God is… The Lord Who Heals You

God “is” “the LORD who heals you”. “Is” meaning ; “existing in this moment of time“, and “the substance, characteristics, and/or character of a thing”. God “is” a “right now”, “in this moment” God; alive, active and available to us. His “substance”, “characteristics”, and “character” is “the LORD who heals you”.But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is,…..” Hebrews 11:6

Exodus 15:26 (NKJV)
…”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.”

“For I am the LORD who heals you.” God proclaims that He “is” Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that heals you. In the Old Testament, Israel’s health, well-being, security, prosperity, protection, deliverance, etc., etc., was contingent on their obedience to God. Their devotion to God, their obedience and trust in Him were relative to the blessings that came upon them.

Psalm 103:1-5 (NKJV)
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

When the Israelites were disobedient (sin), there was a system of sacrifices that would atone for (cover over) their sin through the blood of various animals. This is changed with the New Covenant, where the blood of Jesus Christ shed in His crucifixion will not just “cover over” the sin of mankind, but will pay the penalty of man’s sin-debt “once for all”. Mankind is placed in a situation where access to the “benefits” of God is not based on “legalism” but on the mercy and grace of God.

In the synagogue on day, Jesus read a prophecy of Himself from Isaiah 61:1, which said:

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Luke 4:18-19 (NKJV)

In His ministry on earth, Jesus lived out the Jehovah Rapha (the LORD who heals you) nature of God. In the Gospels, healing was a central part of what Jesus did; there are specific accounts of how He healed certain individuals that came to Him, and there are times when the multitudes gathered, that the Bible simply states; “He healed them all”.

Prophetically speaking of the Cross, Isaiah 53 states: “Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.” Isaiah 53:4-5 (Amplified Bible)

On the Cross, along with our sin, Jesus bore our; griefs, sicknesses, weaknesses, distress, sorrow, pains, everything that disrupts our peace and well-being, and through those lash-marks that raked His body that day, we are healed and made whole. The healing that was paid for at the Cross, along with our sin, did not simply cease to function when Jesus died. After He was raised from the dead, and before He ascended to heaven to be seated at the right hand of God; Jesus commissioned His followers (the Body of Christ, the Church) to continue His ministry in the earth:

Mark 16:15-19 (NASB)
15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
16 “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
17 “These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;
18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
19 So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

Jehovah Rapha, the LORD who heals you, is still operating in the present-day earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. He dwells within each and every believer, who are commissioned to administer that healing gift of grace to those around them.

Psalm 103:1-5 (NKJV)
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Our concept of His “isness”; the manner in which we define His nature, substance, characteristics, and character, and the way we “receive” His “isness” into our life and depend on (have faith in) it, will be the role that we “anticipate/expect” or “will allow” God to play in our lives.

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is,…..” God “is” “the LORD who heals you”.

 

*** Fred Wilson *** is an  author, former coach, teacher  and Life and Liberty News Contributor