Tag: knew

15.k. “Do you want to be healed?”

John 5:1  After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

The crippled man assumed Jesus knew how things worked at the Pool of Bethesda, and he explained to Jesus why it wasn’t possible for him to be healed. Quite naturally, the man couldn’t think of any other way for his need to be met.  The man was an interesting case of hope combined with hopelessness. He had hope, or would never have come to the Pool of Bethesda. Yet once there, he had little hope to be the favored one to win the healing that day.  “The invalid man does what we nearly all do. He limits God’s help to his own ideas and does not dare promise himself more that he conceives in his mind.” Jesus told the man to do what he could not do. Jesus challenged the man to believe Him for the impossible. It’s easy to imagine that the man’s first reaction was, I can’t do that – why even try? Yet something wonderful prompted the man to say, If this man tells me to do it, I will try. Jesus guided the man towards a response of faith.  Do you notice that the invalid did not ask any question of Jesus?  He did not say, “how am I supposed to get up and walk?”  He just did what Jesus told him to do, he got up and walked.  He believed in Jesus who spoke the words to him. Jesus did not touch him.  It was by His word the man was healed.

There is no limit to the power of Jesus Christ.  In all things, He is mightier than whatever it is we are facing.  In all things Jesus is supreme.  At His word all creation took place.  At His word nations were defeated, lions tamed, seas calmed, the sick healed, and the dead brought back to life.  It is faith in Him that we will find peace for today and hope for tomorrow.

13.s. “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Zechariah 11:4   Thus said the Lord my God: “Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”  So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep. In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter. Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

Ezekiel 22:26    Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

Ezekiel 8:18     Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”

Hebrews 10:26-31   For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,  but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.  Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.  How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?  For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

From Matthew Henry’s Bible commentary;  Christ came into this world for judgment to the Jewish church and nation, which were wretchedly corrupt and degenerate. Those have their minds woefully blinded, who do ill, and justify themselves in it; but God will not hold those guiltless who hold themselves so. How can we go to God to beg a blessing on unlawful methods of getting wealth, or to return thanks for success in them? There was a general decay of religion among them, and they regarded it not. The Good Shepherd would feed his flock, but his attention would chiefly be directed to the poor. As an emblem, the prophet seems to have taken two staves; Beauty, denoted the privileges of the Jewish nation, in their national covenant; the other he called Bands, denoting the harmony which hitherto united them as the flock of God. But they chose to cleave to false teachers. The carnal mind and the friendship of the world are enmities to God; and God hates all the workers of iniquity: it is easy to foresee what this will end in. The prophet demanded wages, or a reward, and received thirty pieces of silver. By Divine direction, he cast it to the potter, as in disdain for the smallness of the sum. This shadowed forth the bargain of Judas to betray Christ and the final method of applying it. Nothing ruins a people so certainly, as weakening the brotherhood among them. This follows the dissolving of the covenant between God and them: when sin abounds, love waxes cold, and civil contests follow. No wonder if those fall out among themselves, who have provoked God to fall out with them. Wilful contempt of Christ is the great cause of men’s ruin. And if professors rightly valued Christ, they would not contend about little matters.

Blessed who remained steadfast

Exodus 2:21   During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

Isaiah 19:20    It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the LORD because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them.

Psalms 18:6     In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.

Psalms 107:19-20    Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.  He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.

James 5:7   Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.  Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.  As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.  Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

In times of trouble, confusion, distress, anxiousness and hurt waiting seems almost impossible.  Yet it is in the impossible we see the hand of God.  We experience peace above all understanding.  We grow more in our expectant deliverance at the hand of God.  We find firm hope.

Will we always see the end of all Gods intervention?  Sometimes yes and other times – no.  Does this mean He does not or will not act in our behalf – no.  It does mean that His plans and purposes are far above our understanding.  Can we trust that He will always do His best for us – Yes.  In our trial is where trust, faith, and reliance are grown and are one of our ways of glorifying and honoring God.

Note  Dan 3:16  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.  If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.  But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Note what Jesus said in Luke 22:42  “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

In all things we must leave room for God’s will, purpose, and plans.  His ways are not our ways.  His thoughts are not our thoughts.

God is sovereign, all powerful, and steadfast in His love for us.  We can trust that He will work all things together for the good of them called by His name.

not mine but your will be done

John 18:1  When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.  Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.  So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.  Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.   When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.  So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”   Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.”  This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.”  Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)  So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

Psalms 75:8     For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

Matthew 20:22    Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.”

Matthew 26:39    And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Matthew 26:42     Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

Hebrews 12:2    looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Romans 8:15     For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,  and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

I am continually thinking about “for the joy set before Him endured the cross“.  Many thoughts come to mind.  His love for the Father.  His love for us.  His obedience.  His want to do the will of God.  His human struggle.  Can you imagine what this must have been like, to know you could call down 10,000 angels and never have to experience this suffering.  But rather than choose this your eyes are focused on serving God and doing His will above self.  Numerous scripture tells us to seek His will for our life and to live in unity, allowing ourselves to be wronged so that the grace of God may be seen in and through our reflection of His Son.  At a time we celebrate the birth of Jesus with joy and thankfulness it is good to remember His faithfulness, steadfast love, and sacrifice to redeem us from our sin.