The 8 Signs in John's Gospel — What They Mean for Israel

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, I'm ready to roll again, and we'll just pick right up where we left off after the last program. We're talking about the signs in the Gospel of John. And I'd like to emphasize that there are eight of them, and they are not just miracles, they are not just wonders, they are signs. And remember, the Jew required a sign, so all of these signs, miraculous though they are, are directed to the nation of Israel. Now I've been emphasizing that throughout my teaching of the Gospels, and I know a lot of people are beginning to see it. I can tell it from the response from the television audience that they never realized until they heard me teach it, that everything in Christ's earthly ministry was directed primarily, I don't say exclusively, but primarily to the Jew under the covenant promises of the Old Testament. Christ hasn't died yet, they didn't have any idea He was going to die, but they were to believe that He was the Christ coming in fulfillment of those Old Testament covenants. Every Jew that Jesus deals with is still a law-keeping Jew. The Temple is still going full blast. I think Josephus, the historian, and many of you have read Josephus' book, up to a million animals a year were being sacrificed at the time of Christ's earthly ministry. So that Temple was going full speed ahead, and don't you ever forget it. In fact, when we get into the Book of Acts, I'm going to prove from the Book of Acts that all these believing Jews who were believers that Christ was the Messiah, are still law-keepers. Nobody has told them to quit going to the Temple. No one has told them to stop keeping the Law. When you get into Acts 22, when Paul rehearses his own experience up in Damascus, he refers to Ananias, a devout man after the Law. That's seven years after Pentecost, and Ananias was a devout believer, but he was still under the Law. And Peter, you remember, when he got to the door of Cornelius, oh, he was shaking in his boots, I think, except that God had made it so plain. But just to show where he was with regard to the Law, what did he say to Cornelius? Now you know, Cornelius, it's an unlawful thing for me, a Jew, to come unto one of another nation. And when the sheet came down and the Lord said, Rise, Peter, kill and eat, what was Peter's reaction? No way, Lord! Why? I've never eaten anything that wasn't kosher. I've never eaten anything that was unclean. Why hadn't he? He was a law-keeper. And so always remember all these things, that as we deal with these signs now in John's Gospel, yes, it's the eternal Creator God that is performing them, but He is pointing them to the nation of Israel to show them their dire need before He could fulfill all those covenant promises. Now then we saw in John chapter 2, in the last part of our last program, the first of these signs or miracles when He turned the water into wine and filled the water pots to the brim, which was to indicate that when He brings joy to the nation of Israel, it's going to be full. And then when you come down, if you will, in chapter 2, down to verse 11. John 2, verse 11. This beginning of signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. Now even the disciples, what had to really cement their faith? The miracles to prove that He was who He said He was. Alright, now I'm going to skip chapter 3, not because I don't want to deal with the subject matter, but only because we're going to deal with these 8 signs. And now I'll have you come into chapter 4, and we come to the second sign, and that is the Nobleman's son. And again, I'm not going to take it all the way down verse by verse, because we just don't have the time. But beginning at verse 46, Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where He made the water wine, and there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick. Now underline that word. He wasn't dead, but he was sick. And when he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto Him, and besought Him that He would come down, that is to Capernaum, and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. In other words, he didn't have a lot of time left. Now where was Israel spiritually at this time? That's where they were. They were sick. They weren't dead, but oh, they were sick. They were in dire straits spiritually. Their religion had been totally watered down, and it had so far departed from the early Mosaic system. And yet they thought they were religious, and they were spiritually sick, nigh unto death. And who alone, who alone can restore their national health? The Messiah. And so here's the sign. He comes to verse 48. Then said Jesus unto him, except you see signs and wonders you will not believe. Verse 49, the nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down, ere my child die. