Transcript

In 1965, James B. Stockdale became one of the first American pilots to be shot down during the Vietnam War. He was captured by the Viet Cong, and spent seven years as a prisoner of war.

During that period of time, he was frequently tortured in an attempt to break him and get him to denounce the U.S. involvement in the war. He was chained for days at a time with his hands above his head so that he could not even swat the mosquitoes.

Today, he still cannot bend his left knee and walks with a severe limp from having his leg broken by his captors and never reset.

One of the worst things done to him was that he was held in isolation away from the other American P.O.W.s and allowed to see only his guards and interrogators.

As he looked back on that time, Stockdale said that it was his hope that kept him alive: the hope of one day going home; that each day could be the day of his release. Without hope, he knew that he would die in hopelessness.

In John 5, we learn about a lame man of 38 years who was a prisoner in his own body and whose life seemed hopeless. It was his hope of healing at the Pool of Bethesda that kept him going. But then hope, in the Person of Jesus Christ, unexpectedly came to him at Bethesda, and Christ set him free.

John 5:1-2: “After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.”

The feast mentioned in verse 1 is not specific. It’s just called “a feast of the Jews.”

The fact that Christ went up to Jerusalem for it suggests that it was one of the three required feasts for all Jewish males to attend, which were the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Deut. 16:16).

Christ went to Jerusalem for this feast because He was “made under the law,” as Galatians 4:4 says, and living and ministering under the dispensation of the law, He was obedient to it perfectly.

In the time of Christ, there was a pool for bathing or washing that was located near “the sheep market.” The “sheep market” is referring to the SHEEP GATE in the wall of Jerusalem.

Most likely, this is a reference to the same gate identified in Nehemiah 3:1, when Nehemiah rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem: “Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the SHEEP GATE; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it…”

The “Sheep Gate,” was, as you might suspect, the gate through which the sheep were taken into the city for sacrifice. And the gate was located right next to the Temple, and was located north of it.

All the sheep that were brought into the city through that sheep gate for sacrifice, all pictured the One Who had gone up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.

The pool next to the sheep gate was called “Bethesda.” And the term Bethesda means “house of mercy.” With the pool of Bethesda, meaning mercy, being located right by the sheep gate for sacrifices, which foreshadows the Lamb of God, it is a visual that mercy is found and obtainable by the sacrifice of Christ and His Cross.

Verse 2 says that the pool had “five porches” or porticoes, which refers to covered walkways with columns. These covered colonnades surrounded the pool so people had a place to walk or sit to be sheltered from the sun and have comfort during hot weather.

The pool had a large stone partition which separated the pool in two. This is how there were five porches. It had a porch on all four sides and then there was a porch situated over the partition that cut through the middle, equaling five porches.

John 5:3-4: “In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.”

In and under these five porches around the pool, verse 3 says were gathered a great multitude of “impotent folk,” or weak, sick people. People with all kinds of infirmities had gathered at and all around this pool. John describes them as the blind, the halt (or the lame), and the withered (or the paralyzed).

The big question is: “What are all these ailing people doing at the pool of Bethesda?”

All these people were there, verse 3 says, “waiting for the moving of the water.” And verse 4 explains what that means, that an angel, unseen by man, went down at a certain time, unknown to man, and “troubled,” or stirred up the water.

The first sick, blind, or lame person to enter the pool after the waters were stirred by the angel was miraculously “made whole of whatsoever disease he had.”

Apparently, God granted this to enable some of the infirmed in Israel to find relief. The Pool of Bethesda, or “house of mercy,” got its name most likely from the cures which God mercifully performed there through His angel.

Thus, as the pool of Bethesda was known as a place where miracles of healing occurred, not surprisingly, surrounding the pool were a large number of desperately sick people who had come with the hope of being cured, all waiting to race each other and scramble into the pool.

We can only imagine when the water started stirring and moving, that there was a great rush to be the first one into the water!

