WWUTT 832 Healing by the Pool of Bethesda?

The Pool of Bethesda and Jesus Healing the Lame Man

Jesus came to a man who had been lame for 38 years and healed him. The man didn't have faith, didn't even know who Jesus was, but he was healed because God is gracious when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study of God's Word that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will. For questions and comments, send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of the Gospel of John into chapter 5 today, and I'll begin by reading verses 1 -17. The Apostle John wrote, After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, Do you want to be healed? The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going, another steps down before me.

Jesus said to him, Get up, take up your bed, and walk. And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.

But he answered them, The man who healed me, that man said to me, Take up your bed and walk. They asked him, Who is this man who said this to you, Take up your bed and walk? Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, See, you are well. Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, My Father is working until now, and I am working. So we go back to verse 1, After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

After this is an indeterminate period of time, we don't know how much time has transpired between the events that we read about in chapter 4 and what we're reading about here in chapter 5. So remember that Jesus went up to Galilee, and he passed through Samaria to get there.

He stopped at Jacob's well, he had the conversation with the Samaritan woman. She goes running back in a sidecar, brings all of the villagers back with her, who hear Jesus preach, and they come to believe that he is indeed the Savior of the world.

He goes on from there to Cana, very same place where he performed the miracle of turning the water into wine in chapter 2. This time he heals the official son from Capernaum. That was the last event we read about in chapter 4.

Now somewhere in there, Jesus has returned to Jerusalem. So he's come back to Judea, back through Samaria, heading south, although it says that they went up to Jerusalem. Galilee was to the north, Jerusalem was further to the south, but Jerusalem was higher in elevation, being there on Mount Moriah.

So to get there, you had to go up. Everybody's always going up to Jerusalem in the New Testament. So they come back to Jerusalem now for a feast. We're not told which feast this is either, but it was the feast that brought Jesus and his disciples back to Judea.

Now there is in Jerusalem, by the Sheep Gate, a pool, in Aramaic, called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. Now there were actually two pools that were there by the Sheep Gate. One was the Pool of Israel, and the other were the Twin Pools of Bethesda.

This wasn't just a single pool, but it was two. And John even specifies that there are five roofed colonnades. So there were four colonnades on each of the four corners, and then there was one column in the middle between the two pools, and that separated the two pools.

And this location has actually been excavated, and you can go and visit it there by the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. This is a location that they've actually found, and it's one of the tourist attractions if you were to ever go to Jerusalem to see it.

You would know this is the place where Jesus performed this miracle that we read about in John 5. So in these, in this area surrounding the pools, lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed.

Now the name Bethesda, or in some translations it's rendered Bethsaida, but both of these names mean House of Mercy. And that's likely because of the anticipation by these sick that they could go down into the pools and they would be healed.

Now here after verse 3, if you're reading from the English Standard Version, which I'm reading from, there's a verse that's missing, you'll notice. It goes from verse 3 to verse 5. Where is verse 4? Well, there was a section of verse 3 that was added, and then verse 4 is not in the earliest manuscripts.

There are some later manuscripts that contain it, and it's likely that some scribe just got overzealous and started explaining something about this pool area, but was not actually written by John. It would be kind of like putting together a study Bible, and instead of putting the study notes at the bottom, you inserted some explanation about the passage that you were translating or transcribing right in the middle of the passage itself.

Well, that would be adding to the word. Now it certainly doesn't do any damage to it. I don't think this person who did such a thing had all of the plagues mentioned in the book poured out on him. As it says in Revelation, I don't think it was that.

I just think that he got a little overzealous in his translating or transcribing the scriptures and had written an explanation of these things into what John had written, but John did not originally write it.

So when it came to putting the English Standard Version together and wanting to be as accurate to the original manuscripts as possible, verse four is omitted. This is the kind of thing that drives King James only-ists crazy, but verse four simply does not belong because it was not originally written by John.

But if verse four was there, it would say that, hang on, let me come back to verse three. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred the water.

Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had. That's what's been omitted. So John didn't originally write that. It was inserted by a scribe sometime later on.

So now verse five, one man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been sitting there for a long time, he said to him, do you want to be healed?

Out of this whole crowd of people who were there, full of people who were blind, lame, and paralyzed, Jesus singles out one man. And even though it says he had been there for 38 years, I don't think that necessarily means he's the oldest guy there.

That was certainly a long time to be lame. And people who were lame or sick, an invalid, something like that, generally didn't live that long. So it's unusual that he was even still there given that he had been this lame for so long.

But he probably wasn't the oldest guy because there could have been some other elderly who had come into certain illnesses or disabilities later in life that are there by the pool. They have not been as ill or as lame as long as this man has, but they're definitely older.

So this guy, an invalid for 38 years, he's laying on his mat. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he'd already been there for a long time, he said to him, hey, do you want to be healed? You just picture Jesus walking into this crowd and finding that man.

And because he's God, you know, knowing something about that man that the disciples didn't know, he goes and just sits next to him or stands next to him, kneels down and says to him, hey, don't you want to go down there and be healed now again, because of the the verse that's been omitted.

