Morning Light – John 5 Part 1

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John Chapter 5 Part 1 How to Provoke a Suddenly in Your Life! In part 1 of John 5, Jesus has an encounter with a man who as a result is IMMEDIATELY HEALED when all around him are people who have been waiting for long days and months, receiving nothing. Are you tired of waiting? Are you ready for your suddenly? Your long wait is over. Your visitation is at hand and this teaching today will move you to a new place of immediacy with God.
Today: [John 5:1-23] A Type of the Church – Blind, Halt, Withered and Waiting:
[Jhn 5:1-23 KJV] 1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep [market] a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 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. 5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. 6 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? 7 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. 8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. 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. 11 He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. 12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? 13 And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in [that] place. 14 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. 15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. 16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. 17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 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. 19 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. 20 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. 21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth [them]; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. 22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: 23 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.
In John 4 we saw Jesus leave Judea because there was gossip about the fact that His followers were more in number than the followers of John the Baptist. Now Jesus at the time of the feast returns to Judea and makes His way to past the sheep market where nearby there is a pool called Bethesda with five porches. At this pool there are always found a great multitude of impotent folk, blind, halt, withered and waiting for an annual visit of an angel. The angel would come and trouble the water and the first person in the water would be miraculously healed, while all the rest, moving too slowly would only have to drag themselves out of the pool, remaining in their diseased state.
Can you imagine the disciples of Jesus, that numbered the 12 and then also the 70, who accompanied Him everywhere? They must have been challenged to keep up with Him and the mysterious, inscrutable strategy that He is pursuing. First He shows up at Jerusalem and stirs up the people by turning over the tables of the money changers. Then He leaves and trawls through the region of the Jordan, gaining more followers from the only ministry that supported Him. Was He sheep-stealing from John the Baptist? Then when the gossip mill gets going full steam, He heads back to Galilee and on the way has a questionable interlude with a woman of Samaria whose reputation was scandalous even among her own people. Do you think this illogical trajectory Jesus is following raised any eyebrows among His followers? Then as soon as they are safely ensconced in Galilee, Jesus opens His Hotel.com app on His cell phone and books lodging back in Jerusalem and off they go! Do you think this ever wearied the 12, or the 70? By this time, Jesus’ natural brother, James was among the 70 and might have thought twice about it. After all when Jesus was in Cana James was with Jesus’ other siblings and Mary when they said He was beside Himself and wanted to take Him by force back to Galilee. James as one of the 70, was certainly committed but there must have been a thin tolerance between them, after all, James wasn’t even in the inner circle!
The narrative of Part 1 of John 5 is filled with metaphor pointing to the church. It is a scenario set up by God Himself years before by sending an angel annually on just one day out of the year to heal one person out of a multitude and leave 1000’s disappointed. Do you think God was just taunting these people? Or was He setting the stage for a message that would be conveyed by the actions of Jesus this day?
Notice that Jesus comes by way of the sheep market? Are God’s people not the sheep of His hand? When Jesus ascended up after His resurrection, He appointed one of the 5 ministries to the church to be named as PASTOR, which definitely set us as believers as the flock of God. Jesus is the head shepherd and our pastors are under-shepherds under Him, or at least that is the way it is supposed to be. What does the sheep market speak to you of? Have you ever looked out at the sea of faces in some of the megachurch congregations and thought “my what a huge sheep shed!” In the business side of the church, the sheep, you and I are the commodity that is held at a premium and sought often at any cost. At what point does the marketplace atmosphere of modern capitalism that has invaded the church at times intersect with God’s plan? Let us consider Bethesda:
The name Bethesda means “house of kindness”. Isn’t that an odd name for a place where 1000’s of people were deliberately disappointed by not being the ONE person who would get healed ONCE a year? Does that sound like KINDNESS to you? Perhaps God called it kindness because it wasn’t His heart of kindness that is being portrayed but the kindness of the administrators of the SHEEP MARKET mentality, the SHEEP SHED attitude that pervades the church at times.
It is interesting that what you find here at Bethesda reflects what you see in church culture. At Bethesda, there are five porches. What does that speak to you of? This great multitude of hurting people are laying around a pool, languishing on a foundation made up of FIVE PORCHES. What does the number 5 represent in connection with the administration of the church? Jesus gave us 5 ministries – apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastors, and teachers. They are there in type and shadow in proximity to and in support of a multitude of people BLIND, HALT, WITHERED AND WAITING. What does that communicate to us?
Blind Christians – unable to see past their own self-interests into the deeper things of God.
Halt Christians – longing to follow the things of the Spirit but sadly, so many just say “pastor, I just can’t walk the walk…”
Withered Christians – Are you a withered Christian? This is an interesting word. It means “scorched”. How many have said “I’m burnt, brother! I’ve been “church hurt! Twice burned, once smart! I will never trust a preacher again!” Is this you? Do you know anyone like this?
Waiting Christians – Waiting for the rapture. Waiting for their ship to come in. Waiting on the Iraqi Dinar to revalue. It will all be better after a while! We will understand it better by and by! Is this you? How’s that working for you?