But the first to get in was probably the least needy person among them needing to be healed: the one with minor ailments like ingrown toenails, a rash, a toothache.

However, on this day, an angel didn’t come to the pool to stir the waters so the first one in might be healed, instead God in the flesh personally came to the pool to heal one person, one who was never going to be the first in the pool.

John 5:5-9: “And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

“The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. 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.”

At the pool, under one of the porches, was a certain man who had an infirmity for 38 years. We don’t know exactly what was wrong, but we do know that his infirmity kept him from walking. This man had a long-term illness and his condition was hopeless.

The length of his infirmity, 38 years, is given by John to emphasize the gravity of the debilitating affliction that affected the man.

His condition had been witnessed by many in Israel for almost four decades, so after Christ healed him, there was no doubting the genuineness of the healing.

As Christ was in Jerusalem for the feast, showing His heart, and His love and concern for those in need, Christ chose to go to the sick at the Pool of Bethesda.

And one author painted the picture beautifully: “As people passed Bethesda what did they hear? An endless wave of groans. What did they witness? A field of faceless need. What did they do? Most walked past, ignoring the people.

“But not Jesus. He is in Jerusalem for a feast…He is not there to teach the disciples or to draw a crowd. The people need Him, so He’s there. Can you picture it? Jesus walking among the suffering.

“It’s worth the telling of the story if all we do is watch Him walk. It’s worth it just to know He even came. He didn’t have to, you know. Surely there were more sanitary crowds in Jerusalem. Surely there were more enjoyable activities.

“After all [it was a feast time]. It’s an exciting time in the holy city. People have come from miles around to meet God in the Temple.

“Little do they know that God is with the sick. Little do they know that God is walking slowly, stepping carefully between the beggars and the blind. Little do they know that the strong young Carpenter who surveys the ragged landscape of pain is God.”

It’s special to stop and just think about Christ walking among all these sick and infirmed people. It shows God’s care for the suffering. And it reminds us when we are in need, that He knows and He cares.

This pool is also is a picture of the state of the nation of Israel. The “blind, halt, [and] withered” were a picture of the spiritual condition of Israel at that time.

Israel was a nation of spiritually impotent people. They were helpless, hopeless and needing spiritual life and healing.

And Christ coming to that Pool and walking around the sick is a picture of His coming to Israel, ministering in the midst of the spiritually blind, lame, and needy, and making individuals in the nation spiritually whole.

As Christ was walking among the diseased, He saw this certain man lying there on a mat, or a pad, a light mattress, or a straw mat. He was totally helpless and hopeless, debilitated by his condition for nearly four decades.

Through Christ’s omniscience as God, He had complete knowledge of everything. Thus, though Christ had never met this man before, He “knew” that this man had been in that condition for “a long time.” He fully knew the man’s long history of illness.

As He looked at him, Christ “saw” the man’s need, He “knew” the depth of that need, and then He took the initiative to meet that need.

And it’s the same with each of us in salvation. Christ saw our need, that we were dead in trespasses and sins. He knew the depth of that need, that our sins would separate us forever from God in the lake of fire. And then He took the initiative to meet that need, and as I Timothy 1:15 says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”,

He came that we might have the forgiveness of our sins, be reconciled to God, and have life eternal through His Cross and resurrection.

In loving sympathy, Christ then offered to help and asked him, “Do you want to be made whole?” Christ knew that this was the deepest longing of the man’s heart.

“Wilt thou be made whole?” is a question that Christ asks every person in the world. In our sins, every person is spiritually “impotent” (5:3,7) and “without strength” (Rom. 5:6).

But at the Cross, Christ “died for all” (II Cor. 5:15). Therefore, all can be saved from their sins and be MADE WHOLE spiritually.

However, we must respond in faith to Christ’s provision of salvation. Under grace, when we simply trust that “Christ died for our sins…and rose again” (I Cor. 15:3-4), “immediately” we are “made whole” by the miracle and power of His salvation (Rom. 1:16).
Hearing Christ’s question, “Wilt thou be made whole?”, the man’s thought immediately went to the pool which made people whole.

