Wednesday Bible Study: The Walk of John part 4

 

This chapter- the fifth- took me a while to realize that this is, in essence, a fleshing out of what we learned in Proverbs.  That is, there are three kinds of non-believers: the simple, who just don't know; the scoffer, who knows in his heart, but resists until he can't anymore; and the fool, who says there is no God.  It took a twitter discussion with someone from that last group to make me realize that this is where John is going here.

We start out with the pool at Bethesda. Shortly, this was a large area near the temple which had a pool of some sort. Sick, lame, and infirm were dumped here, both to 'get rid of them', and because of the myth that every so often, an angel stirred the waters of the pool.  If you were first in the water when this happened, you were "cured".  In other words, this was a superstition.

One gentleman had been there 38 years without a 'cure', because he was paralyzed to some degree and couldn't even get TO the pool, much less get in.  That's when Jesus showed up.  And He didn't go to any of those depending on superstition; He went to the one who needed a miracle.

Joh 5:6  When Jesus saw him lying, and knowing that he had spent much time, He said to him, Do you desire to be made whole?
Joh 5:7  The infirm man answered Him, Sir, when the water is troubled, I have no one to put me into the pool. But while I am coming, another steps down before me.
Joh 5:8  Jesus says to him, Rise, take up your bed and walk.
Joh 5:9  And immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked. And it was a sabbath on that day.

Now before we hit the 'sabbath' part, I want you to note the progression of this man.  He knew he was healed, but really wasn't sure who it was that did it:

Joh 5:12  Then they asked him, Who is the man who said to you, Take up your bed and walk?
Joh 5:13  And he did not know Him who had cured him, for Jesus had moved away, a crowd being in the place.

But then Jesus came and identified Himself (v14), telling him to "Sin no more, lest a worse thing happen to you"; note that Jesus was talking about hell, because what on earth could be worse than being stuck unable to move in a crowd of people who didn't care for 38 years? Then the man went and told those who had asked him who healed him (v15).  So a miracle happened, he learned about Jesus, and he went and told others- the Christian experience.  So the simple become wise, and he was rescued from superstition- that LOOKED like faith- to saving faith.

Now, backtrack slightly, back to the 'sabbath' thing, and our other contestants, the religious leaders.  These were fools, who claimed a God they did not know (v37).  And just like the fool I encountered, they have two things that keep them from believing.

Joh 5:16  And therefore the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the sabbath day.
Joh 5:17  But Jesus answered them, My Father works until now, and I work.
Joh 5:18  Then, because of this, the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the sabbath, but also said that God was His father, making Himself equal with God.

The sabbath was the symbol of their first reason.  They had built their power, their self image, on "The Law", their conception of it.  Without this false power, their whole self-conception tumbles to dust. For Jesus to be ABLE to do this on the sabbath proved that, in God's eyes, that self-conception- and their power- was false.  Secondly- they were well versed in the prophecies of the Messiah- and they knew Jesus was fulfilling them. If He was fulfilling them, that meant Jesus was God-In-Flesh- and men who had the power of gods (over the religious system) could not afford to be overthrown BY God.  This is why they were fools, and why they hated Jesus.

But now, Jesus exposes them.  First, He explains Himself and his own power in three "Truly, truly"s (or "Most assuredly"s, depending on your translation).  The first (vv 19-20), He explains the relationship between Himself and the Father- that He does nothing without seeing it from Him.  The second (v24) explains the TRUE way of salvation:

Joh 5:24  Truly, truly, I say to you, He who hears My Word and believes on Him who sent Me has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death to life.

And the third, in the next verse, explains that this is, because Jesus has been given power OVER life and death by the Father.  In between all this, Jesus gives them an explanation of what should and shouldn't surprise them:

Joh 5:20  For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all the things that He Himself does. And He will show Him greater works than these, so that you may marvel. 

 
So therefore, the very signs that Jesus performs- signs they are trying to curtail "because it's the sabbath"- should wake them up to who He is and what they should do.  And since they know the Scriptures, once they establish WHO He is, the rest shouldn't surprise them...

Joh 5:26  For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life within Himself,
Joh 5:27  and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.
Joh 5:28  Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves shall hear His voice,
Joh 5:29  and shall come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have practiced evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

But since they are rejecting Him, He reminds them of all the testimony in Jesus's cause they are rejecting.  First, they are rejecting John the Baptist, who they "were willing for a time to rejoice in his light" (v35).  Then they have to reject the testimony of what Jesus is accomplishing (v36).  The third testimony is trickier, because if they would have believed the first two, they would have received the third.  But...

Joh 5:37  And He sending Me, the Father Himself, has borne witness of Me. Neither have you heard His voice at any time nor seen His shape.
Joh 5:38  And you do not have His Word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He has sent. 

This is what the fool (s) wouldn't receive: that it STARTS with faith, and without faith, no sign or testimony will turn your heart.  I told my fool that we just plant seeds, he had to let it grow.  He kept demanding evidence, but I told him, "You need to till the soil, but you only want to order at the restaurant, and this doesn't work that way."

The one thing that Jesus and the Jewish leaders had in common was the Scriptures- and they had to ignore even these to deny Jesus:

Joh 5:39  You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. And they are the ones witnessing of Me,
Joh 5:40  and you will not come to Me that you might have life.

They used the Scriptures as a hammer, saying, "Moses said this, Moses said that".  But Jesus blows even that out from under them:

Joh 5:45  Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust.
Joh 5:46  For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me.
Joh 5:47  But if you do not believe his writings, how shall you believe My Words? 

 

Reminds me of other times Jesus discussed who would accuse the unbeliever:

Mat 11:21  Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the powerful acts which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes!
Mat 11:22  But I say to you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.
Mat 11:23  And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to the heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which have been done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Mat 11:24  But I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.

Mat 12:41  The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, because they repented at the proclaiming of Jonah, and behold, One greater than Jonah is here.
Mat 12:42  The queen of the south shall rise up in the Judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, One greater than Solomon is here.
 

So let's look at those who accuse the rejecters of Jesus.  Tyre and Sidon were so evil, they were used as a comparison to Satan (Ezekiel 28:12-19).  The men of Sodom... well, you know how THEY were. The men of Nineveh repented -for a time- at the preaching of Jonah, but came from a culture so evil, Jonah ran from God rather than try to save them.  And the Queen of Sheba, who was so stunned by Solomon's wisdom that "there was no more spirit in her"( 2Chronicles 9:4), can even see the greater wisdom in Jesus.   From the very evil to the once-evil to the seeker of wisdom, they will all accuse these fools- because it was clear to them, and they rejected it.

Before we leave, let's go back to the beginning, to the pool.  You had the simple- the man saved.  You had scoffers, those depending on the superstition cloaked in religion.  But now, what if we had the Jewish leaders- the fool- at the pool?  He would have been the one saying, "No, don't heal; me, don't touch me!  I'll get to the pool myself- somehow..."  One guy had been trying that for 38 years- what about you- and me?