Jehovah Rapha

By Pastor Bob Rasmussen

Good morning and hello to those watching on Christian World Media, Facebook, YouTube, Roku, or our website.

Soon, we are changing our streaming service provider, which is Christian World Media. It has worked for what we had in the past, but moving forward with our new internet service, we will be changing how we produce things.

 I am happy to say, that if you are watching on Roku, you will still be able to watch our services. If you are watching directly from Christian World Media, that will change.

You can reach us on any of the other platforms by simply using the search phrase “jamjanesville”. We will be announcing this for a month before we terminate our account.

Also, if you need help setting that up, I am also pleased to announce that the church now has a telephone number. Our new number is 608.314.1177. It should be completely operational by EOB on Monday. You will be able to choose who you want to speak with or leave a prayer request.

This morning I wanted to talk about the promise of healing.

• Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Sometimes, when we are in the middle of whatever situation that we need healing for, it is important that we remind ourselves that God is indeed a healer. Even if we have not seen a manifestation of healing.

Whether it is healing in our bodies, healing in our minds, healing in our relationships, or healing in our spirits, we all know what it is like to need some healing.

That is why it is good news that our preconceived notions, experiences, and feelings have no impact on what God’s word says about healing. His word is the truth, and just like Him, His word has been, His Word is, and His word will be forever, Hallelujah!

Jehovah Rapha is one of the names that God has shared about himself. I think that this is important because man did not just decide that is who God is; God said who he was.

Jehovah Rapha means “The Lord who heals”— and it reveals God’s heart for restoration. This name reminds us that healing is not just something God does; it is who God is.

When God introduced Himself as Jehovah Rapha in Exodus 15, He wasn’t offering a momentary remedy to a single situation, but an invitation to His people into a life shaped by His mercy and by His grace through healing.

He heals the body, yes and amen, but He also can heal broken spirits. He can heal minds affected by illnesses like depression and bipolar disorder. He can heal all matters of the heart. What we think is broken and shattered, Jehovah Raffa can rebuild.

Jehovah Rapha steps into our pain with power and compassion, reminding us that no wound is too deep and no story too damaged for His restoring touch.

And as I look around this room, I am reminded of what Jesus has done, and what I still pray for him to do.

From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture reveals a God who is not distant from our suffering but intrinsically involved in our restoration.

Healing is not a niche ministry of God, it was not a one off—it is part of His very nature, it is part of who He is.

• Exodus 15:26 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.

When God reveals His name to Israel in Exodus 15:26, He says, “I am the Lord who heals you.” He did not say “the Lord who can heal,” or “the Lord who sometimes heals,” but rather the Lord who heals—Jehovah Rapha.

Healing is not merely something God does; healing is something God is.

There are some Christians who have tried to come up with a healing formula. If I do this, and then this, then maybe God will heal me. Some, it is sad to say, believe healing ended after the time of Jesus.

There are others who have been hurt by folks in the church who said things like, “Well, maybe you did something, and now that is why you are sick”. They try to make healing sound like a bartering system with God. They belittle the absolute power of a God who calls Himself Jehovah Rapha.

The truth is that healing does not depend on human manipulation or a formula.

It is rooted in the character of God, revealed in the ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus, and carried forward by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

Let us look at it from the Word of God.

When God calls Himself Jehovah Rapha in Exodus 15:26, He is speaking to a people who have just come out of slavery. They are physically exhausted. I imagine they were confused spiritually and emotionally. They were free, but they did not have a home and had not been made whole.

And then the Lord God said to them, “I am the Lord who heals you.”

Now, we see in Chapter 15, the people were complaining to Moses that they wanted something to drink, but they did not pray for a healer.

And I love that God revealed Himself as a healer, before they prayed for one. He revealed Himself as a healer before they understood what that healing was. And He also revealed it to them before they needed it.

And I love what this says about His nature, that healing begins with God’s initiative.

• Jeremiah 30:17 For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.

There are so many promises in this scripture, and it builds my faith every time I read it. 

The people who were in this time, Israel and Judah, were in a state of destitution, and they were headed for destruction. Their spirits may have been broken; they were hurting and probably pretty stressed out.

Sounds familiar during certain times of my life.

But God, but God, but God stepped in and promised that He would restore health to his people. He is our healer in the most dire of times.

• Psalm 103 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; 5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

This psalm was attributed to David; some say it may have been in his later years, when he had a deeper understanding of His relationship with the Lord.

That is why it resonates so much with me in my heart. I have seen so many blessings from the Lord in my life. I am grateful that I woke up this morning. I am grateful that I have a place to live and that I can drive here to worship with all of you.

I am grateful for my wife and family.

We are blessed that we have food in our bellies and that we have freedom to go wherever we want in this country.

I think that we can take that for granted, all of the blessings He gives us.

When we’re in a rough patch, when we need healing, when relationships are tense.

We can go into His Word, and when we read this, we are reminded of all that we have is from the Lord and we can be filled with gratitude that we have such a loving Father.

And even still, there are promises. Promises to rescue us from destruction and heal all our diseases. That His mercies are kind, like He is. That he will restore our youth and Spirit, and we can be renewed like the eagles.

