John 5:1-4 – After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

This story has been one of my favorites since the first time I read it. What an incredible picture of the One who came to heal us of our diseases. Apparently the animals who had been sacrificed in the temple were washed in this pool. It was the suffering and death of Christ that purchased our healing from all sickness and disease seen in the sacrifice of these animals. This prophetic glimpse of the healing power of Calvary apparently was often used by the Lord to bring healing to various sick folk in Jerusalem. Jesus came to display His healing power to the whole world. Here is how the Ancient Christian Commentary describes this scene.

“There was a pool there called Bethesda, with five porticoes, which suggest the five books of Moses (AUGUSTINE). The priests washed the animals that were to be sacrificed there, and so the people looked for bodily healing to occur at this place when the waters were stirred (THEODORE). But water can also heal diseases of the soul as it does in baptism (CHRYSOSTOM). The waters of baptism are much more abundant than the waters at this pool (CHROMATIUS). For those at the pool, an angel descended; for us, the Spirit descends to consecrate the waters for healing (AMBROSE).”

This stirring of the water by an angel is also a picture of the work of the Lord. Today we have the Living Water, the Holy Spirit that is always moving and stirring with God’s healing power. Apparently there was a man there who had waited for his miracle for thirty eight years, when Jesus suddenly appeared the wait was over. You may have been waiting for your miracle for a long time as well. Do you want to be made whole? Then pick yourself up, step into the waters of the Holy Spirit and be healed. The waters of the Spirit are being stirred, today just may be your day to step into His healing waters and be made whole.