The Book of John - 27

Introduction - We are now moving into a section in John where we will see the coming rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Roman numeral 3 in our main outline.

I. Prologue – The Revelation of the Word 1:1-14

II. The Chosen Witnesses of the Word 1:19-4:54

III. The Coming Rejection of the Word 5-6:71

IV. The Conflict with the Word 6:60-12:50

V. The Comfort from the Word 13-17

VI. The Condemning of the Word 18-20

VII. The Epilogue 21:1-25

In the first 4 chapters, John, really the Holy Spirit, presents to us certain witnesses.

And we will actually see another witness in chapter 5, but the bulk of the chapter deals with contention between the religious rulers and the Lord.

Let’s name a few of the witnesses from the first four chapters to remind ourselves of what we have already spoken about:

John the Apostle - 1

John the Baptist - 1

Andrew -1

Peter -1

Philip -1

Nathanael -1

Nicodemus -3

Woman of Sychar -4

The Nobleman -4

With that review in mind of what we have already covered, let’s read together verses 1-17.

Let’s pray.

The first section is this chapter deals with the healing of the impotent man.

A. The Healing at the Pool

John Philips introduces this chapter by stating, “The Lord now sought out a man he intended to heal, and healed him, deliberately, on the sabbath day. This was a clear challenge to Jewish traditional religion, and therefore a stumbling block to the Jews’ acceptance of the more spiritual aspects of His life and teaching.”

Verse 1 gives us a time marker, although there is no specific identification as to which feast was being held.

The Bible says John 5:1 “After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”

Some believe this to be the feast of Purim (March) which we find instituted in the book of Esther. Others believe perhaps it might be Passover (March/April) or Pentecost (May/June). Some have even proposed the feast of Trumpets (which occured on the new moon in September). The fact is that we are not told which feast this is.

As we look at the book of John, it is very different from the Synoptic records.

John is not concerned with giving a strict chronology of events

By giving this time reference in the first verse is John is telling us that this is a real event that took place. John’s design is “…that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” (John 20:31)

In fact, what follows in this text is the third of seven signs presented in the book of John.

Water turned into wine.

Healing of the Nobleman’s Son.

Healing the Impotent Man.

Feeding of the 5,000.

Walking on Water.

Healing the Blind Man.

Raising Lazarus from the

The Timing of the Event.

This was a feast of the Jews.

This expression, the feast of the Jews is in contrast with the Old Testament expression the “feasts of the LORD.” (Leviticus 23:2,4,37,44)

There were feasts that God commanded His people to take part in.

Here the expression seems to sadly allude to the fact that these feasts were no more centered around the Lord but were in fact centered around man.

It made me really think about the state of local churches today and their worship practices.

I know a preacher of whom I greatly respect which once said this, If God’s people truly understood His holiness much of what was done in the church house today would not take place.

We could rightly ask the question, How much of what goes on in the church house is really foreign to God and His ways?

John Philip’s in his commentary on the book of John makes this remark early on in reference to the Passover feast, “So deplorable was the spiritual condition of priest and people that John habitually refers to this feast as the “Jews” instead of what was intended to be a feast of the [LORD].”

This ought to challenge us always to examine our ways here at Sharon Baptist Church. We do not want to find ourselves substituting the true worship of God for the traditions of men.

It becomes evident as you read through the book of John that the term ‘Jews’ becomes a hostile term.

Look with me in verse 10.

John 5:10 “10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.”

Look at verse 16.

John 5:16 “16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.”

Look at verse 18.

John 5:18 “18 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.”

We see from these verses, that this term is used by John to indicate the folks who rejected the Lord.

I want you to remember that the Lord Jesus Christ was born into this world a Jewish man. He attended the set feasts and as the Bible tells us that He fulfilled the law.

Matthew 5:17 states this from the mouth of our Lord, “17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”

And so we are presented with the timing of the event.

Next we

The Location of the Event.

Where did this take place?

Verse 1 tells us that this event took place in Jerusalem.

More specifically, this event would begin at the sheep market pool which is called Bethesda. This is found in verse 2.

John 5:2 “2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.”

The meaning of the name Bethesda is “House of Mercy.”

We can kind of see the first part of an Old Testament word that we are familiar with “Beth-el” which means House of God.

The noun בית (beth), house, and (2) the verb חסד (hasad), to be kind.

This place Bethesda is said to be by the sheep market.

It has been said of that the term ‘sheep market’ might be rendered ‘Sheep Gate’ and therefore would be the entrance where sheep entered the city for Sacrifice.

You can find that term Sheep Gate in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah (3:1, 3:32, 12:39).

The sheep gate was located in the northern wall of the city not far from the northeast corner. What a tremendous picture we have here as we think about our merciful Savior, the Lamb of God, who because of His sacrifice we are made whole! He goes to the house of mercy which is by the sheep gate the entrance for the sacrificial lambs.

The Lord of the house of mercy shows up!

The term ‘porches’ according to Albert Barnes “commonly means a covered place surrounding a building, in which people can walk or sit in hot or wet weather. Here it probably means that there were five covered places, or apartments, in which the sick could remain, from each one of which they could have access to the water.”

And that leads us to the next subject which is:

The People of the Event.

Notice with me in verse 3. The Bible tells us, John 5:3 “3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.”

It seems from the description that every manner of debilitating sickness is described here.

The illnesses listed all seem to affect the normal mobility of people.

Some were impotent meaning weak or without strength.

Some were blind unable to see and therefore could not be mobile without someone to guide them.

