Did you know that the prophet Elijah once raised a dead child to life?
1 Kings 17:17-24
Elijah went to Zarephath of Sidon to the house of a widow.
The son of the mistress of the house fell sick,
and his sickness grew more severe until he stopped breathing.
So she said to Elijah,
“Why have you done this to me, O man of God?
Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt
and to kill my son?”
Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.”
Taking him from her lap, he carried the son to the upper room
where he was staying, and put him on his bed.
Elijah called out to the Lord:
“O Lord, my God,
will you afflict even the widow with whom I am staying
by killing her son?”
Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times
and called out to the Lord:
“O Lord, my God,
let the life breath return to the body of this child.”
The Lord heard the prayer of Elijah;
the life breath returned to the child’s body and he revived.
Taking the child, Elijah brought him down into the house
from the upper room and gave him to his mother.
Elijah said to her, “See! Your son is alive.”
The woman replied to Elijah,
“Now indeed I know that you are a man of God.
The word of the Lord comes truly from your mouth.”
Luke 7:11-17
Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain,
and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him.
As he drew near to the gate of the city,
a man who had died was being carried out,
the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.
A large crowd from the city was with her.
When the Lord saw her,
he was moved with pity for her and said to her,
“Do not weep.”
He stepped forward and touched the coffin;
at this the bearers halted,
and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”
The dead man sat up and began to speak,
and Jesus gave him to his mother.
Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, crying out
“A great prophet has arisen in our midst, “
and “God has visited his people.”
This report about him spread through the whole of Judea
and in all the surrounding region.
The difference, of course, between Elijah and Jesus is that the former raised the dead not through his own power, but by asking God, whereas Jesus raised the dead by His own authority.
How awesome is our Lord!
And though we are warned that following Him would not be a bed of roses, but a path of thorns (“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” –Matthew 16:24), we are promised something wondrous — that we will be with Him for all eternity:
1 John 2:25
And this is the promise that He Himself made to us: eternal life.
The Greatest Commandment of all is to love God with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole mind, and with all your strength.
May the joy and peace and love of Jesus Christ our Lord be with you,
~Eowyn
