In this chapter we have the power of Christ to give life; and further, the responsibility of man to receive Christ, in order to have life.
There remained still in Israel some remnant of blessing, according to the 103rd Psalm, “Who healeth all thy diseases.” The Pool of Bethesda was a proof of this. It was a testimony to the grace and to the power of God for Israel, in its state of ruin. This pool is a figure of the law; it was indeed a means of recovery, but required strength in the man to throw himself in. And the man was there for many years with disease, which had taken the strength from him, so that this pool for him was a useless remedy. Such is the case of a man in the face of the law. But Jesus comes and brings strength with him. He has no need of the pool, He is the Maker of everything. Here the instruction goes no further with the infirmity of the man, but we know from elsewhere, that we were not only diseased, but also dead and rebellious. With all this Christ has done everything that was needful for us.
This day was the Sabbath, and the Jews accuse Him of having worked this on the Sabbath day. But the answer of Jesus is most precious for us sinners. How can I and my Father have rest, while man is in misery and in sin? No; we cannot rest, because we love man. In these words we also see the oneness of Jesus with the Father. Man is in misery and without strength; he cannot, and has not to work for his salvation. God it is who works. Jesus does not allow Himself to be moved from His path of love because of the hatred of man. He works, and will work, until He has finished the work. When the Christian has life, he can and ought to work; but before that he cannot, and all he does is useless.
Our first day of the week, the Lord’s day, is very different from the Sabbath; it is the spiritual rest with which we begin, after that the work is finished, and it is the figure of the rest eternal, but in its heavenly part; while the Jewish Sabbath is a figure of the millennial rest on earth.
At verses 21, 22 we have two modes whereby Jesus is honored. The Lord Jesus, coming into this world, abased Himself always lower and lower. First, He laid aside his glory and became a man. Then He was an obedient man, even into death; and, lastly, to that of the cross, the most infamous death; so that a Roman writer has said that the word cross should never be found in the same sentence with ‘a Roman citizen. Thus, from the highest glory He descended to the most infamous humiliation; and therefore God has highly exalted Him, as man, above every creature, so that every knee shall bow before Him. This truth we have elsewhere.
He is honored by those whom He has quickened. All those whom He has quickened, truly converted, honor him in this world, and their desire is to honor Him always more. This is the first way in which Jesus is honored; the second will be in the judgment that has been committed to Him.
As to the quickening, this He does in company with the Father, but as to the judgment the Father has committed it to Jesus, in order that by it He may be honored by the wicked—by all those who in this world would not honor Him. Thus both good and bad must know Him; the first now, the others afterward, at the judgment. This is a sweet thing for the believer, a terrible thing for the world. Let the reader ask himself whether he belongs to the life or to the judgment.
(To be continued.)