The Beautiful Gate or Eastern Gate where the lame beggar sat was the largest gate to the temple and the most beautiful. In Hebrew, the name of the gate means “Gate of Mercy.” It took 20 men to move the gate. The gate faces the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley. It was sealed shut, and a cemetery was placed before its entrance to render anyone who walked through the cemetery unclean. Jewish tradition says that the Messiah will come through the Eastern Gate when He comes to reign. Ezekiel writes of the glory of God entering the temple through the Eastern Gate.
Look at him! He’s walking. He’s jumping. He’s prancing around and praising God. Wait … he’s going into the temple with those men. He can’t do that; he’s unclean. Hasn’t he been lame since birth? I’ve seen him begging every day for decades. What happened?
Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! Luke 19:38
Hosanna! Save now was the cry.
This King, riding a colt,
This King, descending the path of the Passover Lamb,
This King, coming in the name of the Lord,
This King, bringing salvation.
This King, weeping.
As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Luke 19:41-42
Passover Lamb
As the Passover Lamb was examined and proclaimed without a blemish, so was our Lord Jesus. Jesus knew no sin.
The first Passover Lamb was taken into the home of the family, and some say that the family grew fond of the lamb, treating it like a pet.
Jesus entered Jerusalem following the path of the procession of the Passover Lambs. The multitudes praised Him and honored Him as their King. He taught them daily in the temple, and they soaked up His teachings.
And yet, they did not understand that they had been visited by God. They did not understand that the Kingdom of God was in their presence.
Their cry was “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Peace was in their presence, and they did not recognize it.
What brings peace
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27
Jesus give us peace with God, a peace that is not dependent on our actions or others’ actions. This peace was bought with His blood and His flesh. Jesus paid the price for our sins and wiped away all that separated us from God.
Jesus breathes His peace upon us, all we have to do is take it in and live in His peace.
My prayer for you:
Save now, O Lord. Bring Your peace that only You can bestow upon these dear readers. Fill them with Your Presence and guide them as they walk in the fullness of Your grace, Your salvation, and Your enduring love. You, O Lord, are our Peace.
Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. John 5:2-8
Thirty-eight years of sickness. We’re not told what the man’s affliction is. He sees the waters stir, someone steps into the pool and steps out seeing, leaping for joy, healed.
There he lies waiting for the waters to churn. There he lies waiting for someone else to step into the waters and be healed.
Jesus singles out this man.
“Do you want to be healed?”
What kind of question is that? He’s there at the House of Mercy, sometimes translated House of Grace. He waits. He hopes.
Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.
What kind of answer is that? There’s only one miracle for one stir of the waters. In himself, he has no hope. He sees no other way to be healed, so he gives an excuse instead of “YES!”
I’ve been there, and I’ve seen others there. I thought that I had to do something to be worthy enough to be healed. I had to manufacture enough faith to be healed of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.
I really wanted to be healed. I tried miracle diets, miracle supplements, risky medications, detoxifications, and all sorts of miracle cures that people sell desperate people.
I was anointed with oil, prayed for, claimed healing, and pleaded with God.
I can’t step into the healing, and I have no one who can carry me to the healing. It matters no more. I just want more of you.
That’s when Jesus singled me out of the blind, broken, sick, and deaf waiting to be healed, touched my body, and told me to walk in health.
Are you waiting for a miracle, yet, hopeless?
My prayer for you:
Father, Thank You that you single out Your children and meet them as they wait for You. In the waiting is blessing. You are our hope. Give us more of You. Abide in us and enable us to abide in You. Renew our strength, renew our spirits, and renew our bodies. What a mighty God! What a gracious God! We are so blessed that You single us out and ask if we want to be healed! Thank you.
“Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:19
As Jesus traveled to Jerusalem along the border of Samaria and Galilee, 10 lepers stood at a distance from him and raised their voices:
“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Luke 17:13
Leprosy was a contagious disease – linked with sin in Biblical times. Lepers lived outside the city and were considered unclean.
“Unclean, unclean” was their cry when they came near people.
There was no cure. There was no hope – except in this man Jesus who went about healing the blind, raising the dead, and feeding the thousands.
“Go and show yourselves to the priests.” Luke 17:14
Ten lepers asked Jesus for mercy, and Jesus cleansed all of them. This ceremonially cleansing enabled them to live a normal life and to enter the temple. They were physically cured.
The Samaritan, however, returned in gratitude and threw himself at the feet of Jesus loudly praising God.
“Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:19
Jesus proclaimed that the Samaritan’s faith made him sozo, or whole, completely restored to health and saved from destruction. The Samaritan received all that Jesus offered when he fell at Jesus’ feet in thanksgiving.
The Samaritan’s healing was a seven-step process.
He cried out for healing.
He obeyed the command of Jesus to go show himself to the priest.
He recognized his cure.
He returned to Jesus.
He fell at the feet of Jesus.
He praised God.
His faith made him whole.
The healing that Jesus offers is more than a physical healing. He offers a healing that is complete, a healing that will make you whole, a healing that will restore your mind, body, soul, and spirit to what God has planned for you and all the promises, treasures, and fullness He has for you, sozo.
My prayer for you:
Gracious Father, You, alone, are good. You, alone, are our Healer. Restore our minds, bodies, souls, and spirits to all that You have planned for us. Bestow all the fullness of your promises, treasures, and plans that You have prepared for us from the beginning of the world. We praise You for Your amazing love, that You would have mercy on us and grant us fellowship with You. Thank You, Father.
Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, ‘Which,’ He said, ‘you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. … but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, Acts 1:4-8a
Jesus told His followers to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Holy Spirit. This promise would give them power.
His followers waited in expectation on the promise in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, but their waiting was active. Acts tells us that they devoted themselves to prayer. They also appointed a replacement for Judas.
After the Lord impressed upon Keith and me that I would be healed of fibromyalgia, we waited in expectation, too.
We actively waited.
We prayed.
We studied the Bible.
We studied books on healing.
I worked with my doctor, and we tried new medications.
I tried new techniques of coping with the pain and fatigue.
Come, and however feeble you feel, just wait in His presence. As a feeble, sickly invalid is brought out into the sunshine to let its warmth go through him, come with all that is dark and cold in you into the sunshine of God’s holy, omnipotent love, and sit and wait there, with the one thought: Here I am, in the sunshine of His love. As the sun does its work in the weak one who seeks its rays, God will do His work in you.
My prayer for you:
Father, we are waiting on Your healing presence in our lives. We are waiting in expectation of Your promises. Teach us to bask in Your light and all powerful love. Work in us Your plans for us, Your healing touch. Here we are, waiting for the power You are pouring out on Your children. Thank you, Father of Lights. To You be the glory!
Share your insights:
As you wait on the Lord, focus on His glory, His power, His promises, and share what He has shown you.
Jesus and His disciples walked from Jericho to Jerusalem for Jesus’ final time. One by one, a large crowd formed and followed Jesus. Can you feel the crowd’s expectation as they followed Him?
“Who will Jesus heal next? What miracle will we see today? Will He feed us all?” The noise crescendos.
