0342. The House of Lovingkindness

The House of Lovingkindness

"Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep market, a pool (bathing place), which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda (House of Loving Kindness)" (Joh_5:2).

How striking it is that in Jerusalem, which expresses the "possession of peace," there was no peace to the man who was thirty-eight years sick.

How strange it is that at Bethesda, which means "the House of Loving Kindness," there was no one to help the man thirty-eight years sick, down into the waters.

And yet is the same not true to-day? Jesus Christ stands ready to give pardon and to give peace to every lost sinner. They are therefore in the place where they possess peace, but they have no peace.

Again, is it not true to-day? Jesus Christ is ready to manifest to one and to all His lovingkindness, but how few are partakers of His grace!

Hungry, in the house of bread; thirsty, encamped hard by the river of life; filled with despair, yet sheltered by the house of lovingkindness.

The feast is prepared, the invitations are out, then why not come?

The side is riven, the water and the Blood are flowing forth, then why not drink and live?

The lovingkindness is full and free, "God so loved that He gave," then why not receive His love?

PEACE HATH BEEN DECLARED. For He is our peace, then "let us have peace."

Illustration: After the war between the states had been over for some two years, a college professor, hunting specimens in the mountains of North Carolina, is said to have run across two men dressed in faded grey uniforms. The men were deserters and had been hiding out for all that time. When the professor told them the war was over, they were dumbfounded. There they were hiding out, with peace declared.

If Christ has made peace, if we are living in "Jerusalem," then let us have peace.

If there is pardon for our sin, if there is lovingkindness, let us not stay without the pale of His grace.

Illustration: A profligate son had left home, and felt there was no welcome there for him. Finally, hearing that his mother was on her death bed, he could stay away no longer. He returned and stealing up by the bed, he held his mother’s hand and said: "Can you forgive me, mother?" The answer was, "Mother would have forgiven you long ago, if you had only let her."

It seems too bad for this man, thirty-eight years sick, to be without peace in Jerusalem; it seems too bad for him to be at the pool of lovingkindness, and yet to have had no lovingkindness.

Yet, he may have had some excuse; for the city and the pool had both lost much of the real meaning of their names. With the sinner there is no excuse. Everything is ready, and Christ is true.

Illustration: In Baltimore, in an aftermeeting, a gentleman was speaking with a young woman, who taught in the public schools of that city. After a moment he called our attention to her case. He said: "This lady wants to be saved, but she can’t." Immediately we responded: "That is impossible. Those who want to be saved, can be saved. The trouble must be that the lady only thinks that she wants to be saved, but, in truth, she will not." At first the young woman was offended, but in a few days she returned and said, "You were right. I found there were things in my life which I would not yield. But, now it is all right, I have come and Christ has saved me."

It is still true: "The grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men." There is but one reason why so many are lost–"they will not come unto Christ that they might have life."

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR