Jesus Gives Eternal Life: John 5:1-24

“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40, NASB).

The Gospel of John is unlike the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, also called the synoptic gospels. The synoptic gospels tell about the life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth as He lived among the people and ministered to their needs. The gospel of John, also called the fourth gospel is apologetic in that it argues that Jesus is the Son of God. It argues against those Greek philosophies that deny that God communicates with human beings. The gospel argues that the Word was God. The Word created everything. The Word was made flesh and lived among human beings. The gospel argues that “in Him was life and the life was the light of men. The Light shines in darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it (Jn. 1:4-5, NASB). The writer of the gospel concludes that the purpose for writing the gospel is that people might believe in Jesus and have eternal life. He writes, “Therefore many other signs Jesus performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (Jn. 20:30-31, NASB). Jesus came that we might have eternal life.

When we read the synoptic gospels we see Jesus meeting the needs of hurting people in their everyday walk of life. Jesus is a man that walks around doing good things. He heals the sick and the diseased. He feeds them. He protects them from the dangers of the storms. He causes the lame to walk; the blind to see; and the deaf to hear. He raises dead children and gives them back to their parents. Jesus is a man that makes everything turn from bad to good, from sorrow and sadness to joy. Jesus is the man for all people. One might get the impression from reading the synoptic gospels that Jesus came into the world to make one’s life better. Thus, for many people Jesus is their savior much like the Bell Hop at a hotel. He is standing there waiting to carry your bags up to your room. You do not pay him a salary. Instead, you give him a tip according to standard practices and according to how much you value their service.

John 5 is an interesting passage of scripture. It begins with Jesus going to the temple to celebrate a feast of the Jews. On His way into the temple Jesus sees a man lying on a pallet waiting and hoping to be the first to get into the pool when the angel stirs the water. Jesus sees this man and learns that he has been lying on his pallet waiting for thirty-eight years. The number thirty-eight is significant. In Deuteronomy 2:14 these words are written. “Now the time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them” (NASB). The Israelites was on their journey to the Promised Land. After receiving an evil report from ten spies they refused to enter the land. They rebelled against God, refusing to obey His commands (Deut. 1:19-46). God made them to wander in the wilderness a total of forty years; thirty-eight years after their rebellion. It seems that this man had been able to walk until He did something that made him unable to walk. Let us continue with the text.

Jesus asks the man if he wants to walk. The man states that he has no one to help him to be the first in the water after the angel stirs the water. Jesus tells him to pick up his pallet and walk. The man gets up and carries his pallet on his back. It was the Sabbath and the Jews challenged the man for carrying his pallet. The man did not know that the man that had healed him was Jesus. Jesus had slipped away while the crowd was there. Now, in this portion of the passage the people are concerned about religious norms and the man is happy that he can walk again. There is a conflict. The man thinks highly of the man that healed him so that he can walk again. At the same time the Jews are angry because this healer had told the man to pick up his pallet and walk. According to their custom the man that healed and the man that carried his pallet were guilty of breaking the Sabbath. Apparently, the Jews valued the Sabbath more than they valued the man.

Later, Jesus finds the man in the temple and makes Himself known as the Son of God. The man believes Jesus, and he goes away and tells the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. Instead of being happy for the man, the Jews persecuted Jesus because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. Jesus tells his persecutors that He is working just as His Father is working. The Jews want to kill Jesus because He is working on the Sabbath, and He makes himself equal to God. The things that Jesus says and the things that He is doing is an offense to the accusers. While the Jews are seeking to maintain their religious beliefs and practices, Jesus is working to do the will of the Father.

Jesus uses this dialogue to tell them His purpose. The healing of the lame man is a sign that God wants those who are living outside the will of God can be given a new life with God. The physical healing is a sign of what the Father wants for all sinners. This is the significance of the thirty-eight years. God created human beings in His image and in His likeness. God and humans were in harmony with each other. Something happened. The serpent deceived the woman into eating fruit from the forbidden tree and the man willingly participated with her. Both were guilty of disobeying God’s commands. Both of them were driven from the garden into the field. God made it impossible for them to return to the garden. “So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen. 3:24, NASB).

Jesus is the seed of the woman that is enmity with the seed of the serpent. The seed of the woman will bruise the head of the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15-16). Jesus is the seed of the woman. The seed of the serpent bruises His heel at Calvary. The seed of the woman bruises the heel of the serpent when He is resurrected from the dead (See 1 Corinthians 15:50-58). Thus, in His dialogue with the Jews, Jesus claims that He is the Son of God. He is in the world to be the Light in darkness. He makes the Father known to sinful human beings that have no relationship with the Father. They have the Law, but they do not know God. Jesus tells them that He is the Son of God. The works that he does is evidence that He is who He says that He is. His purpose is much greater than enabling a man to walk caring His pallet on the Sabbath. His signs are given so that they might believe. If they believe they will have eternal life with the Father and the Son.