Elisha Series

We're going to read the bible now and then Ben's going to come and preach. So if you want to turn to 2 Kings four:eight. 1 day, Elijah went to shunem, and a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So when he passed by, he stopped there to eat. She said to her husband, I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God.

Let's make a small room for him on the roof and put in put in it a bed and a table, a chair, a lamp for him, then he can stay there whenever he comes to us. 1 day when Elijah came, he went up to his room and lay down there. He said to his servant Guhazi, call the shunammite woman. So he called her and she stood before him. Elijah said to him, tell her, You have gone to all this trouble for us.

Now, what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king? Or the commander of the army, she replied, I have a home among my own people. What can be done for her, Elijah asked? Gihazi said, she has no son and her husband is old.

Then Elijah said, call her. So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. About this time next year, Elijah said, You will hold a son in your arms. No my lord, she objected. Please, man of God.

Don't mislead your servant. But the woman became pregnant and the next year about the same time she gave birth to a son just as Elijah had told her. The child grew and 1 day he went out to his father who was with the reapers. He said to his father, my head my head His father told a servant, carry him to his mother. After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, The boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died.

She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God. Then shut the door and went out. She called her husband and said, please send me 1 of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God. Quickly and return. Why go to him today, he asked, it's not the new moon or a sabbath, That's alright, she said.

She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, Leon. Don't slow down for me unless I tell you. So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When he saw her in the distance, The man of God said to his servant, Guhazi, look, there's the shunammite, run to her, meet her, and ask her. Are you alright?

Is your husband alright? Is your child alright? Everything is alright, she said. When she reached the man of God at the mountain, She took hold of his feet. Gihazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, leave her alone.

She is in bitter distress. But the lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why. Did I ask you for a son, my lord? She said, Didn't I tell you, don't don't raise my hopes? Elijah said to Khuhazi, tucked your cloak into your belt.

Take my staff in your hand and run. Don't greet anyone you meet. And if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy's face, but the child's mother said, as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you. So he got up and followed her.

Gihazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy's face, but there was no sound of awe response. So Guhazi went back to meet Elijah and told him, the boy has not awakened when Elijah reached the house. There was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the 2 of them and prayed to the lord. Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands.

As he stretched himself out on him, The boy's body grew warm. Elijah turned away and walked back and forth in the room, and then got onto the bed and stretched stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed 7 times and opened his eyes. Elijah summoned Ghazi and said, call the shunammite, and he did. When she came, he said, take your son.

She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out over to Ben. Welcome. My name is Ben. Anyone who doesn't know me and out the back as well.

It's good good to have you here though. I can't see you and you can't see me and you're watching a screen like you might as well be at home. It's a blessing, I think. To have you here and to see you coming in and out. So thanks for coming and thanks for everyone being here.

It's encouraging for me and for us as a staff team. It's just nice to see people as well, especially Paul, happy birthday, mate. Right. Let's get cracking onto this, but let me just pray for God's help because it's a lot, we'll we'll need it. Father, thank you for the story.

Thank you for the things you are teaching us through it. I pray that you would help us to be captivated by it and and what you've done for this woman and what you've done for us in Jesus' name, amen. Alright. The story that we've just seen is a bit of an epic, but it's got, whoa, am I booming? Or is that just me?

Sorry. I can hear like Which Yeah. It's a bit of a bug. Anyway, this is an epic. It's got 2 very distinct acts.

This story. There's the first act which is this lovely, gorgeous, warm opening which is just actually, to be honest, it's a pleasure to read and to look at and to talk about. But the second act of this story is chaotic It's desperate. There's disasters going on. It's a lot like this film that I've got pictured up here.

Life is beautiful if you've seen that film. Which is another epic sort of story. If you've seen that film, you'll know the first half is, again, this just wonderful rom com, just beautiful story line, Princeie Becca, and all of this kind of stuff. It's just so wonderful to watch. You just enjoy seeing these characters They fall in love with each other.

