full
The Healing Power of God: Understanding Jehovah Rapha
The exploration of Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals, takes center stage in this episode, providing profound insights into the theological underpinnings of divine healing. The speaker articulates that while it is common to associate God's healing with physical ailments, the more significant aspect lies in the spiritual restoration that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Beginning with the narrative of the Israelites' deliverance from Egypt, the discussion highlights God’s declaration in Exodus 15:26, where He promises to be the healer of His people. This sets a foundational understanding of God's protective nature in the face of affliction and establishes a framework for healing that transcends mere physicality.
The episode further delves into the implications of Isaiah 53, which prophetically speaks to the suffering of Christ and the healing that stems from His sacrifice. Here, the speaker emphasizes that while physical healing is indeed a manifestation of God’s power, it is through spiritual healing that believers find true restoration. This duality of healing—physical and spiritual—invites listeners to engage in a deeper reflection on their own spiritual states and the necessity of seeking God’s intervention not only for bodily ailments but for the soul's restoration.
As the narrative progresses, the speaker challenges the audience to elevate their understanding of healing beyond the immediate physical realm, urging a focus on the eternal implications of spiritual health. The comforting assurance that God is both aware of and capable of addressing the pains of His people provides a foundation for hope amidst suffering. Ultimately, this episode serves to reinforce the belief that true healing—spiritual healing—is available through faith in Jehovah Rapha, encouraging listeners to trust in God’s sovereignty and grace as they navigate their personal and communal afflictions.
Takeaways:
- In this episode, we explore the profound significance of the name Jehovah Rapha, which translates to 'The Lord who heals', emphasizing both physical and spiritual healing.
- The discussion highlights the importance of recognizing God's ability to heal not just our physical ailments, but also our spiritual brokenness and the greater need for salvation.
- Pastor Josh articulates that while physical healing is significant, the ultimate healing comes through Jesus Christ, who bore our sins and provided reconciliation with God.
- Throughout the podcast, we are reminded that God's will regarding healing is paramount, and that our focus should be on spiritual restoration rather than solely on physical recovery.
- The episode underscores the necessity of prayer not just for physical ailments, but also for the spiritual healing of those who are lost and in need of salvation.
- In conclusion, we are encouraged to trust in God as the Great Physician, understanding that true healing encompasses both body and soul, and is ultimately fulfilled in eternity.
Thank you for joining our podcast. Visit our website at https://middletownbaptistchurch.org/
Subscribe to our YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@middletownbaptistchurchde5091
Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MBCDelaware
This podcast is produced by Ralph Estep, Jr., host of the Ask Ralph Podcast, a daily podcast on Christian Finance you can find it at https://www.askralphpodcast.com/
Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
Speaker A:In this podcast series, we're going to be looking into biblical words that have great significance to our faith.
Speaker A:The name of this series is called the Word of the Week, where once.
Speaker B:A week, we will dive deeper into.
Speaker A:These words that we are familiar with in scripture.
Speaker A:So come along with me.
Speaker A:Let's study the Word of the Week.
Speaker B:Pastor Josh here.
Speaker B:We're back with another Word of the Week, and we are in a special study with our Word of the Week series, and that is the study of the names of God.
Speaker B:And as we've been studying the names of God, we've been learning about his character, we've been learning about his work, and we've been learning about how he interacts with us as his children.
Speaker B:So the name that we're going to be studying here this week is Jehovah Rapha.
Speaker B:Jehovah Rapha, which means the Lord who heals.
Speaker B:And so this week, we're gonna be talking about how God heals us.
Speaker B:And in most cases, when we hear that word healing, we think of physical healing.
Speaker B:And certainly we know that God is a God who can heal the sick.
Speaker B:He can repair the wounded.
Speaker B:Even so, with our own family, we've been praying for that with our.
Speaker B:Our son Silas, in regards to some medical things that he's going through and surgeries and recovery.
Speaker B:And so certainly we know that within the context of God's power, he is a physical healer.
Speaker B:But we know that the greater implication to his healing would be a spiritual healing when it comes to salvation.
Speaker B:Where we see this reference to Jehovah, Rapha, is in Exodus, chapter 15.
Speaker B:And as you well know, the Israelites are leaving Egypt.
Speaker B:God has allowed Moses to lead them out of Egypt, and they are running from Pharaoh.
Speaker B:They cross the Red Sea.
Speaker B:And even though they get out of the hand of Pharaoh there in Egypt, they obviously have a lot of other issues that they're going to be facing.
Speaker B:And that one would be.
Speaker B:One of those issues would be a sickness.
Speaker B: And God Sundays in Exodus: Speaker B:And said, if thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and will do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments and keep all of his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee.
Speaker B:And that last phrase there, for I am the Lord that healeth thee is Jehovah Raphael.
Speaker B:Now, in.
Speaker B:In that case, it's obviously provisions and protection of the Israelites from the diseases that were plaguing the people around them.
