Scripture Reading: John 5
The more we consider the signs in the Gospel of John, the more we realize that this book is a word spoken by the Lord concerning divine mysteries. I do not believe that the natural mentality is capable of writing such a book. In this chapter we will begin to consider the signs in chapter 5 of John. In this chapter there are at least eleven signs.
God’s economy is to gain a dwelling place for Himself by Christ and with Christ. Christ is both the means and the element used by God to produce His dwelling place for the carrying out of His divine economy. This is the unique story in the universe.
We truly praise God for the Bible. Next to the Triune God Himself, the most wonderful matter in the universe is the Bible. I believe that as we spend more time studying the Bible, we will become fully convinced that no other book can compare with it. The Bible is the book. Only this book deserves to be called the book. No other book reveals things from eternity past to eternity future. Furthermore, only in the Bible can we see God’s economy, the unique story in this universe. The divine story, which is a mystery, is God’s economy to fulfill the desire of His heart to obtain a dwelling place for Himself by Christ as the means and with Christ as the element.
In order for Christ to be the means and the element for God’s dwelling place, He must be the tabernacle and the offerings. If we see this, eventually we will realize that the tabernacle and all the offerings are the structure of this universal mystery. Therefore, we may say that the real contents of the Bible are the tabernacle and the offerings.
The sixty-six books of the Bible are, in a very real sense, condensed into one book, and this book is the Gospel of John. Therefore, in the Gospel of John we have the condensation of the universal story of God’s economy.
We should never regard John’s Gospel as shallow or elementary. The language of this Gospel may be simple, but its contents are profound. The more I study the writings of John, the more I realize how profound, deep, divine, wonderful, and mysterious they are.
In our Life-study of the Scriptures we have completed all the New Testament books, with the exception of Mark, Luke, Acts, and James. The Recovery Version of each book contains an outline of the book. The best outline is that of the Gospel of John. Consider the portion of the outline of the Gospel of John that covers chapter 5:
The language used in this section of the outline is quite simple. However, it is not easy to explain what the different terms in the outline mean, because they point to matters in this chapter that are profound and mysterious.
Although the terms used in the Gospel of John are deep and profound, Christians have lowered the significance of these terms because of the way they commonly use them. For example, in John 14:6 the Lord Jesus said, “I am the way.” A number of Christian speakers have given messages on Christ as the way, emphasizing that He is the way to deal with persons and matters in our daily life. Some of these messages point out that if you do not know how to deal with your husband or wife, Christ is the way. Do you want to know how to discipline your children? Christ is the way. Do you want to know how to get along with others at work? Christ is the way. Not only have I heard messages like this, but in the past I also gave messages saying that Christ is the way to take care of various matters in our daily life. But I have come to realize that this understanding of the Lord’s word in John 14:6 is too low. In this verse the Lord was not saying that He is the way for us to deal with our husband or wife or with our children. Rather, He is the way for us to enter into God through Christ as the offerings. How profound this is! How can we enter into God’s tabernacle? Christ is the way. How can we have the forgiveness of sins and deal with indwelling sin so that we may participate in the enjoyment of God? Christ is the way.
It is common for Christians to say that Christ is the way for us to go to heaven. According to this understanding of John 14:6, the Lord Jesus was saying that apart from Him there is no way to heaven. But this understanding is far from adequate. Here the Lord Jesus was not saying that He is the way for sinners to go to heaven. Instead, He was telling us that He is the way for us, God’s creatures who have been redeemed by His blood, to enter into God. How marvelous that Christ is the way for us to enter into God and also to dwell in God! He is the way for us to take God as our dwelling, and He is also the way for us to become God’s dwelling. How profound this is!
I appreciate very much these messages on the fulfillment of the tabernacle and offerings in the writings of John. When we were on chapter 4, we saw the two traditional signs in John 4: Jacob’s well and Mount Gerizim. Jacob’s well signifies that nothing traditional can satisfy the thirst in human life. Our thirst can be quenched only by the living person of Christ. Mount Gerizim signifies mixture in worship. The traditional well cannot satisfy us in our human life, and the traditional mountain cannot satisfy God in the matter of worship. Therefore, in our experience we need to have the living Son of God as the divine gift given to us to satisfy the thirst in our living, and we need the worship of the divine Spirit by our human spirit, with Christ as the reality of the offerings, to satisfy God. If we have both these matters, we will have a life that is fully satisfied by Christ, and in our church life we will have a worship that will fully satisfy God. Instead of tradition, we will have a human life in which we are satisfied and a worship that satisfies the Father. I hope that all the saints will see the significance of the two signs in John 4. What is revealed in chapter 5 concerning signs is even more profound than what is revealed in chapter 4.
