Not just pathetic, it's prophetic

John 5 begins: [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.

"When you look at that the chapter introduces a rather pathetic-looking scene. That word ‘Bethesda’ means ‘the house of mercy’ in Hebrew.

"All these people have no strength or ability to help themselves," explains Richard Jordan. "The particulars are they are blind, they’re halt, they’re withered. Their eyes don’t work, they can’t walk, their limbs, their hands are withered up and they’re waiting.

"What they should be waiting for is redemption in Israel (Luke 2), but these people are waiting for the pool of water to have an angel come stir it. They’ve heard this story about that and they’re waiting for the troubling of the water.

"What all this is really is a picture of the nation Israel and the spiritual condition the nation’s in at this time.

"After this there was a feast, not of the Lord, but of who? The Jews. It’s not just a pathetic picture here; there’s a prophetic picture. It’s just an empty Jewish ceremony. It’s just outward religious observation by a rebellious, unbelieving people.

"They’ve still got the rite, the ritual, the outward. But it’s really not the Lord in it anymore. It’s theirs.

"Paul said it about himself in Galatians: [14] And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

"You’ll see Paul categorizes all these things (Philippians 3) that were just death and loss. Well, that’s where Israel is here.

"John said it. He came to His own and His own did what? They believed Him not. In the Book of John, this is the assumption from the get-go, because that’s the spiritual condition Israel is in.

"In Matthew, Mark and Luke you don’t come to this conclusion until the ends of those books. But the Book of John isn’t looking at the credentialing of the Lord; it isn’t looking at His ability to work or His connection with the Abrahamic Covenant. It’s just looking at the spiritual condition of the nation.

"In Romans 9:30-33, Paul asked the question: ‘Why did the Gentiles, who didn’t follow after the law, get things and Israel, who followed after the law and had God’s Word, why did they not get it?’ He said, ‘Because they sought it not by faith.’

"What Paul says in Romans 9 is the reason Israel missed the Messiah when He showed up is they weren’t walking by faith all along; they had long forsaken faith in God’s Word. They still had all the ceremonies; they still had God’s law.

"Here you are at the house of mercy and it’s got five porches that everybody’s laying in. Now five in the Bible is the number of death. By the way, how many books of Moses are there in the Bible? Five. The books of Moses are called the law and the law works what? Death.

"Here’s Israel sitting over here by the sheep market, which is over by the sheep gate. In Nehemiah 3 when they rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem, they rebuild the wall and the chapter starts with them rebuilding the sheep gate. Then they go around to all these other gates and finally wind up back at the sheep gate.

"It’s sort of like the Sphynx. You’ve got the head of the lady, the virgin, Virgo. And the body of the lion, Leo, and there’s the Zodiac. It starts with Virgo and ends with Leo; starts with the first coming and ends with the Second Coming.

"Well, the sheep gate starts with the rebuilding of the wall, goes all the way around until it's full-circle. The gate right before the sheep gate is finished. It’s called a Hebrew word meaning judgment.

"The names of the gates describe what they did in those. The sheep gate was where the sacrificial lambs were brought in and out and when they brought them in, they brought them to a market where they’re going to sell them for the feast in verse 1.

"Three times in the year all of the men in Israel were required to go to Jerusalem. Deuteronomy 16:

[16] Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

[17] Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee. [18] Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.

(new post tomorrow)