In this message we come to the fourth case—the need of the impotent (John 5:1-47). This case exposes the vanity of religion.
The case of the impotent man exposes the inadequacy of religion (5:1-9). No religion on earth is better than the Jewish religion, for it is the genuine and typical religion formed according to God’s holy oracle. The Jewish religion was formed according to the Divine Word. It worships the one true God in the correct way. No other religion can compare with it.
However, religion does not belong to God’s economy and it cannot fulfill God’s purpose. God never intended to have a religion. Yes, God did give to His people His Holy Word, the Old Testament, and He did tell them how to contact Him. There is no doubt about this. However, God had no intention of having a religion. Religion is a human invention, a product of the fallen human mind. It is the best invention of human culture. But, concerning God’s economy, religion is God’s worst enemy. It is absolutely against His economy. I say again that God had no intention of establishing a religion. His intention was to give His Holy Word to His people, revealing to them that the coming One, the Son of God, would be their salvation and life for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. This coming One would be everything to them—righteousness, holiness, redemption, and glory. The Jewish people did not have this realization. Instead, they selected portions of the commandments in God’s Holy Word and used them to devise rituals and regulations. They put together these commandments, rituals, and regulations and formed a religion. What is a religion? The best definition of it is not found in Webster’s dictionary. Religion is to worship God and to behave ourselves without Christ. Religion is just you trying your best to worship God, to behave properly to please God, and to be a perfect person—all without Christ. Although everything may be good—you worship God according to the regulations and you behave yourself—it is all void of Christ. It seems that people have Christ in Christianity, but mostly that is simply Christ in term. If you only have Christ in term, that also is religion. We must have Christ as reality. Only with Christ as our reality are we outside of religion.
When the Lord Jesus came, He came as the One who was prophesied in the Old Testament. He was the One who came to be salvation, life, righteousness, holiness, redemption, glory, and everything to God’s people. But, when He came, God’s people, the Jews, were fully occupied with their religion. They had no room in their hearts for this coming One. If you read the four Gospels, you will see that wherever the Lord went and wherever He was, He was opposed by that typical religion formed according to God’s Holy Word. Those religionists opposed this living One according to their religion. They thought that they were opposing Christ for God. They even sentenced this living One to death in their attempt to protect God. According to their realization, when Jesus said that He was the Son of God, He was speaking blasphemy, making Himself equal to God (5:18). It seems that they said, “We have only one God and no other. Our God is Jehovah Elohim. We don’t have a God by the name of Jesus. If You say that You are the Son of God, You are making Yourself equal to God and are blaspheming. We must put You to death.” That was religion.
In principle, the situation is the same today. Many religious people worship God and try their best to please Him, to behave themselves, and to make themselves perfect. Yet, it is all without Christ. This kind of religion is always in opposition to Christ and to the genuine followers of Christ in life. This opposition is not revealed in John 3 or 4; we find it in John 5. In the case of the impotent man, the opposition from religion is completely exposed. This chapter unveils the inadequacy of the typical religion and its opposition to Christ. In this chapter, the main thing on the negative side that we must see is the inadequacy, the vanity, of this religion and the opposition of this religion to Christ. Praise the Lord that on the positive side this chapter shows us the adequacy, the sufficiency, of Christ, the Son of God, as life to enliven people. Christ as life is sufficient to enliven us.
This case is an allegory, and every aspect of it must be allegorized. For many years I read this chapter again and again. I did not understand it and I was very troubled. In studying the Bible, I was accustomed to finding the central point. But even after studying this chapter many times, I could not discover the central point. It was easy to find the central point in chapter three—regeneration—and also in chapter four—the living water. Tell me, what is the central point of chapter five? I used verse 24 of this chapter quite often in gospel preaching, but I still did not grasp the central point of this chapter as a whole.
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