He Had Been Lying There for 38 Years. That Number Was Not Random.
This simple 66-page guide has helped thousands of believers finally understand God’s Word with clarity, confidence, and renewed faith — even in life’s darkest moments.
He had been lying there for thirty-eight years.
Most Christians know the story. The Pool of Bethesda. The five porticoes. The man who could not get into the water in time. Jesus heals him on the Sabbath. The religious leaders get angry.
Here is what most Christians have never been told.
Thirty-eight years.
That number is not a random detail. John recorded it specifically. And every Jewish person who heard that number in the first century would have recognized it immediately.
Deuteronomy 2:14. "And the time from our leaving Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation, the men of war, had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them."
Thirty-eight years was the exact length of Israel's wilderness wandering after their rebellion at Kadesh Barnea. When the spies came back from the Promised Land and the people refused to enter because they were afraid, God told them they would wander in the wilderness until that entire generation had died. Thirty-eight years.
A generation of people who were so close to the promise and could not bring themselves to enter it.
And now here was this man. Thirty-eight years. Unable to enter the healing waters. Lying at the edge of the pool, watching others get in before him, year after year after year.
John was not just giving a medical history. He was painting a portrait of Israel.
The Question Jesus Asked That Nobody Answered
But here is the detail that changes everything.
Jesus walked up to this man and asked him a question.
"Do you want to be healed?"
Most Christians read that as a gentle opening. A compassionate inquiry. Jesus being kind.
Here is what most Christians miss.
The man did not answer the question.
Jesus asked: do you want to be healed?
And the man said: "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."
He did not say yes. He explained why he had not been healed yet. He explained the logistics. He explained the obstacle. He explained who was to blame.
He did not answer the question.
Jesus asked him what he wanted. And the man told Jesus what he needed someone else to do for him.
For thirty-eight years, this man had been waiting for someone to carry him. Not for healing. For a helper. His entire hope was not in the pool itself but in finding someone who would get him there first.
And Jesus did not carry him to the pool.
Jesus said: "Get up, take up your bed, and walk."
Not: let me help you into the water. Not: I will carry you. Not: I will find someone to assist you.
Get up.
The healing did not come through the pool. It did not come through a helper. It came through a direct command from the Son of God. And the man who had been lying there for thirty-eight years, waiting for someone else to move him, stood up and walked.
The Night Everything Changed
That is the problem I discovered three years ago sitting in a room with my Bible study group.
I have been teaching Scripture for 18 years. And one Wednesday night I asked my group why Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be healed.
Silence.
They looked at each other, looked at their Bibles, looked at their notes.
One person said it was just how Jesus started conversations.
Nobody knew that thirty-eight years was the exact length of Israel's wilderness wandering. Nobody had noticed that the man never actually answered the question. Nobody understood that Jesus was not asking about the pool at all. He was asking about the man's will. His desire. Whether he actually wanted to be different.
They had read it. They had highlighted it. They had heard it preached from pulpits for years. And they had no idea what they were actually reading.
That night after everyone left I sat alone in that empty room for a long time, thinking about the man at the pool. Thinking about how many times those people had read that story without understanding that the man never said yes.
The next morning I opened my computer and started writing.
Genesis. Everything someone needs to know before reading Genesis. Who wrote it. When. Why. What was happening in the ancient world at the time. The main themes. How it fits into the larger story.
Not a sermon. Not a devotional. Just the context.
I broke it down over and over until my teenage daughter could read it and understand it completely on her own. Then I did Exodus. Then Leviticus. Then Numbers. Every single book of the Bible. Sixty-six pages. One page per book. It took me three months.
What Happened When They Finally Understood
The next Wednesday I brought those 66 pages to Bible study and put a copy at every seat.
"Before we open our Bibles tonight," I said, "I want you to read the page on John. Just read it. Then we will study."
I watched them read. Then I said, "Okay. Now open your Bibles to John chapter 5."
And I watched something I had never seen before in 18 years of ministry. Their eyes changed. Not confusion. Not blank staring. Understanding. Pure understanding.
One woman looked up at me practically with tears in her eyes. "I have read this story my entire life. And tonight is the first time I understood that thirty-eight years was not a random number. John was pointing to Israel in the wilderness. A whole generation that got close to the promise and couldn't enter it."
A man across the table said quietly, "The man never answered the question. Jesus asked him what he wanted and he told Jesus what he needed someone else to do. I have done that. I have done exactly that."
Another woman said, "Jesus didn't carry him to the pool. He told him to get up. The healing didn't come through the method the man had been waiting for. It came through a command. I have never felt the weight of those words until right now."
