John 5:22

In John 5:22, Jesus talks of His role as judge.  He is uniquely qualified to act as judge.  As the only begotten Son of God, He knows from experience what it means to be human.  If we want to know what a human being should really be like, especially as His followers, we need to look to Jesus.  He set the standard by which we will be judged, and then He paid the price of that judgment for those who believe ln Him.  The Father will not be the Judge, but the Son will since He was sent to be the Savior.  He also states that those who do not honor the Son do not honor the Father.  God's people then and now do not honor Jesus as the Son of God nor do some other groups who profess God to be the Creator of all.  Verse twenty-two declares, For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:  Jesus continues to speak of the relationship between the Father and the Son.  Again, the triune nature of God is nothing the mind of mankind can truly comprehend.  Fortunately, we do not have to.  Jesus was saying in this verse that He had every right to proclaim Himself the Son of God.  His works were God's work.  He was not and is not secondary to the Father, because they and the Holy Spirit are One.  Looking back at verse twenty-one, Jesus said as the Father lifted up and quickened the dead, even so the Son quickened who He will.  The Father had shown through His prophets the ability to quicken, those who were physically dead.  Jesus would show this same power, but more importantly He would have the power to quicken the spiritually dead.  When we read that Jesus quickens whom He will, that doesn't mean He arbitrarily choses to give life to one and not to another spiritually.  When He physically restored Lazarus to life, He was indeed specific, but spiritually He brings life to all who believe in Him as their personal Savior.  We need only believe that Christ died for us to have everlasting life.  Verse twenty-three adds, That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.  We don't have to fully understand the Trinity, but simply accept that Three are One, and that Jesus said nothing wrong when He said He was equal to the Father.  Verse twenty-four says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.  He declares with great emphasis that anyone who hears His word and believes in Him shall have everlasting life and not condemnation.  He came to be our redeemer, not our judge.

Sometimes, our plans don't work out perfectly. On Saturday, the 20th, we had a lightning storm that took out several electronic devices, including our modem and satellite.  It was almost like being back in the 1950's, except I was  reading on my Kindle.  When you cannot get on line, you cannot blog.  So, I didn't quit, I just hit a snag in the road.  That is the way it often is with the Christian life.  We are carrying out our plans, and then lightning strikes.  Sometimes we have very little warning that something is about to go wrong.  We may have gone through the same type situation before, and nothing bad happened. As His followers, we must never become complacent because things have always gone okay.  Even if we are cut off from many things we take for granted, as Christians we can never be cut off from God by any storm that comes our way.  Events may slow us down or limit us, but they can never defeat us if we are following God's will.  When our modem went out, we lost access to the internet, but it was still there.  If our faith in God wavers, He is still there, but we are not claiming all that He makes available to us.  When the storms come, that is when we need to our faith in God sustain us.  We must never let the storms defeat us.

John 5:21

John 5:21 says, For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.  The real miracle is when someone accepts Christ as their Savior and gains everlasting life.  As His followers, if we are asked if we ever experienced or saw a miracle, we should be able to boldly say, "Yes, He died for me."  We often pray for someone to be healed, and they aren't, and we question God.  We need to remember that He has already given everlasting life with Him to any who will accept it, so we need never question God.  Jesus knew what lay ahead for Him, and so can we as His people.  For Him, it was death on a cross for us, and for us it is everlasting life if we believe in Him.  The world will always question the teachings and work of God, but we as His followers need to be sure  that the things we believe are the things God teaches.  We will never have the relationship with the Father that Jesus does, but we can follow in obedience.   

John 5:19

John 5:19 says, Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.  Jesus began to explain His relationship to the Father and His purpose on earth.  He first said that He could do nothing of Himself, but what He saw the Father do, He Himself did.  At no point did Jesus counteract God, because He and the Father are One.  We, as His followers, can do nothing for God through our own power, and we should always look to God to know what to do.  Whatever we do can never counteract the teachings of God.  Verse twenty adds, For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.  Then, Jesus said the Father loved the Son and showed Him all things that He, the Father, did and showed Him greater works than those the people marveled at.  They marveled at the things He had done so far, but He knew the greatest event was yet to occur, His death, burial and resurrection for the redemption if all people. When we read of the miracles that Jesus did, remember that only one has an everlasting effect.  Today, if we see someone miraculously healed or spared from a deadly situation, we need to remember that it is only temporary.

