I invite you to turn with me this morning to 1 Kings chapter 17 as we continue our consideration of the work of our God through His servant, Elijah. We'll begin reading at verse 7, again, the portion we considered last week, but noticing specifically this morning, verses 17 through the end of chapter 17, verse 24. Before we read God's Word, let's bow and ask for His blessing upon it. Father, indeed we come before You again this morning as empty vessels, empty as those who are not able to see and understand Your Word apart from Your blessing, apart from Your strength. And we ask for the blessing of Your Holy Spirit to illumine us, our hearts and minds, to see the wonderful truths that You have indeed stored for us in Your Word. Bless Your servant. Give him strength that he needs desperately, for he is weak, but You are strong. Bless Your people that we might be those who listen attentively, who learn by Your blessing, who hear and obey. Transform us more and more by Your Holy Spirit, Father, Grant us the comfort of Your presence with us and of the truth of Your most holy Word. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen. 1 Kings 17, beginning at verse 7. This is God's Word. Sometime later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him, Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food. So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and said, Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink? As she was going to get it, he called, And bring me, please, a piece of bread. As surely as the Lord your God lives, she replied, I don't have any bread, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son that we may eat it and die. Elijah said to her, don't be afraid, go home and do as you have said, but first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, the jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land. She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah. Sometime later, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son? Give me your son, Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the Lord, O Lord my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with by causing her son to die? Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the Lord, O Lord my God, let this boy's life return to him. The Lord heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, Look, your son is alive. Then the woman said to Elijah, Now I know that you are a man of God and that the Word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth. May God add His blessing to the reading and consideration of His Word this morning. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah's covenant promises to Israel included blessing for obedience and curse or punishment for disobedience. Obey and live. Or disobey and die. But Israel, we know, had rejected God. And in doing so, they had rejected His Word. They had doubted its truth and its reliability, at least with regard to His threat of punishment. Their rejection of Him, in essence, said, we don't believe you. We don't believe that you will really punish us. they did not take Him at His word. And though in their blindness and in their ignorance, they may have not yet put two and two together when it came to this lack of rain, yet they were at this time in their history, they were experiencing the reliability of God's Word, His burning wrath through the drought and the famine. They were experiencing the truth that God is serious about His Word. Yet at the very same time, Israel's covenant God demonstrates the truth of Himself and His word in Baal country, in enemy territory, not only as a direct challenge to Baal with regard to who is God, but revealing Himself as the God of life to a solitary widow and her son, at least up to this point as the God of physical bread. Yet He had more for her than just bread. As to her, the covenant God reveals the reliability of His Word of promise. As we consider this episode, it seems that she did not yet understand that life does not consist in the abundance of one's possessions. It seems that she did not yet understand that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. The Word of God, which she would learn, is completely reliable. First of all, through the occasion of an apparent contradiction. She was facing a crossroads now in her life, a contradiction of sorts. Hers was, recall, a real-life blessing, a real-life blessing of daily bread. The text begins some time later. Now, we don't know how much time had gone by, but since the day that she made Elijah that first bread cake, there had been many days of bread to follow. Hers was a real-life blessing from certain death. Remember that she and her son were at death's door. Yet they had been given the guarantee of life as daily bread had been promised to them according to God's Word. Verse 14 says again, For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. The jar of flour will not be used up, and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land. This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. She had God's promise, and by the grace of God, she trusted and she gave up everything she had. She gave up her last meal for her and her son and gave it up for the promise of never-ending flour and oil until the rain would come again. And therefore, hers was the real-life blessing of life itself. The promise of bread implied the guarantee of life and living. They would continue to exist. They would not die. They had been rescued from the death for which they had been preparing. Remember, she says to Elijah when he says, Bring me a little cake. She says, I'm going to make one last meal that we may eat it and die. Yet she was given the promise of life. And we might expect, as she may have expected, that some sort of a storybook ending, that they lived happily ever after. But instead, hers was a real-life tragedy. From a real-life blessing to a real-life tragedy. Sometime later, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse and finally stopped breathing. From the promise of life to death that dashes her expectations. The security and the protection that were promised seemed to disappear with the last breath of her son. Before, she had expected, she