SOZO

Sozo is a Greek word. When translated in English it means: saved, healed, and delivered. The word is used over 100 times in the New Testament to refer to the “complete package” of salvation, deliverance and healing. Sozo means salvation, yet the root meaning goes beyond just the forgiveness of sins. According to Strong’s Concordance, Sozo also carries the idea of being physically healed of diseases and to be delivered from your enemy. In a spiritual sense, that enemy is the devil and his demons. The meaning of the word salvation is more than simply being saved to go to heaven when you die. To be biblically saved means there are also earthly effects on our lives today. Not only are you free from the judgment and wrath of God, but this salvation also includes the ability to resist temptations to sin in a pursuit of Christ-likeness, to be set free from demonic attack and oppression, and to receive healing in our physical bodies. There are many promises of God in the scriptures.

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion…

Psalm 103:2-4

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5

The scriptures shown above display that Jesus wants us to be free! He has already paid a very high price to set us free. The war for our freedom is over. Jesus won! In Him, we have victory. Let’s not dismiss the finished work of the cross, but let’s not forget that Satan still is the Prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2). Satan only has authority where we have given him authority. Now is the time to enforce what Jesus did on the cross. This means that God is calling us to take out the giants that have residing in our promised land. All we need to do is reach out our hand for Jesus’ garment and receive sozo from Jesus.

Yahweh is the Ultimate Healer

This proclamation may ruffle some feathers, and I’m ok with that! Today we are seeing lots of counterfeits that claim “healing,” and “health,” and “safety” to entice people into a binding agreement. If these things can get your agreement, they can own you. You can become a slave to the thing you thought was keeping you healthy or safe. Safety is an interesting word. Many are claiming that their method will keep you and others safe. This is a lie. Their “safety” comes with chains of bondage. You can’t get something for nothing. God is the ONLY place of safety. Everything else that claims safety is an idol. Listen to the Lord when it comes to protecting yourself and others during these evil times. Ask HIM what He thinks, and then wait for His voice. He will tell you. You may not like what He says, but He is not a man that He should lie. He desires to show His people that He still is who He says He is. He is your HEALER! Believe Him. He is Jehovah-Rapha. Receive Him. Let Him in. Ask Him to show you how He has been Jehovah-Rapha in your life!

Remember how I explained God’s hand of provision and our hand of receiving in the last post? God’s hand of provision for healing is always extended to you. Are your hands open to receive His provision of healing? Or are you closed to receiving from Him because you are receiving from something else? You can’t receive from God when your heart is positioned like a closed fist. To find out if your heart is closed to God’s provision, ask God to reveal to you if you are receiving a counterfeit provision of healing. Open your heart to receive Him as Jehovah-Rapha.

Who is Jehovah-Rapha?

The Lord has been placing a strong desire within my heart to learn His names. A month ago, I went on a journey with Him to discover who He was as Jehovah-Jireh. This month, the Lord has asked me to join Him in discovering who He is as Jehovah-Rapha. From personal study I learned that the word Jehovah comes from the Hebrew word Havah, which can be translated as “to be,” “to exist,” or “to become known.” I also learned that the Hebraic translation of Rapha means “to restore” or “to heal.” In combination, these two Hebrew words mean “God who heals.” So, with that in mind, this question started rising up within me: when was the first time God revealed Himself as Jehovah-Rapha in the Bible?

After opening up the Bible, I discovered the Lord first revealed His name as Jehovah-Rapha to the Israelites after their Exodus out of Egypt. The story is found in Exodus 15:22-27. God divinely cleansed the bitter waters of Marah by instructing Moses to throw a piece of wood into the water, thereby making it drinkable. Following that miracle, God declared Himself as Jehovah-Rapha to His people.

“If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”

Exodus 15:26

This was not just a miracle, but it was meant to serve as a promise to Israel. It became a promise of assurance from God to the Israelites, who had borne witness to the 10 plagues that God had released over all of Egypt prior to their release from slavery. Can you imagine the trauma that they carried with them into the wilderness? Their hearts and minds had been corrupted by the Egyptian culture, and they were only just discovering who God was for them. I used to think poorly of these children of Israel, because it seemed like they were so gullible to the tricks of the enemy. After looking deeper into the panoramic view of their deliverance from bondage, I realized that was truly a prophetic picture of how Jesus was going to deliver us from our own personal Egypt. I realized that I have been just like Israel. I have complained and been discouraged. I have fallen after idols just like they did, not knowing that God had something better for me. And I now understand why Israel needed that promise of “Yahweh is Healer” to go through the wilderness.

Panoramic View of Christ Taking Our Sickness Away

There are two ways to look at Scripture. We can zoom in or zoom out. Both perspectives are important to our understanding of His Word. They give us insight on what God is saying. To get more insight on Jehovah-Rapha, let’s first look at a verse in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 53:5 is a prophesy of the coming Jesus. It was written hundreds of years before Christ.

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.

Isaiah 53:5 (AMPC)

This scripture points us to the cross. Isaiah mentions two things that the coming Messiah would take away, sin and sickness. But that was in the Old Testament, let’s look for a confirmation of this prophecy in the New Testament. In chapter eight of the gospel of Matthew, we find a connection to the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah. If you study the Bible, you will see many connections like this one. God was telling the story of Jesus from the very beginning of time. Everything points to Jesus and the redemption that He was going to bring into the world.

Zooming out, we can see a verse in the New Testament that connects with Isaiah 53:5. The gospel of Matthew describes what Jesus did for us.

When evening came, they brought to Him many who were under the power of demons; and He cast out the evil spirits with a word, and restored to health all who were sick [exhibiting His authority as Messiah], so that He fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He Himself took our infirmities [upon Himself] and carried away our diseases.”