John 5:12

John 5:12 says, Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?  The Jews wanted to know who told the man to walk, not so they could thank him for healing the man, but so they could admonish him.  The violation of religious rules was more important than doing good works for God.  Again, may we never be that way.  In honoring the Sabbath Day, or Lord's Day for us, let us never fail to do a good deed because of the day. Verse thirteen adds, And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.  Jesus had disappeared into the crowd, so the man could not tell them Who had healed him.  We might ask why he didn't know Who Jesus was, but I am sure that in his excitement he wasn't thinking about having to point Jesus out at that moment.  Still, if we are asked Who made us whole, we need to quickly point to Jesus Christ, the Only One Who can make a person whole.  Verse fourteen states, 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.  Jesus found the man at the Temple and told him that he was made whole so sin no more.  This does not mean that Jesus was warning him that forgiveness and restoration depended on the man's future actions.  Jesus was warning him not to fall back into a life ruled by sin.  We are to put aside the rule of sin in our lives when we accept Christ as our Savior.  Verse fifteen adds, The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.  The man, when he left the Temple, went back to the Jews and pointed out Jesus as the One Who healed him.  He was most likely expecting them to praise Jesus for what He did.  We cannot determine how people are going to react when we tell them about Jesus.  Verse sixteen continues, And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.  Some may be like these Jews and seek Him simply to persecute Him.  Our task is to witness and then it is up to the people how they react.  Some will believe on Him, some will persecute, and still others will simply ignore Him.  Verse seventeen declares, But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.  The Jews may have been persecuting Jesus, but His reply was that His Father worked, so He did also.  All we can do is obey God’s commands, even if the conflict with religious rituals. Verse eighteen adds, Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Instead of celebrating the miracle of the man being healed, the Jews became even more determined to kill Jesus.  Some people are so caught up in ritual today that they ae the same way.   

John 5:10

John 5:10 says, The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.   By this time, the Jews had severe restrictions on what could and could not be done on the Sabbath day. The Scribes and Pharisees were very religious, but they were not necessarily Godly.  We today can be very religious, but not be very Godly.  When we begin to worry more about being in the church building instead of reaching those outside the walls of the church, then we are more religious than Godly.  The Jews were more interested in religious laws being broken than they were in a man being miraculously healed.  How many of us, if we are on our way to church and see someone having problems willing would stop to help them while giving God the glory?  We might not want to be late or get our clothes dirty and hurry on the way.  If so, we are being more religious than Godly.  Verse eleven continues, He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.  The Jews asked the man, not how he was able to walk, but who told him to take up his bed on the Sabbath.  The man told them that the Man that made him whole told him to take up his bed and walk.  If we are questioned why we are doing something that seems to be against religious custom, we need to be able to answer because the One Who made me whole told me to do it.  We might have people question us today if we do something that they feel violates religious laws or customs, but we need to always put the need to reach the lost above any religious custom.  Anytime a religious custom gets in the way of witnessing to and helping meet the needs of others, it stands between us and the will of God. 

John 5:1

 

 John 5:1 says, After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. We are told that Jesus went back to Jerusalem for Passover and of a lame man He met there. Verse two adds, Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. This was in the sheep market, near the pool called Bethsaida.  Jesus was out where ordinary people were, and that is where we need to be, witnessing and ministering.  Verse three continues, In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.  Verse four concludes, 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.  The pool was crowded, because it was noted for having healing powers, because at times an angel stirred the waters, and whoever got in first after that was healed.  We do not know when this pool started to have healing power or when it ceased to.  We don't know why God chose to heal this way.  We do know that people had to have faith in the healing power of the water and act quickly.  There was a multitude there waiting to be healed. Today, we may wonder why one person is healed and so many are not, but physical healing is not the main concern.  There are multitudes of people needing spiritual healing today, and God's healing power is not limited.  Verse five states, And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.  At the pool, the man Jesus met had been lame, unable to move fast on his own for thirty-eight years.  Verse six adds, 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?  Jesus asked him, "Wilt thou be made whole?"  He did not ask the man if he wanted to walk, but if he wanted to be completely well.  When we encounter Christ, He does not offer partial spiritual healing, but He makes us whole spiritually.  Verse seven continues, 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. The man said he had been trying, but he had no one to help him and he could never get to the water first.  People today spend years, some even a lifetime, looking for spiritual healing on their own and never find it, because they may believe in manmade ways to spiritual restoration, but they refuse to believe in Christ.  When they encounter Christ and are asked if they would be made whole, the answer is no.  Verse eight says, Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.  Jesus told the man to rise and take up his bed and walk.  Verse nine concludes,

And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. The man immediately was made whole and got up and walked.  When we accept salvation through Christ, we don't have to go through certain steps to be restored to God.  We are immediately made whole and need to rise and walk in and for Him.  We see that the man immediately did as Jesus instructed him to do.