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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 2
addressed him with a timely warning, “Behold, thou art made whole;
sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” He who had suffered
for thirty-eight years, as the result, in part, of his own dissipation,
was thus plainly warned to avoid the sins that had caused him such
suffering.
The healed man was overjoyed to behold his deliverer, and, ig-
norant of the malice which the Jews held against Jesus, informed the
Pharisees, who had before questioned him, that this was he who had
wrought the wondrous cure. The Jewish dignitaries had only waited
for proof that it was Jesus; from the first they had been confident that
it could be no other. Now, a great uproar ensued in the court of the
temple; for they sought to slay Jesus, but were prevented by the people,
many of whom recognized in him a friend who had healed them from
their infirmities and relieved their sorrows.
A controversy now took place in regard to the true claims of the
Sabbath law. Jesus had purposely chosen the Sabbath day upon which
to perform the miracle at the pool. He could have healed the sick man
as well on any other day of the week; also he might have simply cured
him, and avoided arousing the indignation of the Jews, by bidding him
take up his bed and depart. But a wise purpose underlay every act of
Christ’s life on earth; everything he did was important in itself and its
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teaching. He came to vindicate his Father’s law and make it honorable.
The Sabbath, instead of being the blessing it was designed to be, had
become a curse through the added requirements of the Jews. Jesus
wished to rid it of these incumbrances and leave it standing upon its
own holy dignity.
Therefore he chose the Sabbath for this special work. He selected
the worst case among the afflicted ones at the pool of Bethesda upon
whom to exercise his miraculous healing power, and bade him carry
his bed through the city in order to publish the great work that had been
wrought upon him, to call the attention of the people to his case, to
the circumstances attending his cure, and to Him by whom it had been
accomplished. This would raise the question of what it was lawful to
do on the Sabbath day, and would give him an opportunity to denounce
the narrow prejudice and restrictions of the Jews in regard to the Lord’s
day, and declare their bigotry and traditions void.
Jesus stated to them that the work of relieving the sufferings of the
afflicted was in harmony with the Sabbath law, whether it was relative