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The House Of Mercy.
JOHN 5:1-15.--FEB.
19.
Golden Text:--"A great
multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles."--John 6:2.
THE word Bethesda signifies "House of
Mercy." This was the name given to a large structure with five porches
connected with a large pool of water, situated near to the walls of Jerusalem. The pool was
fed by a spring whose underground reservoirs served as a trap for certain
gases. When the gas accumulated in this reservoir it would force out the water,
much after the same manner that oil wells sometimes flow out their contents. These
flows of the water impregnated with the gases occurred at irregular intervals,
and at such times the water in the pool would be disturbed or made to boil by
the inflow as well as by the gases it contained.
The phenomenon not being understood,
many considered that the agitation of the pool was miraculous, attributing it
to an angel from heaven. Partly by the energizing influence of faith and partly
perhaps by some medicinal quality imparted to the water by the gases, cures
were effected which caused the pool to have considerable fame throughout that
district. Benefit from the gases is suggested by the fact that it was only
those who entered the water immediately after the agitation who profited by it.
The impregnating gases, when once in the pool, would be speedily combined with
the atmosphere, and those entering the water first would not only have the
benefit of the impregnated water on their persons but would also inhale some of
the escaping gases --ozone, or what not. A number of such springs are known
to-day in various parts of the world, and many of them have a medicinal quality
without any suspicion of a miracle. The American Cyclopedia on this subject
says:--
"Medicinal waters are very
common in many parts of the world, and people come to them from long distances
to be cured. Priests, especially of Aesculapius, placed their sanctuaries near
them, as at the alkaline springs of Nauplia, and the springs of Dodora. Phylostricus
says that the Greek soldiers wounded in the battle on the Caicus were healed by
the waters of Agamemnon's spring near Smyrna."
There is a spring of the kind
mentioned in our lesson at Kissingen which, after a rushing sound, about the
same time every day commences to bubble, and is most efficacious at the very
time the gas is escaping. There are geysers also in Iceland,
Wyoming and
elsewhere of the intermittent or "troubled" character.
A COPYIST'S MARGINAL NOTE.
The
House of Mercy with its five porches was built for a public sanitarium for the
benefit and convenience of those who desired to use the agitated pool, and this
explains why a great multitude of the sick, blind, halt, withered, lay in these
porches waiting for an opportunity to benefit by the agitation of the waters. In
this connection it should be noted that old Greek MSS omit the last seven words
of verse threeand all of verse four. These are not inspired words, were not
written by John the Apostle, but were added to his statement later on-- quite
probably as a marginal note explanatory of the views held by the people, or
possibly the thought of the copyist who made the marginal note. Some later
copyist, thinking the marginal note was omitted from the text, added it in, and
his manuscript, copied in turn, has come down to us. Until within the last
fifty years, since the discovery of the older Greek MSS, none could know that
these words were not a part of the divine [R3501 : page
40] record but an addition thereto, perhaps accidentally.
Our
last lesson showed our Lord in Galilee and his second miracle at Cana. In this lesson we find him again at Jerusalem, drawn thither
according to the Jewish usage to celebrate one of the great annual feasts. He
was passing Bethesda,
the "House of Mercy," and stopped to perform the miracle noted in
this lesson. That our minds may the better grasp the situation, we quote
descriptions of two such institutions given by modern writers: Bovet tells us
of the bath of Ibrahim, near Tiberius, on the sea of Galilee, thus:
"The
hole in which the spring is found is surrounded by several porticoes in which
we see a multitude of people crowded one upon another, laid upon couches or
rolled in blankets, with immeasurable extremes of misery and suffering." Zola
describes the crowds at the grotto of Lourdes
thus, "A perfect cour des miracles of human woe rolling along the sloping
pavement. No order was observed, ailments of all kinds were jumbled together;
it seemed like the clearing of some inferno, where the most monstrous maladies,
the rare and most awful cases which provoke a shudder, had been gathered
together."
A
SIGN OR SYMBOL OF HIS POWER.
Such
a picture met the eyes of our dear Redeemer as he passed this House of Mercy. We
can imagine better than describe the extent of his sympathy with the poor
ailing ones before him. If such scenes of sorrow, pain and trouble touch our
fallen hearts sensibly and deeply, how much more intense must have been the
sympathy [R3501 : page 41] which our Lord
experienced in the presence of such conditions. We may be sure that he who
loved the whole world so much that he left the glory with the Father and
assumed human nature, that he might die and redeem us and ultimately deliver us
from the power of sin and its penalty, sickness and death, must have
sympathized with the multitude of sufferers before him, crowding one upon
another for the opportunity to receive benefit from the agitated waters. Nevertheless,
despite all this sympathy, the record shows that our Lord healed but one of
them. Indeed, so far as we may judge, this was his usual custom, as illustrated
also in his discourse, in which he pointed out that while in God's providence
there were many widows in Israel during the famine time, Elijah was only sent
to the widow of Zarephath, and while there were many lepers in Israel, Elisha
healed of leprosy only Naaman, the Syrian. Similarly, there were great
multitudes of sick at this House of Mercy, but Jesus healed only one.
