John 5
All through these chapters the Lord is bringing out the power that is in Him, in contrast with the means of Judaism. These means could not give life. The law could not give life. Regulations could not give life. And ordinances—helpful after there is life—nevertheless could not give life.
Whether we look at the guilt of sin, or at the power of sin, the law cannot take either away. Now this is the very thing that God has done in Christ. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us," &c. That is, Christ has died for the sin, and guilt is gone; and Christ is now my life; and over this life sin has no power. God condemned sin in the flesh. Not merely has Christ died for my past sins, but sin—my whole condition—has been met in Christ's death.
"Now there is at Jerusalem, by the sheep-market, a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 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. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years." There was the remedy; but the disease he had got hindered him from using the remedy. Now that is our case, as sinners. There is the law. If we keep it, well. But sin has taken away our power of keeping it. And you cannot help a sinful nature. The will is wrong. How can you help one whose will is wrong?
" 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?" Here the Lord brings him to the conviction of his want of power, in order to smash all hopes of getting better. The impotent man wanted to get into the pool, and this very desire made him the more miserable from the feeling that he could not go in. He must be brought to the sense of his impotency,
But the Lord is there, who gives life, and with one word the thing is done. The whole thing is changed. The paralysis is gone. He does not say, "Get first into the pool," &c.; but from His own love, and in the power. of His own word, He says, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." "And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked."
"And on the same day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the Sabbath day; it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed." They were professing to keep Sabbath. "But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Ah! says Jesus, There is no rest; God is not resting. For sin had come in. Now God cannot put up with sin. He must either sweep it all away, or work to put it away. Now this last is what God was doing. The very effect of the sin on God's heart is that He sets about working in grace to put it away. God is working,' said Jesus, and ‘I am working.' Thus I see God working for my salvation! My heart has got this principle, that the love of God is such that He could not rest because of what I was, until He had "made peace by the blood of his cross." I have no power to put myself right; but here I find One working who has power, and who has had love enough to take up the work. Now it is just because we needed it that He is working; and our sin—alas! we had spit in His face—our sin did not hinder Him. The more it came out, the more need it showed of His working. Oh this love in the Son, come down into our midst to work for our salvation! It is not that we have to take a long journey, and then when we get to the end, He will have us. No. He has taken the long journey and come to meet us just where we are.
In the verses which follow we find two things presented: first, that the Lord Jesus gives life; and, secondly, that He executes judgment. These two things are never mixed. He does not give life to judge the one to whom He has given it. "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."
Here I find the Son of God in the world. How comes He here? Because I was lost! God sent Him to give eternal life. And my sins did not hinder Him from coming. But I have not power. Well, Christ has. He has got life, and He has come to give it. The Father sent Him to give it, and that I might know the love that sent it. He tells me the truth about my sin—why I am lost, and that I have no power to get better; but He also tells me that He came " To seek and to save that which was lost."