JOHN 5
OPENS WITH A HEALING AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA
Verses 1-4 tells us The pool of Bethesda.
"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, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.
A feast of the Jews...
We do NOT know what feast this was, but it was probably one of the major THREE feasts in which attendance was required.
A pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda...
This pool has been excavated in the area just north of the temple mount, and found to have five porches, just as John says. It is also right next to a church from the crusader period that has fabulous acoustics.
For an angel went down … whoever stepped in first … was made well...
Perhaps this hope of healing was real, and God honored a release of faith. Or, as we now have more of the original ancient manuscripts of the New Testament. We have learned that this is section is NOT PRESENT in the original manuscripts of John. That is was later ADDED by a scribe, who most PROBABLY knew of the superstitions of this pool and the hopeful legend of that day that a GREAT multitude of sick people believed in.
WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THERE ARE MANY UNUSUAL OCCASIONS OF HEALING IN THE BIBLE.
1. The purified pot of stew (2 Kings 4:38-41)
2. The healing of Naaman by washing in the Jordan River (2 Kings 5:10-14)
3. The healing of the man who touched the bones of Elisha (2 Kings 13:20-21)
4. Healing of those who have the shadow of Peter upon them (Acts 5:14-16)
5. The healing of those who have Paul's handkerchiefs upon them (Acts 19:11-12)
WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THAT God can and does do things in unexpected ways. But something is NOT necessarily from God simply because it is unexpected or unusual.
Verses 5-6 tells us Jesus questions a lame man.
"Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"
Do you want to be made well?
His question may seem rhetorical, but Jesus knew that NOT every sick person WANTS to be healed, and then that some are so discouraged that they put away all hope. Jesus is dealing with a man who may have his heart withered as well as his legs. Jesus builds the faith of this man.
WHY WOULD ANYONE WISH TO REMAIN ILL?
IN THAT DAY AND TIME, THE LAME, THE ILL, AND THE SICK WERE ALLOWED TO BEG AT THE CHURCHES AND AT THE GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, AND AT THE MARKET SQUARES.
THEN AND NOW, SOME PEOPLE SPEND THEIR LIVES LIVING OFF OF OTHERS AND REFUSE HELP AND HEALING...CONVERSELY SOME REMAIN HOMELESS AND HELPLESS AND ILL IN DESPAIR AND WITHOUT HOPE.
BUT I WATCHED ONE INVESTIGATIVE REPORT WHERE THEY WERE DOING A STORY ON THE HOMELESS, THE HELPLESS, AND THE INDIGENT IN NEW YORK CITY. AND AS IT HAPPENED THE NEWS CREW HAD DONE AN INTERVIEW EARLIER IN THE DAY WITH A VERY WELL KNOWN AND LONG TIME CRIPPLED FILTHY BEGGAR...AND THEY RETURNED LATER IN THE DAY, AND TURNED THE CORNER, JUST IN TIME TO SEE THIS "SUPPOSE" HOMELESS CRIPPLED BEGGAR, PICK UP HIS WHEELED CART, AND PUT IT IN THE TRUNK OF A VERY NICE NEW CAR AND THEN WALK BACK TO THE PASSENGER DOOR AND GET IT AS IT DROVE AWAY. FURTHER INVESTIGATION, SHOWED THIS PROFESSIONAL BEGGAR TO BE VERY WELL OFF AND NOT CRIPPLED AND NOT HOMELESS AND NOT DESTITUTE.
AND SO IT WAS IN JESUS DAY...WE NOTICE, JUST AS HERE, THAT JESUS ASKED THE LAME MAN IF HE WANTED TO BE MADE WELL.
SOME PEOPLE WHO HAD BEEN BLIND, LAME, AND ILL DID NOT WANT TO BE HEALED, BECAUSE FOR JESUS TO DO SO, MEANT THAT THEY WOULD BECOME RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN LIVES. THEY COULD NO LONGER DEPEND ON FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND THE KINDNESS OF OTHERS TO PROVIDE FOR THEM, GIVE TO THEM, AND SUSTAIN THEM. THEY WOULD NO LONGER BE ALLOWED TO SIT AND BEG AT THE MARKET, THE COURTS, AND THE CHURCHES AND THEY WOULD BE LEFT TO WORK AND CARE AND PROVIDE FOR THEMSELVES OR STARVE.
Do you want to be made well...
Jesus asked this same kind question on THREE other occasions.
