Gospel Light Christian Church Thru-The-Bible Series (2.3)

The Gospel Of John

John 4:43-54, 5:1-16 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

v.44 A prophet hath no honour in his own country [1], because man's envious nature makes it very difficult for him to accept the elevation of a close associate [2].

v.45 The Galileans received Him as a miracle-maker [3].

The Healing of a Nobleman’s Son

v.46 This nobleman was probably an officer in the court of King Herod Antipas. He had probably attended the Passover and seen Jesus' miracles. [4]

v.47 Nothing less that the impending death of his son would have led this nobleman to come to Jesus.

v.48 Probably Jesus through His omniscience knew that this nobleman had seen His miracles in Jerusalem, and yet lacked the faith to believe that He could heal his son until he had personally seen the cure. Therefore, Jesus rebukes him "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe"

v.49 In spite of Jesus' rebuke, he was still unable to believe that Jesus could heal someone sixteen miles away.

v.50 Jesus tells him to go without Him, because He could cure His son by His word: "thy son liveth." The man believed the word Jesus had spoken, and went. True faith believes the Word which God has spoken – without having to see the proof.

v.51 The servants must have noticed the boy's miraculous recovery, and ran off to inform their master.

v.53 He told them about Jesus, and his whole house believed [5]. His son's sickness turned out to be the greatest blessing for his family.


John 5:1-16 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

The Healing At Bethesda [6]

v.3 This great multitude of impotent folk [7] (ie. diseased, crippled) should remind us of the effects of sin, because the root-cause of all sickness is sin.

v.5 This man is a picture of misery and hopelessness. His misery and hopelessness is similar to that of unsaved people.

v.6 "Wilt thou be made whole'?" is the question that Jesus is addressing to all of us.  He is the One that seeks us, not we that seek Him. Though it is obvious that the man desired to be cured.  Jesus wanted the man himself to acknowledge his need. We must be conscious of our need before we will seek.

v.7 This poor helpless man without a single friend to help him, describes this selfish world that has no time for the poor and needy. He was so near to the cure for his thirty-eight year old disease, yet no one bothered to lead him to the cure. Similarly, so many miserable lives are waiting to be led to the Lord for salvation, but there are none to give the Gospel.

v.8 Jesus works by His Word. He created the world by His Word. He creates new life in us by His Word. He heals our misconceptions and doubts by His Word.

v.9 Jesus' miracles were instantaneous (not gradual) and total because they are a reflection of the way our sins are forgiven when we receive Him as our Saviour.

v.10 To forbid a man to carry his merchandise to do business on the Sabbath [8] was good but to forbid this man to carry his bed [9] and leave the great multitude of sick people is unmerciful stupidity.

v.11 The Jews were so concerned about keeping the Sabbath that they had forgotten the miracle. The man reminds them that Jesus had done a wonderful miracle in making him "whole". He was sure that one who did such a miraculous and merciful act would not command him to do something wrong.

v.12 The Jewish authorities were more concerned about showing their authority and ''holiness" than rejoicing over a great act of mercy. Christian deeds must always be accompanied with mercy.

v.13 Jesus had quietly conveyed himself away from the multitude to avoid unnecessary crowds. Jesus' miracles were primarily to authenticate His Messiahship, not for attracting huge crowds of curious people.

v.14 This warning of Jesus does not necessarily mean that the man's paralysis had been caused by a particular sin (JOH 9:3), and that if he committed that sin again he would get a worse illness. Jesus had so far healed his physical state only. So Jesus now ministers to his spiritual state by telling him that if .he did not turn from his sin unto salvation, a worse thing would come unto him (ie, eternal damnation).

v.15 We are not sure of the man's motive for telling the Jewish authorities. He probably had been brought up to honour the priests and was obeying their request to tell them the identity of his healer, without realising how wicked they were [10].


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Footnotes

[1] Jesus went to Galilee because He knew that He would not be honoured there and therefore would not incur the wrath of the Pharisee (see v.1).

[2] v.43 This verse connects with verse 3. The intervening verses (i.e. verses 4-42) describe the unexpected Samaritan event.

[3] This is the beginning of the Great Galilean Ministry which lasted sixteen months (ie, December of year 27 to April of year 29). Large portions of Matthew (4:12-15:20), Mark (1:14-7:23) and Luke (Luke 4:14-9:17) are devoted to this Galilean Ministry, whereas only this portion of John 4 and John 6 record events of this ministry. John's Gospel records mostly events in and around Jerusalem.

[4] Capernaum was about sixteen miles from Cana.

[5] His faith had progressed gradually from faith in Jesus as a mere miracle worker, to faith in Jesus' word, to faith in Jesus' person, to faith to evangelise for Him.

[6] v.l We are not told which religious feast this was. Jesus faithfully obeyed the law by attending all the feasts, though the priests had often abused the purpose of these feasts. The unworthiness of ministers is not a reason to neglect the things of God.

v.2 The "sheep market" is probably the sheep-gate, which was the gate through which sheep were brought into Jerusalem for the Temple sacrifices (NEH 3:1).

"Bethesda" means house of pity or mercy.

"Porches" are areas that are opened on one side to the air, but covered overhead.

[7] Few miracles are described in John's Gospel. It appears that at certain times there was a moving of the water in the pool, signalling that there was a miraculous healing to be obtained at that time.

v.4 Some people deny that an angel literally went into the pool, but believe that the spring at the bottom of the pool became more active occasionally causing the troubling of the water. However, there is no need to deny the fact that an angel actually troubled the water to signal the availability of a miraculous cure. There immediately followed a chaotic scramble to enter the pool first.

[8] The Jews had perverted the purpose of the Sabbath. God meant it to be a day of "rest" ("Sabbath" means  “intermission") from six days of labour. It was to be a day to remember God, not a day of idleness. The Jews considered the keeping of the Sabbath as a way to earn merit for salvation!

[9] "Bed" is the thin mat of the poor.

[10] v.16 The verbs in this verse are all in the imperfect tense, therefore, this verse should read "The Jews from this time began to persecute Jesus, and were always seeking to slay Him because He made a habit of doing these things on the Sabbath."