The significance of various "Beth" locations in the Bible, beginning with Bethesda, the "house of mercy," where salvation is found. It then moves to Beth-bara, the "house of passage," representing obedience through baptism. Bethlehem, the "house of bread," signifies spiritual sustenance through Christ. Bethesda, the "house of nets," points to service and soul-winning. Bethany, the "house of dates," illustrates suffering and sorrow, but also Christ's love, sympathy, power, and the ultimate joy of His return. These places collectively reveal Christ as the hope for believers, meeting every need.
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which speaks of sacrifice. There's where the multitude came, and there's where the Savior sinners came. He came to that crowd who was in need. Everyone was in need. Yet there's where the Lord Jesus came. He came to the place where the sheep were brought to be cleansed. Why didn't he go to the palace? Why did he not go to the rich and he educated the wealthy, the noble. No, he didn't. He went to that place of need. He went to that place of sacrifice.
He was the sheep who was led to the slaughter. How wonderful is one exception in connection with the Lord Jesus. He didn't have to be cleansed or washed in that mood. He was all very the sinless, softness, son of God. And there he went, and this man was healed. One out of a multitude. And today only a few are being saved. One here, one there. Here is the place of mercy, Bethesda, where you may find mercy, regardless of your need. You may have that need met tonight. And then the next place, Beth Barra.
We read about that in verse forty-four. is it not? These things were done in Beth-A-Bara beyond Jordan, or verse twenty-eight of chapter one. These things were done in Beth-A-Bara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. What does this mean? Beth, the house, passage. That's the meaning part. Barra means passage or a forge. And that's understandable because here at this poem, John was baptized. John was baptized.
It's the house of the passage or the house of obedience. After a person's saved, then he comes to the house of obedience. The house of the passage where you pass from being a disobedient Christian to an obedient one in being baptized, for it was here that John was baptizing. And if you're a child of God and you haven't yet been baptized by immersion, you're an unbelieving believer. And following baptism is the Lord's Supper where you meet on the first day of the week to remember the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christian, have you come to Bethlehem? the house of the passage. You can even apply this to the unsaved. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hereeth my word and belief is on him that set me hath everlasting life and shall not come to condemnation, but his path from death unto life. From an unbelieving sinner to a believing one in salvation by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and being saved. And so you had the house of passage, the passage or the form. Where you have submission, now in connection with the first text, you have submission.
And if you want to go back to a title for Bethel, you have El Bethel Sovereignty, the Supreme One. Then you have in connection with Bethesda, you have the house of mercy, salvation. Here you have submission. After you're saved, submission to the will of God in baptism and the Lord's Supper. Then furthermore you had Bethlehem and certainly we've had that through the town broad before us in the last few days and this is what I intended speaking on two weeks ago but I didn't get to it. Bethlehem.
What does Bethlehem mean? Bethlehem means the house. of bread. The house of bread. What do we read? Hath not the scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem where David walked? And Bethlehem means the house of bread. But there's another significant point in connection with Bethlehem. There is a well at Bethlehem. And you remember how David thirsted for the waters of the well of Bethlehem, his ancient town, the town where he grew up, eventually to be called the House of David.
Yes, it was that water that he wanted to slake his thirst. And three of his great and noble men broke through the garrison of Philistine, and they got some of that water and brought it to David. And David would not drink it, it was too sacred. Pour it out as unto the Lord. So you have bread and water in connection with Bethlehem. Here you have sustenance. You're sustained. What does the Lord Jesus Christ say in chapter six and verse fifty-seven? As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me even he shall beg thy me.
Christ is a bread from heaven, the house of bread, Bethlehem. Not only bread, but water. Christ says, I am the living bread. And he says, I am the living water, also. And here at Bethlehem you have sustenance. How are we as Christians sustained We are sustained by feeding on the Scriptures, feeding on the person of Christ as he's found in the Scriptures, as the Spirit of God opens him up to our thirsty and hungry hearts. This is how we're sustained as Christians.