had even anticipated death because of a lack of food. But now she expected life because of God's promise. Yet there was death that was unexpected. It was drastic. Her future was now uncertain. now beloved we know the loss of a child is is always always tragic but in a practical way for this widow now there was no one to support her no one to care for her in her older years and though this widow had learned through the daily bread that not Baal but the Lord God of Israel provided for her physical needs yet now on the occasion of this apparent contradiction through her son's death. Though God's Word seemed unreliable, God would reveal the reliability of His Word of promise. Secondly, in the face of a superstitious explanation on her part, a false conclusion. Now the question why is a normal question in times of hardship and difficulty. A number of the psalmists ask why. Oh Lord, we are facing this tragedy. Why? Why haven't you come to rescue us? And the question of why, in essence, is asked by both the widow and Elijah. The widow says, she said to Elijah, verse 18, What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son? A way of asking why. And Elijah, in verse 20, Then he cried out to the Lord, O Lord, my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with by causing her son to die? A way of asking why. And notice the only detail that they agreed on was that the hand of the Lord had done this. The son's death was not from ordinary circumstances that we might think of, not from an accident of some sort, not from natural causes. An illness, yes, but we ought to understand that it came on quickly, unexpectedly. No signs of it as even Elijah expressed. It was by the direct intervention of the Lord. But why? Well, the widow's answer was clear in her mind. It was because of her association with Elijah. What do you have against me? Or what have I done to you? We can be sure that up to this point, she thought that he was worth having around because of the bread. I suspect as well that no doubt she believed that she did not deserve this tragedy in her life because she had put a roof over his head. She had fed him, yet forgetting really God had been providing for her through her provision of Elijah. No Elijah, and there would have been no provision for her. Yet she now sees Elijah as an invader, as one who brought this trouble into her home. In her mind, her son would not have died if Elijah had not come. The answer was clear in her mind because of her association with Elijah and then ultimately because of her association with God. She calls him man of God. What do you have against me, man of God? And notice too, the end of verse 18, Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son? She knew that Elijah hadn't actually killed her son. ultimately pointing to her association with God. Beloved, these words reveal her pagan, her superstitious belief. The belief of those who worshipped pagan gods. Elijah's presence brought her sin, most likely her sin in general, her pagan life. Elijah's very presence as a man of God brought her sin into God's view. Certainly, he never would have known otherwise. Her superstitious belief is that when you do something bad, the gods punish you, but when you do something good, they reward you. We find that in the New Testament with Paul on the island of Malta. You recall that as a prisoner and they were shipwrecked and he's gathering sticks to build a fire and the poisonous viper, we're told, comes out of the sticks and fastens on his hand. The idea that it just hung there. And there was no doubt for the islanders It's that Paul must have been a very bad man, boys and girls. Because this poisonous snake had bit him. He was sure to die. The gods were out to get him. But when he didn't die, then they changed their minds. He must be one of the gods. You do something bad, the gods are going to get you. You do something good, they're going to be nice to you. In her mind, her son's death was punishment upon her because of her sin. Yet, it was a contradiction. She had been promised blessing and reward, but she received curse and punishment. Beloved, she recognized that she was a sinful woman, but her pagan way of thinking was wrong. If this was a punishment on her, she should have died. Not her son. He was no substitute for her. She did not yet understand the true character of Israel's God as we read in Ezekiel 18. He says, The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him. To her, God's Word of life did not match this deed of death. To her, she had been deceived. And God's Word was unreliable. It was untrue. Beloved, sometimes we too tend to be a little bit superstitious, don't we? Not with regard to black cats or the number 13 or when it comes to a lucky rabbit's foot. We sometimes tend maybe to be a little bit superstitious when something bad happens. We might wonder, what have I done wrong? what have I done to deserve this? Why is God doing this to me? And ultimately, when it doesn't make sense, we want to blame God. Oh God, You said You would. But, we tend to forget the truth that bad things do happen to God's people in this life, in this world. He Himself said when, not if, but when the fire and water, when you go through it, when you experience the hardships and the difficulties of life. The Bible says that those who would follow Jesus are to take up their cross, implying again, difficulty. In 2 Timothy 3, verse 12, Paul says those who desire to live godly in Christ will suffer persecution. Peter, to his audience, speaks of various trials, fiery trials that they were experiencing. And he says, don't think it's strange. It ought not be a surprise. In Hebrews 12, we read that even the Lord chastises, disciplines His sons, those He loves. Yet we are tempted to blame God when our spouse dies, or when we lose a friend, or when friends turn against us, or when we are being persecuted for the faith. Oh God, You said You'd be with me. You said You'd take care of me. Yet, we are given an example of what we ought to do in those circumstances through Elijah's submission. He also didn't understand why. He understood why Israel suffered. But why this widow whose house God had blessed daily? Beginning at verse 19, Give me your son, Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the Lord, O Lord, my God, have you brought tragedy also? You see, tragedy was upon Israel, of course, and even those around the widow. Have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with by causing her son to die? Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the Lord, O Lord, my God, let this boy's life return to him. Elijah, instead of blaming God and His Word, he appeals to the Word of God as Abraham did when he was called to sacrifice Isaac, the child of promise. It didn't make sense to Abraham, no doubt, yet he trusted God's Word. He trusted God's promise. The widow's conclusion was that God's Word was unreliable. It was untrue. But Elijah appeals. He hangs on, as it were, with both hands. He appeals to the very Word of God, the One alone who can give life. And he appealed to the Word of God to reveal himself as reliable by restoring life to her Son for God's glory. Jesus said to His disciples that the man was born blind not because of his or his parents' sin, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. Jesus said in John 11, His friend Lazarus' sickness was not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. The reason for this son's death was not to be found in the death itself. It was not to be found in his mother, but it was to be found in the miracle that was to come. It was to be found in her response to it. It's not why did God take him, But why did God give him back? And God reveals the reliability of His Word of promise thirdly with the blessing of an unexpected miracle. Verse 22, The Lord heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived. This is the first recorded resuscitation, raising back to life that we find in Scripture. No doubt unexpected, unthinkable, especially to the people of that day, because it was impossible for man. But God accomplishes this blessing of an unexpected miracle through His servant. Through His servant. Elijah demonstrates here that he is God's instrument. The focus is on God. He demonstrates that he depends on God's power alone. He was prepared to be used of God when this crisis hit this widow to raise her eyes to the truth and the glory of God. As God gives us opportunities, beloved, to be used of Him when others face a crisis, whether a co-worker, whether someone in the neighborhood, whether a friend, when God gives us opportunities to be used of Him when others face a crisis and cry out, Why? May we be prepared to be His instruments to point them to the comfort of God alone. The only one in whom there is any sort of answer. of comfort and strength. With this unexpected miracle, God proved the truth of His Word. Look, your son is alive. God promised life. Your son is alive. Her son's restored life demonstrates that his death did not contradict God's Word, but his death confirmed God's Word. God took him in order to give him back to prove his promise of life to her far more than she could even begin to imagine. God proved that He is the God of truth and power not only to sustain physical life He was not like the gods of the pagans not just the God of the hills or the gods of the valleys or the God of bread even the God of flour and oil but He is the God of all of life He is Himself the one and only life-giving God who keeps His Word the God of all of life the God of the whole world not just over Israel indeed Israel had the real thing but they gave him up for false gods and he demonstrates to this widow outside of Israel that he is the God of all who looked to him in faith this resurrection beloved was a visible demonstration of the glory and the power of God whose glory was confirmed with her confession then the woman said to Elijah now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth. God's glory is confirmed through her confession of Elijah. You are a man of God. Again, the focus being on God that Elijah pointed to the truth and the power and the reality of God. Elijah's actions proved that his witness was true. Beloved, our unbelieving family members and friends and neighbors and co-workers know or they ought to know that our claim, our profession, of our claim and profession to be Christians. But the question is, do our lives confirm it? Do they see in us the truth and the reliability of the Word of God? That as His people, we are what we claim to be by His grace. confident in His Word, confident in Christ. Those who are uncompromising in life, those for whom the joy of the Lord is our strength, those who are peacemakers and patient and gentle and kind, those who clearly are loving God above all and our neighbor as ourselves and even loving our enemies. Those facing difficult circumstances of life without compromise, without giving in to temptation, but instead with hope, all because our hope is in Jesus Christ? Is our confidence in Christ and His Word evident? Are they able to say of you and me, I know that you are a Christian? God's glory was confirmed through her confession of Elijah and ultimately again through her confession of the Lord. That His Word is true. That He makes no mistakes. That His Word is credible. It's reliable. As she is taught here that her son's death was not because of her sin, but her son's death was for her good. His life was for her good. To bring her to the truth of this covenant God and to understand that whatever happens in this uncertain life. God is certain. God is firm. He is unchanging and reliable. He will not fail for all who believe in Him. For all who look to Him in faith. He is the God of mercy. He is the giver and the saver of life. Beloved, the drought and the famine upon Israel was proof of the reliability of God's Word of judgment. while at the very same time this resurrected Son points to proof to the reliability of God's word of grace for those who believe. It points to His power over death. As it pointed to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to His victory over death, as the true and the only substitute for His people, the only one who will do. And therefore, as it also points to the eternal resurrection of His people. This son, no doubt, died again to this physical life. Through the instrument of Elijah, He was brought back to physical life and no doubt brought His mother temporary joy, but for those who were saved by Jesus Christ. He is the instrument of God that provides eternal security and eternal joy. For those who are in Him by faith, they will die once. Unless the Lord comes first, they will die once physically. But they will not face the second death, eternal hell. Because as Paul says in Christ Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15, death has lost its sting. It has no power over them, as Revelation 20 says. Why? Because by God's grace, they have a part in the first resurrection. New life, being born again, brought to faith in Christ alone with a promise that we will be raised incorruptible with body and soul to live with Him forever and ever. This widow was brought to see and understand and confess through these drastic circumstances with her son. She was brought to see and understand and confess the truth and the reliability of God's Word. We don't see that today. We might wish we did. Our loved ones don't need to be raised back to this life when they die in order to prove the power and the truth of God's Word because Jesus did. His death and resurrection is proof of the truth and the power of God's Word. Through His death and resurrection for our forgiveness and for our life, we have true security. we have true protection not just for the here and now, but an eternal future that is certain. For Israel, at whatever time in the future, remember, they didn't know what was going on at this time. Even as they were struggling with the lack of rain and fighting with finding food and the drought and everything, they didn't know what was going on in the life of this widow. But at whatever time in the future, Israel would be made aware of the Lord's work in the life of this widow, they were then to be vividly reminded through their circumstances of the reliability of God's word to those who reject Him. He will keep His promise of judgment. There are so many today who believe that, well, in the end, everything is going to be fine for everybody because, of course, God is not going to punish anybody. How could He really do that? If He's real, of course, and if He's a God of love, How could He punish anybody? But God's Word is reliable. Indeed, His Word of punishment, of judgment for those who reject Him outside of Christ Jesus. And therefore, this is a call today to the unbeliever that describes you here this morning. If you have not yet, if you have not looked to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, you are urgently, sincerely, and seriously called to repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn away from your own way. Look to Christ alone. Or you will suffer the second death in the eternal torment of hell. You see, He is the only giver and saver of life. But God's blessing to the widow means that His promise of life eternal is true. For those who believe, for all who trust in Him, God's promise is sure that they are saved in Christ forever. And beloved, as we live this life in Christ Jesus, we may have confidence, we may have the assurance that we can depend on God's Word even when the circumstances of life suggest otherwise. And they often do. Paul says we can't even begin to compare the sufferings of this present life to the glory that will be revealed in us. There often seems to be a contradiction with regard to God's Word and the believer's life with regard to the circumstances that we actually face. We do suffer the effects of sin. We suffer Satan's temptations and persecution and attacks. We feel the discipline of God's hand upon us at times. We face hardships and pain and disease and death. Yet, dear beloved, we can face these with confidence that He is acquainted with all of our paths, with all of our ways. We can face these with confidence that He will never leave us or forsake us, but instead He will hear us when we cry. We can face Him with confidence that He cares for His people. That He will be with us. That He will provide a way of escape with the confidence that no one can snatch us from His hands. That nothing can separate us from His love. How can we be so confident? Because He has said it. He has said it. And His Word is true. It is reliable. You can depend on it. And all the while as we face the circumstances of life, our God, as Peter says, is proving the genuineness of and purifying the faith of His children, drawing them nearer to Himself who abides with us forever. Beloved, He is at work in us in all circumstances of life for our good. Our God is. He will always be true to His Word. He took the life of His own Son. who rose again that He might give us life to the full forevermore so that we might embrace with confidence the Word of Jesus in John chapter 11 as He says to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live even though He dies and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this? Do you believe? the truth of God's Word. Indeed, God's people will and do live happily and gloriously ever after as He has promised. Amen. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we stand amazed as we consider the truth of Your Word of judgment and the truth of Your Word of grace come together upon our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. As indeed, O Lord, as a holy God, all sin must be punished. And the sin of Your people is punished in Christ alone. But for those who reject You, they will have to bear it themselves for all eternity. Yet for us, You have given the comfort of the truth of Your love. That Jesus Christ has paid it all. And therefore, we have life, both now and forevermore, abundantly. And we thank You, Father, for Your promise to watch over us, to care for us. that even in the midst of this world of sin and shame and hardness and difficulty, that You are the One who brings us through. That indeed, in the end, nothing can steal us away from You, but that we are safe in the palm of Your hand forever and ever. Father, thank You for that assurance. We pray that You would help us to have a greater understanding of that assurance day by day, moment by moment, that we might know it in a greater way by faith even as we grow in You. Hear our prayer, O Lord, for Jesus' sake. And in His name we pray. Amen.