Jehovah Rapha – The LORD Who Heals You

[0:00] Well, if you could, this evening, with the Lord's help, turn back to that portion of Scripture that we read. The book of Exodus, chapter 15.

[0:14] And if you read again at verse 24. Exodus 15, verse 24. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

[0:26] And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians.

[0:57] For I am Jehovah Rapha, the Lord your healer. I am Jehovah Rapha. It's not in the text, just if you're looking for it.

[1:10] It's not in the Bible, but that's the name that's used. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you.

[1:30] When you become a parent, there are many new things that you discover. And I'm only going to speak from my own experience, but I'm sure that all the parents in here will know this for themselves.

[1:43] That when you become a parent, it's a steep learning curve, where everything is new, and everything is a challenge. But one thing which is a challenge with having children is that when they learn to talk, they don't stop asking questions.

[2:02] And of course, we don't want them to stop asking questions. Because that's how their mind develops, and they learn about the world around them.

[2:14] But one question from a certain three-year-old, which is always repeated over and over again, is when we're in the car and he asks, Are we there yet?

[2:25] Are we there yet? And most of the time, we've barely left the house to get to our destination. Whether we're going to town, or we're going over to see Granny, or we're on holiday and we're just off the ferry.

[2:37] Just off the ferry, and the question comes, Are we there yet? Are we there yet? And then it's followed by another question. How long to go, Mummy? And these questions from the mind of a three-year-old, they repeat almost every five to ten minutes.

[2:56] And if the answer which is given to his question is, Well, not yet. We're not there yet. Then the certain three-year-old, he gets upset. And he doesn't like the answer. But if the answer is given, Well, we're nearly there.

[3:08] We're almost there. Then there's a sigh of relief and a smile on his face, which only lasts for a moment. But regardless of how many times the question comes, Are we there yet?

[3:19] Are we there yet? An answer must be given. And an answer must be followed by an explanation. And it doesn't matter how long or short the journey is, there's always this complaint.

[3:31] There's always this murmuring of some sort, which is often, after a moment of thinking, there's the element of submission. And the conversation is then concluded with the statement, Okay, Mummy.

[3:45] And you know, when looking at this passage before us this evening, we can see parallels with the actions of the children of Israel and a three-year-old.

[3:57] Because in Exodus 15, we're breaking into the narrative right at the beginning of the children of Israel's journey towards Egypt. Where the children of Israel, they have left Egypt and they're starting out on their journey towards the land of Canaan.

[4:12] The land that is set to flow with milk and honey. But like a three-year-old, the children of Israel, they've barely left Egypt when they start complaining.

[4:23] And like the three-year-old, the children of Israel started asking, Are we there yet? Are we there yet? When are we going to reach the promised land? How long to go? Why do we have to go this way?

[4:34] Why is the journey so difficult? And the children of Israel, they'd only just left Egypt. And yet, there was complaint after complaint being issued to their leader, Moses.

[4:45] But the reason why the children of Israel complained so much was that they didn't understand. They didn't understand their circumstances. They didn't understand what they had been saved from.

[4:58] They didn't understand the spiritual significance of what the Lord was doing in their life. And they didn't understand because they didn't understand who the Lord is and what the Lord is like.

[5:11] But what we see here is that the Lord graciously reveals himself to his people. He reveals his gracious character to them.

[5:22] And the Lord does so by telling them his name. He says, I am Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you. I am Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you.

[5:37] And as I said last week, I'm hoping to look at some of the names of God with you. Not all of them because there are so many. But some of them. Because in the Bible, the names of God, they all have a meaning.

[5:50] And each name reveals certain aspects of God's character at different times throughout Scripture. And so by looking at the names of God, we will learn more about the character of God.

[6:02] We've looked before at the name Jehovah Nisi, the Lord is my banner. Last week we looked at Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide.

[6:15] And so this evening we come to the name Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you.

[6:26] But in order to try and grasp the full meaning of this name, I'd like us to consider the passage under three headings. The complaint of Israel, the cry of Moses, and the condition of the Lord.