God’s grace can miraculously change our lives, lifting us from a pit of despair. When we place our hope in the Lord and praise Him for His forgiveness, for His goodness, and for His love – then our spirit is renewed, and it feels as if we have the strength and vitality of an eagle.

• Psalm 147:1 Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely. 2 The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. 3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. 4 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. 5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

This is another powerful Psalm that I love. I want to point out something that I feel is important. Notice that before there is a mention about healing, before a mention of a broken heart, before a mention of the binding of wounds, there is praise. There is an acknowledgement of His Goodness.

There is also a reminder after that of the absolute power of God in the universe, which He created.

No matter how it looks, no matter the circumstances, He is worthy of our praise, amen?

But with these scriptures, we can seethe breadth of God’s healing: He heals diseases. He heals hearts. He heals wounds—physical, emotional, and spiritual.

Healing is not a single act; it is a comprehensive work of God’s love. And if we are honest, looking at our lives, we can see that.

I think that if you want to know what God thinks about sickness, all we have to do is look at Jesus. If you want to know what God thinks about suffering, look at Jesus. If you want to know what God thinks about healing, look at Jesus. Jesus is the perfect revelation of the Father’s heart. All we have to do is watch what Jesus did in His ministry.

Did Jesus heal the sick?

• Matthew 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

Did Jesus heal the broken?

• Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Did He heal oppressed?

• Acts 10:36 The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) 37 That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; 38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

He restores the broken. He heals the sick. He frees the oppressed. He comforts the grieving. He forgives the sinner, and hallelujah, He raises the dead.

• Matthew 9:35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

Everywhere Jesus went, healing flowed. Not because people deserved it. Not because they understood it. Not because they had perfect faith. But because healing is what love looks like when it meets brokenness, when love sees pain and suffering.

And in His ministry, Jesus was revealing the Kingdom of God. He was showing us what life looks like when God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

Heaven, what a promise! In heaven, there is no sickness.
In heaven, there is no pain. In heaven, there is no brokenness.
In heaven, there is no death.

So, when Jesus heals, He is showing the kingdom of Heaven on earth.

Isaiah 53:5 declares:

• Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

This is not just Old Testament prose; this is an absolute truth in our lives. The cross is not only the place where Jesus forgives sin; it is the place where He breaks the power of everything sin unleashed into the world- sickness, suffering, and death.

Healing is not earned by our goodness. We should live as close to God as we can. And we can do all the good we want in the world, but we do not achieve it. Healing was bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus on the cross.

We will soon celebrate the resurrection this year, April 5^th is Easter or resurrection Sunday. Before the resurrection, there was his death. It was not a painless death, by any means. When Jesus bore the sin of the world, he was beaten horribly. He was whipped, He was humiliated, He was shamed, and He was brutalized for you and me. He died for our punishment!

And after Jesus ascended, praise the Lord, He sent the Holy Spirit to empower the church to continue His work. Healing did not end with Jesus’ earthly ministry; it only grew.

• John 14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. 12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

Healing was not just for when Jesus walked the world, rather it is still His purpose and who He is today.

It is not some historical artifact to put on a shelf; it is not something that we just read about. Healing is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.

Every time we gather, we always ask if anyone needs prayer. We devote time to pray for each other – why?

• James 5:13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 14 Is any sick among you? 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: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

There are some folks I have met in the past, who kind of toss away the healing power of Jehovah Rapha – they think they are too bad a person. They say they have done things in the past that disqualify them.

Jesus, our healer, is the only one qualified and perfect; we are all less than. Jesus is our mediator and our Savior, amen.

And when Jesus does not heal us, we don’t lose the faith.

I know some of us here in this room are still waiting for a healing, and I know I am.

Sometimes, the Lord does not heal instantly. Sometimes it is gradual. Sometimes He uses doctors, therapists, and all kinds of talented people with the gifts He gave them.

My father had surgery on His heart. He had a heart attack and decided to wait a few days before He went to the doctor, which turned out to be a bad idea, and his heart sustained more damage because of it.

We all prayed like we never had before. The doctor performed the surgery, and he told us it went well, and Dad most likely would live another 5 years. Well, the doctor did not hear our prayers; Jesus did.

Jehovah Rapha blessed my father with 25 years with no other heart issues. My father grew in his faith over those years, and man, was I grateful for that.

The promise of healing is not wishful thinking. It is not spiritual optimism. It is the declaration of a God who heals, a Savior who restores, and a Spirit who renews.

And sometimes we have to wait, but while we are waiting, we can trust that He is still with us. And sometimes it is for a purpose.

• 2 Corinthians 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.  Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

The Lord will sustain us through whatever we go through.

When I am sick, when I am hurt, I try to lean on His promises and His Word to help me get through.

And one thing we need to have as well, I believe, is an eternal perspective.

This life is but a vapor, and some of us will not be healed until we are on the other side of this life.

• Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

Sickness, disease, and everything associated with that did not come from God; it came from sin entering the world. It will be with us until He returns, but I am so encouraged that the ones who have run the race, who passed onto eternal glory, will rise with none of what they died with.

Until then, I will call on the name of Jesus, Jehovah Rapha.