The
reason for this is not difficult to find. Our Lord at his first advent was in
the world not to deliver it from the power of sin and death and Satan, but to
redeem it, and any deliverances which he granted at that time were only partial
and illustrative--demonstrations of his power intended to awaken faith in him
and his redemptive work on the part of those who had the ear of faith to hear
and the eye of faith to see. These few heard, but the rest remained blinded and
know not the great Messiah unto this day. Thank God for the blessed assurance
that in his due time all Israel
shall be saved from this blindness (Rom. 11:25,26), and not Israel only but
all the families of the earth--"All the blind eyes shall be opened and all
the deaf ears shall be unstopped."--Isa. 35:5.
SATAN
INDIRECTLY THE OPPRESSOR.
While
freely admitting that all of humanity's difficulties, mental, physical and
moral, are traceable to the original deception of Satan, practised upon our
first parents--while therefore willing to concede that every case of sickness
is more or less directly or indirectly the work of the Adversary, and that of
all the diseased ones we might properly enough say of each that "Satan
hath bound him," nevertheless we are not of those who understand that the
time has fully come for the binding of Satan and for the loosing of his
prisoners. That time by divine arrangement is future, fixed--it is the
Millennium. Since our Lord did not perform miracles for all the sick, neither
are we to expect all the sick of to-day to be cured either by natural means or
by miraculous power. It comforts us to remember that Satan and every evil is
subject to the Almighty's power, and that in the case of the Lord's consecrated
and their interests he is both able and willing to overrule, so that what ever
he permits them will result in their greater blessing.
We
are distinctly told that our Lord's miracles manifested forth beforehand his
coming glory. They were thus lessons or pictures or illustrations of the great
work of restitution from sin and sickness and death which our dear Redeemer
will accomplish for the world very shortly--during his Millennial reign. Then
we, his Church, associated with him, will share his power and great glory and
privileges. Those who were beneficiaries of his miraculous power at his first
advent evidently were but a mere handful as compared to all the sick, impotent
and blinded of that time; and those miracles, aside from illustrating the
future power of the Lord, were designed to testify of him and of his apostles
as the representatives of the Father in the establishment of the new
dispensation--the Gospel age, so different from its predecessor, the Jewish age
and its law of Moses.
THE
HEALING OF THE ELECT.
It
is not improper for us to speak of the man who was the one favored out of a
great multitude as having been elected or selected by the Lord as the person
through whom he would manifest his power and coming glory. The narrative does
not tell us why the Lord selected this one in preference to others. We may
reasonably assume, however, that his thirty-eight years of infirmity had
developed in him considerable penitence for sin, considerable desire for
righteousness; that he had learned some valuable lessons during those
thirty-eight years under the hand of affliction; and that it was because he had
thus come into a condition where healing would be to his advantage that he was
the favored one. Similarly, this is true in the favors of grace which the Lord
is distributing during this age, and which are really much more valuable than
any physical blessings that could be bestowed.
We
may not at first see why the Lord favors some more than others with the
knowledge of his grace and truth, but we may safely assume that there is a
lesson, and that lesson lies in the direction of honesty of heart, repentance
of sin and a desire for or "feeling after God." When God has any
special favors to bestow we may safely assume that they are not given out
haphazard, but according to some partial conditions of faith or worthiness. In
the case of this man who was healed let us notice that there was no record that
he had more faith in the Lord than had the other ones about him. On the
contrary, the context shows that he had no faith --that he did not even know
the Lord, and did not learn until afterward who he was that healed him.
"WILT
THOU BE MADE WHOLE?"
As
already intimated, our Lord's words to his followers, "Greater works than
these shall ye do because I go unto my Father," have been fulfilled
throughout this Gospel age in that it is a greater work to open the eyes of the
understanding than to recover sight to the natural eyes; it is a greater work
to open the ears of the understanding than to recover the natural hearing; it
is a greater work to heal from sin than to heal from its type, leprosy; it is a
greater work to recover from the lameness and weaknesses which have come upon
the entire race through the fall than to restore strength to the natural limbs.
In accordance with this thought we now remark that as our Lord queried the one
whom he healed, asking, "Wilt thou be made whole?" and as he thus let
the matter depend upon his own will, so it is with those who are now being
healed of moral ailments, of those who are now being spiritually enlightened,
etc.--the assistance is with themselves. If they have the ear to hear and the
eye to see, to appreciate, to understand the gift of God in Christ, the
question then is "Wilt thou be made whole?"
