Continuing with the Gospel of John | thebereancall.org

Continuing with the Gospel of John

May 29, 2001
Download

T. A. McMahon:

We’re going through the gospel of John and right now we’re in John:5:1.Dave, again this is our segment in which we encourage people to read the scriptures and if they haven’t begun to read the scriptures, we want them to start with—well, it’s just a suggestion—they can start anywhere they want.But we think it would be helpful if they began with the gospel of John.Because that’s what deals with the deity of Christ; who Jesus is; what must I do to be saved and there are many, many other chapters and books and verses and so on, but this would be a good place to start.So John:5:1, “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.”Now Dave let me stop there because there is a lot going on there.But this seems strange.This seems like—you know an angel comes down and troubles the water and so on—this seems—

Dave:

Well John doesn’t say this was a myth.Apparently this was something that God was doing for his people and they certainly believed it and there was a multitude of people around there watching for their opportunity to get in.Now it begins of course, “There was a feast of the Jews….”You know, I don’t want to try to draw too much from that, but I think it indicates that God was not in this anymore.This wasn’t the Feast of Jehovah, that’s what they’re called in the Old Testament—the seven feasts of Jehovah.It had deteriorated to a feast of the Jews.As Jesus said in Matthew 15, the rabbis had voided the word of God with their tradition.They had introduced new tradition that contradicted the Word of God and perverted it and so forth.

Tom:

So Dave, you don’t think that Jesus going up to Jerusalem then is sort of fulfilling the law or honoring this feast day?Or was it because this is where the crowds were drawn and he wanted to address the multitudes?

Dave:

It doesn’t tell us that he had any participation in the feast.Now in chapter 7 you get into a feast, (John:7:37) “In the last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried…” and so forth.I am not certain whether that was the same feast, but Jesus went up not to establish his blessing upon this feast, but to bring his teaching and his blessing to the people that were there.Now again, we were just in—

Tom:

This is the Word Incarnate going to present The Truth that will set people free.

Dave:

Right, right.Ruth and I were just in Jerusalem, what, wow, time flies, must be a month ago now.Part of what we did was go to the Temple Institute and they have a model there, beautiful model of Herod’s temple.

Tom:

Now explain the Temple Institute—this is an organization—

Dave:

Right, it is an organization of Orthodox Jews and they are desperate to get this temple rebuilt for many reasons.For example, Malachi:3:1 says, “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.”So it would seem that you need to have the temple there for the Messiah to come.But of course the Messiah has already come.In fact it said after the Messiah came, the temple and the city would be destroyed.And it gave you the very day that the Messiah would come, 69 weeks of years after the command to rebuild Jerusalem which Nehemiah received under Artaxerxes on Nisan 1st, 45 B. C. So 69 weeks of years, 483 years after that brings us to (I believe) June 6, 32 A.D., other people say no it was 31, some people say it was 33, but it certainly isn’t the year 2001.The Messiah already came and in fact it said he would be cut off, he would be killed, and then the city and sanctuary would be destroyed.But the temple faithful, they are called, that have this Temple Institute, they are determined.The have the instruments; they have the robes for the priests; they are really ready to go.They have the cornerstone; they could put up the temple in a very short time.By the way, if the Antichrist, who will be the one, by the way, who will give them the authority to do this, Daniel:9:27 makes that very clear.He makes a covenant for one week, that’s seven years and in the midst of the week he breaks the covenant and causes the sacrifice and oblation to cease.Therefore he must have been the one who gave them the right.This covenant authorized them to rebuild the temple and reinstitute the sacrifices, otherwise he wouldn’t be breaking this covenant by stopping that.Now so they are concerned.They want to have the temple even though they have it backwards, they don’t realize the Messiah already came, was cut off, was killed for his people [and that] he’s coming again, but as I was saying, one of the first things that I noticed of the model, beautiful model of Herod’s temple—it was there when Jesus was here.In fact it had to be when the Messiah came, we quoted Malachi:3:1.It had steps going up to the altar, burnt offering, and to the laver and so forth.And then there were steps that went up to the altar inside, but Exodus 20 God says you will not go up by steps to my altar.So I am sure Herod thought he was doing a good job you know, and elevating this and building it up and in every Catholic cathedral that I’ve been in they have steps that go up to the altar.

Tom:

Yes, and as an altar boy I can tell you that.

Dave:

Absolutely forbidden and that command was violated there in this temple.But anyway the temple faithful, they are concerned, they are going to rebuild it, they are very serious about this.

Tom:

Yes, and again this is a fulfillment of prophecy.But Dave, getting on to this man who was next to the pool.Seems he had a problem and that’s why I wonder about this.Is it indeed not just a tradition or a story, but is it really efficacious, or was it efficacious at the time?Because this man had a problem.He couldn’t get himself to the—

Dave:

Right, why don’t you go on and read those—let me read those verses.

Tom:

Go ahead.

Dave:

(John:5:5) “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.”So apparently Tom this doesn’t say this was a tradition, it doesn’t say it was a myth.Apparently it was something; you know God did many miraculous things.

Tom:

Jesus certainly doesn’t say that to him.

Dave:

No, God did many miraculous things for his chosen people, Israel and this apparently was something unusual that God was doing for them.Somebody when he got into the pool must have been healed.Tradition had to have some factual basis.But this man’s problem is he can’t get in fast enough.Other people always beat him to it and he’s hoping.But Tom it’s a picture of how hopeless it is.Even if you could be healed of every disease, we die eventually of old age.Our hope is not in this world, not in restoring these bodies, although we have cryogenics, the idea that you can now clone and all kinds of ways that—people think they are going to freeze their brains and they think their soul is in their brain or whatever.

Tom:

Or extend their life in some way.

Dave:

Yes, we are going to extend our lives and so forth.But that’s not what God has in mind.He has something better in mind and the judgment of death is upon all of us, but this man’s whole hope, his whole life was if he could just be restored, but it was a vain dream.It was never going to happen because he was so impotent he couldn’t move fast enough.Somebody else with maybe a lesser ailment or maybe a different kind of ailment that didn’t inhibit them physically always got in before he did.So apparently he had seen this happen a number of times as well, because he said that somebody always beat him to it.Well the reaction of Jesus is found in verse 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.”Now this is not a Benny Hinn, or Oral Roberts or some supposed healer trying to heal somebody, you know?Trying, and trying and trying and nothing really happens.This is Jesus.When he says rise, take up your bed and walk, the man takes up his bed.He is instantly healed.We find no idea in the scripture that you have to confess positively your healing and on and on and so forth.

Tom:

[There’s] no methodologies, no systems, no—

Dave:

Yes, when Jesus does it, it is miraculous and it lasts.Well, it’s the Sabbath and we’re not going to have time to get into that, but that’s going to cause real problems for Jesus because he’s telling a man to carry his bed on the Sabbath when you are not supposed to do that sort of thing.

Tom:

Yes, we’ll pick up with this next time.

Program Number: 
0561d

Copyright © The Berean Call 2016. All rights Reserved.  Click here for copyright permissions.