Some were halt which means crippled, limping or perhaps even deprived of a foot.

Some were withered.

We can think of folks that have lost muscle mass and their legs or arms have become so atrophied that they no longer have use.

Imagine the scene described here, multitudes of people…all dealing with some type of debilitating sickness.

Every where the eye could see, there is perhaps weeping, sadness and depression.

I would like for you to consider this as well, the Lord Jesus Christ specifically dealt with one man.

Yet the Lord could have healed all of them.

This tells us that there is more to this event in its scope and purpose than just providing physical healing.

God as we have said many times will one day give us new bodies, for these are corrupted.

The Lord is not indifferent our physical problems, but the higher need for people is not just physical healing, but rather eternal salvation.

As a matter of fact I am reminded of several verses that illustrate this point.

In Psalm 78:39 the Bible says speaking of the sinfulness of Israel, “39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.”

In Lamentations 3:22 the Bible says, “22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.”

Psalm 103:13 exclaims, “13 Like as a father pitieth his children, So the Lord pitieth them that fear him.”

And again in verse 17 “But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, And his righteousness unto children’s children;”

Disease and suffering are a result of our corrupted bodies.

In some measure they remind us of the fall and the penalty of sin, which is death.

I was just speaking the other day with Pastor, that every time someone dies physically it reminds me of the wages of sin.

The Lord chose this man, not just to heal him physically, but to teach truth to all.

We see in this scene, a picture of fallen humanity! We are impotent, blind, halt, and withered.

It is not hard for us to look and around and realize that great need exists all around us. There are folks who are in need of spiritual regeneration.

There are folks who are in need of spiritual revival.

But there are also folks who are in need of emotional help and suffer from great physical ailments.

I am reminded of the words of Job, a man who suffered much. He declared in Job 10:1 “1 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.”

The psalmist declared it this way in Psalm 31:10 “10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: My strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.”

All of that sounds terrible…and it is, but we are taught that the our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ is the answer to all of the great needs we have!

John describes not only the people of this event, but then we see:

The Reason of the Event.

In the latter part of verse three we are given a description of why these folks were here.

The Bible tells us they were, “waiting for the moving of the water.” (vs.3)

In verse four the Bible tells us, “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.”

Perhaps the word that most people focus on is ‘angel.’

There is a lot of discussion among Bible scholars as to whether this is in fact something that was taking place or if it was the mere common thought of the day.

The Bible does tell us of the good service of God’s holy angels under the control in authority of God.

Hebrews 1:14 “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”

Probably the best summary verse concerning God’s angels is found in Psalm 103.

Psalm 103:20 “Bless the Lord, ye his angels, That excel in strength, that do his commandments, Hearkening unto the voice of his word.”

Albert Barnes stated this in his commentary, “It is not affirmed that the angel did this “visibly,” or that they saw him do it. They judged by the “effect,” and when they saw the waters agitated, they concluded that they had healing properties, and descended to them. The Jews were in the habit of attributing all favors to the ministry of the angels of God,”

The word I would like for you to key on though is the word ‘waiting.’

The man spoken about in the following verses as well as the multitudes described were waiting.

“Thirty-eight years of sickness would indicate hopelessness from the physical standpoint; but there was a hint that the man was even more hopeless psychologically. He had become resigned to his fate and had accepted the inevitable.”

Merrill C. Tenney, John: The Gospel of Belief, The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1976), 104.

“The people of that day, grasping for something to help them in their daily lives, it is said that a supernatural occurrence was happening when the water bubbled. An angel was thought to be swimming around in the water. The first person to move into the water after the bubbling was believed to be healed. Men are always grasping for something to help them in their daily lives. Men never change, regardless of the generation. In their grasp for help in life, they continue to seek everywhere except in Christ, the Son of God Himself. They hope and put their faith in everything except Him.”

Leadership Ministries Worldwide, The Gospel according to John, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2004), 104.

As we think about the picture that is being illustrated to us by this event, we are reminded that there a myriads of folks all around this world waiting on some empty form of religion.

If you were to travel to India you would see multitudes of Temples. I am told by some counts roughly 649,000.

I am told that there are 340,000-380,000 church houses in the United States by way of comparison. And of that, unfortunately, how many that come to the church house are just caught up in vain empty religious exercise?

If you were to go predominately Muslim countries, you find multitudes of people praying in vain five times a day facing toward Mecca. Others taking holy pilgrimages to sacred sites.

Then there are those who worship the form of religion in Catholicism which is filled with symbols and syncretism to include just about anything imaginable that men worship.

The multitudes are waiting and have placed their hope in some empty religion, superstition, or vain supposition.

Charles Spurgeon stated it this way, “A blindness had come over these people at the pool; there they were, and there was Christ, who could heal them, but not a single one of the, sought him. Their eyes were fixed in the water, expecting it to be troubled; they were so taken up with their own way that the true way was neglected.” Spurgeon though how foolish this waiting is for many people.

Some wait for a more convenient season.

Some wait for dreams and visions.

Some wait for signs and wonders.

Some wait to be compelled.

Some wait for revival.

Some wait for particular feelings.

Some wait for a celebrity.

They are looking to something or someone that in the end can provide no hope.

And just like this man it is always seems to be just out of reach.

But yet the Lord Jesus Christ was there.

The Bible says in Proverbs 14:12 “12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death.”

I think it is appropriate to say what is found in Isaiah 55:6 “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, Call ye upon him while he is near:”

Here in the ‘house of mercy’ there was no mercy, and yet mercy was among them and they knew Him not.

John 1:10–11 “10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”