takeupyourbed
“Rise, take up your bed and walk”
Let us now meditate on John 5:1-9. This passage tells us about the healing of a certain man “who had an infirmity thirty-eight years” near a pool at Bethesda. This man was waiting only “for the moving of the water” because it was believed that an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water and that whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. Alas, what happened? Whenever the angel stirred up the water, he could not get into the pool and another person stepped down before him. Now Jesus goes to Jerusalem to attend a feast of the Jews. Though there was a feast of the Jews, Jesus was very eager to go the pool at Bethesda. His primary concern was to meet a lone man at Bethesda, and not to attend the feast. Upon reaching the Bethesda pool, Jesus sees a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. Jesus fixes His eyes on this particular person, and not on the multitude. Knowing that this man had been lying there in that condition for a long time, Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be made well?” He tells Jesus that he had no man to put him into the pool when the water was stirred up.
Jesus says, “Rise, take up your bed and walk”. Immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.
Dearly beloved, are you that man who has been suffering from an incurable disease, having been abandoned by your kith and kin and by the doctors? You have lost all your faith because before your very nose you had witnessed many people being healed in healing crusades. You had sought the intercessory prayers of many evangelists. But you were disappointed. Jesus is very much concerned about you because you have suffered a lot in your life, and that too, for a very long time.
The man at Bethesda was alone there because his own people forsook him. But Jesus had not forgotten him but had come there all the way just to meet that single man. Like that man, you are now at the Bethesda pool waiting for a miracle.
HE NOW COMES TO MEET YOU, IN A SPECIAL MANNER. HE NOW COMES TO HEAL YOU THROUGH HIS OWN HANDS, AND NOT THROUGH THE HANDS OF AN EVANGELIST. What you have to do is rise, take up your bed and walk in Jesus’ Name. And you would be healed. Amen.
Have the vision of Jesus Christ coming to you at the pool at Bethesda. HE NOW COMES TO MEET YOU, IN A SPECIAL MANNER. AS YOU READ THIS MESSAGE TODAY, HE NOW COMES TO HEAL YOU THROUGH HIS OWN HANDS, AND NOT THROUGH THE HANDS OF AN EVANGELIST.
If that man under the Old Covenant was healed by Jesus, the Son of God before the shedding of His precious Blood, how much more you can experience the touch of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit Who indwells you under the New Covenant. For you, the pool at Bethesda is the Calvary and you can experience His healing power under the shadow of His Cross today. It is neither my intercessory prayer nor your prayer but the personal touch of your Master at the Calvary that can bring about a great blessing in your life.
WILL YOU PLEASE COME TO THE CALVARY TODAY WITH A BROKEN HEART? CONFESS TO HIM, "LORD, I TRUSTED IN THE PRAYERS OF OTHERS, THINKING THAT A MIRACLE COULD BE PERFORMED FOR ME. NONE COULD LEAD ME TO YOUR HEALING POWER. TODAY, LOSING ALL MY HOPE, I COME TO THE POOL AT BETHESDA, THE PRECIOUS PLACE OF CALVARY".
What you have to do is rise, take up your bed and walk in Jesus’ Name. And you would be healed. You should now act on your faith, believing that Jesus Christ has touched and healed you near the pool at Bethesda. Do not look at the evidence of healing. But keep looking at Him in faith. Tell others that you have been healed by the touch of Jesus Christ.
- Job Anbalagan