Rise, Take Up Your Bed, and Walk - John 5:8

John the apostle wrote how, “there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he said unto him, Will you be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steps down before me”, and in chapter five and verse eight of his book, John shared how Jesus told the man, “Rise, take up your bed, and walk” where we read:

Jesus said unto him, Rise, take up your bed, and walk.

The verse reads, “Jesus said unto him, ...”. John began with the words, “Jesus said” or “the Son of God, the Savior of mankind and God incarnate whose name means Jehovah is Salvation uttered, declared and proclaimed” “unto him” which means “to the man with the infirmity for thirty-eight years”. John shared how Jesus began to speak to the man with the “infirmity”.

The verse continues, “Rise, take up your bed, and walk.” John added the word, “Rise” which means “arouse, raise and be lifted up”, “take up your bed” or “elevate, carry and bear your, the man with the infirmity's, couch, pallet or mattress”, “and walk” which means “and be amble, make your progress and conduct yourself”. John shared how Jesus instructed the man with the thirty-eight year infirmity to “arise, carry his pallet and amble away to make his progress”.

When we think through John's words in this verse, we see how Jesus did not discuss the man's difficulty of getting to the “pool”, He simply instructed the man to “get up, carry his bed and walk away”. Jesus had the power to “heal” this man without a stirring of the “pool at Bethesda”, and because He is the Messiah and Son of God, He was easily able to “cure” this “impotent” man. Jesus stands ready to meet the needs of any person who will yield their life to Him, and when they do, He will not only forgiven their sins and grant them everlasting life, but will also be ready to meet their every need regardless of whatever options are available but not easily accessed.

Next time John shares how, “immediately the man was made whole”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".