[6:43] The complaint of Israel, the cry of Moses, and the condition of the Lord. So we look firstly at the complaint of Israel. If you look at verse 22, the complaint of Israel.

[6:58] Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah, because it was bitter.

[7:11] Therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And so as we break into this narrative in Exodus 15, we're looking at one of the greatest moments in history, in Israel's history.

[7:28] Because for hundreds of years, the children of Israel, they'd been suffering under the oppression of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And they'd cried to the Lord for deliverance.

[7:41] And they cried for salvation. And the Lord heard their cry, and the Lord freed his people from the hand of Pharaoh. And in the previous chapter, in chapter 14, we're told what happened.

[7:54] Because we're told about that momentous occasion when Moses led the children of Israel right to the banks of the Red Sea. And with Pharaoh's army approaching behind them to recapture the children of Israel and take them back into slavery.

[8:11] There was no way back for them. They didn't want to go back to Egypt. Because going back meant bondage and slavery. But it also meant that there was no way forward, because they're in front of the Red Sea.

[8:24] And you know the history. You've read it before. That Moses, he put his staff into the Red Sea, and it parted with a wall of water on either side.

[8:35] And it was that miraculous event which allowed the children of Israel to pass through the Red Sea and on towards the other side. And when Pharaoh's army came in behind them, and they tried to pass through the Red Sea to capture them, the Lord closed the sea in on top of them.

[8:54] And they all drowned. And at the end of chapter 14, we're told in verse 30, it says, So the day that the children of Israel were delivered from slavery in Egypt, it was a great victory.

[9:27] It was a great day of celebration to see the Lord's people delivered and the Lord's enemy defeated. The exodus from Egypt, it was this climactic moment in the history of God's people.

[9:42] And it was such a key moment that in the following chapter, as we go into chapter 15, we see Moses composing this song called, as it's titled, The Song of Moses.

[9:55] And what we read in that song is that Moses praises the Lord for his salvation. He says in verse 1, And it's this great triumphal song that goes all the way through, this song of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, where the children of Israel are rejoicing and praising the Lord on the banks of the Red Sea.

[10:35] But as soon as the children of Israel enter into the wilderness, the mood completely changes. Everything changes. Where we see here that they're no longer rejoicing and singing praise to the Lord.

[10:50] But they start complaining. As they left the Red Sea and set off into the wilderness of Shur, they started complaining. Because the wilderness was this barren land.

[11:04] The wilderness of Shur particularly. It was a barren land with no wells to provide water. And with the children of Israel just having left Egypt, their water supplies would have been limited.

[11:17] And they would have been used up rapidly in the heat of the wilderness. And so as each day progressed and they continued their journey in the heat of the sun, their situation was becoming more and more serious.

[11:30] And by the third day it was becoming unbearable without water. Because the wilderness of Shur, it had taken everything out of them. But their worry and their concern was appeased when they found this oasis in the desert.

[11:46] When they came to this place called Marah. But their worry and concern was short-lived in Marah. Because we're told in verse 23 that when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah.

[12:00] Because it was bitter. Therefore, it was named Marah. The name of the place was called bitterness. But what's interesting is that the water in Marah, it defined the place.

[12:14] It defined the place because water was and water is. It's key to survival. We need water to stay alive. And in Marah, the worry and concern for water, it soon changed to disappointment and discontentment.

[12:31] Because this unpalatable, bitter water, it only intensified an already grumbling people. And what do we do when something's wrong?

[12:43] What do you and I do when something's wrong? What do we do when things aren't going the way we planned it? When our day doesn't go the right way that we thought it would? What do we do? We complain. And that's what the children of Israel did.

[12:55] They complained to Moses, the one who led them there. Moses, who had led them to Marah to drink this bitter water. And the outcome of arriving in Marah was complaint.

[13:08] They grumbled against Moses saying, What shall we drink? What shall we drink? And looking at this, the children of Israel, they are three days in to a 40 year journey.

[13:26] Three days in. And they're already complaining. It wasn't a good start, you could say, for the children of Israel. And by reading on through the chapters of Exodus and through the Pentateuch, you could see that it wasn't going to get any better.