So often you find young Christians and they're not going on too well. But all you've got to do is put your finger right on the kettle. Are you still reading the New Testament? Are you still reading the Word of God as avidly as you did when you were first saved? Are you still spending as much time in prayer? Are you still witnessing for Christ as you did when you first hung on old? They're losing strength spiritually. They're not being sustained from day to day. Not that the source is not available.
Christ is always available. The scriptures are here for you and for me to be beautiful. And the only way you're going to be sustained is by feeding upon the word from day to day. Feeding upon the person of Christ as he's found in the word and as he's opened up to you by the Spirit of God. Yes, what did David say? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. There's the word. And he leadeth me beside the still waters. There's the spirit. And in connection with Bethlehem, you have the house of bread and the house of water, the well of Bethlehem.
So stay while the word of God and the spirit of God. Then you have Bethesda. in chapter one and verse forty-four. Now Philip was of Bethesda, the city of Andrew and Peter. This was a little fishing village. And it says Bethesda, meaning the house of nets, that's very significant. I've never preached on this here in Albany before. I just saw it only two or three weeks ago and looked up these scriptures and the location and their meaning. And then I have tried to arrange a word beginning with S running throughout the mall, which I have given to you.
But here is the house of nets. Now, first of all, we find salvation in connection with Bethesda, the house of mercy. If we find the house of the passage in connection with Bethavara, here you have submission to the word of God. Then if you come to Bethlehem, the house of dread and of water where we shall stay. What have we got here beginning with S? Service, soul winning. The house of Ness. That was Bethesda. Notice what happened, Bethesda. There Andrew findeth Simon.
Jesus findeth Philip. Philip findeth Nathaniel. This is the chapter of the finding. find it. Mine is not wonderful to find a hungry soul. Find someone and bring that one to Christ. Ah, it's a grand experience, isn't it? The house of the nets or the house of servants looking for others and bringing others to our Lord Jesus Christ. Then we come to Bethany. And it seems strange that Bethany is mentioned so many times in the New Testament.
Bethany, Bethany. The Lord must have loved Bethany. He visited there quite frequently in the house of Mary and Martha and of Lazarus. We read that. How wonderful this little place was. Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and Martha, in chapter eleven and verse one. phrase as it may seem, the name here means the house of dates. The house of dates. You know, when they picked dates, and evidently there were lots of dates in the little grove or orchard on the slopes of the Mount of Olives where Bethany was, and when those dates are picked, they're pressed, they're packed.
You know what it is to go to the store and get a pound of dates on their crests together. You can hardly break them asunder. Here you have pressure. What was Bethany? Bethany was the house of suffering and sorrow. If those dates could speak, they would cry out against the pressure. Even the soul, the pits, as we say, they're very hard to stick out of it. They're there for us. Yes, sometimes God's people know something of death and death.
The place of sorrow. Following service, you have sorrow. You have suffering. I wonder if you realize that. The place of suffering, pressure. You know, God's people sometimes are put in this house of suffering and of sorrow. Need I remind you of the sorrow that came to Mary and Martha when Lazarus died? But there are lessons here for Christians. Strangely they seem, Dr.
Williams, of many years ago in Atlanta, was a godly man. and he was struggling to get into a deeper spiritual life. Although a saved man and a preacher, he wasn't satisfied. He knew he was saved, but he was longing for victory over sin. He was longing for victory over the world. He was longing for more power to preach. The word of God helped God's people and win souls for Christ. has strange ways sometimes of teaching his people's lessons.
Dr. Williams went to a big exhibition, and he stopped at a booth where a man was, and this man, he was a potter, and he was making things out of clay, and he stood there, and he walked. And he took that big lump, that ugly lump of clay, and he put it upon the wheel or the lathe, as they call it. And he was amazed as he saw that potter come forth with a beautiful vase called the Corinthian vase, one of the most beautiful.
And after the crowd that stood there and mired it, he crumbled it all up again and he mixed it with the other mass of play that he had then he takes practically the same lump up again for some additional play and he went to work again this time he made an Egyptian the old-style Egyptian day with a lot of money it wasn't as good as the Corinthian day and after the crowd admired this piece of handiwork. He took that same piece of clay and he crumbled it up.