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way, thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken. And then you know, of course, that the son liveth in verse 53, and even the father himself believed in his whole house. Now it wasn't just that the young kid was raised from his sickbed, but it was a sign to the nation of Israel that if they wanted to be restored to their national health, to receive all the promises given in the covenants, the Messiah was the one that had to do it. Now then the next verse, I think, is a little clue as to how we're to study the rest of the book of John. And that is in verse 54. This is again the second sign that Jesus did. Now if the Bible is delineating that the miracle at Cana was number one, this one is number two, what follows? Well, you better be looking for number three. And when you found number three, look for number four, because the Scripture has already given you the introduction to what we're to do. Alright, so that's what we're going to do. We're going to look for number three. It comes right off the bat in chapter 5. And after this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now remember He was up in Cana, Galilee, for the first two miracles. Now He comes down to Jerusalem, and at Jerusalem by the sheep market there's a pool. Now in my little notes on the board I've been listing the eight, and now we come to the nobleman's son who was sick. That's the thing you want to remember as a picture of Israel. Now we come to the impotent man, and it's just kind of one of the intricacies of Scripture that the impotent man is associated with sin, as is the blind man is associated with sin, and they both are associated with a pool. Now those are just little tidbits of Scripture that I think make things interesting. None of the rest of them mention sin. It shows their need, but it doesn't necessarily reveal to the fact of sin. But pool, of course, water, that indicated a need for cleansing as we've pointed out in previous programs, and that's why there was so much washing in all of their religious ritual. So anyway, now in chapter 5, verse 2, there is a Jerusalem by the sheep market, a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches, and in these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, blind, halt, so on and so forth. I'm going to skip down to verse 5 for sake of time, and a certain man was there who had an infirmity 38 years. Now, what other period of time in Israel's history was 38 years exactly in length? And we normally think of it in terms of 40. Doctor? Yeah, the wilderness was really 38 years, and it's close to the 40. And 40, in God's dealing with Israel, is always indicated as a time of testing. And so this impotent man, again, I think, has a correlation to the testing of the nation of Israel. And he'd been in that impotent state for 38 years. Verse 6, "...and when Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he said unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?" Who is He really asking? The nation. Are you ready for spiritual health? Are you ready for the King? Are you ready for the Kingdom? But they're not. Oh, the nobleman's son was healed, and now this impotent man will be healed, but the nation wasn't, because they wouldn't believe who He was. And now it's rather interesting. They're so religious, so religious, so mindful of the Law, that when Jesus raises the impotent man and tells him to pick up his bed and go his way, what day of the week was this on? The Sabbath. And these Jews were just in an uproar, because Jesus had healed this man on the Sabbath day, and told him to pick up his bed and walk. In other words, they were so religious that they were blind to common sense. They would rather have seen this poor guy stay in his infirmity, as to have been so-called guilty of breaking the Sabbath. But that's what religion does. And you look at religion all around you today, and it's still ridiculous. I've always maintained there's nothing as practical as Pauline Christianity. The letters of Paul. It has set people free. It has put us under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It has given us an insight into the Word like no other people have ever had it. All because of that finished work of the cross, and we can do nothing. But see here, religion had blinded them to the place that they accused Jesus of being a demon, because He had desecrated the Sabbath. Well, I'm not going to go a lot into all these, but all I want you to see as we go through them now, is that we're going to be constantly advancing on a previous sign. Up here at the marriage of Cana, where there was no joy, everything was empty and hopeless, by the time we get to the 8th sign, we're going to have a net full of fishes. And even though it was so full, that under ordinary circumstances it would have broken, what happened here? It didn't break. Not a fish was lost. Now we'll come to that, and I'll explain it in full. But it's an advance on this one. Here He is filling the water pots with wine, to complete their national joy, their happiness. Now down here when we get the net full of fish, it's going to be a picture of the regathering of Israel. We'll see that in Ezekiel 37. And when God gets ready to regather the children of Israel, is the net going to break? No way. Is He going to lose one or two? No way. Now if you remember back in Luke 4, when Jesus told the disciples, Now let your net down on the other side of the boat. And they did, and it was so full. But what happened? It broke, and they lost their fish. But it's not going to happen this way. Alright, now then getting back to the unfolding of these 8 signs. So now the nobleman's son up here is sick. By the time we get down to Lazarus, he's what? He's dead. Now this is the direction the nation is going. They