I HAVE NO MAN
In Jesus' day, there was a pool in Jerusalem which in Aramaic was called Bethesda, meaning "house of mercy." Once in a while, an angel would enter the pool and stir the waters up so that they visibly moved. It was discovered that anyone who first entered into the pool after the water was stirred would be healed of whatever was afflicting them. For this reason there was always a large number of people who were blind, sick, crippled, etc. who would wait all around the pool for their chance to be healed.
A story like this may seem strange to us today. Many modern Christians and theologians would
rather dismiss what they don't understand than to believe the witness of God's
Word. Even several of the more popular
modern Bible translations have entirely removed the text of John 5:4 from their
editions, choosing to skip verse four altogether and go directly to verse five
from verse three! I say, let God be true
and every man a liar. God is a faithful
and loving Father, and even at times when His people turn their backs on Him,
He still moves in marvelous and unexpected ways in order to bless them, and
remind them that He is God.
A study of the history of the great revivals in America
should be enough to convince us that God still moves in strange and miraculous
ways even down to today. From the Great
Awakening of 1734-43 with the powerful preaching of Jonathan Edwards and George
Whitfield, through the 2nd awakening of the early 1800's when Charles Finney
alone was instrumental in leading 500,000 souls to Christ, to the Businessmen's
Revival of 1857-58 where an estimated 2,000,000 were converted, God truly was
stirring the waters in miraculous ways.
The Urban Revival of 1875-85 led to the rise of Dwight L. Moody who
brought God's Word to millions during his ministry. Revival broke out in 1904 among
Welsh-speaking settlers in Pennsylvania and spread to other parts of the
country. A preacher by the name of Billy
Sunday preached to about 100,000,000 souls during this time! In 1906, a move of God began on the west
coast with the Azusa Street Revival. We
could mention the Post-World War Awakening and the preaching of Bill Bright and
Billy Graham, the Charismatic Renewal and Jesus Movement of the late 1960's and
early 1970's, the Asbury College Revival of the 1970's, the Melbourne Revival,
the Modesto Revival, the Brownsville Revival, and the Promise Keeper's Revival
which were all in the 1990's to 2000’s.
During each of these times God manifested Himself in some very unusual
ways bringing spiritual awakening, physical healings, gifts of the Spirit, and
fresh anointing to hundreds of millions of people. I was converted in 1971 during the Jesus Movement,
and later participated in the Promise Keeper's Million Man March on Washington
in October of 1997. During these times I
witnessed personally the "moving of the waters" among God's
people. I saw many lives completely
transformed by faith in the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. I saw drug dependencies miraculously cured,
sick bodies healed instantly by prayer, and works of the Spirit that defied
natural explanation. Clearly, God still
"troubles the waters" for the sake of His people today.
At a certain point in His ministry, Jesus was in
Jerusalem and passed by the pool of Bethesda where He found a man who had been infirm
for 38 years. His infirmity was such
that it apparently prevented him from being able to walk on his own. This man was waiting, along with all the
other sick folks, for the waters of the pool to be troubled so that he might be
able to get in the pool first and be healed.
On seeing the man's need, Jesus said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” (John 5:6 ESV). The man's answer was
very unexpected. Instead of crying,
"Yes, what do you think I'm here for?" he offered an excuse. "Sir,
I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled." (v.7).
I
have no man!?
The trouble with much of modern religion is that it has
become too dependent on man, and not enough on God. Jesus Christ is the answer
to all of the world's needs. He is our
Healer, He is our Teacher, He is our
hope and help when we are struggling with circumstances in this life for which
we have no answers. In His sovereignty
He can save and heal without the help of angels, movements, or man. Though God uses preachers, teachers,
revivals, awakenings, and, yes, even troubled waters to reach out to the lost and
faltering; none of those agents should ever distract us from God Himself. They should, instead, point us toward our
Lord Jesus Christ through Whom we all
find access to God. I've heard a lot of
excuses over the years that people use for not serving God. They blame their parents, their spouse (or
lack of a spouse), their pastor, their Sunday school teacher, an evangelist, or
just some Christian that let them down somehow.
They use someone else's failures as an excuse not to serve God
themselves. Instead of having their eyes
on a man or even a movement, they need to fix their eyes on Christ. The question needs to be whether or not they
trust in Jesus Christ to make them whole or not! He is able to work outside all of our
paradigms, traditions, expectations, and norms if we will just believe. "The
word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of
faith, which we preach; that if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Romans
10:8, 9).
Jesus ignored the sick man's excuses and said to him, "Rise,
take up thy bed, and walk.” (v.8).
Immediately, the man received faith to be healed, rolled up his bed, and
walked away under his own strength! God
is not looking for our excuses, but our obedience and faith. Faith is the thing that will fulfill God's
promises in our life. When we stop
substituting people and things in the place of Jesus, we will find joy and
victory overflowing. When we quit
saying, "I have no man,"
or, "I have no money," or
whatever we use as an excuse, then we will find that the Lord Himself will be
everything we ever need or want. We will
find also that salvation isn't just for the lucky few, but it is for all who
hear God's voice and respond in faith. Certainly
God can and does use His servants and His movements to reach out to the lost,
but those things should only serve as signposts that point us to the Savior of
the world and to a personal relationship with Him. They should never exalt man in the place of
Christ. The truth is God doesn't need to use any of those agents to reach
lost souls, but He does choose to. In His love and mercy He still moves in
unusual and miraculous ways. The point,
though, is that Christ is always standing before us asking, "Do
you want to be healed?" What
will our response be to our Lord and Savior? Will we respond with a resounding,
"Yes!" or will we make excuses and remain unchanged?
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