6. YHWH Rophe: I AM Your Healer

Introduction

Target vs. Old Navy — Names are important. They reveal something.

God’s names reveal something. YHWH Rophe / Jehovah Rapha = I AM Your Healer. What does the name YHWH Rophe reveal?

Healing Story

“If you come to God in faith, he will heal you because he is Jehovah Rapha .”

Is that what YHWH Rophe reveals? What about the people who do come to God in faith but are not healed? Case in point, the Apostle Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor 12).

Subject: What does the name YHWH Rophe reveal? What does God’s name as our Healer show us about God?

Scripture - Exodus 15:22-27

What did God heal in this story?

Body

YHWH Rophe reveals that God will heal the source of our sickness. God’s name as our Healer shows us that God isn’t just interested in healing the symptoms but the cause.

Exposition

God didn’t heal their sicknesses—he healed their water. Water is a source of life. But dirty water brings death, not life.

Illustration: On a trip to the Amazon jungle in 2012, we installed water filtration devices so the people living in the villages could have clean water to drink.

We live at Marah, in a world polluted by sin. And that sin makes us sick and eventually leads to death (see Rom 5:12).

YHWH Rophe shows us that God is not only interested in taking away our sicknesses. He wants to heal the world at the source. That’s what Jesus did.

Application: Memorize 1 John 1:9 (NIV)

YHWH Rophe reveals that if we trust and obey God, he will save us from the consequences of sin—the physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual consequences of sin. God’s name as our Healer shows us that if we follow him, he will rescue us from the devastation and death that sin brings.

Exposition (Exod 15:26)

God’s promise to be our healer is conditional. Look at the word “If…”

“When we step out from under God’s authority, we remove ourselves from the covering of God’s protection and are no longer positioned to receive God’s blessing” (Dr. Tony Evans).

Our actions have consequences. If we reject God, we reap the consequences of our sin, namely, death. If we submit to God, we reap the consequences of obedience, namely, life.

Illustration: Alcohol, a man in the town where I grew up was recently beaten to death around 2am in the parking lot of a bar… Gluttony… Sexual relationships… Overeating, substance abuse, and sexual promiscuity are three of the biggest contributors to health problems in the US.

Application: YHWH Rophe is a reminder that God has provided a healing way to live. Where sin brings death but God brings life. Sin brings darkness but God brings light. Sin brings despair but God brings hope. Sin brings slavery and addiction but God brings freedom and joy.

Conclusion

Look at Hebrews 9:27-28.

Are you one of “those who are eagerly waiting for him?”