THE
NAMES OF GOD
Lesson #3
Jehovah-Rapha
- “The Lord That Healeth Thee” Exodus
15:25-26
After
God graciously delivered the children of Israel across the Red Sea,
miraculously opening a path for them in the sea, and drowned Pharaoh and the
armies of Egypt in the depths of the sea, he brought Israel into the wilderness
of Shur, where for three days they wandered without water. The scorching sun
beat down upon them. The desert sands scalded their feet. Their cattle were
perishing. Their children’s tongues were swollen. And their lips were parched.
Then, at last, they came to the plentiful fountains of Marah. When they saw the
waters of Marah, how their hearts must have rejoiced in hope and expectation.
As they approached Marah, they could almost taste the water. They could almost
feel the cool, refreshing water in their mouths. But when they got there, the
waters were bitter. They could not drink the water. Can you imagine the
frustration and disappointment they must have felt?
Immediately,
they turned upon Moses, and began to murmur and complain. Actually, they turned
upon the Lord God who had brought them to this place. Though the Lord led them
by the fiery and cloudy pillar, though he was with them, though he miraculously
and graciously delivered them from the bondage of Egypt and promised to do them
good, they did not trust him. All they could see, all they could think about
were the bitter waters before them and the thirst within them. Because they saw
nothing good in God’s providence, they despised it. When they should have
remembered God’s goodness, they thought only of their troubles. When they
should have looked to their merciful Deliverer, they looked only upon Marah’s
bitter waters. When they should have prayed, they murmured. When they should
have believed, they grumbled. “But God,
being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not. For
he remembered that they were but flesh” (Ps. 78:38-39).
It was God who
brought Israel to Marah. He brought them here to teach them and to make himself
known to them, and to teach us and make himself known to us (I Cor. 10:11) as
Jehovah-Rapha - “the Lord that healeth
thee” (Ex. 15:25-26).
JEHOVAH-RAPHA IS THE HEALER OF ALL OUR TROUBLES. Though our
days on this earth are few, they are full of trouble. But our troubles have a
reason. One reason why God brings trouble into the lives of his saints is that
we may come to know him as Jehovah-Rapha, “the
Lord that healeth thee” (Ps. 34:6; 3:1-8; II Sam. 22:1-7, 17-20, 31). When
the children of Israel came to Marah, they found themselves in great trouble.
The waters were bitter. They were dying of thirst. And they had nothing to
drink. They seemed to be mocked. There was plenty of water, but not an ounce to
drink. Then God intervened. He delivered them from their trouble by healing
Marah’s bitter waters. The Lord our God has many ways by which he makes our
bitter waters of trouble sweet. Sometimes
he simply changes our circumstances. How often have you been in such great
sorrow and trouble that you thought you could not endure another day of it?
But, just when it looked as though you would be overcome, the Lord removed the
trouble. Many times I have been in a strait, not knowing what to do, or how to
order my steps. I have come to the point where some decision must be made, but
I knew not what to do. Then the Lord stepped in and completely altered the
whole affair. He opened the way before me. He took me by the hand and said,
“This is the way, walk in it.” At other
times the Lord turns our sorrow to joy and makes our bitter waters sweet
interjecting something unexpected, which changes everything. He showed
Moses a tree and commanded him to cast it into the waters. And “when he cast (it) into the waters, the waters were made sweet.” The waters, which
Israel could not endure before, became sweet to them because of the tree. That
tree, of course, refers to the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ps.
1:3; Song 2:3; Rev. 22:2). No doubt this tree had always been at Marah. But God
had to show it to Moses. And our Lord Jesus Christ is always present with us in
our troubles. He is the One who brings them. They come to us because of his
gracious work as our Mediator. Yet, until he reveals himself, interjects
himself, we cannot see him. But once we see Christ’s hand, the hand of our
Redeemer in our bitter waters, those very waters become sweet (Gen. 50:20; Job
1:20-21; I Thess. 5:16-18). Frequently,
the Lord makes our waters of bitter trouble sweet by simply giving us
satisfaction with his will. Nothing removes trouble from our hearts like
submission to the will of God in the trouble he brings. Acquiescence in the
will of God brings peace to the troubled heart quicker and more effectually
than anything else (John 12:28). How often we cry out with Jacob, “All these things are against me.” Then,
the Lord takes us down to the land of plenty and shows us our beloved Joseph
upon his throne; and we are ashamed that we ever questioned his goodness. Then,
with weeping eyes, amazed that we could ever doubt him, we sing, “Oh, how
merciful, how merciful, Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou art to me!” All that we
have experienced should teach us that our God is able to make the most bitter
things sweet. Past grace is his pledge of future grace. The name of God our
Savior is Jehovah-Rapha - “the Lord that
healeth thee.” (John 14:1-3).
JEHOVAH-RAPHA IS THE HEALER OF ALL OUR SICKNESSES. Certainly,
sickness and disease are included in this promise of healing. They are
specifically named. We recognize that no one today has the apostolic gifts of
tongues, healing, or inspiration. Those who claim to possess them are either
deceived or deceivers. However, we must not allow our awareness of the charismatic
heresy to rob us of the blessedness of God’s promise, or diminish its fullness.