But that note that that's kind of given to us about this particular pool, the belief was that when the waters would churn, when they would stir up that the first person to step into those waters would receive healing, whatever it was about these pools, where they were located.

I don't know why this would happen, but at certain times of the day or maybe the week, the waters would kind of start to bubble. And it was a belief that maybe an angel was stirring the waters. And it was these were a healing bath.

These were not too uncommon. A lot of towns and cities had them, whether they were pagan or Jewish. They would have these healing pools and you would go down into the water to just kind of revive yourself.

The water was often very, very warm. And so it was the steam or it might be the minerals within the water could be very soothing on the body could certainly help to relieve some aches and pains while while you're there.

Same concept of, you know, somebody being in a hot tub or taking a hot bath or something like that. So but yet there was this belief among the Jews that when the water stirred like this, it was an angel stirring the waters and the first person that touched it would be healed.

And so Jesus asked this man, why don't you go down there? Why don't you go step into the water and be healed? And the sick man answered him, sir, I have no one to put me into the pool. He can't do it by himself.

He's lame. He's an invalid. He's just laying there on his mat. I can't I don't have anybody to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. And and even while I'm going, another steps down before me.

As soon as that water churns up, you know, it's kind of a mad rush. It's like, hey, who's going to be the first one into the pool and is going to get healed today? Well, it's not going to be the lame and the invalids who are just kind of sitting on their mats.

It's not going to be the blind because they can't say somebody else has to tell them, hey, the water stirring so that they can get up and go down there. And by that time, you know, somebody is going to be cutting in line in front of them.

You kind of think of like a Benny Hinn event or something, you know, where he does his healings, his slain in the spirit thing. He's not healing anybody, but you get what I'm saying. And people are kind of rushing to the front.

I'm going to be the first one down there. Benny's going to heal me kind of would have been the same sort of a thing. And then Benny's even got people there who are stopping the truly sick, the truly lame and invalid, because they don't want anybody up there on the stage that will reveal the fact that Benny is actually not healing anyone.

And so the the man says to Jesus that he can't get there. There are other people that rush in front of him and get into the pool. So Jesus says to him, verse eight, he says, get up, take up your bed and walk.

And at once the man was healed. He took up his bed and he walked and it was kind of like, you know, you look at Jesus, he says, take up your mat and walk. And he does it. And all of a sudden, I wonder if it just kind of dawned on the guy.

He stands up as though nothing was wrong with him. Rolled up as Matt starts walking and going, I'm walking here, you know. So the day was the Sabbath, as it says in the in the remaining part of verse nine.

So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, it's the Sabbath and it's not lawful for you to take up your bed. Now, that's not anywhere in the Old Testament, nowhere in the Jewish law did it say it was unlawful for a person to take up their mat and walk.

That was something that had been added. This this was an example of the laws that the Pharisees would invent and impose a burden upon the people in this way. Because as it stands, we can't keep the law as it's given, as God had given it to Moses and then Moses gave it to the people of Israel.

We can't keep that law. And yet the Pharisees were adding to that law. They were adding things and saying, well, you also have to do this if you want to be as righteous as us and be able to get to heaven.

And this is one of those laws. They, you can't carry your mat on the Sabbath. And what was it that the man said in response? Verse 11, but he answered them, the man who healed me, that man said to me, take up your bed and walk.

I was just obeying what he told me to do. I was obeying what the Lord told me to do. Of course, he didn't know he was the Lord. And that that's going to come out here as the conversation continues. They asked him, who is the man who said to you, take up your bed and walk?

Now, the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn as there was a crowd in the place. Jesus heals this man, but he's not there to do healings. He's not there to heal everybody.

And he just picks this one guy and does this sign and this wonder. And he does this one thing. Why? Why does he only heal one person, but he doesn't heal everyone there? Well, this is the instance in the book of John where Christ reveals himself as the Lord of the Sabbath.

And I'll get to that here in just a moment. But it's just one miracle. So Jesus is not there to heal everybody. He's not there to call attention to himself, which is why he heals this one man and then skedaddles before everybody figures out that guy's walking.

He's been lame for 38 years. Who is it that healed this man? And then they all kind of rushed to Jesus, realizing that we can be healed as well. This man had no faith. There was nothing in his mind or his heart that believed that what Jesus or that this Jesus who was and he again didn't even know his name, this guy who was kneeling next to him telling him to get up and walk.

He had no reason to believe that this guy had the power to do that. He just was commanded to do something. And because this is God commanding somebody to do something, he did it not knowing who it was that Jesus was and not having any faith in this particular situation either.

So you think of like the faith healers and the prosperity gospel teachers that will say you just need to have faith and you will be healed. Speak positive words of affirmation. Don't say anything negative.

If you say anything negative, that's what's going to happen to you because your words have power. So your words create reality. You think positive things, you say positive things, you declare it, you name it, you claim it and it will happen for you.

