MaryEllen Montville

“And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live.”

Today’s title posits a twofold assurance, which begs the question: Can a man die twice? The short answer is yes; he can. And yet, this same man may live twice. The choice for each rest in his hands—life now, and eternally, or death now—and eternally.

Each man must choose one or the other.

To not choose is, by default, that man’s choice.

In today’s verse, Jesus is refuting Jewish leaders who, being willfully blind, would not recognize Who stood before them—nor would they acquiesce to the miracle they’d witnessed nor to Jesus’ claim of Sonship with the Father—and so they did what they knew to do: rise up in unbelief and verbally assail Jesus. “So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules. But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.” –John 5:16-18

The miracle they refused to acknowledge. The healing of a man bound for thirty-eight years. Instead, they called it a complete disregard for a law they themselves had stretched far beyond God’s intended purpose. “One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!” –John 5-10.

No one knows how old this man was, or at what age he first lay down beside this pool—Scripture doesn’t tell us. It’s likely, however, that in his mind, this place was his last hope, having exhausted all other options available to him. If he could get into these waters he’d heard had curative powers when stirred up—he’d be healed; his hope was all he had left. Had he been in his 20s, 30s, 40s, even when he’d come to this point of desperation?

Had this man who’d spent thirty-eight years of his life languishing beside a pool of water, due to his own spiritual blindness, convinced himself his healing would come through them only, or not at all? Scripture seems to nod in that direction; we just read his reply to Jesus when asked if he’d like to get well: “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

How many today have been languishing beside some pool for years upon years, as well?

Not due to a physical malady, perhaps, as with this man; rather, they’ve been bound by drugs, alcohol, porn, a lying tongue, fornication, or idol worship or witchcraft. Maybe their malady is rebellion and unbelief? “For rebellion is as [serious as] the sin of divination (fortune-telling), and disobedience is as [serious as] false religion and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you as king.” –1 Samuel 15:23

They’re bound by self-reliance or reliance on “other.” Parents, a spouse, some statue or medal, their own child, even—some “pool” that carries their answer; if they could get in when the waters are turning.

But alas, that never seems to pan out…

So they languish, then, having decided this “pool” is their only hope, and if it can’t help them, then neither can anyone else. They stay bound to it, day after day for years, growing more and more hopeless as they watch others get what they themselves so desperately need—healing, hope, restoration, a new beginning.

Failing to accept the Truth that hope and healing can be theirs, if they’d simply say yes and receive it…

This is the first death: spiritual death. It happens when men decide not to listen to or believe God’s Word, which can save them…

Instead, they make the choice, and it is their own to make, to put their faith in anyone or anything other than the One who gave them life through their natural birth, and Who offers them new life, life eternal, when they acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior. “Jesus answered him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a person is born again [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified], he cannot [ever] see and experience the kingdom of God.” –John 3:3

Jesus is man’s only hope—not some “pool” or person, not a priest or a religion—but the Person of Jesus Christ. “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among people by which we must be saved [for God has provided the world no alternative for salvation].” –Acts 4:12.

Having seen the picture attached to today’s teaching, you may have noticed it’s of a branch snapped in two.

The result of its being broken is that this branch will not live; so too with every man. Sin snaps us in half, separating us from our Life Source, Jesus…

All men have been severed from Christ Jesus because of one man’s sin, so too have all men been afforded the Way to restoration and forgiveness of their sins. “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” –Romans 5:12;17

Notice I didn’t say sin stopped anyone from knowing Jesus’ name, from going to church, from owning a Bible, or from knowing what Jesus has done for others…

But I am saying plainly that if you are not grafted into what gives your Life eternal, this will result in the second death, which Jesus makes plain a few verses later. Listen: “The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son. And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man. Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment.” –John 5:26-29

When Jesus sought out the man who’d been sitting by his “pool” for thirty-eight years, He did so to give him life now, in the form of hope, renewal, healing, and restoration, sure, but Jesus gave him so much more.

When that man jumped up after Jesus healed him, he didn’t do it in his own power. He did it by the power He’d just been given, the same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead. The power of God’s Holy Spirit had entered him, giving him the start of a new life then and the promise of Life eternal in the age to come.

Jesus had sought him out to give him life and life abundant…

Today’s title poses a dual question: Can a man die twice? The short answer is yes; he can. And yet, this same man can also live twice. The choice for each rest in his hands—life now, and eternally, or death now—and eternally.

Being the same yesterday, today, and forever, Jesus has come today, now, as you read this, to ask you, friend, the same question He once asked that man by the pool; a question each man must answer for himself: “Would you like to get well?”  

I’m praying you’ll answer with a decisive, “Yes, Jesus, I do!” “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” —John 5:19