Yahweh Ropecha – God Your Healer

Yahweh Ropecha – God Your Healer

Exodus 15:22-27 HCSB Then Moses led Israel on from the Red Sea, and they went out to the Wilderness of Shur. They journeyed for three days in the wilderness without finding water. (23) They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter--that is why it was named Marah. (24) The people grumbled to Moses, "What are we going to drink?" (25) So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable. He made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah and He tested them there. (26) He said, "If you will carefully obey the LORD your God, do what is right in His eyes, pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, I will not inflict any illness on you I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you." (27) Then they came to Elim, where there were 12 springs of water and 70 date palms, and they camped there by the waters.

One of the very first lessons you need to learn as a new believer is that…

I. Yahweh will sometimes lead you to bitter waters. (Exodus 14:30-31; 15:2, 21; vv.22-24; 13:21-22)

The LORD delivered the children of Israel out the bondage in Egypt with His mighty hand. What a demonstration of His sovereign power as Israel walked on dry land across the Dead Sea with the waters held back like a wall on either side! When the walls of water came back together on the Egyptian soldiers, it was total disaster for Egypt. Israel looked back and saw the dead soldiers on the seashore.

Exodus 14:30-31 HCSB That day the LORD saved Israel from the power of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. (31) When Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.

After they had crossed the Red Sea, they began singing the first recorded song of redemption in the Bible (Exodus 15). By the way, for an interesting study, compare Exodus 15’s song with the last song in the Bible, the victory song of redemption (Revelation 15).

The result of God's deliverance was fear of Yahweh and great rejoicing in Him.

Exodus 15:2 HCSB The LORD is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise Him, my father's God, and I will exalt Him.
Exodus 15:21 HCSB Miriam sang to them: Sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted; He has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea.

But then only three days later in the wilderness "the people grumbled at Moses".

Exodus 15:22-24 HCSB Then Moses led Israel on from the Red Sea, and they went out to the Wilderness of Shur. They journeyed for three days in the wilderness without finding water. (23) They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter--that is why it was named Marah. (24) The people grumbled to Moses, "What are we going to drink?"

How sad! They went from the bondage of slavery in a foreign land to the thrill and excitement of freedom and praise to the LORD God. Then they were overcome by their old slavish way of looking at life. They allowed their circumstances to dictate their attitude toward their leader.

But Who led them to Marah? Were they led there by Moses? Was it his idea? No - they were led there by the Pillar of Cloud.

Exodus 13:21-22 HCSB The LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to lead them on their way during the day and in a pillar of fire to give them light at night, so that they could travel day or night. (22) The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night never left its place in front of the people.

So their murmuring against Moses was, in reality, murmuring against Yahweh! What was the cause of their murmuring? Their eyes were no longer upon God.

For three days they marched through the wilderness and found no water. When they finally came to Marah, the water was so bitter that they couldn't drink it.

Thank God that He doesn’t simply lead us to the bitter waters and leave us there to fend for ourselves!

II. The Lord Yahweh can take the very circumstances that are most bitter and cause them to bring about your healing. (Exodus 15:25-27; Isaiah 1:5-6; Revelation 3:17-18; Jeremiah 17:9; 8:21-22; v. 17)

God uses the "Marahs" in our lives to remove all our false securities one by one so we will trust in Him alone. Sin makes our life’s waters become bitter as gall. What makes your experiences so bitter and distasteful, blasted and filled with broken promises? Do you experience wounds that ache, and injuries that fester and infect the memory? Do you find yourself in the midst of a hot desert and find that the bitter waters of Marah will not sooth your parched life?

The people in the wilderness of Sin grumbled at Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" (v. 24). They failed to reason that if Yahweh could hold back the walls of water in the Red Sea surely He could also provide water!

Exodus 15:25-27 HCSB So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable. He made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah and He tested them there. (26) He said, "If you will carefully obey the LORD your God, do what is right in His eyes, pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, I will not inflict any illness on you I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you." (27) Then they came to Elim, where there were 12 springs of water and 70 date palms, and they camped there by the waters.

It was nothing short of a miracle. God answered Moses prayer (v. 25). The wood thrown into the water was symbolic of God working a miracle in the water. There was nothing magic in the tree limb. It was God who sweetened the bitter waters. Again, Moses and the people could say, "I saw God do it!"

God revealed Himself at Marah as

YAHWEH ROPECH’A – the Lord our Healer

"I the LORD, am your healer" He said. The word “ropech’a" means "to restore, to heal, to cure, or a physician." He not only heals physically, but morally and spiritually. "The LORD your God heals."

The word can also mean "to mend," like the mending of a torn garment. It has both the idea of repairing or reconstructing and curing or restoring to health. "The LORD is the physician" indeed!

We all come to life with a need of healing. Our waters become bitter as gall.