Because as verse 4 explained, “whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was MADE WHOLE of whatsoever disease he had.”

And then he shared his disappointment with Christ. He did not know who Christ was, so he called him “Sir.’’ And he told the Lord, “Sir, I have no man,” or he was all alone.

And he explained that every time the water started moving and got stirred up, he had no one to help him get into the pool first so he could be made whole. The race to be first into the pool always went to the able-bodied.

He said “while I am coming,” which gives us a heart-breaking picture of him coming as fast as he could by crawling or hobbling or pulling himself along the ground.

But then he said “another steppeth down before me,” someone else always got there ahead of him. He had laid by that pool for years, disappointed again and again.

Our four children were all teenagers at the same time for a few years. When we would travel and stay in a hotel room with one bathroom, I felt like this man trying to get into that bathroom in the mornings. As soon as that door opened there was a rush and a dash, but I never made it in time. Another stepped in before me.

The man’s response showed that he desired in every way to be whole, but he lacked the means to be healed.

He knew there was healing in the pool, but he told Christ he didn’t have anyone to help him get there in time after the waters were stirred.

He needed a friend. He needed a helper. He thought by Christ’s question that He was offering to be his helper to help him get into the water first.

Christ had indeed come to be his friend and helper. But Christ’s agenda was much different than this man’s. For Christ had no intention of getting that man into that pool. Instead, He wanted to get him away from the pool forever.

Without fanfare, Christ then commanded the impossible: “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.”

He commanded the man to do the very thing he had been unable to do for nearly four decades, but in His command was the power of fulfillment. The impotent man had met the Omnipotent God.

And when Christ spoke, healing, life, and power flowed into the body of the crippled man. Immediately atrophied bones and muscles healed and were made strong, and the power of Christ’s word lifted the man to his feet and he stood up.

It was not a gradual recovery. The man was healed immediately, instantly the man was made whole.

Limbs that had been useless for years now responded and had strength and power. For 38 years the man had been unable to stand. For 38 years, the man had been unable to walk. But in an instant, he both stood and walked.

The cure was instantaneous and complete. And for us in our salvation, Christ does not put the believing sinner into a savable state, He saves, saving us with a perfect and eternal salvation the instant we believe.

We can be sure that after nearly 4 decades of suffering, and being unable to walk, that this man not only walked, but jumped, skipped, ran, leaped, and did cartwheels around that pool, and even jumped off the high dive!

After seeing this man in his crippled condition for nearly 40 years, to see him striding around the pool, up and down the streets of Jerusalem, in and around the temple, had to have been a shock to everyone who had known him in his previous condition.

And this was a demonstration to Israel that her Messiah was present among them. Because the prophets predicted that through Him and in His kingdom, “Then shall the lame man leap as an hart…” (Isa. 35:6).

And so at Bethesda, the “house of mercy,” this man experienced mercy, the mercy of God in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

And we who have believed have experienced the mercy of God. Ephesians 2 reminds us that we were helpless and lost, dead in our sins, walking only according to the course of the world, the flesh, and the devil. But then, when we trusted Christ as our Savior…

“But God, Who is rich in MERCY, for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;).”

John 5:10-14: “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.

“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.”

John mentions in verse 9 that this miracle had been done on the Sabbath. After his healing, this man was happily carrying his mat around, but then he was pulled over by the Sabbath police, and he was confronted by the Jewish religious authorities for carrying something on the Sabbath.

Now this poor man had been in a crippled condition for 38 years and he was wondrously and gloriously healed and walking around.

But instead of wondering at his healing and rejoicing with him, their first response was: “You can’t carry that bed. It’s the Sabbath. That’s not lawful.”

This shows how legalism deadens love and care for others, and it makes life only about performance and obeying rules.

