Forget Not All His Benefits – Part 2

Introduction

I have begun presenting a collection of sermons and series focused on Rediscovering God as a healer of our bodies.

• Psalm 103:1-6 (ESV) – 1 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 forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. 6 The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.

More Context for the Passage

Like last week, we will spend more time on the context than the text

Last week, the context was God’s covenant with Abraham.

This week, the context is God’s view of Himself.

Specifically, we will look at the first instance in Scripture in which God self-identifies as a healer.

The Red Sea Crossing and Why It Matters

The context in which He shares this gives us tremendous clarity: He announces Himself as the healer of Israel shortly after He drowns Pharaoh’s army in the red sea.

We can see this event and its aftermath on two levels:

• Literal (Israel’s reality under the covenant mediated by Abraham)
• Symbolic (Our reality under the covenant mediated by Jesus) [Hebrews 8:6 (ESV) – ⁶ But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.]

Immediately after Israel crosses the red sea, Moses writes and sings a song of praise to the Lord—and here is where I want to begin:

• Exodus 15:1-2 (ESV) – 1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. 2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
  • Literal Level
    • Literally saved from Pharaoh’s Army
    • Protected by the covenant God made with Abraham

  • Symbolic Level
    • Symbolic of our salvation
      • Moses is compared with Jesus directly:
        • Deuteronomy 18:15 (ESV) – ¹⁵ “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen
        • Hebrews 3:1–2 (ESV) – ¹Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, ² who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house.
      • The elements of the sea cross are compared to aspects of our salvation:
        • 1 Corinthians 10:1–4 (ESV) – ¹For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, ² and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³ and all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
    • Symbolic our lineage to Abraham in Christ
      • Galatians 3:9 (ESV) – ⁹ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

• Exodus 15:11 (ESV) – 11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
  • Literal Level
    • This statement is being made across the backdrop of a polytheistic society.
  • Symbolic Level
    • This points to our New covenant dependence on God for everything.

“I Am the Lord Your Healer”

Exodus 15:25–26 (ESV) – ²⁵ And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, ²⁶ saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2023