SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/24/2016
11:42 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 Introduction to John 5:1-16
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 5:1-16
Message of
the verses: “1 After these things there was a feast of
the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the
sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. 3
In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered,
[[waiting for the moving of the waters; 4 for an angel of the Lord went down at
certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first,
after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease
with which he was afflicted.]] 5 A man was there who had been ill for
thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had
already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish
to get well?" 7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put
me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps
down before me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet
and walk." 9 Immediately
the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it
was the Sabbath on that day. 10 So the Jews were saying to the man who was
cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your
pallet." 11 But he answered them, "He who made me well was the one
who said to me, ’Pick up your pallet and walk.’" 12 They asked him,
"Who is the man who said to you, ’Pick up your pallet and walk’?" 13
But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away
while there was a crowd in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the
temple and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to
you." 15 The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who
had made him well. 16 For
this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these
things on the Sabbath.”
I have to say that I have listened to two sermons
from John MacArthur on these verses and as of yet have not read from his
commentary, but the first sermon which he preached in 1970 had one point of
view and the second on done in 2013 he has another point of view which we will
talk about more when we get to the point in these verses where the disagreement
comes up.
As we think about times in the Old Testament where
God performed miracles, other than the creation found in the book of Genesis,
we see that when Israel was coming out of Egypt that God did miracles through
Moses, and then Elijah and Elisha also did miracles, but nothing had been done
like the miracles that Jesus Christ did while He was on planet earth. Part of the prophecies about the Messiah
foretold that these miracles would be done by the Messiah. We read that after John the Baptist was
thrown into prison he sent his disciples to talk to Jesus to make sure that He
indeed was the Messiah and Jesus told them: “4 Jesus answered and said to them,
"Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5 the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT
and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are
raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. 6 “And blessed is he
who does not take offense at Me’ (John 11:4-6).” Jesus told John’s disciples these things
because it was prophesied that the Messiah would do these things. John MacArthur writes “Jesus frequently chose
to do miracles that alleviated people’s suffering. He healed the sick—practically banishing
disease from Israel for the duration of His ministry—raised the dead, cast out
demons, and fed large crowds of hungry people.”
Now it was because of all these miracles that Jesus did that he had a
very large following and people came to see Him everywhere that He went to.
We have to ask the question as to why these people
came to see Jesus. Was it just because
of the miracles or did some come to Him in order to hear the gospel and become
believers in Him like the woman at the well or later on the nobleman we just
looked at. I would have to say that many
came to see Him just because of the miracles, for after His resurrection we
read about 120 people who were in the upper room at Jerusalem who were His
followers and 500 who were in Galilee, so of the thousands of people that knew
of Him, and who were recipients of the miracles that He did not many came to
know Him as Savior and Lord while He was on earth.
What we are beginning to see as we look at these
verses is that the Jews were becoming more and more hateful toward Jesus and
they would begin persecution against Him.
Look again at verse sixteen: “For this reason the Jews
were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.” We will see that Jesus porously did the
miracle He did here on the Sabbath in order to have confrontation with the Jews,
for we have mentioned that the Jews were involved in a false religion as they
had misused what the Jewish religion was all about and made into something that
was against what the Lord had intended it to be.
John MacArthur writes: “Chapter 5 through 7 of John’s gospel note
the beginning of the nation’s shift in attitude toward Jesus from reservation
(cf. 3:26-4:1-3) to outright rejection (summed up in 7:52). Chapters 5 and 7 describe the opposition that
He faced in Judea; chapter 6 records the opposition in Galilee. The first sixteen verses of chapter 5, which chronicle
the controversy generated by Jesus’ healing of the sick man on the Sabbath,
signal the beginning of the hostility.
It would intensify in chapter 6 when many of Jesus’ followers, unwilling
to accept His teaching that He was the bread of life, abandoned Him
(6:66). Finally, chapter 7 records the
hardening of the officials opposition, as the religious authorities sought
unsuccessfully to arrest Him (7:30-42).”
MacArthur gives us the following outline which we
will follow as we go through these 16 verses:
“The miracle performed, and the Master persecuted.”
My Steps of Faith
for Today:
I want to see in these verses and for that matter the rest of John’s
gospel how I can better love Jesus in a practical way, as Joseph Stowell writes
in his book: “Why it’s hard to Love
Jesus” we need to know the love language that Jesus has and follow it to love
Him.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Judah” (1 Kings 22:2).
Today’s Bible question: “Name the man who used sorcery and bewitched
the people?” (NT question)
Answer in our next SD.
2/24/2016 12:22 PM
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