1. He asked it when John and James asked, through their mother, to be "top guys" in Jesus' administration (Matthew 20:21, Mark 10:36);
2. He asked it when two blind men cried out to be healed (Matthew 20:32, Mark 10:51, Luke 18:41).
3. He asked it when Jesus invited His disciples to come follow Him (John 1:38).
This is an entirely fair question. So much of our petition and intercession before God is hampered because we have so little idea of what we really want.
It is reasonable to wonder if this man really wanted to be healed. One commentator points out: "An eastern beggar often loses a good living by being cured of his disease."
As bad as our current situation is, at least we are familiar with it. We know it. It WILL NOT surprise us. We can be more comfortable in our present misery than taking the steps we need to be free.
For example, there are some women who on the one hand desperately want their husbands to be saved - yet on the other hand, they dread the idea because they know it would bring so many changes into their relationship.
In 1993, it was reported that a small order of Franciscan nuns in Prague decided to subsidize their convent by opening the downstairs of their facility - formerly an underground detention center used by the Communists to imprison and torture their enemies - as a hotel. For $33 a night, you could stay in a former prison cell. The proprietors say they try to achieve a middle ground between comfort and authenticity in the "hotel. " Many people are really looking for just that - a comfortable prison cell.
Verses 7-9 tells us The man replies and Jesus heals him.
"The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me. " Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk. " And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath."
Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool...
The man's answer is basically, "Yes, I want to be made well, but I do NOT see how this can happen."
CALVIN speaks well of his response: "The sick 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."
J. B. Phillips wrote a famous book about this problem, titled Your God is too Small. For many of us, we create a small God in our heads a God who is limited by whatever "box" we try to put God into.
Rise, take up your bed and walk...
In this miracle, Jesus does it all. In this case, He could not say to this man what He said on some other occasions: your faith has made you whole (Matthew 9:22), because Jesus took the initiative. This shows us that the New Testament describes many different ways people MAY be healed.
1. The elders of the church can anoint someone with oil, pray for them, and they MAY be healed (James 5:14-16).
2. God's people can lay hands on each other in prayer, ask God for healing, and people MAY be healed (Mark 16:17-18).
3. God MAY grant someone a gift of healing - either that they are directly healed, or have the power to minister healing to another as the Holy Spirit wills it. (1 Corinthians 12:9).
4. God may grant healing in response to the faith of the person who desires to be healed (Matthew 9:22).
5. God may grant healing in response to the faith of another on behalf of the person who is healed (Mark 2:4-5, Matthew 8:13).
6. God may heal through medical treatment (1 Timothy 5:23, James 5:14 with Luke 10:34).
But in this case, NONE of the above methods involving human participation are used. Sometimes God just sovereignly heals. He takes the initiative, He does the work.
Why did Jesus choose this man to heal?
Why did Jesus not heal the others there who were sick or crippled?
God's ways in such matters are often past our finding out, but perhaps Jesus used a REAL man and a REAL healing to paint a picture for us. From the days of the early church, some Christians saw an allegorical purpose in this account. In the thinking of some Christians:
1. The man represents Israel
2. The five porches represent the law
3. The 38 years represent the time of Israel's wilderness wanderings
4. The waters represent baptism
In this thinking, the allegory might go like this: "All Israel waited for the Messiah, amidst the law. They were afflicted for thirty-eight years and could not enter the Promised Land. With the waters of baptism nearby, Jesus came and brought salvation to Israel."
DID YOU KNOW...In early Christian art, a man emerging from baptism was often shown carrying a bed on his back.
Verses 10-13 tells us The Jews ignore the miracle and take offense because Jesus healed on the Sabbath.
"The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed. " He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk. '" Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place."
The Jews therefore said...
Throughout his gospel, John uses the term "the Jews" in the sense of the Jewish leaders, NOT every Jew in Jerusalem.
It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed...
Carrying a bed (actually a sleeping-mat or a bedroll) was in fact a violation of the rabbis' interpretation of the commandment against doing work or business on the Sabbath. It was not a breaking of God's law of the Sabbath, but BREAKING THE RABBI'S ALTERED, the human interpretation of God's law.
DID YOU KNOW...This devotion to the rabbis' interpretation of the Sabbath law still goes on today.
An April, 1992 news item: Tenants let three apartments in an Orthodox neighborhood in Israel burn to the ground while they asked a rabbi whether a telephone call to the fire department on the Sabbath would violate Jewish law. Observant Jews are forbidden to use the phone on the Sabbath, because doing so would break an electrical current, which is considered a form of work. In the half-hour it took the rabbi to decide "yes," the fire spread to two neighboring apartments.
