Some say the pool at Bethesda was a superstitious pool and had no virtue in its water. Others say that it was blessed of God by the presence of an angel who troubled its water and gave healing virtue to the first to plunge into the pool.
I personally see this pool as a picture of both. But the real significance of Bethesda’s pool is the sovereign King of Glory who graced it with His presence. The only reason for it to be preserved or mentioned at all; the only value to it or virtue it could claim is that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Before He appeared or after his appearance he is still the source of its virtue and the magic of its water.
I thought as I studied these passages how much this applies to all that we are and do.
1. As your pastor: I have no reason to be honored, listened to, obeyed, or followed except for Christ. If Christ be in me and in my ministry and in my life then this office has honor but without Him it is just another hollow form of religion.
2. The building we meet in: There is nothing special about this building or the grounds. But if this place is used to honor God’s King, He will also honor this place. If Christ be here, I had rather meet here than in the greatest cathedral in the world.
3. This assembly: Of what value is a crowd if Christ is not in their midst? A huge multitude gathered on the outskirts of Canaan without Christ and accomplished nothing except to bring down the wrath of God on their heads.
4. Worship: Who will bring us to the Father? Who will take our pitiful gifts and make them acceptable? Who will show us the Father that we might know him and be stirred to worship?
5. Reading the scriptures: “To Him give all the prophets witness”, Take Christ out of the Bible and it is just another book.
6. Preaching: Oh, what a pitiful exercise would preaching be if it were not for Christ. What could you say to perishing sinners? What comfort could you give to the suffering? What hope could you offer to the lost?
The real significance of the pool is that which God has attached to everything that is – The Lord Jesus Christ. “All thing were created by Him and for Him” (Colossians 1: 16).