This time he made a common plate, a common plate. And as this Dr. Williams watched in tempest, God is this a lesson, an object lesson from God to me? I want to be a convincing something attractive, something that will draw people's attention. Well, I wouldn't mind being a Corinthian babe. And I wouldn't mind being a Egyptian babe.
But Mr. Carman played, well, I don't see much about that. And then, to his surprise, and almost seemed bad taste, that that potter took that same clay and he crumbled it up again. What do you think he made? A spittoon. It seemed bad taste, and the doctor almost turned to me. He thought, watch the meaning of that. And a voice came to him, even struggling for a deeper life with God.
What do you want to be? That beautiful Corinthian bay, Egyptian bay, the common platform? Or do you want to be a siftune? Oh, do you mean something for men to spit up? Every man to spit up? Yes. because your Lord was spit of wicked men spitting his face. And he took it. And he didn't say a word. Are you willing to become Christ-like in that fashion?
Where you are, then are you? Ah, yes, the house of suffering. The house of sorrow. And in these ways God makes us channels of blessings, vessels, that he can use, as she might, good to the potter, to make it. Oh, so often we pray, Lord, make me a blessing. I want to be more Christ-like. Are you willing to pay the price, to be Christ-like, to the potter?
it'll cost some well that's the price one of the lessons of death and also affliction associated with death in that these dear sisters lost their brother but in that chapter if you would read it through you'll find connected with this sorrow and suffering you have some things about the Lord Jesus or the very noticeable You have, first of all, his love. Now Jesus loved him, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. And then you have his sympathy.
Jesus went. Jesus went. Then you have the display of his power. Lazarus couldn't walk. many things here. You have his word. The master has come uncalled for thee. Martha said to Mary, Hear this call. First his love, then his call, then his call, then his sympathy, then his power. And you know the joy that came to the end when the Lord Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. But destiny also became the house of worship.
For in chapter twelve there they made him a supper. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table, but Mary sat in his feet and heard his words. Where's the best place? Oh, it was wonderful to serve the Lord in death like Martha forces he sent you. But here is Lazarus, and he sat at the table with him, undoubtedly sitting right at his side. And we don't read that Lazarus said a word.
He didn't speak a word as far as we know. He sat beside Jesus, a monument of his grace and power, his miraculous power. And Mary came, not for Jesus' sake only, but the sea alone, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Oh yes, are we sitting so close to the Lord, who are becoming like it? And we're associated with it. They came not for Jesus' sake only, but for Lazarus' sake, the sea of them. And when they decided to crucify Jesus, undoubtedly they hated Lazarus' rest.
And the closer you get to Jesus Christ, the more the world will take you. And he says, Marvel not of the world takes you. It's taken me before it's taken you. But here you find first service in Martha, second fellowship, a connection with Lazarus who sat at the table with him, who have barely sitting at his feet. Martha standing up, looking down at Jesus, Ladeth was silent, looking straight at him. But Mary was at his feet looking up. There she broke her alabaster box and poured upon his feet.
This is worship. This is worship. Talking to Brother McCartney the other day up in Windsor, we were talking about how precious worship was. He says, better less do you know if I had my choice to be a preacher the rest of my life or to be a priest? He said, I'll choose being a priest. If I have my choice, you're going to have one or the other to preach the rest of your life or remember the Lord the first day of the week.
You can't have both, although we can't in a proper order. Bill said, I'd choose being a priest. God gets more out of me as a priest than he does a preacher, sitting at his feet on Sunday morning breaking our alabaster down. This is Bethany. This is worship. And here's where you have satisfaction. We didn't put this in our ad in the paper. It came to me after. The word satisfaction Ah, yes, after service comes Sodom and then Satisfaction, sitting at Jesus' feet, hearing His words and worshiping Him.
What more do you need to satisfy your soul in this world of sin and Sodom's shame than occupation with our Lord Jesus Christ? But then you also have something else, your connection with Bethany, separation. And this one you'll find in the last chapter in Luke. He took them out as far as to Bethany. And as he lifted up his hands and lifting, he was taken from them off into heaven. He was taken from them. That's what it says. And he led them out as far as to death, and then he lifted up his hands and blessed them, and it came to pass while he blessed them.
