Ruins of the Pool of Bethesda
The Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem appears only once in Scripture, in John 5. There we read of a large crowd of sick and disabled people, who gathered in hopes of supernatural healing through the waters of the pool. Our Lord focused His attention on one man who had been crippled for thirty-eight years, and asked him this surprising question, “Wilt thou be made whole?” (Do you choose to become healthy?) The man did not directly answer the question, but instead explained why he could not get into the pool in time to be healed. Christ then simply commanded him, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” By the mere power of Christ’s word, the crippled man got up and walked away with his bed (John 5:1–9).
O, the power of Jesus Christ! He is God. He shares in the same divine power as the Father, for they do all their works together (John 5:19–20). One day, by the same power He used to raise up this crippled man, Christ will raise the dead to life by the mere authority of His voice (John 5:28–29). All the billions of people who have lived and died on this planet will stand before Christ, and receive His holy judgment, either to life or damnation.
We need to have eternity stamped on our eyes. We must not rest in physical blessings and answered prayers about jobs or health or family. All of Christ’s works point us beyond this age, to consider whether Christ has healed not just our bodies, but our souls with eternal life.
The sad truth of the Pool of Bethesda is that after Jesus healed the crippled man, the Lord met him again and had to warn him, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee” (John 5:14). Despite all that Christ had done for him, the man had not repented of sin. He was in danger of a punishment far worse than a lifetime of disability, the punishment of the fire of hell. And how did the man respond to Christ’s warning? He betrayed Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders, turning Him in as a sabbath-breaker so that they sought to kill Jesus (John 5:15–16). The man Jesus healed, only hated Jesus when confronted with his sin.
Even if Christ has miraculously healed your body, that is no substitute for the miracle of healing your soul. Christ says to your soul, “Wilt thou be made whole?” If we would hope to participate in the resurrection unto life, then we must first be raised from spiritual death. The voice of Jesus is speaking and giving life through His Word today. Christ said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).
