The Experience of the Cross Tests us, Exposes us, and Allows God to Heal our Being

After healing the bitter waters at Marah by showing Moses a tree which he cast into the waters, the Lord made a statute for the people of Israel and He revealed that He is their Healer. The people of Israel didn’t just encounter bitter waters but they were bitter in their being, and God was their Healer.

In our Christian life, we don’t just encounter bitter circumstances or bitter people; we are sick, we have bitterness in our being, and the Lord Jesus came to be our Healer. He didn’t come to judge us or condemn us; He came to heal us.

If we see that we are sick, if we realize that we are bitter in our being, we can simply cry out to the Lord, pour out our soul before Him, and He will show us the crucified Christ as the One who bore all our sicknesses, diseases, and sorrows (Isa. 53:4; Matt. 8:17).

When we see this healing tree – the crucified Christ – we will cast Him into our being and our situations, and any bitter waters will become sweet. We need to realize that we are sick both physically, psychologically, and spiritually, and there’s bitterness in our body, our soul, and our spirit; we, therefore, need to apply the cross of Christ to every aspect of our being.

This experience of the cross tests our being, exposing the bitterness in us and then healing us. The Lord tested the people of Israel at Marah, and there He made an agreement with them: if they listen carefully to His commandments and keep them and do what is right in His eyes, God will put none of the diseases which He put on the Egyptians on the people of Israel, but He will rather heal them and be their Healer.

The Lord uses our bitter situations and the exposing of our bitter being to test us; He shows us where we are what we are, and He exposes our motives, our intentions, and our desires.

The experience of the cross tests us, and as we apply the cross of Christ to our being, the resurrection life of Christ comes in to heal us, and we experience the Lord as our Healer.

Experiencing the Cross of Christ and Living a Crucified Life to Enjoy Christ as our Healer

Many people like to “put the blame on others” when it comes to them being bitter; they say it is the way they were raised up, it’s the environment that makes them bitter, or there’s a certain person or group of persons who give them a hard time. The people of Israel put the blame for not having water on Moses – as if Moses was responsible for providing water for the whole people.

Yes, there’s bitterness in our situations, there are people who make us bitter, and there are circumstances that are bitter to us, but the real problem is that our being is sick: there’s bitterness in our body, soul, and spirit. Not only the waters of our circumstances are sometimes bitter, but we ourselves are bitter; we are sick, in need of healing.

The Lord Jesus came not as a Judge to condemn us but as a Physician to heal those who are sick (Matt. 9:12); He came to enliven, heal, and restore us for His kingdom. Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

If we think we’re strong and sound, we’re blinded and don’t realize our need of Christ as the Physician. But when the Lord exposes the bitterness in our being we realize that we are sick physically, psychologically, and also spiritually; we need to apply the cross of Christ to every aspect of our being.

As we experience the cross of Christ and live a crucified life one with Him, Christ’s resurrection life becomes our healing power, and the Lord becomes our Healer (cf. Isa. 53:4; Matt. 8:17; 9:12; 1 Pet. 2:24). Spiritually, psychologically, and physically we need the application of the cross of Christ.

Christ came to bear our sorrows, griefs, and diseases, and He Himself bore all our sicknesses in His body on the tree so that today He can be experienced as the Healing One by us, His people. Both in our circumstances and in our being, when we cry out to the Lord and apply the cross of Christ as the healing tree, the bitter waters become sweet and we have the Lord’s presence with us.

May we be those who do not consider themselves strong and in no need for a Physician, but may we realize that we are the “lepers”, “paralytics”, “tax collectors”, and “sinners” in the Lord’s time, those with whom He liked to hang out with and for whom He came not to condemn but to heal, enliven, and restore for His kingdom.

May we apply the cross of Christ and live a crucified life today so that Christ’s resurrection life would become the healing power operating in our body, soul, and spirit, and we would experience Christ as our Healer!

