2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
Sin is never an easy topic to discuss, but in any understanding of God’s will and plan for us, we must attempt to look at it stretching toward His perspective. Sin is defined as separation from God. It has plagued mankind throughout history, and it ravaged Christ’s body as He hung on the cross for us at Calvary. Today, we will begin a series of messages on God as Jehovah Rapha, “the Lord Who Heals.” [The word, “rapha,” in Hebrew means “to heal.”] PS 22 can be titled “The Song of the Lamb” or “A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise.” It has 31 verses, so I don’t have the space to reproduce it all here, but I do hope you will read it. To help you follow the flow of it, these are the sections it includes: (1-2) cry of distress; (3-5) expression of confidence in God; (6-10) description of enemies; (11-13) description of surrounding enemies; (14-18) description of sufferer’s experience; (19-21) God’s power to rescue; (22-25) testimony of praise; (26-31) prophecy of resurrection glory. Let’s look at PS 22: 14-18, “My strength is gone, gone like water spilled on the ground. All My bones are out of joint; My heart is like melted wax. My throat is as dry as dust, and my tongue sticks to the roof of My mouth. You have left Me for dead in the dust. A gang of evil men is around Me; like a pack of dogs they close in on Me; they tear at My hands and feet. All My bones can be seen. My enemies look at Me and stare. They gamble for My clothes and divide them among themselves.”
That’s not pleasant reading, is it? Yet, read it we must. If we are able to get some realistic idea of the suffering that sin causes, we are more likely to 1) choose to avoid sin, 2) get even subtle forms of sin out of our lives, and 3) better appreciate the enormity of the sacrifice that Christ made for us on the cross. When one realizes that this psalm is part of the OT, that Christ’s death on the cross fulfills every prophecy in it, and that it was most likely written during King David’s reign (c.1010- c.970 BC), we must be somewhat awed by its powerful message and Jehovah Rapha’s intervention in this. Several years ago, the Journal of the American Medical Association published an article called “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ” by Wm. D. Edwards, MD, Wesley J Gabel, Mdiv., and Floyd E. Hosmer, MS, AMI, March 21, 1986, vol. 255, no. 11. I give you the particulars, so that those of you who are interested can read it. By understanding more about what Christ went through for us, we are motivated to turn to our Lord Who heals, Jehovah Rapha, in an effort not to allow His suffering to have been in vain.
PS 22: 26-31 gives us insight into what Jehovah Rapha is in the process of accomplishing with this amazing and painful sacrifice of His Son on the cross. “The poor will eat as much as they want; those who come to the Lord will praise Him. May they prosper forever! All nations will remember the Lord. From every part of the world they will turn to Him; all races will worship Him. The Lord is King, and He rules the nations. All proud men will bow down to Him; all mortal men will bow down before Him. Future generations will serve Him; men will speak of the Lord to the coming generation. People not yet born will be told; ‘The Lord saved His people.’” No ordinary human being can accomplish this-only Jehovah Rapha, the “Great Physician,” and His Son can.
In viewing all of this, we need to ask the question: what is our responsibility in responding to this remarkable sacrifice, the Atonement, not only in our lives but toward others? It is in answering that we may find ourselves on controversial ground. The understanding of deeply faithful people is that to manifest the character of God to the world, we must find those in need of His healing and bring them to Him. In other words, we must accept God’s invitation to be actively involved in His work of healing. This may be done in both physical healing and/or spiritual healing. God knows that we can’t all be doctors or do other work in the medical field, but we can all bring the message of repentance and reconciliation with God to those in need. How we do this to be the most effective involves sensitivity and discernment that we can get directly from the Scriptures.
There is often a connection between a need for healing and sin. That’s another topic that is difficult for us to face. I am not saying that all physical ailments are due to a sinful lifestyle, but we all know that some are. Certainly a need for spiritual healing is often connected in some way with sin. Jeremiah dealt with this latter subject in JER 8: 4-22, which I hope you will read. It helps us to understand that Jeremiah ministered about 300 years before Christ’s birth just before Judah was taken into the Babylonian captivity. His message of the Jews needing repentance and spiritual healing was unpopular and not well received. It took great courage of faith on Jeremiah’s part to deliver. Tomorrow, we will take a closer look at it. In the meanwhile, we all need to go to the Lord and ask Him: How do You want me personally to join in Your work of healing?
PRAYER: O Lord, there are times when You ask us to deal with very painful issues. Certainly, sin and the suffering of Your Son on the cross fit that category. We are brought to consider the pain and anguish He took on for the sake of the world, so that we might better appreciate the great gift of Your grace that His death on the cross was. We are so undeserving of the salvation that You offer us. We are brought to a better understanding of the profound love You have for us by examining the issue of sin and the suffering Christ went through for us. You are truly the "Great Physician,” Who alone is capable of healing both our physical ills and our spiritual ones. We acknowledge this in humility and offer You our willingness to join in Your work of healing those who will accept it. Our prayerful request is that You should lead us to them. We pledge that we will not allow Christ’s suffering on the cross to be in vain. Instead, we will consider it a way that You equip us to face illness, the need to expunge sin from our lives, and the suffering of others around us. We will eschew our human agendas to make room in our lives for Your agenda to bring healing to as many people in the world as will accept what You offer them. To that end we offer You our adoration, worship, honor, glory, praise, loyalty, trust, obedience, and gratitude. In Christ’s name, amen.
Stay with me, as the Lord leads us through a series of citations which reveal Him as Jehovah Rapha, the Lord Who heals. We can take comfort in knowing that when we are hurting or come upon others that are, we can turn to the “Great Physician” for help. In my work with the prayer chain, I have seen how He can impart wisdom and even direct the hands of human physicians. He alone has the power to bring miraculous healing to those physically and spiritually in need. Through the love He has for each of us, He brings hope where there was none and healing where there was only pain. When we open our hearts to Him, He surrounds us with His love, healing, and protection every day of our lives. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn