September 17, 2024
The Widow's Son -- Part 2
1 Kings 17:19-21
09/17/2024
19 And he said to her, ``Give me your son.'' And he
took him from her arms and carried him up into the
upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his
own bed.
20 And he cried to the LORD, ``O LORD my God, have
you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom
I sojourn, by killing her son?''
21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three
times and cried to the LORD, ``O LORD my God, let
this child's life come into him again.'' (ESV)
The hope of each Christian is the result of two facts.
First, Jesus Christ bore the guilt of our sin upon the cross,
thereby reconciling us to God the Father. Second, Jesus burst
forth from the tomb, showing that the grave cannot hold one who
has been declared holy and righteous in God's sight.
In both the Old and New Testaments, God, working through His
prophets and apostles, raised several people from the dead. This
week's Old Testament lesson concerns the son of the widow of
Zarephath who was taking care of Elijah. Her son became ill and
died.
And [Elijah] said to her, ``Give me your son.'' And he
took him from her arms and carried him up into the
upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own
bed. And he cried to the LORD, ``O LORD my God, have
you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I
sojourn, by killing her son?'' Then he stretched
himself upon the child three times and cried to the
LORD, ``O LORD my God, let this child's life come into
him again.''
Elijah proclaimed his own helplessness and called upon God
to grant this extraordinary miracle. The Christian believes that
death is but a temporal sleep from which we will awaken. Our
prayers, our hope, is for the resurrection of the body and life
everlasting when Jesus comes to judge the living and the dead.
May our Lord grant us faith that holds to the promise of
life in heaven. Amen.