Lord Jesus, we admit that we are sick and in need of You as our Physician. Thank You for coming not to condemn us but to heal, restore, and enliven us for Your kingdom. Lord, keep us coming to You with all our situations and problems, pouring out our heart to You so that You may shine in us and expose the bitterness in our being. Oh Lord, may we experience the cross of Christ and live a crucified life so that Your resurrection would become our healing power and we would experience You as our Healer! Hallelujah, Christ is our Healer: He heals the sickness and bitterness in our body, soul, and spirit!

The Experience of the Cross Tests us, Exposes us, and Allows God to Heal our Being

In Exo. 15:25 we see that God used the experience of the bitter waters at Marah to expose the bitterness in the being of the children of Israel so that they would experience God as their Healer. In our Christian experience, God uses the experience of the cross to test us and expose us.

Every time we experience the cross of Christ applied to our being, we realize that there are so many things in us that need to be healed. When we come to the Lord and pray, He shines on our wild emotion, our troublesome mind, and our stubborn will; He exposes our bitter attitude toward others, our unforgiving heart, and our bitter spirit.

The Lord uses our experience of the cross to expose us and heal us. When we confess our sins, our conscience is healed. When we have our mind renewed in the word of God, our mind is healed. When we allow God to operate in us the willing for His good pleasure, our will is healed. When we allow our emotions to be filled with the inward parts of Christ and to be filled with Christ’s feeling for the church, our emotions are healed.

When we touch the Lord and really open to Him, we will sense the need for healing in our mind, realize that our will needs to be adjusted, see that our emotion needs to be balanced, and become conscious that our spirit may be bitter toward others and needs to be healed.

We should never have a bitter spirit toward others but have the loving and forgiving heart of our God and Father and the shepherding and seeking spirit of our Savior Jesus. Instead of judging others, we should love them with the love the Lord put in us, and this will touch their heart; we will then link them to the Lord, and they will be healed!

When we open to the Lord, He shows us a vision of the crucified Christ; we need to be identified with the crucifixion of Christ by applying His cross to every part of our being that is bitter and sick, and those parts will be healed. We can see the vision of the healing tree (the crucified Christ) only by crying out to God, talking to Him, and being real with Him; we will then cast this tree into the very place of our being which needs to be healed.

We may not know that there’s a certain bitter feeling in us, but when we open to the Lord and cry out to Him, He will show us the place where to cast the cross of Christ as the healing tree.

Real healing takes place as we receive the dealing of the cross; we are healed when we are subdued and when we hearken to the voice of God, listen to His statutes, and obey His commandments; then Christ’s resurrection life becomes our healing power, and the Lord becomes our Healer. When we allow the cross of Christ to operate in us and heal us, we are really healed and filled with the sweet waters of the Lord’s presence.

God uses the experience of the cross to test us and expose the bitterness in our being so that He may come in as the crucified One to operate in us and heal us as we cast Him into the part the Lord exposes to be bitter.

Lord Jesus, we open to You and we cry out to You concerning our situation and condition. Lord, You know our inward being; You understand our thoughts, know the decisions of our heart, and see our tumultuous emotions. We just cry out to You, Lord: we need You as our Physician! Lord, show us the healing tree: show us the cross of Christ, so that we may apply it to the bitter part of our being and be healed. Lord, may the cross operate in us and may we be identified with Your crucifixion by applying Your cross to every part of our being that is bitter and sick!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 30, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1), week 7 / msg 7, The Experiences of Marah and Elim.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # He healeth me, as when of yore, / Their sins and sicknesses He bore; / Nor has He lost His power and skill— / Our blessed Christ is living still. (Hymns #755)
  # I would not, if I could, conceal / The ills which only Thou canst heal; / So to the Cross, where sinners kneel, / Christ crucified, I come. / Wash me, and take away each stain, / Let nothing of my sin remain; / For cleansing, though it be through pain, / Christ crucified, I come. (Hymns #1049)
  # I am crucified with Christ, / And the cross hath set me free; / I have ris’n again with Christ, / And He lives and reigns in me. / Oh! it is so sweet to die with Christ, / To the world, and self, and sin; / Oh! it is so sweet to live with Christ, / As He lives and reigns within. (Hymns #482)