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Bible Notes - Tabernacle Commentaries
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John 5:4
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Perhaps it was performed over a period of time: the person, the individual who got into the water began to get better. The apostle John in the narrative, when we come to it, will emphasise that the healing of Christ was instantaneous, and perhaps he means that by way of contrast to the norm for Bethesda’s pool. But its infrequency served almost to show the hopeless condition of the nation. It was not like centuries before, when God had healed all their illnesses, prevented them even from getting them. Now they are a nation under a measure of judgement.
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Did this really happen and were people healed as a result? The passage does not say that it was thought that an angel went down at a certain season, so presumably the record that we have indicates that this literally happened. Perhaps it was an act of mercy that God sent, kindling some hope that for all the judgement of the people in those days and the state of the nation, under the control and direction of Rome, that there was still mercy to be had. But whatever is the explanation, there were remarkable healings, not very often, just at a season. We are not told whether that meant annually or at the times at the great pilgrim feasts, but it was not very often. And a great mass of people waited for this miracle.
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