All the conditions of these nine cases can also be found in each individual person. One person can possess all the conditions of all men. For example, you may be a good man, or, at least you have the intention of being a good man. You may also be quite religious, fearing God and seeking Him. At the same time, however, you may also have done something mean, something which is not honorable. You may be a religious gentleman with high morals and yet have done something low. On the one hand, you are a high-class person; on the other hand, you are a low-class person.
You are also sick and about to die morally and spiritually. You may be very living physically, but you are dying morally and spiritually. Even physically you are also dying day by day. Apparently you are living; actually you are dying.
Another condition of yours is that you are a weak person. You know that you should do good and you know what is right, but you lack the strength or the power to do it. Perhaps you are not yet twenty-five years old, but you have been sick for “thirty-eight years” (5:5). You know that you should love others, but you are weak; you want to keep all the laws of God and you desire to please God, but you are unable to do so. In other words, you have the desire to do good, but you do not have the ability to perform what you desire. You need the proper power of life.
Hunger and thirst are also two items of your condition. Many times you feel that you are a hungry person; many times you are thirsty for education, for money, or for pleasure. You need the Lord as the bread of life to satisfy your hunger, and you need the Lord’s living water to quench your thirst.
Another condition that can also be found in you as an individual is your sinfulness. You are sinful. You are a sinner and you commit sin. You need the forgiveness of the Lord as well as deliverance from the bondage of sin.
In another respect, you are in a state of blindness. Even though you may have perfect vision with your physical eyes, you cannot perceive the meaning of human life, and especially you cannot see spiritual things. You are blind and you need the Lord to open your eyes and to give you sight.
Your last condition is that of a dead man who eventually will die. Have you ever realized that you are a dead person? No one is alive in spirit-everyone is dead. You need the resurrection life of the Lord Jesus.
Every person has, in his fallen condition, every aspect of these nine cases. Every person, to a certain degree at least, is in each of these conditions. Every condition is an indication of everyone’s real need.
We have seen the condition and need of man in these nine cases. Now we must see how the Lord is able to come into man’s fallen condition and meet his every need. In every case, the Lord presents Himself as the One who can fulfill the deficiencies of man. These nine cases fully prove the Lord’s sufficiency to meet man’s every need.
The first case shows that the Lord can afford us regeneration (3:3, 5), which even a superior person such as Nicodemus needed that he might have the life of God for the entrance into the kingdom of God. The case of the Samaritan woman, a sinful and unsatisfied woman, reveals how much the Lord can satisfy such a person with His living water (4:10). For the case of the dying man, the Lord is the healing power of life (4:50). The case of the weak man who had been sick for thirty-eight years demonstrates the enlivening power of the Lord’s life (5:8-9). In the case of the hungry multitude which needed something to feed on, the Lord presents Himself as the bread of life (6:47, 48). In the case of the thirsty people, the Lord assures them that He can quench their thirst by the flowing river of living water (7:37, 38). In the case of the woman living in sin, we see that the Lord is able to deliver such a one from her sinful situation and release her from the bondage of sin (8:34-36). In the case of the blind man, the Lord opens his eyes and gives him sight (9:5-7). Finally, in the case of Lazarus, who had died, had been buried, and was even decaying in the grave, the power of the Lord’s resurrection life is fully exhibited (11:25).
In all of these cases the Lord’s sufficiency in meeting man’s need is adequately proved. There is not one of man’s conditions that He cannot solve. There is not a need that He cannot meet. He is able! He is sufficient! He can deal with all our problems and supply all our needs! Praise His name!
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