What are we waiting on? Every one of those people would tell you – they are WAITING ON A MOVE. Among those that believe in the 5-fold ministry, those who believe in what we call “the fullness of the Spirit” that is the paradigm. We look back on past moves of God and pine for the days of signs and wonders, we look forward to the days ahead, knowing that God’s word surely promises that ONE DAY the waters – will be troubled and SOMETHING NEW will happen.
The problem with this paradigm is when the move comes – the first one in gets healed but EVERYBODY ELSE JUST GETS WET! What does the water represent? Eph. 5 speaks of the water of the word. The water that is troubled is the doctrine that comes in the aftermath of a move of God. Isn’t this the way it happens. Those that were at Azusa Street when it broke out were first partakers of a world-shaking revival. Everybody else that showed up just got a Sunday school lesson. How many thousands since then have been given PENTECOSTAL DOCTRINE more than they have experienced PENTECOSTAL POWER. Frank Bartleman was a newspaperman who was at Azusa Street when it broke out. He made the observation of the diminishing returns of the revival in the words “when they put the sign up that read “Apostolic Faith Mission” – revival was over! The same has been the sad experience of every major move of God since then. Where is the Charismatic outpouring of the 60’s? Gone! Where are the Healing Revivals of the 50’s? A dim memory. What about Lakeland, Pensacola, Smithton or Toronto? All gone – and in their place little more than a testimony and an orientation packet filled with teaching and anecdotes but the power is gone, my brothers and sisters. Aren’t you tired of showing up a day late and a dollar short for the move of God?
Jesus shows us the answer in this chapter. In verses 5-6 Jesus comes in and encounters a man who has been in this “move” for 38 years. If you understand the number 38 it means “conformity to that which has been rejected”. This man had been getting with the plan for 38 years. He had been to all the meetings. He had heard about gold teeth being filled, and gold dust, and orbs. He had all the DVD’s, CD’s, cassette tapes, even the 8-tracks and the LP’s of revival accounts but He was nothing better. Thank God for Jesus!
Jesus comes up to this pitiful man who has spent his whole life waiting on a move and was nothing better. He isn’t getting a MOVE but he IS getting a VISITATION! When Jesus sees the man He asks Him a question. Did you know that Jesus sees you? He sees that you have some blindness in your spiritual sight. He sees that there are things in God that you just can’t walk out. He sees that you are withered, that you have been burnt and church hurt. What is the answer? He asks the man a question that He is asking us:
Will you be made whole?
In other words, how would you like to have what 1000’s of people around you have been waiting for years to experience and only gone away disappointed. The man can you imagine how he answers? He is being invited to get on the inside track for his miracle! He no doubt answers YES! But there is a problem he tells Jesus. He has NO MAN! What do you mean? What about these 5 porches. Yes, I have heard all about apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher but after buying all their teaching series I am not any closer to getting my miracle! Jesus says NO PROBLEM! Rise up and walk! In other words – Jesus INVITES the man to WALK INTO what everyone else is WAITING FOR!
What happens next? He got a SUDDENLY. He got an IMMEDIATELY! He got his miracle! Can you imagine all the rest of the sick folk? They probably saw this guy and thought “that’s not fair!!!” I believe if they had only laid hold on that faith command that Jesus gave the ONE MAN every one of them would have been instantaneously healed. Then there was the Pharisees. They didn’t like how it was done. They say in effect “Jesus we don’t have a problem with WHAT YOU DID but we have a problem with the timing!” That isn’t supposed to be done. When you are dealing with leaders who are preoccupied with do you have a badge, if not then don’t try to minister to someone? We don’t want any parking lot prophets, etc., etc. Let me tell you something – this entire SCENE was one big parking lot of hurting people and that constitutes Jesus as the original PARKING LOT PROPHET!
This sets the scene for the Pharisees and Saduccees to no more pretend that they were tolerating Jesus. Listen – when you rise, take up your bed and walk – start walking in what others are waiting for, the person that questions and gets upset is channeling their inner Pharisee and they will persecute you if you were JESUS HIMSELF they will persecute you because they will not tolerate anything they are not in control of.
Finally, what was the secret of what happened here? How could Jesus cut crosswise over 100’s of years of religious tradition and appropriate for Himself and for this impotent man a level of the miraculous that is hardly heard of even in our enlightened day? In v. 19 we see the answer. In verse 19 we see what it takes not just to wait on a suddenly but to activate an immediately. Listen – if you are WAITING ON A SUDDENLY then it ISN’T SUDDEN! What is the answer?
Jesus gives the simple reply and what He says is something I got hold over years ago and to the degree I have lived my life by that understanding I have seen everything I have said or done become as effective as if Jesus said it or did it:
v. 19: The Son can do nothing of Himself but what he sees the Father do: for what things soever he does, these also doth the Son also…
Learn to ONLY DO what you see the Father do. If you don’t know where to start then I suggest you get in the life of someone who does NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES if you ever hope to walk into what others have waited for years in vain. Are you ready! Then stand up. Stand up on your feet and start taking responsibility for your own walk with God. Stop reclining in impotence on the pastor, the prophet, the evangelist, the teacher, the apostle and lay hold on the VISITATION of Jesus on the inside of you and you will never again have to spend ONE DAY OF YOUR LIFE waiting on a move that may never come and if it does you may not get there in time to benefit from it. This is your day!