Speaker B:But in the case of us today, we know that there is a plague, and that plague is a plague of sin.
Speaker B:And, and the Bible teaches that God is a God who heals and God is a God who restores.
Speaker B:And you might have even heard people call God the Great Physician via references from the New Testament when there's, there's mention of that.
Speaker B:And so what does that mean for us?
Speaker B:What does that mean for us as believers today?
Speaker B:How can we claim that God is a God that can heal?
Speaker B:Well, Isaiah 53 says, but he was wounded for our transgressions.
Speaker B:And this is speaking to Jesus.
Speaker B:This is a messianic reference prophesying what Jesus would do for us as our Savior.
Speaker B:So he was wounded for our transgressions.
Speaker B:He was bruised for our iniquities.
Speaker B:The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.
Speaker B:So the Bible says that he would bear the weight of our sins.
Speaker B:He was.
Speaker B:He was bruised for our iniquities, our.
Speaker B:Our sin.
Speaker B:And, and, and I think that's important for us to understand because if we think of God's healing only as a physical healing, we sell short what Jesus has done for us on the cross.
Speaker B:The reason why we can know that is through First Peter, chapter 2, verse 24.
Speaker B:It's a reference back to Isaiah 53, and it is explaining the understanding of what it means to have this healing.
Speaker B:So it says in reference to Jesus, who his own self very bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed.
Speaker B:And so he directly references that passage there in Isaiah 53, and he reconciles that to the understanding of God sending Jesus Christ to pay the price for our sins.
Speaker B:We were dead to our sins.
Speaker B:And because of what Jesus Christ did on the tree, as we see there in verse 24 of 1 Peter 2, we can live into righteousness.
Speaker B:We can be righteous in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:And so really, the greatest act of healing is the act of salvation.
Speaker B:And so the verse there is a reference to sin and righteousness, not only sickness and disease.
Speaker B:And so in, in the bigger picture of Scripture, we know that being healed and Isaiah 53 has the implication of being forgiven and saved, not only physically healed, even though we know that Jesus demonstrated the fact that if he has the power to physically heal, he has the power to spiritually heal.
Speaker B:And vice versa.
Speaker B:Meaning, you know, you know, if God can heal us in our sin, he can certainly heal us in our sickness.
Speaker B:We saw that through examples of what Jesus did in his miracles.
Speaker B:And so this isn't to say that we are downplaying the importance of praying for physical healing because we should.
Speaker B:We, we know that even in the Book of James, it tells us to pray for those that are sick.
Speaker B:And we, we know that there are plenty of passages of scripture that give us direction in doing so.
Speaker B:But I think the point that I would like to make here in this lesson is the fact that there is a greater healing in the spiritual.
Speaker B:And so that no matter what, no matter if God heals us physically on, on this side of heaven or not, we know that there is an eternal healing that will be even better than the healing that we can have here on this earth.
Speaker B:And so the Bible doesn't specifically link physical, physical healing with spiritual healing.
Speaker B:Sometimes people are physically healed when they put their faith in Jesus Christ according to scripture.
Speaker B:But that's not always the case.
Speaker B:Sometimes it is God's will to heal someone physically, and sometimes it's not his will.
Speaker B:And of course we, we know that the, the Apostle John gave us the, the proper perspective in, in thinking this.
Speaker B:In 1 John, chapter 5, verse 14, it says, and this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, right, so it's all about his will when it comes to healing.
Speaker B:He heareth us.
Speaker B:And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have desired of Him.
Speaker B:So we are not downplaying miracles by any stretch of the imagination.
Speaker B:God still is working miracles.
Speaker B:God still heals people from sickness, cancer, pain, suffering, all the things that we face in this world.
Speaker B:But it's according to his will.
Speaker B:But, but we know that even so, sometimes we forget about the miracle of salvation.
Speaker B:The miracle of salvation is that all of us are dead to our sins.
Speaker B:For, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Speaker B:The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Speaker B:And so the greatest miracle that we could ever experience in our life would be the miracle of salvation, the healing of those that are spiritually sick.
Speaker B:So though it's not always God's will for us to be healed physically, it is God's will for us to be healed spiritually.
Speaker B:He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Speaker B:And so ultimately our full Healing, spiritual and physical will be when we get to heaven.
Speaker B:We know in the Book of Revelation the description of being with our Savior for eternity is, is no more sickness, no more pain, no more suffering, no more death.
Speaker B:Oh, death, where is thy sting?
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:There's no more sting in death because we know that we have eternal life.
Speaker B:And so I think that if we.
Speaker B:And this is difficult, right?
Speaker B:And, and this is coming from a parent who his is praying for physical healing for his, his child and, and physical healing for church members and, and, and family members and, and friends.
Speaker B:But if, I think if we as believers are so preoccupied with our physical condition and the things around us in the material and forget about the spiritual condition of those around us, we get our priorities flipped.
