John 5:13

Years are short for the happy and healthy; but thirty-eight years of disease must have dragged a very weary length along the life of the poor man with an infirmity. When Jesus, therefore, healed him by a word while he lay at the pool of Bethesda, he was delightfully aware of a change.

In the same way, the sinner who has for weeks and months been paralyzed with despair, and has wearily sighed for salvation, is very conscious of the change when the Lord Jesus speaks the word of power and gives joy and peace in believing. The evil removed is too great to be removed without our discerning it; the life imparted is too remarkable to be possessed and remain inoperative; and the change accomplished is too marvellous not to be perceived.

Yet the poor man was ignorant of the author of his cure; he did not know the sacredness of His person, the roles He fulfilled, or the mission that brought Him among men. Much ignorance of Jesus may remain in hearts that still feel the power of His blood. We must not hastily condemn people for lack of knowledge; but where we can see the faith that saves the soul, we must believe that salvation has been granted.

The Holy Spirit makes people penitents long before He makes them theologians; and whoever believes what he knows, will soon know more clearly what he believes. Ignorance is, however, an evil, for this poor man was much tantalized by the Pharisees and was quite unable to cope with them.

It is good to be able to answer those who contradict; but we cannot do so if we do not know the Lord Jesus clearly and with understanding. The cure of his ignorance, however, soon followed the cure of his infirmity, for he was visited by the Lord in the temple; and after that gracious manifestation, he was found testifying that it was Jesus who had made him whole. Lord, if You have saved me, show me Yourself, that I may declare You to people.