John G Lake- Jehovah Rapha- The Lord our Healer
David recorded in Psalm 103:
“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy Name! Bless the Lord the Lord, O my soul, and forget not ALL His benefit: Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals ALL your diseases.”
Psalm 103: 1-3
Here we are instructed to forget none of His benefits, from the Hebrew “gmuwl” meaning he dealings of one’s hands and recompense. If we remember and bless His Name, then we must recall that He is the Lord our Healer.
In the account of the Exodus, the Children of Israel traveled for three days after crossing the Red Sea, and as they wondered through the wilderness, find no food or water. They came to Marah, and the waters there were bitter so that they could not drink the water.
“And the people complained against Moses, saying, ‘what shall we drink?’ So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it unto the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, and said, ‘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 (rapha) you.”
Exodus 15: 24-26
John G Lake explained regarding the above verses:
“The covenants of God are as unchangeable and eternal as Himself. The covenant of divine healing stands today steadfast and irrevocable as the day it was made by the eternal, immutable God at the waters of Marah.”
The word translated in Exodus chapter fifteen translated, “ordinance” is the Hebrew word “mishphat,” meaning a judgment or the act of settling a case. It implies a place or seat of judgment and the process of receiving that judgment.
We are invited to the Supreme Court of Heaven to receive His judgment based on His Word:
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4: 16
Jesus came to destroy the works of the enemy and to reveal the heart of the Father. Regarding that, Lake explained:
“Jesus Christ, who was God manifest in the flesh, demonstrated the perpetuity of that covenant in Himself, ‘healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people’ (Matthew 4: 23); by communicating the power of healing the sick to all believers (Mark 16: 15-17); and through the Holy Ghost, placing the ‘gifts of healing” as a perpetual manifestation of His power and presence in the Church through all ages (1 Corinthians 12: 9)
Jesus revealed that He was the great I Am or the On Who always is and doesn’t change. He is the same today, yesterday, and forever. Jesus started His earthly ministry declared:
“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
The anointing on Jesus included healing the sick. Peter preached:
“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”
Acts 10: 38
Healings were a critical power of His ministry and His divine assault on the enemy. Lake added:
“Jesus Christ, like any great reformer, had a specific mission to fulfill. This was outlined in the inspired words of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 61, verses 1 and 2. In the synagogue at Nazareth, at the beginning of His public ministry, He announced the essential points embraced in that ministry imposed upon Him, and which He said was now being fulfilled.”
Jesus, then walking as the Role Model and mentor, trained His disciples so that they would continue with His ministry.
“Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.”
Luke 9: 1-2
But Jesus didn’t stop there with the twelve.
“After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go…whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.”
Luke 10: 1, 8, 9
So it goes from the twelve and adds seventy others that He sends forth to heal the sick as well as preach the Gospel.
Lake explained-
“There were now eighty-three men endued with this power: Christ Himself, the twelve disciples, and the seventy more. At the close of the forty days separating the event of the crucifixion from that of the ascension, our Lord still further extends the range of the ministry of healing by furnishing every believer with the power to heal.”
No wonder when we look at the early Church, just like with Jesus, healing was a critical part of their ministry. In Mark 16, we see signs that shall follow those who believe. Lake explained:
“And these signs.’ These are God’s own mark and endorsement of the faithful preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We know the goods by the trademark which they bear. These signs are God’s eternal trademark, issues by the Son of God, and sealed in His ow blood.”
This is further confirmed by:
“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”
James 5: 14, 15
Lake explained-
“I outlined the development and progressive revelation of divine healing from the covenant at Marah, and on through succeeding dispensations until it is perfected in the redemption wrought by Christ on Calvary. The blessing of healing in the Old as well as in the New dispensation, from the atonement which Jesus Christ the Son of God made for man’s sin and sickness on the Cross of Calvary.”
Healing is the confirmation from Heaven of His Word. Look at the account where John the Baptist’s disciples came to Him asking if Jesus was the One…
“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Go and tell John the things which you hear and see; the blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preached to them.”
Matthew 11: 4, 5
Lake added:
“These are still God’s seal and endorsement of the preaching of the true Gospel.”
No wonder Mark stated-
“And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word through the accompanying signs. Amen.”
Mark 16: 20
Healing still declares the greatness of the Lord and that He is Jehovah Rapha.