[13:41] Because there are going to be more challenges, more difficulties, more hurdles that they have to overcome before they will ever reach the promised land. But this attitude of complaining and moaning at the very beginning of their journey, it not only shows their ingratitude and lack of appreciation to the Lord for His salvation.

[14:05] And it shows how quickly they had changed towards the Lord. But it also shows that the children of Israel, they thought that all their difficulties were over. They thought that because they had escaped from bondage and slavery in Egypt, that all their troubles were now gone.

[14:24] They thought it was all over for them. They thought that because the Lord had led them out by His servant Moses and brought them salvation and freed them, that they were now going to have a trouble-free life.

[14:37] They thought that the destruction of Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea meant, it meant blessing for them and the fulfilment of every promise immediately.

[14:48] They thought that once the Red Sea was crossed, the next stop is the promised land. The promised land flowing with milk and honey. But when the children of Israel come to a land flowing with bitter water, they're going to discover that the Lord's ways are not our ways and that the Lord's thoughts are not our thoughts.

[15:13] And what the children of Israel had to learn and discover for themselves is that salvation doesn't mean immediate glory. Freedom doesn't guarantee us from a trouble-free life.

[15:27] Deliverance doesn't promise us all the blessings straight away. The children of Israel they had to learn and discover for themselves that that's not the way in which the Lord deals with His people.

[15:42] Because the Lord doesn't normally work salvation and then immediately glory follows. Instead, there is usually this time of preparation.

[15:54] A time of preparation in which the Lord will make His people ready. The Lord will shape His people. He'll mould His people. He'll teach His people. And He'll make them ready to receive the inheritance at the end of their journey.

[16:10] And not at the beginning. Not at the beginning. Because as the old saying goes, it took 40 days to take Israel out of Egypt.

[16:21] But it took 40 years to get Egypt out of Israel. And that was the Lord's method. It was going to be a long process.

[16:32] A long work. And a hard work. Where the Lord would work in their lives and in their experience. That was the Lord's method with them. And that's the Lord's method with you and me, my friend.

[16:44] Because it's just like it was with Christian in the pilgrim's progress. I'm sure that many of you have read it. And if you haven't read it, I'd encourage you to read it.

[16:54] Because when Christian leaves the city of destruction and he loses his burden at the foot of the cross, it's then he begins his long pilgrimage towards the celestial city.

[17:08] And like it was for Christian, and like it is for every Christian, there will be many times we fall into the slough of despondent. There will be many hills called difficulty.

[17:20] There will be many nights in doubting castle. There will be many encounters with vanity fear. But every experience and every difficulty that the Lord brings us to, it only seeks to strengthen our faith and affirm our trust in the Lord.

[17:40] My friend, the Lord's purpose in our wilderness journey is to prepare us for Emmanuel's land. For that was the promise of Jesus to his disciples.

[17:52] I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there, you may be also.

[18:05] Jesus is preparing a place for his people. But he's also preparing a people for that place. And even the Apostle Paul, he affirms all this teaching.

[18:19] That he says that even though we once walked according to the course of this world in the bondage and sin of Egypt, and even though we have been graciously saved by faith, he says that it's not of our own doing, it's all of the Lord's doing.

[18:37] And Paul says that now that we've been saved by grace through faith, we are his workmanship. We're his workmanship which have been created through our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

[18:50] And the promise to us from this Saviour who works in us in this wilderness, and he works through us in this wilderness, his promise is that he who has begun a good work, he will bring it on to completion.

[19:07] He'll bring it on. He'll make his people ready. He'll prepare his people to receive, says Peter, the inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them.

[19:25] My friend, the Lord knows what he's doing in the work of salvation. He knows what he's doing. Therefore, who better to trust than the Lord?

[19:35] Who better to trust than the Lord? So we've considered the complaint of Israel. But secondly, we see the cry of Moses.

[19:47] The cry of Moses. Look at verse 24. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

[20:03] What we ought to see here is that when the children of Israel complained to Moses, they did so because of a lack of faith.

[20:14] Because when they came to Moses grumbling and complaining that the water was bitter, they weren't giving the Lord his due place. They weren't seeing the Lord as the leader of his people.