Matthew 8:16-18 (AMP)

The Old and the New Testament both tell us the same thing: Jesus took two things away when He died on the cross, our sins and our sicknesses. Sickness is to the body what sin is to the soul. Jesus took both away. Communion addresses both of those things.

1. Sickness —> Jesus is the BREAD of life
2. Sin —> The BLOOD of Jesus

Addressing the Lie: Sickness is God’s Will

Before we go any further, I need to shed light on a lie that has been told for a very long time. Sickness is never God’s will. Think about it. If sickness what God’s will, that would make Jesus the most disobedient son imaginable. Every sick person who came to Jesus received healing. Jesus was always doing His Father’s will; thus, it is always God’s will to heal (John 5:19-21). Well-meaning believers have been trying very hard to give a reason for the suffering we see in this world. They are asking the question, “why?” And then, they are building their theology around the human answers they come up with. “Why did the person we prayed for die?” Many believers have decided to answer that question instead of allowing there to be an element of mystery. The issue is, we don’t always get the answer to that question from God in this life. Job was never told about the conversations between God and Satan in the Heavenly courtroom. If that is truly a question that you have been wrestling with, bring it to God. Lay it before Him. Then, you are going to have to make a choice. Are you going to believe that even though someone you love died, it is still God’s will to heal? Or are you going to allow the situation to change your view of God? God is Jehovah-Rapha. Our circumstances do not change who He is. We must not let our circumstances in life cloud His will to heal, give life, and deliver all. If Jesus bore our sins, does He want us to sin? Of course not! So, then I ask you another question, if Jesus bore our sicknesses and infirmities, why would He want us to be sick? Bill Johnson put it this way, “Sickness is to the body what sin is to the soul.” Jesus bore both sin and sickness on the cross and put both to death.

The Blood of Jesus

The blood of Jesus is powerful, more in fact than we can comprehend. We are going to look at both the power of the blood and the benefits given to us by the blood of Jesus. It is so important for believers to understand what Jesus has done for us. If we remember what He did, the devil cannot lie to us about our inheritance from God. Let’s dive deep into the meaning of the blood of Jesus so that we can be aware of our God-given birthright of freedom.

There is Wonder-Working Power in the Blood of Jesus

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. (Ephesians 1:7) The blood has the power to redeem and forgive, because of God’s grace and mercy. But is we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7) The blood of Jesus has the power to cleanse us. So, what is the difference between cleansing, forgiving, and redeeming? We are forgiven. All of our sins that separated us from God were put on Jesus (on the cross) and He carried them away forever. We are redeemed. The punishment that we deserved for our sin was already paid for by Jesus Christ. He has redeemed us. He has justified us (Justification means that we are made right before God the Father). We are cleansed. This goes beyond being forgiven and redeemed (justified). We are cleansed of all sin and sanctified. So, what is sanctification? It is the process of being freed from the power of sin. We are now in a process of freedom from the power of sin.
The blood of Jesus says to sin, “You no longer have any hold on me, nor do you have any power over me!“

There are Benefits of the Blood of Jesus

Beyond all of that, let’s consider this verse in the book of Revelation: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (12:11). From this verse we can discern that the blood of Jesus has protective power. There are so many more things to discover about the blood of Jesus. There could be books written about the blood of Jesus based on the discoveries from scriptures. I want to encourage you to meditate, ponder, and consider the power of the blood of Jesus and the benefits (that now belong to you) of His blood.

Jehovah-Rapha has the Seed for Your Healing

Jesus was scourged before His crucifixion with a cat-o-nine tails, which was used by the Romans as a torture device. This device was a whip, usually having nine knotted lines or cords fastened to a handle, used for flogging. The Bible does not say how many times that Jesus was scourged. However, we know that Jesus 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 (Isaiah 53:5). By the stripes, created with the cat-o-nine tails, on Jesus’ back, we are healed. The Body of Christ was broken so that we could be healed. He took on every sickness and disease imaginable. Even the sicknesses we are seeing today. Jesus showed me this in a specific story found in the Old Testament about the prophet Elisha and a pot of stew:

So, why was flour used in this biblical story? According to the scriptures Jesus is called the bread of life.

And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

John 6:35

What did the flour in the story in 2nd Kings do to the poisonous pot of stew? It neutralized the poison. Are you hearing this? The bread (Jesus’ body that was broken for us) neutralized every form of poison of sickness in this world. Jesus is the answer. He is the one that heals you. His blood and His body make you completely whole.

Communion is a Love Feast

It is imperative to know and remember the fullness that Jesus paid for on the cross when taking communion. It is a tragedy to only remember and know half of what Jesus did for us. Apostle Paul writes this in 1 Corinthians 11:29-30, “For anyone who eats and drinks [without solemn reverence and heartfelt gratitude for the sacrifice of Christ], eats and drinks a judgment on himself if he does not recognize the body [of Christ]. That [careless and unworthy participation] is the reason why many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep [in death].” Paul specifically addresses the broken body of Christ in that passage saying that there are consequences for those who don’t discern the body properly. The Lord’s body was beaten for our healing. If we truly grasped that side of Jesus’ sacrifice during communion, would remembering cause us to be healed? That is something you will have to discover for yourself. I believe that Paul means what he says that we must properly acknowledge all of the covenant when taking communion.

But by no means risk turning this Meal into an eating and drinking binge or a family squabble. It is a spiritual meal—a love feast.

1 Corinthians 11:34 MSG

Prayer

Lord, forgive me for not acknowledging what Jesus did for me on the cross when taking communion in the past. I did not know what I was doing. Reveal the fullness of what Jesus did for me. I do not want to miss out on anything that Christ did for me. Lord, I open my heart to You today. Reveal Yourself as Jehovah-Rapha to me this week. Let Your revelation-light flood into the depths of my soul and spirit. In Jesus name, amen!