Speaker B:The spiritual condition of our world is brokenness and devastation and lostness and punishment and death.
Speaker B:And we are very adamantly willing to participate in praying for those that are hurting, and we should physically.
Speaker B:But how often are we willing to pray and petition for those that are spiritually hurt?
Speaker B:So when our focus is on the eternal, the physical problems will still be there, but they take a back seat to the spiritual needs of those around us and ultimately the hope that we have in the salvation that God extends to us in his great healing.
Speaker B:So Jehovah Raphael, the.
Speaker B:The one who heals, the God who heals.
Speaker B:And again, that is both physical but most importantly spiritual.
Speaker B:So if you're listening to this podcast and you have been going through emotional pain, physical pain, spiritual pain, the answer to all of that is the Lord.
Speaker B:The answer to all of that is putting our faith and trust in him as the great physician, as Jehovah Rapha as the one who heals.
Speaker B:And we seek after his will.
Speaker B:And so if it is his will for someone to be healed, that is an amazing thing when it comes to the physical.
Speaker B:But we know that it is his will that all come to him and that all trust in him and have that physical and spiritual and emotional healing in everlasting life.
Speaker B:So that should be our prayer.
Speaker B:Our prayer for the healing, first and foremost, should be the healing of the sick when it comes to the sickness of sin.
Speaker B:And so another name of God that we can see, He.
Speaker B:He is one who cares about our pain.
Speaker B:He is one that cares about our future.
Speaker B:But even more so, he is one who can do something about our.
Speaker B:In our future.
Speaker B:You know, I think that there's a lot of times in my life that I will have compassion for somebody or maybe even see the need.
Speaker B:But for whatever reason, in my limitations, I am not able to meet that need.
Speaker B:I'm not able to heal, I am not able to fix what has been broken.
Speaker B:But we know that God notices in his omniscience and omnipresence, he knows what to do about it.
Speaker B:And then in his omnipotence and his all powerful nature, he's able to do something about it.
Speaker B:He is not limited by the circumstances of this world.
Speaker B:I'm thankful for, for doctors.
Speaker B:I'm thankful for surgeons.
Speaker B:I'm thankful for folks that are able to do surgeries that are needed in, in this world.
Speaker B:Today.
Speaker B:Our son's about to go into surgery.
Speaker B:And we're thankful for those doctors who are willing to do that surgery.
Speaker B:But we know that those doctors can only do what God allows them to do.
Speaker B:And we know that the doctors do not do the healing.
Speaker B:They put things into place.
Speaker B:And it is God who does the healing.
Speaker B:And so he is the healer, the one who heals.
Speaker B:So he is the one that can heal you today.
Speaker B:He.
Speaker B:He is the one that can heal your brokenness, your pain, your sorrow and your hopelessness that you might be facing.
Speaker B:And so my prayer for you, my prayer for me is that we can give ourselves over to the Lord, stop trying to fight against what he has for us and allow ourselves to learn and to grow and to cling to him in the midst of our pain and suffering.
Speaker B:I wish I could tell you that that wasn't going to be the case.
Speaker B:But the Bible says that it is when we are weak.
Speaker B:Second Corinthians, chapter 12.
Speaker B:It is when we are weak that he is made strong.
Speaker B:His grace is sufficient.
Speaker B:And I want that to be my testimony.
Speaker B:I want that to be my rallying cry in the midst of my pain, suffering.
Speaker B:Is that Lord, Your grace is sufficient.
Speaker B:My grace is not enough.
Speaker B:My mercy is not enough.
Speaker B:My.
Speaker B:My strength is not enough.
Speaker B:But you are enough for me.
Speaker B:You are enough for all of us.
Speaker B:And so I hope that this can be an encouragement for you today as we continue to study the names of God.
Speaker B:We've talked about Jehovah, Jireh, Jehovah, Nisi, and now we've talked about Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals.
Speaker B:So, so he is the great healer and we have one who is on our side.
Speaker B:If everyone turned their back against us, we know that if we are a child of God, he is on our side and that nothing could separate us from his love.
Speaker B:So I hope that this has been an encouragement for you here today.
Speaker B:I hope that you have a wonderful rest of your week and we will be back next week with another Word of the Week, studying the names of God.
Speaker B:God bless you.
Speaker B:Take care.
Speaker B:We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker A:Hey, I really appreciate that you listen to the Word of the Week podcast.
Speaker A:If you have any questions about the podcast or about our church, Middletown Baptist Church, you can find more information about us on Facebook or YouTube.
Speaker A:Or you can find the podcast on NBCPodcast.org you can contact me directly at Josh Massaro at middletownbaptistchurch.org stay tuned for future Word of the Week week episodes where we dive deeper into words that impact our life according to Scripture.
Speaker B:Thank you so much.
Speaker A:God Bless.
Speaker A:We'll talk to you soon.
