The verse mentioned above is a very stern warning from Jesus Himself to someone He has healed. This part of scripture is about a lame man that Jesus saw in the pool of Bethesda.
This man had been lame for 38 years! If I interpret this Bible verse right, he was the only person that Jesus approached from among the many that were lying in wait at the pool. A bit of a background first. There was a popular belief in those days that an angel would visit the pool and disturb the water and whoever would get into the pool first gets healed. That was why there were so many sick people there. And if my interpretation is again correct, verse 7 says that it has happened in the past, one reason why he is still there.
Then Jesus comes, approaches him and asks him if he wants to get well. Can you imagine that? The Son of God asking you if you want to get well. Obviously during this time the lame man did not know who was asking. He may have thought Jesus would help him get into the water when the pool bubbles.
Jesus did better–he healed him instantly at that moment. Glory to God! And then the kontrabidas came to spoil the day. Just read John chapter 5 and find out for yourself.
But the story was not over. The previously lame man had another encounter with Jesus in verse 14. Jesus met the lame man again in the Temple and told him this warning, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.”
The man was lame for 38 years, what worse thing can happen? What does this reveal to us? When we receive a gift from God, healing in this instance, we need to take care that this gift will not be taken, or snatched from us, by our enemy Satan.
I have experienced this a few times. For many times, I would receive a blessing from God. I would receive money, a promotion, a new project or many people were blessed in a preaching I did. Those are high times and then the devil will sneak in because my guard was down because of the blessing and instantly take away my joy. He does it in crafty ways, believe me.
I don’t want to give the devil a lot of credit but I had my own fault. God gave me a blessing and then I let Him down because I let the devil snatch the blessing from me by way of a sin. And like a rehearsed musical things come tumbling down. Consequences upon consequences would occur because of one sin that happened after receiving a gift or blessing from God.
But God in His grace continues to receive me when I repent. I knew I was wrong and I let the devil take away my joy. It happened a few times already and I should have known his ways already. My stubbornness also come into play here. There is also neglect. Its not just the devil’s fault. I have my part too.
That is why I believe Jesus admonishes the lame man to take care of the gift of healing he received from Jesus. He should stop sinning before something worse happens. And its a message to everyone of us. We need to be careful always because in our jubilation we may be unwittingly giving an opening to the devil.
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