YAHWEH RAPHA
I am the LORD who heals you
Paul Wong
God revealed His name to Moses, “I AM WHO I
AM” . . . . “ “This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.” (Ex. 3:13-15) The name of the Almighty
God is “YAHWEH” in the Hebrew language.
God has many compound names in which He combines “YAHWEH” with other
words that describe His attributes. A good example is “YAHWEH
– OSHUA” the redemptive name of God. “OSHUA”
means salvation. The abbreviated name is “YAHSHUA”
with its well-known transliterated English name “JESUS”. God uses the name of “YAHSHUA” (JESUS) to “save
His people from their sins.” (Mt. 1:21; Acts 4:12)
After God delivered the children of Israel from the Egyptians He revealed
to them His covenant name for healing. Here are God’s conditions.
“If you diligently heed the voice of the
LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of
the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD
who heals you.” (Ex. 15:26)
In the Hebrew language “the LORD who heals you”
is “YAHWEH RAPHA”. It is called
a covenant name because there are conditions to the agreement between God and the person seeking the healing. We know that God’s salvation is unconditional. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”
(Eph. 8:2) To receive God’s salvation one just has to believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31). In healing God requires more than just a simple
faith in Christ. There are four conditions for God’s healing to take place
(Ex. 15:26).
1.
“Diligently heed the voice of the voice of the LORD your God.”
2.
“Do what is right in His sight.”
3.
“Give ear to His commandments.”
4. “Keep all His statutes.”
God said that if the children of Israel were to abide by these four conditions; “I
will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For
I am the LORD who heals you.” (Ex. 15:26)
Let us look at the circumstances that led to the revelation of God’s
covenant name for healing (Ex. 15:22-25).
“So Moses brought Israel
from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days and found no water. Now when they
came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore
the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying,
‘What shall we drink?’ So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree; and when he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them. And there
He tested them.” (Ex.
15:22-25)
This situational event has spiritual teaching.
1.
Crossing
the Red Sea is the symbolism of water baptism (1 Cor. 10:1-2)
2.
Wilderness
represents desolation – a life of emptiness.
3.
Water
represents the most essential element in life. In probing the planets in outer
space for the existence of life the common evidence is the presence of water.
4.
Bitter
water represents a life of bitterness. The Israelites could not drink the water
because of its bitterness is an indication that we cannot live a life with bitterness in our hearts.
5.
Sweet
water represents a life of joy, happiness and fulfilment.
Why do some Christians continue to have lives of bitterness? It is mainly due to their reluctance to forgive others. Our
Lord’s Prayer teaches us to ask our heavenly Father, “Forgive us our sins, for we also
forgive everyone who is indebted to us.” (Lk. 11:4) Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us: “For
if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But
if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Mt. 6:14-15)
“So he cried out to the LORD,
and the LORD showed him a tree and when he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.” (Ex. 15:25)
The “tree” represents the Cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ, “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on a tree, that we, having
died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed.” (1 Pet. 2:24) The apostle Peter was referring to Isaiah’s prophecy:
“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But
He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and
by His stripes we are healed.” (Isa. 53:4-5)
Matthew confirmed the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross affects
not only the salvation of the soul and the spirit but also the healing of the body as well.
“When evening had come, they brought to
Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and
healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sickness.” (Mt. 8:16-17)
In the Garden
of Eden God said to the serpent, “And I
will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” (Gen.
3:15) This prophecy refers to the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ
on the cross. When Jesus died He destroyed the works of the devil (1 Jn. 3:8).
“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken
of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy Him who had the power of death,
that is the devil, and released those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
(Heb. 2:14-15)
Even before the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross He was destroying the
works of the devil. The apostle Peter related “how
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with
power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts
10:38)
“Now Jesus went about all Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of diseases
among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to
Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics,
and paralytics; and He healed them.” (Mt. 4:23-24)
The Lord Jesus Christ gave this same power of healing to His disciples. “And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him,
He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.”
(Mt. 10:1) He also gave the power of healing to the seventy evangelists. “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord,
even the demons are subject to us in Your name,’ And He said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Behold I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over
all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless
do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
(Lk. 10:17-20)
The Lord Jesus Christ has given the power of healing to all true Christians. This is called the Great Commission:
“And He said to them, ‘Go into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized
will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs
will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents;
and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.’ So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat
down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the
Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.”
(Mk. 16:15-20)
May God bless you
A sermon based on this article was preached by Paul Wong to a small
Congregation in a Hospital Room in Melbourne,
Australia on April 23, 2005
The articles is transferred to this Website on July 9, 2009
For comments please write first to: arkpw@sbcglobal.net
Paul
Wong is a Christian minister and the President of ARK International. His ministry also serves as an architectural service
company in Houston. The ARK Forum on the Internet is international
and non-denominational. |