could have had all of the responses of this, but instead they're going from bad to worse. Then you come down to the impotent man, which we're going to look at right here. Next to the pool. Sin is the problem. Now the advance on the impotent man is this one down here. Again next to a pool. Again with sin in the reference. Now what is he? He's blind, which is even worse than being impotent. Now the two in the middle, I've just sort of paralleled them together, and these both just manifested His power as being the God of creation, feeding the 5,000 with the loaves and the fishes, and then the walking on the sea. And it wasn't the walking on the sea that was such a manifestation as His what? That He could control the elements. He was in control of the wind and the waves and everything else. Alright, well let's move on through the Scriptures a minute, and come with me then to chapter 6. And here we have the account of the feeding of the 5,000. Again I'm not going to take a lot of time on it, because you know them better than I do. But on these next two that I have kind of locked together, now just like there is a pool in the impotent man's account, and a pool in the blind man's account, sin is in this one, and sin is in this one, and in both of these we have Jesus going up into a mountain. Now it's just, I think, just kind of indicative of how beautifully everything unfolds and yet ties together. That in these two middle miracles, or signs, He departs into a mountain, and in both of them He manifests His power. Alright, chapter 6, verse 3, And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there He sat with His disciples, and the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. And now you know the account. The disciples said, or Jesus said to the disciples, When shall we buy bread, that these may eat the multitude? And this Jesus said to prove Him, that is Philip, for He Himself knew what He would do. In other words, Jesus knew the end from the beginning, and He knew He was going to feed these 5,000 before the situation even presented itself. And now you know the account. How that they fed Him, and then gathered up all the fragments, which were 12 baskets. In other words, He could more than supply all of Israel's physical need, because of who He was. Now let's go on up into the next miracle, walking on the sea, in verse 15. And when Jesus therefore perceived or understood that they would come and take Him by force to make Him a king, He departed again into the mountain. See, now here in both of these signs He begins with an experience in the mountain. And when evening was now come, His disciples went down to the sea, entered into a ship, went over the sea toward Capernaum, and it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them, and the sea arose by reason of a great wind. So when they had rowed about 5 and 20 or 30 furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship, and they were afraid. But He said unto them, It is I, be not afraid. And they willingly received Him into the ship, and immediately the ship was at land, where they went. What happened? Why, it was just miraculously transported from wherever they were until they were at the shore, and we know that there was no reason to fear. Well, both of these miracles now are right in the middle of the eight, and they're both indicating that He was the powerful Creator, God, over everything. Alright, now let's quickly move on, if you will, to the next one, which would be the blind man, and that's in chapter 9, verse 1. And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from his what? Birth. I don't know if the Scripture tells how old this fellow was, but that's beside the point. How long has he been blind? From day one. Now hold that in your computer, because when we get to the account of Lazarus, I'm going to make a point. I don't know if I'm right, but I think I've got a point. But this fellow has been blind from birth. Now think back in Israel's history, all the way back to the patriarchs, to the call of Abraham. Did they ever enjoy all the promises? Never. A little while, seemingly under Solomon, and under David, but even then they were under heavy taxation. Their kids were drafted into the army, and they were under a typical rule of a typical king. They didn't enjoy happiness like they will when the Messiah rules. And so, blind from birth. Now I think this is a picture again of the nation. And so the disciples said, Master, who did... What's the next word? Sin. See, now I told you there was only two of these accounts where sin is mentioned. The impotent man, and now the blind man. And they tie together. And He's answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest to him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day, the night cometh when no man can work. And as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. And so then He comes to the blind man in verse 7, and He says unto him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sin. And he went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. Oh, I'd like to have you come back to Zechariah a moment. A verse just comes to mind. And I think this will help you see what I'm trying to drive home. That all of this is directed to the nation of Israel, indicating her near-term rejection, and falling away from all of these prospects. And yet, in the long term, God is still going to fulfill all of these sign aspects of His dealing with Israel. Zechariah chapter 13, in verse 1. Now remember the picture. He went to wash in the pool of Siloam, and He went, and washed, and came seeing. But He had been blind since His birth, until the Messiah came. Zechariah 13, verse 1. Prophecy. In that day. In other words, when the Lord finally sets up His kingdom, and Israel has all the promises fulfilled. