God’s five ways to access His physical healing

by David Leach
(Temecula, Ca)

Ex 15:26 …For I am the LORD who heals you.

Where the sheep enter Jerusalem a healing pool was located, with five points of access

John 5:2-9 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda (which means “house of mercy”), having five porches (each of which provided a way of access to the healing pool).

3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.

4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first (not just one person but all those who acted immediately and did not linger – Matthew Henry), after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.

6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, Do you want to be made well?

7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."

8 Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."

9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.

So at the very entrance to the city of God, Jerusalem, where the sheep come in, there was a place, a pool, for physical healing, called the house of mercy. Anytime heaven put the waters of this pool in motion then whoever, coming from one of the five porches or points of access, stepped right away into those waters, was healed; sometimes instantly sometimes over time. According to Matthew Henry this healing pool is a type of Christ.

By faith in Jesus Christ we become the sheep of God’s pasture. The New Jerusalem is a spiritual city comprised of the spirits of people made righteous in whom Christ lives (Heb 12:22-23). Christ Himself having born our sicknesses on the cross (Matt 8:17) is our healer, He is the house of mercy corresponding to the healing pool. There are five clear and distinct ways provided for in God’s word by which Jesus the healer can be accessed by anyone who is physically sick. Whenever the living waters of any one of these five healing provisions of God’s word are set in motion by the anointing of the Holy Spirit working through a believing heart, anyone who steps, with trust in God, into those living waters will be healed, sometimes instantly and sometimes over time.

What are the five different ways to access Jesus the Healer–the five porches of Bethesda?

No.1 When God’s words that promise physical healing in the scriptures, are found by the sick, are made alive by the Spirit, are believed in the heart and are acted on as true

Ps 107:20 He (God) sent His word and healed them…
Prov 4:22 For they (My words) are…to those who find them...health to all their flesh
Jer 15:16 Your words (O Lord) were found, and I ate them (with my heart)…

God’s healing begins in a person’s spirit, with the entrance of God’s words of health, and then works outward into the physical body. In the same way sickness often begins with a corrupt thought that a person takes into their heart (like un-forgiveness, malice, envy, disobedience to God) and this tolerated corruption then works its way out into the body.

No.2 By an anointed believer laying their hands on the sick person in the name and nature of Jesus, thus combining their faith with that of the sick person.

Mark 16:16-18 (Jesus speaking) And these signs will follow those who believe (and who are participants in preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God to others) In My name they will…lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.

No.3 By the sick calling, in faith, for the church elders and the elders then anointing the sick with oil (as a symbol of the Holy Spirit) and praying over them in the name and nature of Jesus – thus combining the faith of the sick with that of the elders.

James 5:14-16 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church,
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

No.4 By the sick, being convinced of God’s willingness to heal, so asking God, in faith.

Mark 1:40-41 Now a leper came to Him…and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." Then Jesus, moved with compassion…said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." (There is no partiality with God – Rom 2:11)

Matt 21:22 And all things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive. (but if I tolerate corruption in my heart it may negate my faith) KJV

No.5 When someone, anointed by God’s Spirit in Christ’s stead commands a sick person to be made well, in whom he perceives, from God, that there is faith to receive healing.

Acts 14:8-10 And there sat a certain man…impotent in his feet, being a cripple … who never had walked: The same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on your feet. And he leaped and walked. KJV

In two of God’s five ways to access His house of mercy (#’s 1 & 4) we deal exclusively with God; the remaining three ways involve other believers - all five require trust in God.