Isaiah 1:5-6 HCSB Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep on rebelling? The whole head is hurt, and the whole heart is sick. (6) From the sole of the foot even to the head, no spot is uninjured--wounds, welts, and festering sores not cleansed, bandaged, or soothed with oil.
Revelation 3:17-18 HCSB Because you say, 'I'm rich; I have become wealthy, and need nothing,' and you don't know that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked, (18) I advise you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, and white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see.

The LORD says,

Jeremiah 17:9 HCSB The heart is more deceitful than anything else and desperately sick--who can understand it?

How poignant are the questions in

Jeremiah 8:22 HCSB Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? So why has the healing of my dear people not come about?

Resin was derived from a special tree which grew in Gilead that was known for its healing properties. It was very costly and therefore precious, as only fifty or sixty drops could be extracted from a tree a day. According to the context of Jeremiah 8 it possessed marvelous curative properties that cured poison venom. Verse 22 is a continuation of the conversation which we see back in verse 17 says,

Jeremiah 8:17 HCSB Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you, poisonous vipers that cannot be charmed. They will bite you. This is the LORD's declaration.

So Gilead’s Balm cleansed, soothed and healed and it was readily available. Is there not Someone who can bring healing to our broken lives? Have we not yet learned how to make the bitter waters in our lives sweet? Who can change the bitter experiences of your life into the sweet fragrance of life? I propose that it is still…

III. Jesus is our Great Healer (Luke 4:18-19; Matthew 11:4-5; 4:23-24; Mark 2:5-7, 10-11; 1 Peter 2:4; John 4:10-11, 13-14)

At the beginning of His ministry Jesus opened a scroll to Isaiah 61 and announced His messianic office. He read aloud in the synagogue at Nazareth,

Luke 4:18-19 HCSB The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, (19) to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

What did Jesus do for the next three years? The disciples of John the Baptizer asked that very question.

Matthew 11:4-5 HCSB Jesus replied to them, "Go and report to John what you hear and see: (5) the blind see, the lame walk, those with skin diseases are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news.

The Gospel writer Matthew said,

Matthew 4:23-24 HCSB Jesus was going all over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. (24) Then the news about Him spread throughout Syria. So they brought to Him all those who were afflicted, those suffering from various diseases and intense pains, the demon-possessed, the epileptics, and the paralytics. And He healed them.

Jesus treated all men as spiritual in essence. Though he healed their physical ailments, He always established the primacy of the person’s eternal spirit over their temporary body. For example, one day some men tore a roof up where Jesus was teaching in the room below, and let their friend down on a pallet attached to ropes.

Mark 2:5-7 HCSB Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." (6) But some of the scribes were sitting there, thinking to themselves: (7) "Why does He speak like this? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

They were correct! They were dealing with God yet refused to recognize Him! Three verses later the Master said,

Mark 2:10-11 HCSB But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins," He told the paralytic, (11) "I tell you: get up, pick up your stretcher, and go home."

Jesus saw men as sinners in need of spiritual healing. As the God of grace He STILL reaches down to us and brings us to the tree of healing. He knows the human heart just as He knows each of us individually. He deals with us as spiritual in essence, and He has never met a hopeless case. Jesus is our water-sweetening tree; He is still the source of sweet waters of life.

1 Peter 2:24 HCSB He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness; by His wounding you have been healed.

Jesus alone brings spiritual healing to our broken lives. The tree of the cross is the only balm that can sooth our broken hearts and cleanse us from our sins. The cross of Christ sweetens the Marah's of life. He turns the cross into the tree that gives life.

One hot day in Samaria a woman met Jesus at Jacob's well. Jesus asked her for a drink of water since she had come with a rope on her bucket. In the conversations that ensued, Jesus offered her His living waters.

John 4:10-11 HCSB Jesus answered, "If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would ask Him, and He would give you living water." (11) "Sir," said the woman, "You don't even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this 'living water'?

Jesus responded,

John 4:13-14 HCSB Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. (14) But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again--ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life."

The Lord is Yahweh Ropech’a, “the LORD who heals” in the Old Covenant and He is Jesus, the great Physician in the New.

Conclusion (Revelation 21:4-7; John 7:37-38; Revelation 22:17)

There will come a point in time when there will be no more crying.

Revelation 21:4-7 HCSB He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will exist no longer; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away. (5) Then the One seated on the throne said, "Look! I am making everything new." He also said, "Write, because these words are faithful and true." (6) And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to the thirsty from the spring of living water as a gift. (7) The victor will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.

Come to Him and drink of the sweet waters of eternal life while there is still time. John records the following incident happened while the Master was on earth.

John 7:37-38 HCSB On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me and drink! (38) The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him."

He hasn’t changed. I find it significant that the last invitation in the Bible closes with these words:

Revelation 22:17 HCSB Both the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" Anyone who hears should say, "Come!" And the one who is thirsty should come. Whoever desires should take the living water as a gift.

Will you not come and drink from His fountain?