How
many there are morally leprous, mentally blinded and partially deaf, who can
see and hear and comprehend a little of the grace of God, and who, by accepting
this little which they understand and by [R3501 : page
42] desiring to be made whole, might go on from grace to grace, from
knowledge to knowledge, from triumph to triumph, ultimately to the full
attainment of the great blessing which the Lord has proffered to his
"little flock"--to become heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ
our Lord, in his Kingdom, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be
glorified together.
In
harmony with this thought, let us all use our influence with all with whom we
come in contact, with all who have no power to see or hear or understand or
appreciate the grace of God, to urge upon them their acceptance of divine aid
as we ourselves have experienced it--"grace sufficient for every time of
need." Only with those who answer this question affirmatively is it worth
our while to expend effort. The will must be pointed to the Lord or his
blessing cannot come upon the heart and the life; we cannot hope that the Lord
will work a miracle of grace in the hearts of the sin-sick unless they are
ready to answer this question in the affirmative, "Wilt thou be made
whole?" Only those who so will can be benefited in this age, for this is
the divine order-- the Lord seeketh such and such only to worship him in spirit
and in truth. Our Lord at the first advent testified again on these lines,
saying to many of those who heard his preaching, "Ye will not come unto me
that ye might have life." To come unto the Lord means to accept his
arrangements, to answer his query, saying, Yea, Lord, I would be made whole.
The
healing of such is not instantaneous but gradual. [R3502
: page 42] They grow in grace, knowledge and love, and the completion of
the work of grace will be in the First Resurrection "change," which
the Lord promises to all those who in the present time answer his question
affirmatively, and show that they are in earnest by seeking to walk thenceforth
not after the flesh but after the Spirit. These come under the care of the Good
Physician, and eventually he will make them whole, complete, perfect in his
likeness.
THE
GREATER HOUSE OF MERCY.
Ere
long the present election of the Church, the present favor and privilege of
being made whole, will reach its accomplishment in the First Resurrection, and
then, thank God, a still more general blessing will be open for the world. The
promise of the Scriptures is that in God's due time the tabernacle of God shall
be with men and he shall dwell with them. This is not yet. The race is still
under the curse, Satan is still the "prince of this world," we are
still waiting and praying, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as
it is done in heaven." The establishment of God's tabernacle or house in
the world will be during the Millennial age. It will be a house of mercy, not
merely for the elect few, but, according to the great Oath-Bound Covenant, God
through his elect Church, the Christ, Head and body, the antitypical seed of
Abraham (Gal. 3:29), shall "bless all the families of
the earth."
Ah,
yes; what a grand day that will be! "God shall wipe away the tears from
off all faces"--yea, also, the reproach of his people shall be done away. No
longer will it be a reproach to be of the Lord's people, no longer can it be
said to the Lord's mouthpieces, "You tell of the love of God and his mercy
and of the value of the great atonement, but we see sin and suffering, sorrow
and death, continually reigning over the world." The reproach will be
ended, Satan will be bound, the knowledge of the Lord will fill the whole earth
and the wiping away of all tears and sorrows and aches and pains will begin. And
to all who will rightly receive these favors and fall in line with them, the
blessings will ultimately be completed in the full perfection of restitution
accomplished at the end of the Millennial age, at the ushering in of the
everlasting epoch, while for those who will then neglect, refuse the divine
arrangements a merciful blotting out of existence has been arranged.--Acts 3:23.
IT
WAS ON THE SABBATH.
In
performing the miracle our Lord instructed the healed one to take up his bed
and walk, and he did so. The bed probably was a very light mattress or
comforter, after the custom of that time, and there was no real labor connected
with this injunction. It was not the violation, therefore, of the Sabbath
restrictions of the Jewish Law, which our Lord neither violated nor taught
others to violate, for he was a Jew and subject, therefore, to all the terms
and conditions of that Law as much as any other Jew. His object in instructing
the man to carry the bed was probably twofold:--
(1)
The act of itself would be a witness to the miracle; not only directly but
(2)
Indirectly it would attract the attention of the doctors and scribes of the
Law, because they had formulated certain restrictions respecting the day which
were not the Mosaic requirements. Our Lord would make use of this opportunity
to teach a lesson, not only respecting his power but respecting a proper
observance of the Law--that it was designed of the Lord to be for the benefit
of mankind and not a moral fetter. Our Lord explained this on one occasion,
saying to the scribes and Pharisees that their interpretation of the Law made
it burdensome to the masses of the people--that they exaggerated the small
features of the Law unduly, and that the greater principles of it, pertaining
to righteousness, justice, love and mercy, they overlooked entirely.