Who is the Man who said to you, "Take up your bed and walk"?
YOU NOTICE, The Jewish leaders did NOT want to know who healed the crippled man. THEY DID NOT CARE THAT THE CRIPPLED MAN HAD BEEN HEALED. THEY WERE ANGRY AND OFFENEDED THAT ANYONE WOULD TELL HIM TO BREAK THEIR TWISTED IDEAS OF THE LAW AGAINST THEM AND ON THE SABBATH DAY.
Verses 14-15 tells us Jesus WARNS the healed man of a GREATER danger.
"Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you. " The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Afterward Jesus found him...
WHY?
Jesus found him because He was concerned for his spiritual health (sin no more lest a worse thing come upon you), not just his physical health. Living a life of sin is worse, and will bring a worse result, than being crippled for thirty-eight years.
The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus...
We might deride this man as a notorious tattletale, but his violation of the Sabbath tradition could be punished by excommunication or death.
Verses 16-18 tells us Jesus defends His Sabbath actions.
"For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working. " Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God."
And sought to kill Him...
The anger and hatred of the Jews is hard to explain, apart from seeing that it has a real spiritual root. They do NOT like Jesus, and therefore they do NOT like God the Father (but also said that God was His Father).
The absolute devotion to the traditions of man surrounding the Sabbath can NOT be understated.
WHAT DO I MEAN?
AN AMAZING AND BIZARRE AND SAD EXAMPLE OF THIS IS FOUND ALL THE WAY BACK IN Deuteronomy 23:12-14 tells Israel to practice good sanitation when their armies are camped. Ancient rabbis DECIDED TO applied the same principle to the ENTIRE city of Jerusalem, which they regarded as "the camp of the Lord. " When this was combined with Sabbath travel restrictions, it resulted in a prohibition against going to the bathroom on the Sabbath.
My Father has been working until now, and I have been working...
In our terminology, Jesus would say: "My Father works on the Sabbath, and so do I. " By this Jesus makes it clear that He is equal to God the Father, and reminds us that God does NOT take holidays.
This answers the objection raised by a hostile (and ignorant) critic of Christianity. I saw this statement written in an anti-Christian tract: Just say "no!" to a god who claims to be all powerful, but then requires a nap after only six days of creating (Genesis 2:2).
This objection betrays the lack of understanding on behalf of the writer. The Bible clearly says that God does not need sleep or rest (Psalm 121:3-4, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep). The rest of God on the seventh day was given for MAN'S benefit, not God's, demonstrating a pattern of rest necessary for man's well being.
But also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God:
This bold claim to deity was NOT missed by the enemies of Jesus. They knew clearly that when Jesus said that God was His Father in this unique way, He declared Himself equal with God.
AND JUST AS THE JEWS OF THAT DAY UNDESTOOD WHAT JESUS MEANT...THAT HE AND GOD ARE ONE. Today, Jehovah's Witnesses are among those FALSE RELIGIOSITIES THAT DENY THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST AS THE SON OF GOD AND AS EQUAL WITH GOD.
Verses 19-23 Jesus explains His work as The Son and His relationship with God, The Father.
"Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him."
The Son can do nothing of Himself...
Jesus, God the Son, does nothing independently. He is fully submitted to the Father's will. But this submission comes by choice, NOT by coercion or by an inferior nature.
The Father loves the Son...
The relationship between the First and Second members of the Trinity is not one of master and slave, or not of employer and employee, but of Father and Son, united by love.
Even so the Son gives life to whom He will...
The Son has the same power as the Father, including the power to raise the dead.
But has committed all judgment to the Son...
The Son has the same authority as the Father, including the authority to judge all. This is a prerogative of God only, and another demonstration of the deity of Jesus.
That all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father...
This is a further claim to deity. If the Son were not God, then it would be wrong to honor the Son just as they honor the Father. It also means that if we do not honor the Son, we do not really honor the Father either.
There are many FALSE RELIGIOSITIES that pretend to honor God but they dishonor Jesus, who is the perfect revelation of God the Father. In this, they demonstrate that they do NOT honor God the Father at all.
Verses 24-30 tells us Jesus: power in submission.
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me."
He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life...