We have seen that in John 1 there are six signs: the Word, the tabernacle, the Lamb, the dove, the stone, and the house of God. In chapter 2 there are two signs: the changing of water into wine and the raising up of the destroyed temple. These signs indicate the changing of death into life for the purpose of raising up the house of God. These two chapters have laid the foundation for a proper understanding of the remainder of this Gospel.
In chapter 3 John gives us the illustration of Nicodemus. For the fulfilling of the tabernacle and the offerings, even such a good man as Nicodemus needed to be terminated and buried and then germinated by the Spirit and with the Spirit. This was the reason the Lord said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (v. 5). Although Nicodemus was a good man, he nevertheless had the serpentine nature. That was the reason he needed to be terminated and buried. After termination is germination. To be germinated is to be regenerated of the Spirit in order to become part of the increase of Christ. The thought here is extremely high.
I am sad that some Christians have lowered the significance of John 3:14-16. Yes, they regard John 3:16 as a golden verse; however, they do not appreciate this verse in the highest way. They may not see that even the best ones among the human race need to be regenerated. Our old nature needs to be terminated, our old man needs to be buried, and our spirit needs to be regenerated. Then we will be a new man as part of the increase of the all-inclusive Christ.
In chapter 4 we have another illustration, that of the Samaritan woman, an immoral woman who was seeking satisfaction in her life. In her seeking, she pretended to be concerned about the worship of God. What a pretense! What a mixture! In chapter 3 we do not see mixture — we see the serpentine nature. But in chapter 4 we have the matter of mixture. The source of the Samaritan woman’s satisfaction in her human life needed to be replaced, and the source of her worship of God needed to be changed.
John’s Gospel was written not according to historical sequence but according to spiritual significance. This means that John selected a number of things the Lord Jesus did and used them to compose his Gospel. John 20:30 and 31 say, “Many other signs also Jesus did before His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name.”
John selected the cases of Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman as two illustrations. The case of Nicodemus illustrates the fact that although we may be good, our nature nonetheless is serpentine, and we need to be terminated, buried, and germinated. But we also are like the immoral Samaritan woman. There is no satisfaction in our living, and with us there is no worship that can satisfy God. Therefore, we need Christ to be our satisfaction and also to be the One who can satisfy God in our worship of Him.
Now we come to the case of the impotent man in John 5. This case is quite complicated and involves a number of points. The first point concerns a feast of the Jews. John 5:1 says, “After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” There has been argument among Bible teachers concerning which feast is referred to in this verse. Before we consider this matter, I would like to point out that the Gospel of John is a book of feasts. Much more is said regarding feasts in John’s Gospel than in the synoptic Gospels. According to Leviticus 23, the children of Israel had seven annual feasts: the Feast of the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of the Blowing of Trumpets, the Feast of Expiation, and the Feast of Tabernacles. In the Gospel of John the Feast of the Passover is mentioned at least three times (2:13; 6:4; 12:1). Chapter 7 mentions the Feast of Tabernacles. Then in John 10:22 we read of the Feast of the Dedication, a feast held in addition to the seven feasts mentioned in Leviticus 23.
Besides the seven annual feasts from the Feast of the Passover through the Feast of Tabernacles, the feasts ordained by God, the Jews added two other feasts: the Feast of Purim and the Feast of the Dedication. The origin of the Feast of Purim is recorded in the book of Esther (9:17-28). We know from the book of Esther that Haman, an enemy of the Jews who was next in power to the king of Persia, plotted to exterminate all the Jews. In the first month of the year Haman cast lots in order to choose a date on which the Jews would be exterminated: “In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day and from month to month, until it fell on the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar” (3:7). Eventually, by lot they selected the twelfth month, the last month of the year, called Adar. The Passover is on the fourteenth day of the first month, and the day chosen for the destruction of the Jews was the thirteenth day of the last month. However, Haman’s plot against the Jews did not succeed. Haman’s evil intention was exposed, and he and his sons were hanged. Then on the very day that the Jews would have been put to death, instead they gained the victory over their enemies (9:1-5). Then it was established that the Jews “should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and as the month which was turned for them from sorrow to rejoicing and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing, and of sending portions to one another and gifts to the poor” (vv. 21-22). Those days were called days of lots or Purim. The word Purim means “lots,” the word Pur being the singular form for the word for lot (3:7; 9:26). “Therefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur” (v. 26).