From
this narrative we see that just this result was attained. The scribes and
Pharisees reproved the man for carrying his bed, and he returned that he was
fully justified in so doing, because the person who healed him of his
thirty-eight years' ailment must have been wise enough and good enough to be an
authority on this subject and he was merely following his directions. Thus our
Lord's miracle was made prominent to the class that he specially wished to have
recognize him, namely the leaders and representatives of the nation, who
specially were on trial at this time whether or not they would receive him;
and, secondly, the difference between his teaching and good works and the
teaching and no works of the Pharisees would be more manifest on the other
hand.
It
would appear that the healed man was so astonished by the incidents connected
with his relief that for the moment he forgot to look for or inquire
particularly about the one who had performed the miracle: and our Lord, not
wishing to refuse the great multitude of sick ones there gathered, quietly
withdrew, so that by the time the miracle was known the healer was not to be
found. He had performed the miracle for the glory of God, to call attention to
the new dispensation, and to himself as the divine representative in it, and
incidentally he had healed, we may assume, the most worthy one of that
multitude. The fact that Jesus specially met this [R3502
: page 43] man again in the Temple, where he had probably gone to express
his thanks and praise to the Lord for his relief, implies that he had seen in
the man something of more than ordinary character, which not only led him to
heal him but also to reveal himself to him.
"GO
AND SIN NO MORE."
Our
Lord's salutation to the healed man in the Temple must have been very significant,
showing the latter that he was not only able to heal but that he had knowledge
of the sins which had led up to the diseased condition thirty-eight years
previously. He said to him, "Behold thou art made whole: sin no more lest
a worse thing befall thee." There is a valuable lesson in our Redeemer's
counsel--helpful not only for that poor man, but still more valuable and
helpful to those who have by the Lord's grace been healed of sin-sickness,
those who have been justified, those who have been accepted into God's family
as sons of God. The penalty for original sin has been a severe one and has
attached itself to every member of Adam's race; yet for this original sin God
has provided a great atonement, and ultimately every creature shall have the
fullest opportunity for escape from all its penalties and wages. But when thus
liberated a fresh responsibility is upon us. As the apostle declares, if we sin
wilfully after we have received a knowledge of the Truth, there remaineth no
more a sacrifice for sins, but we may surely look for judgment and fiery
indignation which will devour us as adversaries. (Heb.
10:27.) The wages of original sin which the whole race has tasted is death,
with its accompaniments of sorrow and pain--dying. The wages of wilful, deliberate,
intentional sin, after we have been justified from all our sins--that penalty
would be a worse thing, very much worse than the original penalty; for although
it would be the same penalty of death, it would be the second death, for which
God has assured us he has made no provision for recovery--Christ dieth no more.
If after being released and justified we sin wilfully, and yet with a measure
of weakness and imperfection tempting us, we may expect stripes; but if we sin
wilfully and deliberately, aside from a particular temptation or weakness, we
may expect nothing further in the way of divine mercy and forgiveness, because
having enjoyed these in respect to the original sin we would thus come under a
new and personal condemnation, for a new and inexcusable violation of
righteousness whose penalty is death without hope of recovery.
----------
[R3505
: page 43]
THE PERFECT COPY.
--ROMANS
8:29.--
Memory wakens mental pictures
In the calm and solemn night;
Teaching all-important lessons
In a new and clearer light.
On a scroll I see a "copy"
Chosen from "the book" divine;--
Written by a master penman
On a bright initial line.
Under it a fair creation
Of the skilled engraver's art;
Graceful lines and shades, assuming
Life and form,--a human heart!
Drawing near with deepening interest
To observe it carefully,
I discovered "words" I hastened
To commit to memory.
Imitate (they said) the
"copy"
Written on the line above;
For the Golden Rule it follows
Is the perfect law of love.
Might I, heeding this instruction,
Duplicate the pattern well?
For, although my spirit's willing
Yet "the flesh," so weak, would fail.
Fearful lest I mar its beauty
I inclined to pass it by,
When the Master Artist whispered,
"I will help you if you try.
"Trusting you will e'er
remember
My approval to obtain;
You should keep your copy stainless
Following closely to 'the line.'"
Need I tell of blotted pages?
Here a tear-drop, there a stain;
Or of all my clumsy tracings
That appeared below the line?
Need I here repeat the failures
Which have caused my grief and pain;
Or the kindness of my "Teacher"
When He bade me "try again?"
In His wisdom gently prompting
Lest I should discouraged grow;
"Keep your eye upon my copy
I forgive mistakes below."
Covering my many failures
With the mantle of His love;
As my "copy" grew in likeness
To the perfect one above.
W.T. R-3500 a : page 40 – 1905 r.