Jesus lifts Himself far above the level of any mere man. Think of it: "Hear My word and have everlasting life. " This is either the babbling of an insane man or the words of God Himself. There is no neutral ground to be found here.
YOU EITHER BELIEVE JESUS IS ALMIGHTY GOD IN HUMAN FLESH OR YOU MUST REJECT THEM BOTH.
YOU CAN NOT BELIEVE IN GOD BUT REJECT HIS SON JESUS CHRIST AND HOPE TO SPEND ETERNITY IN HEAVEN. JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY TRUTH, THE ONLY LIFE, AND THE ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN AND ALMIGHTY GOD.
MANY RELIGIOSITIES, THEN AND NOW SAY, THERE ARE MANY PATHS TO GOD AND TO HEAVEN. THAT IS A LIE STRAIGHT FROM THE MIND, MOUTH, AND EVIL HEART OF SATAN HIMSELF.
Life in Himself...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
None of us has life inherent in ourselves. Our life is derived from our parents, and the fragile environment around us. Jesus claimed that His life was derived from no one; it is inherent and un-created. Theologians call this quality of self-existence aseity recognize that God alone possesses it.
As Jesus explains His deity to the Jews in this chapter, it is evident that He did NOT claim identity with the Father as one person, but asserted His equality to God the Father and His relationship of love with the Father. Jesus and the Father are not the same, but they are equal, just as John 1:1 demonstrates.
In this, He counters both the "Jesus Only" doctrine which confuses the Father and the Son (anciently known as Sabellianism, and held today by groups like Oneness Pentecostals).
He also counters the "Jesus is not God" doctrine (anciently known as Arianism, and held today by groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses).
Those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
IT IS A VERY CHILLING THOUGHT, IS IT NOT? Even as those who embrace Jesus will need resurrection bodies to enjoy the glories of heaven, so those who reject Him will need resurrection bodies to endure the terrors of Hell.
RIGHT HERE JESUS DEBUNKS THE FALSE RELIGIOSITIES WHO BELIEVE ALL GO TO HEAVEN, THAT THERE IS NO HELL, AND THAT DEATH IS NOT THE END AS AGNOSTICS AND ATHEISTS BELIEVE. THESE BODIES OF CHRISTIANS WILL ALL DIE, IF WE DIE BEFORE THE RAPTURE, BUT WE ARE ASSURED PERFECT GLORIFIED BODIES THAT CAN LIVE IN HEAVEN, AND THOSE WHO REJECT JESUS, WILL ALSO HAVE THEIR DEAD BODIES RAISED TO ENDURE THE TORTURES OF THE WAITING PRISON OF HELL AND ULTIMATELY THE LAKE OF FIRE ETERNITY.
My judgment is righteous...
Jesus is qualified as a completely righteous judge, because His power is in submission: I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge.
Verses 31-32 tells us Self-testimony was not reliable in a court of law; but Jesus has far more than His own testimony regarding who He is.
"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true."
If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
This principle is established by Deuteronomy 19:15, which says by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. Jesus has just told the Jews that He is God, but His testimony alone is not enough.
There is another who bears witness of Me...
In the following passage, Jesus calls forth THREE absolutely credible witnesses who will testify that He is equal to the Father. But these enemies of Jesus WILL reject these witnesses and their testimony.
Verses 33-35 tells us The witness of John the Baptist.
"You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light."
He was the bright and shining lamp...
John was a true witness of Jesus, but the religious leaders did not receive the testimony of John the Baptist regarding the identity of Jesus.
Verse 36 tells us The witness of the works of Jesus.
"But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish; the very works that I do; bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me."
A greater witness than John's … the very works that I do...
EVERY aspect of the works of Jesus TESTIFIED to the deity of Jesus.
The very works that I do; bear witness of Me...
The majority of the miraculous works of Jesus were simple acts of compassion and mercy, done for simple, needy people. In this, these works … bear witness to the heart of God. The Jews looked for a miraculous Messiah, but they did not look for One who would express His miraculous power in simple acts of compassion and mercy and love. They wanted a Messiah to use miraculous power to bring political deliverance to Israel and to DESTROY all the enemies of Israel. And make them the HEAD OF THE WORLD.
Because Jesus' miraculous works did NOT fit in with what they thought the Messiah would do, they did NOT receive this witness of Jesus' works.
Verses 37-38 tells us The witness of the Father.
"And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe."
The Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me...
When did God the Father testify to Jesus?