[20:28] They were seeing Moses as the leader. And in such an emergency, the children of Israel, they should have directed their prayers to the Lord. They should have directed their complaint and their cry to the Lord, and not to Moses.

[20:44] Because that's what they did when they were in Egypt. They directed their cry to the Lord to be delivered from bondage and slavery when they were in Egypt. And the Lord heard.

[20:55] The Lord answered. But now that they're out of Egypt and in the wilderness, it seems that the children of Israel, they have forgotten or they've lost sight of the fact that the Lord is still willing to listen to all their cries.

[21:09] And now that Moses is their leader, they think that he can somehow solve all their problems. And you know, we can be so like the children of Israel in this.

[21:20] Because when we're seeking the Lord and desiring to be saved from the bondage of sin and death, when we want to become a Christian, it's only the Lord we want to help us to become a Christian.

[21:37] Because we know it's only the Lord who can help us to become a Christian. But after we're converted and we're on the wilderness journey and we're following the Lord and we're going to all the meetings, it's then that we can lose sight because if a particular issue comes along, and is it not the case that we often go to others for help first?

[22:02] We seek guidance from others first instead of the Lord. And the Lord is put in second place. Because when we're in need, our first port of call, instead of bringing it straight to the Lord in prayer, is to ask the advice of someone else.

[22:19] Yes, that's good. that's helpful to ask a Christian or an elder or the minister, but don't leave the Lord on the sideline. He's not to be second best.

[22:31] He's not to be second rate. He's not to be second choice. In everything, says Jesus, we ought to seek first the King and His kingdom and His righteousness and all other things then will be added.

[22:47] My friend, that's what we ought to do. And that's what the children of Israel should have done too. But Moses, as their leader, took the matter and he presented it to the Lord.

[22:59] Moses cried to the Lord. He interceded on behalf of the children of Israel and Moses was given this speedy response to his plea. We're told that Moses cried to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree or a log.

[23:18] And this phrase which is used, the Lord showed him a tree. It not only highlighted that this particular tree would assist in removing the bitterness from the waters of Marah, but it functioned as this visual aid to teach the children of Israel to trust the Lord.

[23:39] Because this phrase, the Lord showed him a tree, if it's translated literally, literally, it would be the Lord taught or instructed using a tree.

[23:52] And the instruction, it wasn't for Moses but for the children of Israel. Because this piece of wood, this tree, it was to function primarily as a sign to help the faith of the children of Israel.

[24:06] It was to help them grasp the fact that by following the Lord's directions that their difficulties would be overcome. This tree was to be a teaching implement so that they would learn.

[24:20] And so, here's the first lesson in the wilderness classroom for the children of Israel. Here's the first lesson. And of course, there were going to be many lessons in the wilderness classroom.

[24:31] It was going to be a 40-year education in which they would receive instruction and teaching along the way. Because salvation from slavery and bondage in Egypt was only the beginning of the journey.

[24:46] There was still a long way to go. And there was still a lot to learn. And there were still many experiences and many difficulties ahead of them. But through all their circumstances and their experiences and their difficulties in the wilderness classroom, the children of Israel were going to have their faith strengthened and their trust in the Lord assured.

[25:08] They were going to have their faith strengthened and their trust in the Lord assured. So that they would live out their faith when they're confronted by times of difficulty and testing.

[25:23] And so that they would be prepared to receive the inheritance of the promised land when they got there. My friend, the purpose of the classroom in the wilderness, it was to teach the children of Israel about who the Lord is and what the Lord is like.

[25:41] Because it's one thing to sing to the Lord on the banks of the Red Sea. But it's another thing to sing to the Lord at the waters of Mara. It's another thing to sing to the Lord at the waters of Mara.

[25:55] It's one thing to sing to the Lord when we're riding high on the Lord's salvation. where we've just been converted and everything is new and everything is great. But it's another thing to sing to the Lord when we're despairing in the wilderness.

[26:10] My friend, it's one thing to sing to the Lord when we're enjoying the sweetness of victory. But it's another thing altogether to sing to the Lord when we're experiencing the bitterness of defeat.

