The video teaching is found at the bottom of this page.
1. Introduction
IIn this lesson, we will examine the first two descriptions associated with the name of Yahweh in the Old Testament: Yahweh Jireh and Yahweh Rapha.
As we continue towards our study of Father God—Paterology—we have established the following truths from our lesson on the Old Testament Revelation of God.
- The Triune God existed before the creation of the world.
- Our heavenly Father’s original purpose was to have sons and daughters.
- God is eternal, having neither beginning nor end.
- Scripture reveals God as genuinely present and active within His creation.
- Scripture reveals God acting within genuine temporal sequence.
- Yahweh, the God revealed in the Old Testament, is the same God whom Jesus reveals to us as Father.
- Yahweh is relational and establishes covenants with His people.
- Yahweh faithfully keeps His covenant promises.
- Because God is relational, He genuinely responds to human actions, repentance and intercession.
- God’s response may change while His character and covenant faithfulness remain unchanged.
We will now examine how Yahweh revealed more of His character through the names and descriptions associated with Him.
Some people teach that we must address God only as Yahweh, YHWH or Jehovah. Others avoid writing His name because they sincerely desire to show Him reverence. We should respect that desire to honour God, but Scripture does not teach that Christians must use one Hebrew form of God’s name.
Significantly, Jesus did not teach His disciples to pray, “Our Yahweh in heaven.” He taught them to pray:
In this manner, therefore, pray:
Matthew 6:9
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
The issue is not merely how we pronounce God’s name. The greater issue is whether we know the God who has revealed Himself to us as Father.
2. What’s in a Name:
A. Biblical Names Have Meanings:
Names in the Bible frequently have meaning. A name might express the circumstances surrounding a person’s birth, the hopes of the parents, a prayer to God, or something about that person’s character and calling.
At times, God changed someone’s name to reveal a new calling or covenant purpose. Abram became Abraham, Sarai became Sarah, and Jacob became Israel.
Names are therefore important in Scripture, but a name does not necessarily reveal everything about the person who bears it.
B. Names Do Not Describe Everything About a Person:
My name, Neville, means “new town” or “new settlement.” This meaning is appropriate to my calling in church planting, but it does not completely define who I am.
I am also:
- a father to three children and seven grandchildren;
- a spiritual father to many people;
- a husband to one wife;
- a preacher;
- a veterinarian;
- a flight captain;
- and an apostolic prophet.
My personal name identifies me, but it does not contain everything that can be known about my character, relationships, calling and work.
The same principle helps us understand the biblical names and descriptions of God. The Hebrew Scriptures call Him Elohim, the Hebrew word commonly translated “God.” They also reveal His personal covenant name, represented by the four Hebrew letters YHWH and commonly pronounced Yahweh.
In Exodus 3:14, God declares:
“I AM WHO I AM”
The divine name Yahweh is related to the Hebrew verb “to be,” although scholars continue to discuss its precise derivation and meaning. The passage presents Yahweh as the living and faithful God who will be with His people and make Himself known through His actions.
We should therefore be careful not to reduce Yahweh to a single definition or place Him within a theological box. We come to know Him more fully as He reveals His character, purposes and actions throughout Scripture.
3. Yahweh: His Name for All Generations:
A. His Covenant Name.
When God revealed His name to Moses, He identified Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He declared that His name would be remembered throughout all generations:
Moreover, God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’
Exodus 3:1
In most English translations, the word LORD, printed in capital letters, represents the Hebrew name YHWH.
Yahweh is therefore not merely a description of God. It is the covenant name by which He revealed Himself to Israel.
B. The Name Yahweh Remains Relevant.
The name Yahweh remains important because it identifies the God who entered into covenant with Israel and acted throughout Old Testament history.
When we study Yahweh, we are not studying a different God from the Father revealed by Jesus Christ. We are studying the Old Testament revelation of the same God.
The New Testament repeatedly uses Old Testament passages concerning Yahweh when explaining the identity and saving work of Jesus Christ. For example, within Paul’s proclamation of Jesus as Lord in Romans 10:13 applies Joel 2:32—
“Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved”
Romans 10:13
The revelation of God as Father does not make the name Yahweh irrelevant. Rather, it brings us into a fuller understanding of who Yahweh is and how He desires to relate to His children.
C. Jesus Reveals Yahweh as Father
God was already revealed as Father in the Old Testament, particularly as the Father of Israel. However, Jesus brought the fatherhood of God into much greater prominence and taught His disciples to know and address God personally as “our Father.”
Under the New Covenant, those who receive Christ are brought into God’s family and given the privilege of knowing and approaching God as Father.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.
John 1:12
Father is therefore not simply a replacement name for the name Yahweh. It is the relational revelation given through Jesus Christ: the covenant God of Israel has brought us into His family and made us His children.
4. Descriptions of Yahweh:
A. They Reveal Who Yahweh Is
Expressions such as Yahweh Jireh and Yahweh Rapha are often called the “compound names of God.” More precisely, they are biblical expressions that connect the name Yahweh with something He does or with a particular way in which He relates to His people.