One commentator put it this way, “Imagine you had a neighbor who had been paralyzed from the neck down by an accident over 30 years ago. One Saturday morning, just after 6 a.m., the sound of a lawnmower jolts you from a deep, satisfying sleep.

“Annoyed, you bolt to the front door to see who would be so insensitive as to rattle every window on the block with that infernal noise so early on a day of rest.

“Upon seeing your formerly paralyzed friend gleefully mowing his lawn in now perfect health, what do you think you would say? If you’re a Pharisee, you’d scream, ‘Hank! It’s Saturday morning! Turn that confounded thing off!’”

The Pharisees strictly applied the words of Jeremiah: “bear no burden on the sabbath day” (Jer. 17:21). In their hyper-legalism, they took this to an extreme, and in their oral tradition even carrying a needle in clothing was considered a burden and prohibited. So, of course, carrying a straw mat was unlawful.

But Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath, so telling the healed man to carry his bed was obviously not a problem.

The Lord instituted the Sabbath as a gift for Israel. It was to be a day of rest to rejuvenate the minds and bodies of God’s chosen people. More importantly, the Sabbath was established so that Israel would have a set-aside day of worship to give thanks to God.

According to Exodus 20, the Hebrews were to do all their work for six days and cease all work on the seventh day (20:9-10) to follow the pattern of the Creator, Who “rested the seventh day” after He made all things during the Creation week (20:11).

The Sabbath was a hallowed day which commemorated the Lord’s creation of the world and celebrated His provisions. The Jewish religious leaders in Christ’s day though had turned the Sabbath into a burden as a result of adding their oral traditions to the written Law of God, making it a prison house of restrictions and regulations.

They used the Sabbath as an occasion for criticism and a way to exercise power in Israel.

We are under grace today, and the Sabbath that was required under the law is not to be observed in this current dispensation, because Christ has blotted “out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His Cross” (Col. 2:14).

The man’s response to the Jewish leaders’ challenge of him carrying his mat was that the One who made him whole and healed him had told him to take his mat and walk, and that was good enough for him. He was just following orders.

For him, anyone who had the ability and authority to heal a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years had the right to be obeyed in his book.

The Jewish leaders did not care about his healing, that was just a minor detail. Sabbath-breaking was their chief concern and they just wanted to know who it was that told him to carry his bed on the Sabbath day.

But verse 13 says, “he that was healed wist not who it was,” or the healed man did not know and was unable to identify who it was who had healed him.

Christ had slipped away into the crowd. The pool of Bethesda was a crowded place with all the sick that were there, and Jerusalem was also full of people because of the feast.

In verse 14, we see how Christ later found the man in the temple which was right next to the Pool of Bethesda. The man was most likely there to give thanks to God for the miracle that took place in his life.

The man had been physically healed, but he still needed spiritual healing. The Lord was concerned about his soul and his spiritual state and out His great love for the man, He searched him out and found him.

And the Lord told him, “Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.”

Christ told the man that he should regard his new health and wholeness by the mercy of God as an opportunity to make a break with sin and begin a new life of obedience to God.

To go and “sin no more” was another way for Christ to call for faith and for the man to follow and abide in Him. As 1 John 3:6 says, “Whosoever abideth in Him [Christ] sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him.”

And regarding abiding in Christ, later in John the Lord said, “If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (15:6).

And the fire is the “worse thing” that Christ warned the man about. Those who die in their sins (8:24) will be condemned to ETERNAL suffering in hell, “a worse thing” than an infirmity of 38 years (5:5).

As it’s been said, “The warning was that his tragic life of 38 years as an invalid was no comparison to the doom of hell. Jesus is interested not merely in healing a person’s body. Far more important is the healing of his soul from sin.”

Go and sin no more is not instruction for how we are saved under grace.

Today, in this current dispensation of grace, Christ has revealed to Paul that we are saved by grace through faith alone, not of works, just trusting the gospel of salvation that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day.

You must believe this good news to be saved from all your sins, “lest a worse thing come unto thee.”