[26:25] And you know, that was Naomi's experience too. Because in the book of Ruth, when Naomi's faith was tested in Moab through the death of her husband and the death of her two sons, when she returned to Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law, Ruth, everyone in the town was asking, is this Naomi?

[26:52] Is this Naomi? Is this Naomi? Naomi. But Naomi's response was not only telling of her harrowing experience, it was also telling of her understanding of the Lord.

[27:04] Because she said, call me not Naomi. Call me Mara. For the Almighty hath dealt bitterly with me.

[27:16] Call me not pleasantness. That's what Naomi means. Call me bitterness. For the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.

[27:28] For I went out full. But I have come home again empty. And in Naomi's experience, she was wondering as many would, where is the Lord in all of this?

[27:42] Where is the Lord? What is the Lord doing? Why is the Lord doing it this way? And yet, in her wilderness journey, through the hardest circumstances, Naomi was being taught by the Lord.

[27:57] Although she may not have felt it at the time, although she may not have known it at the time, although she may not have understood everything the Lord was doing, and where the Lord was leading at the time, her faith would be strengthened, and her trust in the Lord would be assured.

[28:16] And my friend, I know that there are many bitter experiences in this wilderness journey. I'm not saying that I know your bitter experience, and I'm not saying that I know what it's like, or that I've experienced it for myself.

[28:33] But I do know that for some of you in here, there have been times in your life where you have been made to drink the waters of Mara. And maybe you have said to those around you, call me not Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.

[28:55] And maybe you didn't see it then, but you see it now, that in those bitter moments, and through those bitter experiences, and in those bitter circumstances, the Lord was using it all the time, not to drive you away from Him, but to drive you to Him, to drive you to His footstool, to His throne of grace, to drive you all the way to the Lord.

[29:24] And maybe today, your experience is still bittersweet, where it's bitter because the pain is still there, the heartache is still there, the sorrow is still there, the void is still there, but it's also sweet, because through it all, you have come to learn that this, this sweet word of God, it binds up your broken heart.

[29:56] You've come to discover that this sweet word attends to all your wounds. And my friend, is it not true that you've come to discover that this sweet word of God, which is sweeter than honey from the honeycomb, it's a word that comes to you as a soothing balm to your soul.

[30:19] And in all that you've gone through, and maybe all that you're still going through in this wilderness, it is the Lord who has taught you about Himself.

[30:29] and He's teaching you and He has taught you to say, Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you, the Lord who heals you.

[30:44] And my friend, who better to trust in this wilderness journey than Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you.

[31:01] So we've looked at the complaint of Israel. We've considered the cry of Moses. But lastly, I'd like us to look at the condition of the Lord.

[31:13] The condition which the Lord gives. The condition of the Lord. Verse 25. He cried to the Lord and the Lord showed him a log and he threw it into the water and the water became sweet.

[31:28] There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule and there he tested them saying, If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God and do that which is right in his eyes and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians for I am the Lord your healer.

[31:52] I am Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you. And so as the first lesson in the classroom, the wilderness classroom concludes you could say for the children of Israel, at the end of the lesson the Lord issues some homework because after the first day in school the Lord gives some ground rules for his pupils to follow or you could say that he gives them the curriculum for the wilderness and that in this wilderness classroom they are going to be taught the basic lessons in the life of faith.

[32:32] But I want us to note four basic lessons in the life of faith as we conclude this evening because the Lord first of all tells them that he is going to teach by testing.

[32:44] He is going to teach by testing because by testing them, testing the children of Israel, the Lord was going to teach them how to trust him. And by testing them, the Lord was going to teach the children of Israel how to be obedient to him.

[33:01] And if we were to read through chapter 16 and into chapter 17, we would see that the Lord sought to teach the children of Israel in this little section three times.

[33:12] He sought to teach them by testing them three times. And you can read that for yourself when you go home. But unfortunately when you read it, each time a test came, the children of Israel failed to trust the Lord.