He was parted from them and carried out to enter heaven. You know, a little while ago, as I sat over there, I turned to my Bible to see if I were right in the next verse. And they worshipped him, and they turned to Jerusalem with great joy. Great joy. Why, he's gone. How could they rejoice? Why, he's leaving him. We'll never see him here on earth again. He's gone. And yet they rejoice. Rejoice at his going, his departure.
Yes, they rejoice. Because they were given a message. This same Jesus shall so come in life manners as soon goes. Separation and his second coming are linked together. I was also thinking here just a few minutes ago that I sat over there, flashed in the mind when I thought of this. I was talking to Mr. Hollingsworth and Bill McCaffrey the other day about the funeral of Mr. Innes, Jim Innes, known to a number of us here. And I said, well, and both of them spoke at the funeral. And I asked them about the funeral.
Well, Virgil says, you know, it was more like a celebration than a funeral. The boys, they got three boys, their wives. His wife, of course, is in the hospital with the mind of an eight-year-old child. But the family went around, were around there with no tears. Then the retention, his godly father had gone home to be with the Lord, with great joy. Oh, yes, there's the separation, but it's only for a little part. And when we know where they're going, and where they've come, why should we solve?
We're going to see them again when Jesus strikes So you have in connection with Bethany. Here it was where he was taken from them, and here is where he's coming back to birth again. When he comes for his own, he's coming to the air, but I find in my Bible that his feet are going to stand on the Mount of Colony, and that's right where Bethany is on the slope of the Mount of Colony. And Jesus Christ in the day to come, when he comes for his church, then he's coming with his church.
And his feet shall touch in that day, the month of all. And it will flee in the midst. And if you want further detail on that, you get it in Ezekiel, where that beautiful river opens up from the house of God. and a river, a pure river, flows out of, from under the altar, it's a millennium sea. And though the beautiful thought relative to that river, where did it come from? The cross of the mount, the mollusk. It was stripped down the tree, and that was the valley where the river grew. His feet touched the mount of mollusk.
So he's coming back into this little place, the mouth of all of us. What a glad and happy day that will be when he comes. Yes, and definitely we see Christ as the hope for the church. One was left, but he's coming back, and we're waiting, very expecting his return will come for us. Then when he regroups his forces in the air, his coming in judgment, at least seven years later, in judgment upon the earth. Where do you find that? Here it is, in Zechariah fourteen.
Behold, the day of the Lord, cometh, and thy spurs shall be divided in the midst of thee, for I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought them the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which are before Jerusalem, on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst of the rock toward east and toward the west. How prominent is Bethany in connection with these little towns beginning with Beth? We started with Bethel in the Old Testament, or El Bethel, the house was gone.
And we as Christians are going right back to El Beto, for the Lord Jesus said in John fourteen, In my father's house, here we are, back to the house of God. In my father's house there are many mansions, if we were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go, I will come again and receive you unto myself. Well, I am there, you may be also. Now, the other day, I don't know whether it was here in Albany through, I presume it was. Someone asked me if I had read in the paper about that sign, an unusual sign of a cross in the church window.
I suppose some of you saw that. It's been in several papers and magazines. That this cross appears, quite a few people have seen it, and it seems to come and go. And this person said to me, do you think that's a sign? of the latter day? Well, I said there is a sign that's looking at the straw in the wind instead of the hurricane. It's a very small. Why will people take something like that? Something like a cross appearing, possibly eventually will be explained. Maybe it's something in the glass or the reflection of light that's causing it.
I don't think that God's putting it there. People will take notice something like that and they'll miss the big indications of the empire. Revelation chapter four, you see these horses beginning to gather to gallop across the scene in these four horses. For that's what those horses mean. Man cannot cope with horses or horses too powerful. Because today we have movements on this earth and beyond human control. Man can't cope with it.
