Title Unstoppable Progress (John 5:1-15)
Today, I would like to share God's grace with the word of unstoppable progress.
At the time of Jesus, the Jews gathered in the Jerusalem temple on the Passover, Weekends, and the Feast of Tabernacles to give thanks to God. The incident in today's text is the story of a small pond called Bethesda by the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem on one of these festivals. Although this content introduced in today's text is a very unusual event, it is not mentioned in other Gospels. It is also an event not recorded in the records of Jewish historians. This leads us to guess that it was not an objective fact, but the beliefs of the sick who were at the pool of Bethesda at the time, that the angels stirring water and that they would be healed of any disease were not objective facts. There was a pond next to Yangmun, a gate through which sheep passed for use as a sacrifice during the time Jesus was active.
At that time, people could not explain this mysterious phenomenon scientifically, so the sick people at the time believed that it was a phenomenon caused by an invisible angel descending. And when such a phenomenon occurs, the first person to jump in here thought that the disease would be cured. In fact, the first people to enter this pond were probably normal people. A cold or a mild skin disease could have gotten better. Therefore, because the thoughts of the people gathered here today were not the common thoughts of the people of Israel, their actions received little attention. Jesus went to the place where these sick people had gathered and healed a 38-year-old man. Let us read John 21:25 once here.
If you look at this, John had many things that Jesus did, but he carefully selected them and recorded them in the Gospel of John. It is that he selected and recorded the optimal materials for reviving a dead human spirit, creating a being that communicates spiritually with God, and inspecting his or her spiritual condition. Therefore, the event in today's text contains a very important spiritual meaning. First of all, this case is deeply symbolic. The angel's stirring up the water and the first person entering it to be healed was a testament to some of the religious beliefs of the Jews. Let's read Galatians 3:19.
The law given to Moses was delivered by God through an angel, and the Jews were universally aware of this fact. Therefore, in this case, the act of seeking to be healed of physical ailments when the angel stirs water is a picture that shows the Jewish people who tried to receive the forgiveness of their sin-sick souls through the law. Therefore, the physically ill, such as the lame, the blind, and the skinny, are Jews suffering from various sins. It is the image of the Jews who tried to wash away their sins from the enemy law. Therefore, from a physical point of view, today's event is just a miracle of healing a 38-year-old man, but from a spiritual point of view that Jesus intended, it is an event containing the precious principle of eternal life.
So what is it? First, Jesus noticed a 38-year-old man among the many sick people by the pool of Bethesda and approached him. What, then, is the basis for reaching out to this person among many? In verse 6, when Jesus asked if you wanted to be healed, the 38-year-old man gave the same answer as in verse 7. According to verse 7, this man was a man who thought that he could never become healthy on his own in this way of jumping into the water.
But it was not that he had given up on being healthy, but that he was eagerly waiting for someone to put him in the nail first. This shows the inner condition of a person whom Jesus can reach spiritually. In other words, this person is a person who has given up the idea that he can be saved by keeping the works of the law perfectly. Just as I was waiting for someone to take the role of being the first to enter the water for me, I am waiting for someone to bear the demands and curses of the law that I have to bear. do you believe
In other words, the people Jesus can approach are those who feel the despair of being justified by the works of the law and wait for a savior. John realized that this was the first thing to tell us, and he wanted to make it known. And now this man was healed through the Lord's words to take up your bed and go. The ultimate purpose of the law is not that it is important to keep it well, but the role of the schoolteacher to meet Christ and reach salvation through it is the most important. However, the Jews at that time could not understand the purpose of the law and fell into legalism. As a result, when God came to the people of Israel in the flesh, the people of Israel persecuted through the law that God gave them the law. The Pharisees considered it a violation of the Sabbath law to take a seat on the Sabbath. Then Jesus healed the sick through faith that freed them from false legalism.
Verses 10 to 15 show another flow of faith. This man's figurative situation was that he had been healed, his sins were forgiven, and he was saved. However, the reality of this person is that only physical ailments have been healed. Now it is time to find out about this man's actual salvation.
This man was caught on the Sabbath while walking the streets while he was sick and was caught by the Jews. But the person who was healed when asked who told you to do this did not know who he was. This shows that he was not a person who received Jesus and was saved. And then some time later I met him in the temple. Then Jesus told him not to sin again, lest anything worse happen. Meeting him in the temple and telling him not to sin again, lest something worse happen, are not simple words.
This is not to be construed as speaking in terms of behavior. Because human beings are inevitably sinful. Therefore, at first glance, this means that something serious is inevitable. So, what do these words of Jesus mean? Therefore, this does not mean that we should not commit any sin through our actions, but rather that even if we do, we should become a being that does not commit a sin before God. What would be the way? It is the way to receive Christ and receive the forgiveness of all sins of the past, present, and future.
In other words, it means that you must accept Jesus and become righteous before God. Therefore, verse 15 is the answer to verse 14, and this person does not come out because he thoroughly kept the Ten Commandments, but because he preached Jesus. In other words, this is a verse that tells us that by believing in Jesus, he became a sinless being. So, did you understand this far? Now, here we can think of an important lesson. It is the fact that this sick man was healed by hearing Jesus' words, and just because he forsook the wrong Sabbath rules, he did not become a being who had the salvation of Jesus.
Meeting him in the temple is an important lesson that the true temple had not yet met Christ and was still bound by the world of the law, a brick temple. This means that I should not think of myself as a possessor of Christ just because I knew one wrong law and forsake it.
Just because I'm criticizing the legalistic church doesn't prove that I've deviated from the law. Just because he criticized the Sabbath ordinance, it was not that the sick man had Jesus. If we stopped here, we could be in a worse condition. It means going and going and not going anywhere. You have come this far because you have decided on all human relationships with people and followed only the Gospel. If that is the case, then, here too, you are not required to act while looking at people, but you are required to act in the true gospel. It means that you must check your spiritual condition through the Word. Dasarang Church has created a great biography of faith for many people. Please do not be satisfied with your coming here, and keep moving forward to become a true child of God. That is what the true Dasarang Church looks like.