The name of God our Savior is Jehovah-Rapha. He is “the Lord that healeth thee.” Exodus 15:23-26 tells us several
things about sickness and divine healing. This
passage certainly assures us that all sickness and disease is the result of
sin. Read verse 26. It is plainly stated that if we had no sin, we would
have no disease. If we were perfectly righteous, obedient, and sinless, we
would never get sick. Though our bodies are redeemed by Christ, they are not
yet changed. The change for our bodies will come later. The resurrection will
do for our bodies what regeneration has done for our souls. But until these
bodies are raised incorruptible, so long as we live in this world, we will have
to suffer sickness and disease in one form or another. This body is yet under
the sentence of death because of sin. It is left under the sentence of death by
divine purpose, to remind us of the
effects and consequences of sin. If Christ had not redeemed us from sin, we
would have to suffer eternal death in hell. And he has wisely left bodily
sickness in us, sickness that will eventually bring bodily death, to constantly
remind us what he has done for us in redemption, to make us both grateful and
humble. All men get sick and die, young and old, because all are sinners. But
those who are redeemed by the blood of Christ and saved by his grace have
nothing to fear of either sickness or death. Yet, the Lord our God, Jehovah-Rapha, does heal his people from bodily
sickness and disease. Our Lord Jesus is so much concerned about his tried
and afflicted saints that he makes our bed in times of sickness (Ps. 41:3). He
“took our infirmities, and bare our
sicknesses” (Matt. 8:17). And he plainly tells us how to seek his healing
power (James 5:14-15). Often the Lord heals us of sickness and disease by
graciously preventing them (Ps. 91:4-16). We do not often think of it, but
God’s prevention of disease ought to be as much a matter of praise as his
curing us of it. But, with us, that which should inspire constant gratitude
creates indifference. We see the healing hand of the Lord more conspicuously
when we have been sick and graciously restored to health. Let us never
attribute praise to the medicine we have taken, the doctors who have treated
us, or to some ingenuity of our own. It is God alone who wounds and God alone
who heals. Let God alone be praised. However,
the Holy Spirit here shows us, very plainly, that God uses ordained means for
the healing of his sick people. God could have simply spoken the word and
made the waters of Marah sweet. But he chose to use a specific means. Had Moses
not cast in the tree, the waters would not have been healed. The use of means
does not hinder faith. It proves faith. Believing God, Moses took a worthless
tree and cast it into the waters. And the waters were healed. This is the first
reference of healing mentioned in the Bible. And it was accomplished by the use
of means. The healing was done by God. That tree had no healing virtue; but God
used the tree to accomplish the healing. In a similar way, the Lord healed the
waters of Jericho when Elisha cast salt into them (II Kings 2:19-22). God told
Isaiah to lay a lump of figs upon Hezikiah’s boils to heal him (II Kings 20:7).
Paul told Timothy to use a little wine for his stomach disorders (II Tim.
5:23). And James told the sick to use both prayer and the anointing of oil for
the healing of their sick bodies (James 5:14-15). In every healing we experience, we have a pledge of the resurrection of
the body. Jehovah-Rapha, who brings us up from the gates of death, will, at
the time appointed, bring us up from the very pit of corruption. He who
restores health to our bodies will restore life to our bodies in the
resurrection (I Cor. 15:51-56).
JEHOVAH-RAPHA IS THE HEALER OF OUR SOULS. The bitter
waters of Marah were an emblem of the bitter curses of the law because of that
bitter thing, sin, which makes for the bitter work of repentance. The law
demands bitter plagues upon every sinner, even a bitter death in hell. It
cannot give us peace. But Christ, the Tree of Life, was immersed under the
curse of the law, and made a curse for us. He endured in our place the bitter
wrath of God and suffered the bitter curses of the law to the full satisfaction
of divine justice. Now, the law of God, once so bitter to our souls, is sweet,
pleasant, lovely, and comforting because it is fully satisfied by Christ our
Substitute. How is it that God heals the sin-sick soul? How does he remove the
plague of our hearts? Look at Marah again, and you will see the answer. First,
the Lord made the people know how bitter the water was. There was no
healing for that water until they had tasted its bitterness. But once they knew
how bitter it was by nature, the Lord miraculously made it sweet to them. That
is exactly what happens in conversion. The Lord first makes sin bitter to us.
He makes us see how corrupt and wretched we are by nature. He squeezes the cry
from our hearts, “O wretched man that I
am!” Then he heals us by his grace. This is God’s way with men. First he
wounds. Then he heals. First he strips. Then he clothes. First he humbles. Then
he exalts. First he kills. Then he makes alive. Second, before the waters
were healed, prayer was made to God. The prayer of Moses did not heal the
waters. But until he called upon the name of the Lord, the waters were not
healed. And sinners are not healed of sin and the plague of their hearts by
their prayers, but healing is not experienced until they call upon God for
mercy through Christ Jesus (Luke 18:13-14). Still, something else was needed. Third,
the waters were not healed until the tree was cast into them. That tree
represents two things. It is a picture of Christ himself (Rev. 22:2) and a
picture of the cross upon which our Savior put away our sins and brought in
everlasting righteousness for us (I Pet. 1:24). We can only be saved, healed of
our souls’ plague, when the work of Christ is imputed to us. We are saved when
Christ himself comes into our hearts by the power of his Spirit. Fourth,
once the tree was cast into the waters, they were completely healed. The
waters of Marah, once so vile and bitter, were made to be the sweetest waters
on the earth, once the tree was cast in. And God’s elect, so vile and bitter in
themselves, are made whole once they have Christ and have his work put in them.
When God heals a soul, it is healed forever and healed completely (Eccles.
3:14; Col. 1:12; 2:9-10). This is the name of God our Savior, JEHOVAH-RAPHA
- “THE LORD THAT HEALETH THEE!” He heals all our troubles. He heals all
our sicknesses. And he heals our souls.