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. For what purpose? For sin and uncleanness. What's God going to do? Oh, He's going to cleanse them. He's going to forgive them. They're going to come into all the glory of the kingdom. But as yet, they're out there in their spiritual blindness. Now then, let's come back again to John's Gospel. And as you go on through this chapter, and again, I'm not going to take time to read it all. The Pharisees and the Jews now are constantly accusing Jesus of being a demon. And then you come down to verse 16, if you will. John 9. John 9, verse 16. "...Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath." You know, a lot of people aren't any better today. Oh boy. I could tell you illustration after illustration. I had one lady come up several years ago. I imagine she's even passed on. She's probably with the Lord. And she said, Is it the number of hours that I spend in church that shows my spirituality? It would be great if it would. But that's not what shows your spirituality. Now, I'm not against church. Don't get me wrong. But listen, there are people that wouldn't miss sitting in that pew at 11 o'clock on a Sunday morning for all the world. And yet, where are they on Monday morning? Just as deep in the world as they can get. But they somehow think that that hour in church is going to rectify everything. Hey, that's religion. And religion never accomplishes anything. But the true spirituality is that which flows from within. And we try to manifest it all week long, not just for an hour on Sunday morning. All right. Move on to chapter 11. Now we've come through only just speedily. We come through the blind man. He's healed of his blindness which he's had since birth. Sin is mentioned, as well as up here with the impotent man who was also next to the pool, which indicated a need for cleansing. But now we come to Lazarus. He's dead. Down to chapter 11, verse 17. Again, you know all these verses. Verse 17. Now when Jesus came, He found that He, Lazarus, had lain in the grave how long? Four days. Now what does 1 Peter say with regard to a day in God's mind? A thousand years is but a day. And a day is but a thousand years. So now picking up the analogy that we're dealing with a nation of Israel, just like the blind man had been blind since birth, how long has the nation of Israel literally been dead? 4,000 years. Where does that take you back to? Abraham. 2,000 B.C. And so I think the four days of Lazarus' death is an indication that Israel nationally is spending 4,000 years spiritually dead. But what's going to happen at the end of the 4,000 years? Oh, he's going to be brought back to life. Now, this is doing it a little bit backwards, I know, but now come back up to chapter 11, verse 6. I'm doing this fast. This is why I like my evening classes better than this television, because we've got time to discuss it, and we can have questions and so forth. But now here in verse 6, when word came to Jesus that Lazarus was sick, and they knew that if He would come He could heal him, when He had heard, therefore, that He was sick, He purposely... Now, I'm adding the word purposely for emphasis, but He purposely abode, or remained, how long? Two days! And then what will He do? He will go to the home of Mary and Martha, and He will raise Lazarus from the dead. Now, I hope I've got time. Keep your hand in John and go all the way back to Hosea. Now, in order to find Hosea, you just find Daniel. In order to find Daniel, you find Isaiah. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, and then you come to Hosea. You've got to use crutches, you know. Alright, Hosea chapter 6. Hosea chapter 6, verse 1. Oh boy, one minute. Can we do it? "...Come, and let us return unto the Lord, for He hath torn, and He will heal us." Now, who are the pronouns referring to? The nation of Israel. "...He hath smitten," Oh indeed, He's been smiting them. "...and He will," future, "...bind us up." Now look at verse 2. "...after two days, He will revive us. In the third day, He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight." What are the two days? Well, the two days since the cross is how long? Two thousand years. What's going to be the third thousand years? The kingdom, the millennium. You see how beautifully this all fits? Alright, now quickly back for a few seconds. And so, He calls Lazarus forth. Does Lazarus contribute anything? Nothing. You know, the amazing thing to me is, he must have evidently come out of the tomb still wrapped in his grave clothes. Huh? Yeah, and that's amazing. But nevertheless, it's still the picture of Israel. They're one day going to be called back to life nationally. And we're not going to have time for that final miracle. We'll get that next program. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. 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