[33:27] They failed to be obedient to the Lord because they complained to Moses again and again. And they even got angry with Moses. But even though they failed these tests, it didn't mean that the children of Israel were going to be removed from the course and chucked out of the classroom.

[33:45] All it meant is that they had a long way to go. They had a lot to learn in the process. But what shines through in these tests is the patience of the Lord with his people.

[33:59] And it ought to remind us that the Lord is very patient with us. He's patient with us despite our failures. He's patient with us despite our mistakes.

[34:11] He's patient with us despite the fact we seem to never learn from the same lessons. The Lord is still patient with us and he's still gracious towards us.

[34:25] And as he's gracious to us, he's teaching us all the time. Teaching us to trust him and obey him through testing.

[34:37] And so as the Lord presents homework to the children of Israel, he not only tells them that he's going to teach by testing, he tells them that they will learn by listening. They will learn by listening.

[34:50] Because he says, 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.

[35:07] And so the Lord tells the children of Israel that they will learn by listening. And what they are to listen to are the commands and the statutes of the covenant king where he's described here as the Lord your God.

[35:22] And when this name is given by the Lord, the name the Lord your God, the Lord is emphasizing that listening to the Lord your God is what Adam didn't do in the garden of Eden.

[35:36] Because Adam failed to listen to the statutes and the commandments of the Lord his God. And the result was devastating because sin entered, chaos entered, disease entered, death entered.

[35:50] Adam's failure to listen was the greatest rebellion against the Lord. And so to his redeemed people, just out of slavery and bondage from Egypt, the Lord was stressing to them that they will learn by listening.

[36:07] They will learn by listening. And the Lord continues as he presents his homework to them. He tells them he's going to teach them by testing. They'll learn by listening.

[36:18] They'll receive an oath by obedience. They'll receive an oath by obedience. Because it wasn't enough just to listen to the commands and the statutes of the Lord.

[36:29] It wasn't enough to listen to Moses, their leader. It wasn't enough to be told to do something. they had to put it into practice in their lives.

[36:40] They had to live out what they were hearing. They had to give heed to the voice of the Lord and do what is right. And is that not still the teaching of the Lord?

[36:52] Is that not still his teaching in the wilderness classroom? Because the curriculum, it hasn't changed. We may be in a New Testament era, but the Lord still emphasizes the same teaching.

[37:03] as James says, we are not to be hearers only, but doers also. We're not to be hearers only, but doers also.

[37:16] We're to put what we are hearing into practice in our lives. We're to live out what we are hearing. Because we receive an oath by obedience.

[37:28] We receive an oath by obedience. And we see that here in verse 26, that the oath is the promise of blessing. If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none.

[37:48] That's the promise. I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians. For I am Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you. And what the Lord is showing to the children of Israel is that obedience means blessing.

[38:05] Obedience means blessing, but disobedience means cursing. And the illustration the Lord gives is what happened to the Egyptians.

[38:17] It's what he presents. The illustration he uses is what happened to the Egyptians in Egypt. And the Israelites, they saw it all. They saw all the plagues that were let loose on the Egyptians.

[38:28] They saw the blood, the water been turned to blood. They saw the boils, the hail, the locusts, the darkness. They saw death. The Egyptians, they received the curse of God.

[38:41] And it was a warning to the children of Israel to remain obedient to the Lord. Obedient to his voice. Obedient to his word. Because the Lord doesn't just smile on those who disregard his word and ignore his commands and live as they please and how they like.

[39:02] No, the Bible's clear. He deals with them. He judges them. That's what the Lord does. He judges them just like he did with the Egyptians.

[39:15] But the opportunity for blessing is given to them. Because we receive the oath by obedience. Obedience to the Lord's word.

[39:27] And so as the Lord presents the homework to the children of Israel, he says to them, he's going to teach them by testing. They're going to learn by listening. They're going to receive the oath by obedience.

[39:42] But the last thing the Lord says is that there will be healing by humility. Healing by humility. Teach by testing.

[39:52] Learn by listening. Oath by obedience. Healing by humility. And healing by humility is given because the Lord requests the children of Israel to be loyal to him and to humbly submit to his rule over them.