In virtually every work and word of Jesus, God the Father testified to Jesus status as the Son of God. But specifically, the Father testified of the Son in Old Testament prophecy, and at the baptism of Jesus told to us in Luke 3:22.
But you do not have His word abiding in you...
They will not receive the testimony of the Father, because they do not have His word abiding in them. They can NOT hear God the Father audibly, or see Him, but they have His word. They are guilty because they do NOT abide in the word that God gave them.
Verse 39 tells us They REJECT the testimony of the Father through the Scriptures.
"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me."
You search the Scriptures...
It is the Scriptures (here used in the sense of the Old Testament) which speak of Jesus. Significantly, they searched the Scriptures, but they did not have His word abiding in them. We can know the Bible without having His word live IN us.
JESUS IS TELLING THEM...THEY MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE HEAD KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S WORD, BUT THEY REJECT HIM AND GOD BECAUSE THEY DO NOT HAVE THE WORD LIVING WITHIN THEIR HEARTS.
Verses 40-44 tells us The reason for their unbelief.
"But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?"
But you are not willing to come to Me...
They are NOT willing, and they are NOT willing because they do NOT have God's love. They are MORE concerned with man's honor, not the honor that comes from God (do not seek the honor that comes from the only God).
That you do not have the love of God in you...
We see that these reasons essentially have to do with THE HEART, NOT WITH THE MIND. People like this may hide behind intellectual excuses, but the bottom line is that they have a heart problem with Jesus, not a head problem.
If another comes in his own name, him you will receive...
Here, Jesus prophesies the coming day when the Jewish people will, for a time, embrace the Antichrist who comes in his own name. Anytime a person rejects Jesus, it leaves them open to tremendous deception by Satan.
Verses 45-47 tells us They reject the testimony of the Father through Moses.
"Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you; Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"
If you believed Moses, you would believe Me...
These religious leaders rejected Jesus because they rejected God's word through Moses. Moses accuses them, because Moses wrote about Jesus and they will NOT receive the testimony of Moses.
For he wrote about Me...
Where did Moses write about Jesus? In many pages, but here are a few:
1. The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear. (Deuteronomy 18:15)
2. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live. " So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. (Numbers 21:8-9)
3. Jesus was typified in the rock that gave Israel water in the wilderness (Numbers 20:8-12 and 1 Corinthians 10:4).
4. The ministry of Jesus was shown in almost every aspect of the seven different kinds of offering that God commanded Israel to bring (Leviticus 1-7).
5. Jesus and His ministry were shown in the Tabernacle and its service. One place where the New Testament makes this connection is with the word propitiation in Romans 3:25, which speaks of the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant.
6. The law of the bondservant speaks of Jesus (Exodus 21:5-6 and Psalm 40:6-8).
7. No wonder Jesus could say Behold, I come; in the scroll of the Book it is written of Me (Psalm 40:7). He could teach a Bible study where beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27)
JESUS TELLS US VERY PLAINLY WHY MAN REJECTS HIM AS THE SON OF GOD, AS THE MESSIAH, AS THE SAVIOR OFFERED FOR THE SINS OF ALL MANKIND.
THEY MAY HAVE HEAD KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIBLE AND CAN QUOTE IT...NOTHING IMPRESSIVE ABOUT THAT...SO COULD SATAN HIMSELF.
THEY MAY HAVE RELIGIONS, RITUALS, ROTE PRAYERS, POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE BUT THEY KNOW NOT WHO THEY WORSHIP...THEY ARE NOT WORSHIPPING ALMIGHTY GOD, BUT ARE WORSHIPPING THEIR FATHER THE DEVIL.
THOSE WHO COME TO JESUS, COME TO HIM FOR RELATIONSHIP AND ARE HUNGRY AND THIRSTY TO KNOW HIM BETTER...TO LOVE HIM MORE...AND TO SEE TO BECOME LESS LIKE THE WORLD AND MORE LIKE HIM.
THOSE WHO COME TO JESUS WANT JESUS CHRIST. THEY LOVE HIM. THEY WANT RELATIONSHIP. BUT MOST DO NOT WANT JESUS CHRIST AND REJECT HIM BECAUSE THEY WANT AND KNOW AND LOVE THE WORLD AND ALL THE PUNY, USELESS MAN-CREATED RELIGIOSITIES THAT CAN DO NOTHING FOR THEM, BUT ARE MANAGEABLE, AND ARE NOT GREATER THAN THEY CAN DEAL WITH.