JEHOVAH-ROPHE - THE LORD THAT HEALETH
Text: Exodus 15:22-27
Exodus 15:22-27 King James Version (KJV)
22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.
23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.
24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
25 And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,
26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all 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.
27 And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.
Intro:
- None of us enjoy a perfect, pain-free life. We all need to be made well because of something that is broken in our bodies, emotions, or situations.
- We all need to be healed. We need physical healing, emotional healing, spiritual healing, etc.
We also, simply encounter things in our lives that are bitter. We need the bitter to be made sweet. We want the bitter to be made sweet.
In this lesson we’re going to learn about the name Jehovah-Rophe, which means “The LORD Who Heals.”
- The word rophe occurs some sixty times in the Old Testament. It means to
The Lord reveals Himself to Israel and to us as the One who is able to heal the bitter waters of life.
On the heels of the Hebrew song of triumph and gratitude comes a new journey. What a description of the Christian life. We got saved and delivered by the grace of God and then set out on a journey to the Promised Land (spiritual maturity). Between the Exodus and Promised Land is the
- Often the only way to get from where we are to where we need to be is through the wilderness.
The wilderness connotes the trials and testings that we go through to grow our faith.
The miracle at the Red Sea and the problem in the wilderness dealt with the same thing – water.
- Another principle to remember when we’re facing a problem is that God has a
- Why did this happen? v. 25 – He proved (
This is the purpose of the wilderness journey – to test, prove, refine, grow faith.
Moses prays. God shows him a tree and tells him to throw it into the water. The water is cured, and God is revealed as Jehovah-Rophe.
1. Mankind Needs A Healer
1) Physically
- Ultimately every physical illness is the result of
2) Spiritually
If it is true that every physical illness is ultimately the result of sin (i.e. the fall of Adam), then it is also true that mankind needs a spiritual healer. (Isa. 1:4-6)
Isaiah describes the spiritual sickness of man as an open, running sore.
- Jeremiah 17:9 says that the heart of man is desperately wickedly (literally, incurably sick).
- Sin is like the waters of Marah,
2. Jehovah Is The Healer Of Man
1) Physically in the OT and NT.
- Four examples:
1] Miriam was cured of
2] Hezekiah was cured of a deadly
3] Naaman was cured of leprosy.
4] Jesus healed many, many, many in the New Testament through His miracle ministry. (Mt. 8:14-16) Ultimately God is the healer of all man’s sicknesses and diseases. Doctors are good. Doctors treat symptoms. God cures illnesses.
2) Spiritually in the OT and NT. (Jer. 30:13, 15, 17; Jer. 14:19, 20; Jer. 3:22; Isa. 30:26; Lk 4:18; Mt. 8:14-16; Mk. 1:35-39)
- Jesus’ opening of public ministry speaks to his healing ministry (Luke 4:18). Jesus had a physical healing ministry, but His main concern was the preaching of the
- Jesus is the spiritual healer by way of the “
3. The Picture Of Marah
Two pictures:
1) In the background of the picture is the cross of Calvary sweetening bitter sin unto
- The people were thirsty and soon would be at the point of death. They found Marah. They thought they found life. It was bitter. It was death to drink or not drink. The tree sweetened the water so that it became life sustaining.
- The tree was cast into the bitter waters and made them sweet. The cross is the “tree of life” which is cast into the bitter waters of sin and turns them into waters of everlasting life. (John 4:14, 7:38, Rev. 22:2)
2) In the foreground of the picture is the cross of Calvary sweetening bitter trials of
- We are all going to be tested with bitter trials, sometimes on the heels of great victory. God wants us to trust Him in the bitter times. The same God we trusted to get us out of Egypt can turn our
- The result of Marah: God brought the people to Elim. There is
The cross can sweeten the bitter trials of life. But we have to put our trust in God.
The Jews went from no water to bitter water to purified water to plenty of water.
- But notice, the Israelites didn’t get to Elim by skipping Marah. They got to Elim by going through the test at Marah. They discovered Elim once they discovered Jehovah-Rophe.
4. Personalizing Marah
When we experience the difficult circumstances of life, when we come to a place where bitterness fills the wells of our lives, remember that God can turn them sweet. How should we respond when we find ourselves at Marah?
1)
- We must truly tune in to the Lord. These are difficult times to hear. We must make every effort to hear. We need to ask God what He is doing in bringing us to Marah.
2) Do what is
- In other words, behave righteously. We don’t need to complain, grumble and mumble. We can overcome our circumstances by focusing on the reliability of God. He delivered us from sin. He can deliver us from any circumstance.
3)
- When we find ourselves with bitter waters, we need to look at our lives and see if there are any areas of sin and disobedience in our lives. Our desire to obey Him emerges from the fact that we know His character. Thus our obedience is the response of joyous confidence. And our obedience is the result of our yielding to His control.