We think all the political forces and movements that are abroad in the land and no one man can stop. We think of violence. Oh, yes, that scheme of violence of deriving unchecked across the world out of control. out of control. We think also of another force, war and famine. And this is what it is. We think, too, of a force of increased knowledge in the latter days. Man has come up with more than the last fifty years than in the old human race pride in almost every field.
an increase of knowledge, and an increase of infidelity. When the Son of Man comes, shall he find grace on the earth? Infidelity, unbelief. Also ungodliness, ungodliness. As it was in the days of Noah, and as it was in the days of Lot, oh, the filth, the corruption, of those days. Five times over, you read in Jude about Dina and what he says about those ungodly people in those ungodly days, and that's what marks the Antiochians' part of the flood.
Then we see about Solomon Gomorrah, how lost. Dexterous and filthy conversation, not only their filthy conversation, but their filthy behavior. as it was then, so shall it be. And oh, the tide of wickedness, immorality, the sweeping the world. Famines of earthquakes. Do you know we've had more famines in the last fifteen or more earthquakes in the last fifteen years than in any time in the last two thousand years? Here they're happening all around.
Think of the one out in California and we'll find the other. What does the Lord say is going to happen in the latter days? These ready things, earthquakes, famed, pestilence. Do you know that some of our major nations have got germs for which they haven't come up with antibiotic products? or something to fight it, a servant to fight it. If it breaks loose, it may take those in the laboratory weeks to find an antidote for it. Ah, yes, we're living in wicked days when men can unleash and let loose powers of this other man cannot cope.
Then we think of the Jews going back to Palestine in the gathering of the forces there. All preparatory to the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. Don't worry about that little light star or cross that seemed to appear in some church. Look at these big signs and indications, these big movements, that you can't deny that are worldwide. And just by then, Mr. Weather, we're nearly ending them up. I say yes, and we'll hear it again. Soon he'll come, and soon he'll go.
Those of us who are saved, then we shall return with him when his feet shall stand in that coming day. What memories will be his when his feet touch them out of olives and it devoidly someday? Here is where he met Martha and Mary and Raju. Here's a little town on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, where he loved to visit. He's coming back to that spot. What a glad day it will be when we have his people. Wash and his precious blood shall come with him when all nations shall be gathered around that area.
In the burial of the ghetto. when the Son of God with the sword that proceeded out of his mouth, unleashes heaven, our terminates of the destruction of all those armies. Then our triumphant Christ in this triumphant church shall enter into that glorious day of the millennium. And in that coming day that very month will be the center of rule, the administration, of our Lord Jesus Christ. What precious memories linger and posture around the mountain of ours.
I trust that these thoughts on these deaths linger with us. First of all, that death of the house of mercy, Bethesda. There you have salvation. And then that the barra submission the house of the passage. then Bethlehem, the house of sustenance, bread and water. Then Beth, the Pesda, the house of nets. Here, sir, then Bethlehem. Here you have sorrow. Here you have suffering. Here you have affliction. Here you have his symphony. Here you have his love.
Here you have his departure. But here you have his return. As we see the Lord Jesus and his relationship to little Bethany, how we can thank God for that little word, death, the house, that meets every need of every sinner who will receive the Savior who was so closely identified with these various places that we've mentioned here tonight. The Lord Jesus never left Palestine During his thirty-three and a half years, he didn't travel abroad.
He stayed under the beasts of land known as Emmanuel's land. And he made his stock of these various places, little yet great insignificance. Our customers who have visited them tonight, they will be of help to us in the new year. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come before thee. We ask thy blessing upon thy word. May it be sanctified to our good and to thy glory. Should there be any unsavior tonight who have not yet come to the house of mercy, they haven't found the Savior, the Lord Jesus, who gave his Son for them, O grant that hearts may be open to that blessed one tonight.
And Father, we pray for many of thy people who are knowing and experiencing what it means to be in that place of suffering and sorrow. Feeling the pressure of circumstances, O God, the school that many of thy people go through, that they might emerge more Christ-like, more like him who loved us and gave himself for us, lest in thy word to our hearts and receive our thanks, it is worthy and precious name. Amen.
So we turn to three hundred and thirty. Three hundred and thirty.