Feasting of John 5

Today our feast is going to cause us to mature if we can handle the truth. The whole chapter of John 5 is Jesus correcting people. He corrects the man at the pool of Bethesda saying, don’t sin anymore or somehow worse may happen to you (v.14); next He’s correcting the Jews on their unbelief and lack of acceptance of the Son of God. It’s not harsh but it is obvious.

People don’t like correction because they don’t understand it. If we’ve experienced correction as punishment, we fear correction because we think we’ve done something wrong so we are a bad person. Our poor perception of correction has caused us to miss out on the life that comes from correction. Hebrews 12:11 says, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” The fruit of correction is peace and righteousness.

What correction do we need as the body of Christ? I would purpose we need the John 5:40 correction, “You are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.” Jesus corrects the Jews saying, you’ll go to others, you’ll even go to the scriptures, but you won’t come to Me. This is our issue as well. We corporately go to church, we go to conferences, we go to You Tube and Facebook, but we don’t come to Him that we may have life.

Revelation 3:19 – 4:2 of which John wrote that book as well says, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.”

Today as we feast on God’s correction, He is inviting us to come to Him. He’s correcting us up, literally, saying come up here, come near to me. He’s not mad at us, He’s not disappointed with us, He’s not going to ground us, He’s correcting us so He can show us His heart, His nature, His ways, His truth, His love so we can have life, but we, I must come to Him if I’m going to live, if we’re going to know life abundantly. Come to Me, come to Me, I am Life says the Lord and if you come to Me, you will live, really live, come to Me.

lisagreat