These descriptions reveal both:
- something about the character and activity of Yahweh; and
- something about His covenant relationship with His people.
For example, Yahweh does not merely possess the power to provide and heal. He provides for His people and reveals Himself as the healer of His people.
B. We Are His Children:
Under the New Covenant, believers are not merely servants receiving help from a distant God. Through Christ, we have become God’s children and heirs:
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Romans 8:17
God’s attributes do not simply become our attributes. Some qualities belong uniquely to God. Nevertheless, as His children, we are called to reflect His goodness, love and faithfulness. We also receive the benefits of His gracious relationship with us, including His provision and healing.
Therefore, when we study Yahweh as Provider and Healer, we are learning both who God is and how He acts towards those who belong to Him.
5. Yahweh Jireh: Yahweh Will Provide
A. He Will See To It.
The expression Yahweh Jireh comes from Genesis 22:14. The Hebrew verb translated “provide” ordinarily means “to see.” In this context, it carries the sense that Yahweh sees the need and attends to it. Therefore, Yahweh Jireh may be understood as “Yahweh will see” or “Yahweh will provide.”
Abraham gave this name to the place after Yahweh provided a ram to be sacrificed instead of Isaac:
And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of Jehovah it shall be provided.
Genesis 22:14
This expression does not mean merely that God knows what we need. Yahweh sees the need and acts to provide what is required.
B. God Provides a Substitute.
When Abraham was about to offer Isaac, God provided a ram to take Isaac’s place:
And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
Genesis 22:14
Isaac was the immediate beneficiary of God’s provision: the ram died in his place. God provided what Abraham and Isaac could not provide for themselves.
C. The Father Provides His Son
For Christians, the provision of the ram anticipates the greater gift of salvation. Just as God provided a substitute for Isaac, the Father gave His Son so that we might receive eternal life:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
The Father’s greatest provision is not material wealth but the gift of His Son.
D. Grace for Every Good Work
Our Father also provides grace and sufficiency so that His children can fulfil the good works to which He calls them:
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8
The immediate context concerns generosity and financial giving. Paul is not promising unlimited wealth or freedom from hardship. He is teaching that God supplies sufficient grace so that His people can continue being generous and abound in every good work.
6. Yahweh Rapha: God, Our Healer
A. He is Our Healer.
The expression commonly known as Yahweh Rapha comes from God’s declaration in Exodus 15:26: “I am Yahweh, your healer.” Yahweh does not merely have power to heal. He reveals Himself as our healer.
B. Insight from Robert Alter’s Hebrew Translation
Rabbis tell us that the word PUT is essential to understanding this scripture:
“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 put on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”
Exodus 15:26
Yahweh promised not to put upon obedient Israel the diseases He had put upon the Egyptians.
C. Healing and Divine Health:
The repeated word put shows that the promise involved more than healing after sickness occurred. Yahweh promised to preserve Israel from the diseases placed upon Egypt, provided that Israel listened to Him and remained faithful to His covenant.
This promise involved more than healing after sickness occurred. If Israel listened to Yahweh and remained faithful to His covenant, He would preserve them from the diseases placed upon Egypt.
If they departed from Him and became sick, Yahweh remained the One to whom they could return for healing. He revealed Himself as both their protector from disease and “Yahweh, your healer.”
D. The Covenant Promise.
Isaiah later connected healing and restoration with the suffering of Yahweh’s Servant:
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
Isaiah 53:5
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
The Servant bears the consequences of sin and brings healing, peace and restoration to God’s people.
E. Matthew Includes Physical Healing
Matthew applies Isaiah’s language to the physical healing ministry of Jesus:
When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
Matthew 8:16-17
“He Himself took our infirmities
And bore our sicknesses.”
He then shows that the promised restoration of Isaiah includes physical healing. Through His healing ministry, Jesus revealed that Yahweh is still our healer and demonstrated the healing compassion of the Father. For further teaching, see Healing is in the Atonement.
7. Summary:
- Expressions such as Yahweh Jireh and Yahweh Rapha reveal both who Yahweh is and how He relates to His covenant people.
- Yahweh Jireh means “Yahweh will see” or “Yahweh will provide.”
- Yahweh provided a ram to die in Isaac’s place. For Christians, this anticipates the greater provision of the Father giving His Son for the world.
- God continues to supply His children with sufficient grace for every good work.
- The expression commonly known as Yahweh Rapha comes from God’s declaration, “I am Yahweh, your healer.”
- Yahweh revealed Himself as the One who preserves His people from disease and heals them.
- Isaiah connected healing and restoration with the suffering of Yahweh’s Servant.
- Matthew shows that Isaiah’s promised restoration includes physical healing.
- Through His healing ministry, Jesus demonstrated the healing compassion of the Father.
These names and descriptions do not place God within a theological box. They progressively reveal His character, His actions and His covenant relationship with His people.
In the next lesson, we will examine five further descriptions of Yahweh and what they reveal about His character and His relationship with His people.
© Use by Permission. Awakening Impact Ministries/ Dr Neville van Eerten D. Miss 2027