At the end of the night one of the older men came up to me. He had been in my Bible study for six years and a Christian for forty. "Pastor," he said quietly, "I have been reading my Bible my whole life. And I feel like I have only just now actually started to understand it. Thank you."
What You Have Been Missing
Did you know that the Pool of Bethesda had five porticoes? Five covered colonnades surrounding the pool. John recorded that detail specifically. The number five in Jewish thought was associated with the five books of Moses, the Torah. The Law. The very system that defined who was included and who was excluded. And Jesus healed a man at the edge of that pool on the Sabbath, in direct defiance of the religious leaders' interpretation of the Law.
Did you know that after Jesus healed him, He found the man in the temple and said: "See, you are well. Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." Most Christians read that as a warning. But in the context of the thirty-eight years and the wilderness generation, it was a commission. You have been healed. Now live like it. Do not go back to the pattern that kept you at the edge of the pool.
Did you know that this miracle is what triggered the first serious attempt by the religious leaders to kill Jesus? Not the teaching. Not the crowds. The healing on the Sabbath. Because Jesus told the man to carry his mat on the Sabbath, and when the leaders confronted Jesus, He said: "My Father is working until now, and I am working." He called God His Father. He claimed to work alongside God. That was the moment the leaders decided He had to die.
Context changes everything. Every single time.
I call it the Bible Study Guide. It has 66 pages. One for every book of the Bible. Each page gives you what you need before you read. Who wrote it. When. Why. What was happening in the world at the time. The key themes God was communicating. And practical steps to bring what you read into your actual life today.
Written in plain language. No seminary terms. No complicated theology. Just the context that makes everything you have already read suddenly land with the full weight God intended.
Sixty-six books. One page each. Everything you need to finally understand what you have been reading your whole life.
Click below to get yours.
Introducing the Saints Label Bible Study Guide
That is exactly what this guide was created to do.
It is 66 pages. One dedicated page for every book of the Bible. Each page is carefully laid out to give you exactly what you need to approach Scripture with clarity and confidence.
Who wrote the book. When it was written. Why it was written. What was happening in the world at the time. The key themes God intended to deliver. And at the bottom of every page, practical steps to apply what you are reading to your real life today.
Not vague spiritual advice. Real, actionable steps.
Romans. Paul’s letter to a divided church laying out the foundation of salvation by faith.
John. Written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
James. What it actually means to follow Him. Not just say you do.
Revelation. The end of everything. The final judgment. The eternity waiting on the other side of this life.
Every book laid out the same way. Clean, simple, consistent. Once you have used it for one book you instantly know how to approach the next. Your brain begins to recognize the rhythm and that familiarity builds real confidence.
Written in plain language. No seminary terms. No complicated theology. Just the context you need so that when you open your Bible you are not guessing. You are understanding.
Because here is what I know after six years of watching people face death. The questions they ask in those final moments are not complicated. They are simple. Is there something after this? Does any of it mean anything? Was God there?
This guide gives you the foundation to find those answers yourself. Not from a nurse. Not from a pastor. From the Word itself.
Here Is What Believers Are Saying After Using This Guide
How Much Does It Cost to Finally Understand God’s Word?
I have watched faithful believers spend hundreds trying to find the understanding they were looking for. Seminary courses starting at $500 per class. Commentary sets costing $200 to $600. Bible study programs running $300 to $400. And after all of that, many of them still came back with the same questions and the same quiet frustration.
The Saints Label Bible Study Guide is regularly priced at $60. For a resource covering all 66 books of the Bible that you will return to for the rest of your life, that is already extraordinary value.
But right now during our Easter Sale:
And if you want to share it with a spouse, a family member, or your entire Bible study group, bundle discounts go even deeper.
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If you have ever sat in church nodding along while feeling completely lost inside…
If you have ever opened your Bible, read a chapter, and closed it with no idea what you just read…
If you have ever felt like you are the only one who does not understand while everyone else seems to get it…
If you have ever stared at the ceiling at 3am wondering if any of it is real, if any of it means anything, if God is actually there in the dark with you…
You are not alone. And it has nothing to do with you.
You just needed context.
This guide changed my life during the darkest season I have ever known. Six years of watching people die left me empty. Two weeks with this guide gave me back something I didn’t know I had lost.
Get closer to God by actually understanding His Word. Not just reading it. Understanding it.
Don’t let another year go by feeling lost in Scripture.
GET YOURS NOW — Easter Sale: 35% OFF