seek not Mine Own Will, but the Will of the Father Who has sent Me (proclaims the fact that the human consciousness of the Son becomes the basis for the Fathers Judgment, which is uttered absolutely and finally through human lips of the Son of God; He sought only the Will of the Father, and we must seek only the Will of the Father, which is given in His Word).

³¹If I bear witness of Myself (as to Who and What I am), My witness is not true (if I Alone bear witness; but as we shall see, there are also other witnesses).

³²There is another Who bears witness of Me (speaks of John the Baptist); and I know that the witness which he witnesses of Me is true (Johns witness of Christ carried all the Authority of the Word of God).

³³You sent unto John (refers to the happenings of Jn. 1:19-27), and he bear witness unto the truth (proclaims the things that John told them when they asked if he was the Messiah).

³⁴But I receive not testimony from man (in effect, says, even though Johns testimony is true, I will not use a testimony from any man): but these things I say, that you might be Saved (in effect, Jesus is telling the religious leaders of Israel that they are unsaved).

³⁵He was a burning and a shining light (John the Baptist was a light, but he wasnt the Light, Who Alone is Christ): and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light (the religious leaders of Israel were willing for a brief period to listen to John, but when they saw that the major thrust of his Ministry was to introduce Jesus as the Son of God and Lamb of God, they turned away).

³⁶But I have greater witness than that of John (does not in any way demean the witness of John): for the works which the Father has given Me to finish (the Miracles and Calvary), the same works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me (all the healings and miracles, which could not be refuted).

³⁷And the Father Himself, which has sent Me, has borne witness of Me (it is the Father, Who through the Holy Spirit gave Christ the Power to do these things [Lk. 4:18-19]). You have neither heard His Voice at any time, nor seen His Shape (in essence, Jesus is saying that these Jews to whom He was speaking believed that God existed, even though they had never heard His Voice or seen His Shape; therefore, why should they not believe the One sent by the Father, which the Miracles and Deliverances have proved?).

³⁸And you have not His Word abiding in you (if they truly knew God as they claimed, they would have His Word abiding in them, and would, therefore, believe the Son, for the Word spoke of the Son): for Whom He has sent, Him you believe not (the rejection of Christ by the religious leaders of Israel demonstrated not only ignorance of God, but hostility to Him).

THE SCRIPTURES

³⁹Search the Scriptures (proclaims an imperative command, not a mere suggestion); for in them you think you have Eternal Life (should have been translated, You claim to believe the Scriptures, so believe what they say about Me): and they are they which testify of Me (the entire story of the Bible is Christ and Him Crucified).

⁴⁰And you will not come to Me, that you might have Life (all Life is in Christ; to have that Life, one must accept what Christ has done at the Cross).

⁴¹I receive not honour from men (He sought honor from God Alone; that must be our criteria as well!).

⁴²But I know you, that you have not the Love of God in you (if one is truly Saved, one will truly have the Love of God).

⁴³I am come in My Fathers Name, and you receive Me not (proclaims that the real reason they did not receive Him is because they did not know the Father, despite their claims): if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive (actually speaks of the coming Antichrist, as well as all other false Messiahs; shortly after the Rapture of the Church, Israel will receive a false Messiah, claiming that he is the one for whom they have long looked; they will find, to their dismay, how wrong they are!).

UNBELIEF

⁴⁴How can you believe, which receive honour one of another (proclaims that God does not minister to the pride of man, nor modify truth so as to please it and feed it), and seek not the honour that comes from God only? (To seek and receive such honor, which portrays itself in the Moving and Operation of the Holy Spirit, most of the time will incur the wrath of the religious establishment; consequently, most Preachers seek the honor that comes from men.)

⁴⁵Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father (means that they are already accused): there is one who accuses you, even Moses, in whom ye trust (they were claiming to abide by the Law of Moses, but in reality they were not).

⁴⁶For had you believed Moses, you would have believed Me (despite their claims, they did not keep the Law; for if they did they would believe Christ): for he (Moses) wrote of Me (Gen. 3:15; 17:18; 49:10; Deut. 18:5-18; Lk. 24:27, 44, etc.).

⁴⁷But if ye believe not his writings (bluntly tells them to their faces that despite their claims to the contrary, they were, in fact, unbelievers; all the religious machinery was but a show! at heart they did not believe the Bible any more than the heathen), how shall you believe My words? (This question proclaims the unity of Christ and the Scriptures.)