[40:13] The Lord is saying to them, view me as king. View me as king. Hold me in high esteem. And the Lord makes his request to them to view him as king and Lord over their life and to bow in subjection to him.

[40:30] He makes this request by declaring who he is and what he is like. He tells them his name. I am Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you.

[40:44] I am Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you. And this declaration from the Lord, it emphasizes that all those who trust and obey him, they will be healed.

[41:00] They will be healed. And is that not what the hymn writers sent? That well known hymn, Trust and Obey. For there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

[41:16] Because when we trust and obey in this wilderness, the promise is we will be healed. Not only physically, not only emotionally, but also spiritually.

[41:27] We'll be made whole, we'll be made complete, we'll be made like Jesus. That's the promise. The promise of what the promised land is all about. It's the place of healing.

[41:39] It's the place of restoration. It's the place of blessing. Emmanuel's land is all about the place where we are made like Jesus. That's what he's saying to them.

[41:51] So in order to be made like Jesus, he's saying, humble yourself before me. Humble yourself before me.

[42:04] But the Lord who heals, this name he presents, Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you, it reminds the children of Israel that he's not only the one who brings them, to the promised land.

[42:20] Not only the one who teaches them to be obedient and to follow all his commands, but it reminds them he is the one who redeemed them. He is the one who brought them from slavery and bondage in Egypt.

[42:33] He is the one who provided for them salvation. And of course, all this, it's pointing forward to Jesus. Everything, it's all pointing forward to Jesus.

[42:46] Jesus. And that's who the psalmist speaks about in Psalm 103. We're going to sing it in a moment. He's speaking about Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you, the Lord who makes you whole, the Lord who completes you, the Lord who makes you like Jesus.

[43:05] He says, all thine iniquities who doth most graciously forgive, who thy diseases all and pains doth heal and thee relieve, who doth redeem thy life that thou to death mayst not go down, who thee with loving kindness doth, and tender mercy's crown.

[43:29] Tender mercy's crown, made like Jesus. My friend, who better to trust in this wilderness than Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you, who better to trust in this wilderness of trial and sorrow and difficulty, who better to be obedient to than our King Jesus Christ.

[43:58] Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Let us pray. O Lord, we bless thee for the great promise that thou art one who has begun a good work in us and will bring it on to completion.

[44:23] We thank thee, O Lord, that the end result is far better than we could ask or even imagine. But, O Lord, we do pray for those whom thou hast not yet begun that good work in them, that thou wouldst enable them to seek the Lord, enable them to see how good thou art to them, the one who keeps them on mercy's ground each and every day, the one who blesses them with spiritual blessings that are even before them all the time and yet they don't see it.

[44:55] O Lord, we plead with thee that we may all be found at the last day, found looking like Jesus, found worshipping Jesus, found confessing as the Lord told his people to, to say Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you.

[45:14] O Lord, keep us then, we pray thee, bless us in the week that lies ahead, a week that is unknown to us, but we thank thee that we have the great privilege of bringing everything into thy hand and casting everything before thy footstool.

[45:31] O do us good then, we ask, for Jesus sake. Amen. We'll conclude by singing in that psalm, in Psalm 103.

[45:46] Psalm 103 in the Scottish Psalter. Singing from the beginning down to the verse marked five. That's page 369. Psalm 103, from the beginning.

[46:02] O thou my soul, bless God the Lord, and all that in me is, be stirred up his holy name to magnify and bless. Bless, O my soul, the Lord thy God, and not forgetful be of all his gracious benefits he hath bestowed on thee.

[46:19] Down to the verse marked five, to God's praise. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[46:36] Amen. Amen.

[46:52] Amen. Let so myself and our life For the countenance forget to be Of all its patience and in him She has been so lonely All thine negativity, sweet and sweet Most graciously forget Who lives in him Of all kings Of whom slowly

[47:53] Who does thank the implications Who does preach in the heart of life to death is gone, O God?

[48:11] Who does preach in the heart of life to death is gone, O God?

[48:29] Who will the islands of the sea The sun's despite thy heart So that Jesus the kingdom's age The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ The love of God the Father And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit Be with you all Now and forevermore Amen