But if you say negative things, then you're going to get the negative. Well, this man was entirely negative. Jesus said, why don't you go down to the pool to be healed? Well, I can't. I can't do it. No one can take me down there.

And even when I go down there, somebody gets right in front of me and I'm not able to I can't be the first one into the pool to be healed. And so with no faith and no positive words of affirmation, yet Jesus heals this man and only one guy.

He's not there to heal everybody. Contrary to popular belief, Jesus was not there to heal everyone. Each one of his miracles had particular significance. Now, there were times when he healed crowds, but he did these miracles to show who he was, that he had been sent by God and that the word that he spoke was God's word.

The miracles authenticated who Jesus was and the message that he gave. It was not because he was there to heal everyone. And this is a thing that, you know, a lot of Pentecostals, a lot of charismatics will say that this is the gospel.

It's healing. This is what you need to do. This is what Jesus came to do. It's not what he came to do. And in the book of Mark, actually, chapter one, he says, I came to teach. That's what I came to do.

When the people were looking for him to perform another miracle, he said to his disciples, what I came here to do was to preach. That's Mark one thirty eight. So going on here, let's see, where did I leave off?

Verse thirteen. Jesus had withdrawn as there was a crowd in the place. Verse fourteen. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple. So he finds this man again in the temple, like the outer courtyard of the temple, not the not the building itself.

But he said to the man, see, you are well, sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. Now, we don't know if the man's illness, his lameness was a result of some sort of sin that he had done or if it was it was just a general statement that Jesus had made.

There are things that can happen to you that are worse than the sickness or the lameness that you had. You will come under judgment if you do not repent of your sin and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

So it could have been just a general comment, tying something spiritual into this physical miracle that Jesus had done, saying, go and sin no more so that nothing worse may happen to you. Pursue righteousness.

Pursue God. All of that kind of wrapped up in this response that he had made to this man. The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. Now, having found him, he knows who it was.

And this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them. My father is working until now and I am working. So as I said, there's a statement that Jesus makes in Matthew, Mark and Luke in the synoptic gospels about being the Lord of the Sabbath.

He doesn't make that statement in John, but this is John pointing to the fact that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. So why was he healing on the Sabbath? Why would he do these things on the Sabbath, which the Jews hated him for?

That's because he's the Lord of the Sabbath. He is our Sabbath rest by faith in Jesus Christ. We can rest from our works, knowing our works are not going to save us. There's nothing that we can do that will bring us salvation or merit the grace of God.

Grace is given as a gift. That's what makes it grace. If you had to work for it, it wouldn't be grace. If you even had to meet God halfway on it, it wouldn't be grace. If you had to meet God 1 of the way, God does 99 of the work.

You just have to do 1 still wouldn't be grace because it would be merited somehow. You would have to do something to earn it. Doesn't matter if God did 99 of the work. You don't get any of it unless you do the 1%.

So therefore it can't possibly be grace. God's unmerited favor, which is what grace means, poured out on us through Jesus Christ, giving his son to die for our sins and all of our sins. There is not a sin that is not covered by the blood of Christ because God's grace is just that magnificent.

So if you believe in Jesus Christ, you have been saved and this is the grace of God. This man here at the pool of Bethesda did not have faith in Jesus, didn't even know who he was. And yet Jesus chose him and gave him healing because he's God, because he chooses.

You did not choose me, but I chose you. And we see this demonstrated at this pool. And so we have been chosen to be followers of Jesus Christ. And you evidence the fact that God has chosen you because you have faith.

God saves you. But faith is the mechanism that God is using, that God is using. God is used to transmit that salvation to us. We believe and so we are saved. There is no work that we do. It is faith that is given to us by God through the Holy Spirit transformed heart.

He grants repentance. Second Timothy two twenty five. And now we are walking in faith as a demonstration of the grace of God that has been poured out upon us richly. Amen. Praise the Lord. Don't be burdened by anyone's false theology, wrong doctrine telling you that you have to do this or do this in order to be saved or that you did something to merit your salvation.

If you had to do something, then you have to do something to keep yourself saved. And you can't do it. You couldn't do anything to save yourself. You can't do anything to sustain yourself. This is the work of God from beginning to end, from election before the foundation of the world, to glorification, the day that we enter into glory with Christ.

Do you have a responsibility to walk in righteousness? Absolutely. But know that when you read the theology of it, you are only able to pursue the righteousness of God because you've been called to that righteousness in God through his son, Jesus Christ.

All of this is the gracious working of God. Praise him for all of it. God doesn't have to heal anybody. He doesn't have to save anybody. He's under no obligation to do these things. He does it because he is merciful.

Bethesda, the house of mercy. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for this word today and what you have shown to us in Jesus Christ, and may we continue to put faith in him and walk in him every day that we are on this earth until we reach your heavenly kingdom.

And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand The Text. Pastor Gabe is the author of the book, 40 of the most popular Bible verses and what they really mean. Available in paperback or for your Kindle found at our website at www .tt .com.

Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.