For the Jews, the days of sorrow became days of joy. We may also say that the days of death became the days of life, because the Jews passed out of death into life. That was the origin of the Feast of Purim. The Jews used the word Purim in an ironic way. Haman had plotted to kill them, but instead he was the one who was executed.
We have indicated that the other additional feast was the Feast of the Dedication. That feast commemorated the cleansing and recovering of the temple by Judas Maccabaeus, approximately one hundred sixty years before Christ.
After much study I have come to believe, along with others, that the feast in John 5:1 is the Feast of Purim. Modern chronologists have concluded that, according to the chronology in the Bible, the feast of the Jews here must be the Feast of Purim. According to the record of the four Gospels, we know that the ministry of the Lord Jesus lasted for more than three years. This can be determined by studying those verses in the Gospels that mention the feasts. The record of the feasts is more clear in the Gospel of John than in the synoptic Gospels.
We have seen that the Gospel of John is the fulfillment of the tabernacle and the offerings. The offerings are closely related to the feasts. The annual feasts ordained by God in His law were times for presenting offerings to God. When the children of Israel came together to keep the feasts, they offered many offerings to God. Therefore, it was necessary for John in his Gospel, a book concerning the fulfillment of the tabernacle and the offerings, to speak about the feasts. For the fulfillment of the tabernacle and the offerings we need the feasts.
John 2:13 says, “The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” This is the first of the feasts mentioned in the Gospel of John. The second time a feast is mentioned is in 5:1, which speaks of a feast of the Jews. We have seen that this is the Feast of Purim. The Feast of Purim was at the new moon between today’s calendar months of February and March. The Passover is a month later, at the new moon between March and April. Therefore, from the Passover in John 2:13 to the feast of the Jews in 5:1 is a period of almost a year.
John 6:4 says, “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.” This is the second time the Feast of the Passover is mentioned in John’s Gospel. There was an interval of a little more than a year between 5:1 and 6:4. Perhaps you have not realized that there is such an interval between chapters 5 and 6. Then from the Passover in 6:4 to the Passover in 12:1, at which time the Lord Jesus was crucified, is another year. This means that from the Passover in 2:13 to the Passover in 12:1 is a period of three years. From 2:13 to 5:1 is one year, from 5:1 to 6:4 is a second year, and from 6:4 to 12:1 is the third year. It is in this way that it can be determined that the Lord’s ministry lasted for more than three years. Even this record concerning the feasts is related to the fulfillment of the tabernacle and the offerings.
According to the study of chronology, the feast of the Jews in 5:1 is the Feast of Purim. According to spiritual significance also, this must be the Feast of Purim. This chapter speaks of passing out of death into life: “Truly, truly, I say to you, He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death into life” (v. 24). The expression passed out of death into life may be used to describe the Feast of Purim, for that was a time for the Jewish people to pass out of death into life. Their destiny under Haman had been death. But suddenly the situation was turned, and they passed out of death into life. Now we can understand why in 5:24 the Lord Jesus spoke of passing out of death into life. He spoke in this way here because of the background of the Feast of Purim.
Do you know what our destiny was before we were saved? Our destiny was destruction. Our Haman was the devil, Satan. He cast lots concerning us to appoint a time when we should be slaughtered, terminated. Thus, our destiny truly was death and destruction. But our God turned the situation, and the “lot” fell on Satan and his followers. As Haman and his sons were hanged on the gallows, so Satan and his followers were hanged on the cross. Satan had plotted to destroy us, but eventually he was the one who was destroyed (Heb. 2:14). Now we have passed out of death into life, and we can enjoy the real Feast of Purim. What good news this is!
The Passover mentioned again and again in the Gospel of John is a sign of Christ as the real Passover. Likewise, John selected the case in chapter 5 to show that Christ is also the real Feast of Purim. This indicates that Christ is our “lot,” but the lot for germination, not for termination. He is the lot for us to pass out of death into life. The Jews continue to celebrate the Feast of Purim. But we need to realize that the real Feast of Purim is Christ, the living Son of God. Only He can turn the lot from death to life. This is the significance of the sign of the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Purim.
