Sheep Gate, Bethesda and You | Classic DT

[00:00:00] Real Truth Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman. Hi everybody, welcome back to Daily Truths. Sometimes Daily Truths is about application and applying the Word of God directly to your life and we're going to be doing that a little bit today.

[00:00:17] But I want to tell you, this DT I'm really excited about because I'm going to be digging deep into one verse and sharing some incredible stuff with you that I hope you are not only informed about, but learn and are encouraged by. Listen to this. This is John chapter 5, verse 2. And remember, Jesus had gone back to Jerusalem and it says this.

[00:00:40] Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. Let's take this apart. What's this thing called the Sheep Gate? Listen, this is so cool, folks.

[00:00:56] So when it came time for temple sacrifices, there was a gate in the city walls of Jerusalem, a small gate whereby the sheep would pass through ready to be sacrificed in the temple in Jerusalem. This is why they called it the Sheep Gate. And then it says, now there was in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool in Aramaic called Bethesda. Bethesda. What does Bethesda mean? House of mercy.

[00:01:26] House of grace. How cool is that? And then listen to this. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In the late 19th and early 20th century, they did an archaeological dig in Jerusalem. And guess what they found? A rectangular pool divided by a wall with two basins with guess how many colonnades? One, two, three, four, five.

[00:01:57] Archaeology validates and verifies the authenticity and accuracy of Scripture. I love that. But yet there's so many skeptics, agnostics. You can't trust the word. Listen to this. History backs up the authenticity of the Bible, but so does archaeology. And we got to remember that. And so does geography for that matter.

[00:02:18] So many of the places that were mentioned in both the Old and New Testament, those towns are still there in the exact location they were identified in in the Old and New Testament. But yet so many people say, ah, the Bible is just a fable and a myth. A bunch of guys just got together and made it up. Listen to this. Archaeology, history, and eyewitness accounts and geography all validate the accuracy of Scripture. Now let's take this apart.

[00:02:48] Okay, the sheep gate, the house of mercy. Listen to this. Jesus passed through a gate as the Lamb of God when he went to Calvary's Hill to sacrifice himself as the Lamb of God to take away our sin. So he was the ultimate sheep, the ultimate lamb that passed through a gate to sacrifice himself so that we could have eternal life. Listen to this, folks.

[00:03:12] All those sacrifices in the Old Testament pointed to the once and for all sacrifice that would be rendered by Jesus on Calvary's cross for our sin. And now as a result of that, what are we a part of? The house of grace and the house of mercy were children of our Heavenly Father, heirs of the kingdom, sins forgiven, headed to heaven, all part of God's family, the house of mercy. And that can never change.

[00:03:42] Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Not trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword. Knowing all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I'm convinced, St. Paul says, that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God, the house of mercy, from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[00:04:12] Why is that? Because Christ passed through the city gates of Jerusalem, sacrificed himself on the cross so that we are a part of the household of faith, the house of mercy and grace that was established by God the Father through his son. How cool is that? So, okay, what's the application?

[00:04:37] Well, obviously, we're children of God, heirs of heaven, sins forgiven, headed to heaven, all this stuff, right? All because of Jesus. But what I really wanted to get across to you today is the archaeological significance of the Bible, right? And how cool it is that these things that are talked about in the Bible, archaeologists can discover, oh, the Bible is true.

[00:05:01] There's never been found anything that would contradict archaeologically the authenticity of Scripture. So we need to remember that. And when people are coming to us and saying, oh, it's just made up, go to this verse. Oh, did you know that they found, you know, the Pool of Bethesda with five colonnades and that's exactly what they found? Yeah. Well, so that's today's Daily Truth. A little history and geography and archaeological lesson today.

[00:05:30] But I hope that encouraged you to know that you can trust this word. That is today's Daily Truth. Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for tuning in to Daily Truths with Dave Allman. Pastor Dave Allman is the pastor of Mount Hope Church in Boulder, Colorado. If this ministry is blessing you, please consider supporting us by sharing this channel with a friend. You can also like, comment, subscribe, or leave a review. This helps us tremendously.

[00:05:59] Come back tomorrow for your next Daily Truth.