Dear Sir,<\/p>\n
There appears to be a lot of confusion regarding whether the angel at the pool of Bethesda was from God or not. Can you give me your insight into where this “angel” came from?\u00a0Some even go so far as to believe the angel was of the devil which confuses me further.<\/p>\n
Try as I might to clear this up, I’m no further forward now than at the beginning of my search.<\/p>\n
Many thanks in anticipation.<\/p>\n\t
“Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters; 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<\/em>” (John 5:2-4).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Notice the phrase: “an angel of the Lord.<\/em>” That basically settles the question as to where the angel came from. When confused, go back and read the original text carefully.<\/p>\n
Consider as well that the result of this angel’s efforts resulted in benefits to people. It isn’t difficult to realize from a reading of the gospels that evil spirits (demons) consistently caused harm to people.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Dear Sir, There appears to be a lot of confusion regarding whether the angel at the pool of Bethesda was from God or not. Can you give me your insight into where this “angel” came from?\u00a0Some even go so far as to believe the angel was of the devil which confuses me further. Try…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1502,685,959,363],"class_list":["post-48969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-angels","tag-demons","tag-john","tag-miracles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18458,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-an-angel-actually-stir-the-waters-at-bethesda-or-was-it-only-a-local-tradition\/","url_meta":{"origin":48969,"position":0},"title":"Did an angel actually stir the waters at Bethesda, or was it only a local tradition?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about one of the study lessons on your site. In 'Jesus' Authority Questioned', it talks about the Pool of Bethesda, and in the lesson, it says that 'angels stirred the waters'. My question is: Where or how do we know this to be true? I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86088,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/he-had-faith-to-be-healed\/","url_meta":{"origin":48969,"position":1},"title":"He Had Faith to Be Healed","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by William J. Stewart It is a common perception in the religious world that one must have adequate faith for one to be healed. This false idea has allowed many fake healers to save face when their hypnotic advantage over a would-be recipient has failed. And as sure as it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2959,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-was-the-angel-that-jacob-wrestled-with-at-jabbok\/","url_meta":{"origin":48969,"position":2},"title":"Who was the angel that Jacob wrestled with at Jabbok?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 22, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who was the angel that Jacob wrestled with at Jabbok? Answer: \"Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3951,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-angels-preach\/","url_meta":{"origin":48969,"position":3},"title":"Do angels preach?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 27, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do angels preach? Answer: \"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35968,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-those-who-were-killed-by-the-angel-know-there-was-a-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":48969,"position":4},"title":"Did those who were killed by the angel know there was a God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My husband wants to know if the 70,000 killed by a plague by an angel knew there was a God? Answer: You are referring to those who died as a result of David's sin in numbering the men of war in Israel. \"So the LORD sent a plague upon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33333,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-believe-apollyon-is-satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":48969,"position":5},"title":"I don’t believe Apollyon is Satan","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In regards to Is Satan female? you said one of his names was Apollyon and cited Revelation 9:11. But read Revelation 9:1-11 and 20:1-2.\u00a0Apollyon binds Satan. Answer: \"They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}