Truth Be Told: A Blog by Pastor Bill Alderson

“46 Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was imploring Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.’   49 The royal official said to Him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’ 50 Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son lives.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off. 51 As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living. 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, ‘Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.’ 53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, ‘Your son lives’; and he himself believed and his whole household. 54 This is again a second sign that Jes...

1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda [House of Mercy], having five porticoes. 3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters; 4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.] 5 A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish to get well?"   7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and ...

  The God of the Bible is a covenant God and has established multiple covenants (legal agreements) with various men on behalf of God’s people, including Noah, Abraham, Israel (through Moses), and David. These covenants with Noah, Abraham and David were unconditional, meaning that God promised to do something without man meeting conditions. The Old Covenant, God’s covenant with Moses at Mount Sinai, was different since it required man to fulfill his part in order for God to complete His. Then in Jeremiah 31, God revealed the New Covenant, another unconditional covenant with Israel and this covenant was extended to the church in Hebrews 8:10-12.   “ But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.   Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, an...

  To most, the passage in John 9 deals with a blind man being healed by Jesus on the Sabbath, but it is much more about the healing from sin that Jesus accomplished at Calvary. The new covenant is the means by which every believer can find the victorious life and deliverance from the effects of sin which places believers in its bondage. Jesus uses this miracle, the only one in the gospels in which the one healed has been afflicted before birth , to clear up many of the myths that the Jewish mindset embraced regarding the impact of sins on future generations. He also was illustrating the power of the cross in opening the eyes of believers to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven which God has reserved for new covenant saints (Matthew 13:11). The Jewish mindset of Jesus’ day recognized a direct link between sin and suffering and was the reason for the disciples’ question when passing this blind man in John 9. Their question was basically asking who was to blame for the man’s blind...

  “ 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. 9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the fl...