Cairo: Jesus in Egypt & God's Unusual Leaning
God seldom gives us all we need to understand, but He always gives us what we need in order to obey. The story of Jesus in Egypt as a boy offers a...
3 min read
Wayne Stiles
:
Oct 14, 2018 10:00:57 PM
Very few people are drawn to God by intimidation. Instead, the Lord urges us to come to Him by revealing the kindness of His mercy. It’s a tremendous motivation.
(Photo: Pools of Bethesda and Crusader chapel, courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
Once we comprehend the depth of our imperfections, and the futility of our own efforts to remove them, we are in a position to respond to God’s kindness.
In this post, you’ll read how Jesus revealed this simple truth one day in Jerusalem with an act of mercy at the Pools of Bethesda.
Just inside Stephen’s Gate in Jerusalem lie several sites Christian visitors seldom miss.
But enter the unassuming doorway on the north side of the street, just beyond Stephen’s Gate, and history merges with Scripture.
(Photo: Pools of Bethesda sit beside St Anne’s Church. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
A picturesque courtyard with flowers and foliage leads to deep pits with ancient, stone walls. These are the Pools of Bethesda.
The Byzantines in the fifth century constructed a church to commemorate Jesus’ miracle at the pools.
(Photo: Pools of Bethesda and Saint Anne’s Church in background, courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
Most well known for its amazing acoustics, Saint Anne’s Church enjoys the voices of thousands of Christian tourists each year singing praises to God.
Modern versions of the Bible indicate that John 5:3b-4 are missing from the earliest and best manuscripts. Likely John didn’t write these verses, but someone inserted them after AD 400 to explain the superstition the sick man mentioned in John 5:7.
When Jesus asked sick man, “Do you want to be healed?” his answer revealed that he believed that healing depended on his ability to outrun the others to the Pools of Bethesda.
When the Lord later searched for him and “found him in the temple” (John 5:14), Jesus’ words show that the physical healing represented an act of God’s kindness intended as an incentive for the healed man to repent of his sins.
Think about how God’s kindness has proven abundant in your own life. Indeed, God’s kindness toward us is a huge motivation to urge us to repent and to obey Him.
Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? —Romans 2:4
Tell me what you think: How has God’s kindness toward you urged you to change? To leave a comment, just click here.
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