It's beautiful. And then there's a shift and it goes into the second act of the film. And it's really difficult to watch the second act. All the more because you care so much about the characters you've you've spent falling time falling in love with. Or if you've not seen life as beautiful, maybe you've seen Titanic, another storyline with 2 very different acts.

The first act is this famous warm love story, which is which is just a joy to watch in lots of ways. And then the second act spoilers. It's a very cold love story. And I don't know about you, but I would actually be quite happy Watching these films up until the points where the graffiti is sprayed on the shop window in life And up until that moment when those 2 blokes are out in the cold. And just just before they spot, I'd be happy to go, right, turn it off Go to bed.

I'm gonna go to bed happy. I'm gonna have sweet dreams. I'm not gonna be the emotional wreck that I am after the second act. But actually, the second acts of those films are there because that's what life is like. You know, life can be like the first act of those films, and It often is, isn't it, in some ways, but it's never without the second act.

The second act is what binds those films to our hearts and those stories. It's what stamps them in our memories because it's an experience that's real. It's an experience that we experience We in a beautiful world. Life is beautiful, but there's this gray sort of tint that covers it sometimes that colors the world that we live in. And we long, or I certainly long, the whole way through the second act of these films for a savior.

For resolution, for restoration even of the first act. I want to be back in the first act, but forever. That's where I wanna be. And in these films, there's an epilogue kind of an ending which goes some of the way there. But it's not the perfect ending that we want.

It's bittersweet. I'm half Spanish, you might have known that. My Spanish great grandmother Abuala Luisa lived through the Spanish civil war in the 19 thirties. And having been through an experience like that, and she lost her husband, she lost some of her children, she lost her home, and status. After going through something like that, most other things in life are put into perspective.

And so there was a saying that she used to have for the rest of her life after that. And particularly when my mom, when my mom was young and she'd be upset about something unimportant, my grandmother would say my great grandmother say to her, which means everything can be fixed except death. And in the films like life is beautiful and titanic, most things are fixed in the end, aren't they? Except for death. Death is the basis of a tragedy because death cannot be fixed.

Life is actually not very beautiful, when death is involved. It's a strange title, to be honest, for that film. But that is what is so unbelievably wonderful about this passage that we've just read. And what is so good about our God. Because what we see in this story, what we see in our lives if we're is the joy of this first act, the desperation of the second act, but crucially, resurrection and restoration of the joy of the first act.

That is the epilogue that God offers this that this world cannot offer us. The best this world can do is titanic. And life is beautiful, bitter sweet because death cannot be fixed. But the ending that God offers us in this story that we're gonna look at is resurrection. Of the truly beautiful life, which is what we're all pining for.

So as I said, we're gonna walk through the 2 acts this morning. It will be helpful if you have bibles to keep them open we're going to be looking at the verses sort of -- but if you want to sort of see where we are in the grand story, keep a bible open. And don't worry if we move quite workly through this because it's the weight of the story, not the finer points, I think, that will help. And also, last thing to say before we embark on this journey is there's gonna be a few Easter eggs, which I'll sort of draw your attention to, which give us a deeper and richer understanding of what's going on. So look out for those.

Right. Act 1 of this story. This the first act is called acts of kindness. Act 1, acts of kindness. Because here, we just see acts of kindness everywhere.

We're still an acts of kindness month. And so we're gonna still be preaching acts of kindness. But take a look at verse 8 here in act 1, scene 1. 1 day, Elijah went to shunem, and a well-to-do woman was there who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat.

So act 1 scene 1 hears this gazelle, and she's gazelling, boing she's boing up and down the whole place. And she's she's well-to-do, so she's respected. She's probably quite well off. She's got resources, she's got time, she's got money, and she's hopping up and down. Out of the grass of her life.

Boing. Who's over there? It's the tilies. Boing. What do they need?

Boing Christilly wants a hot water bottle. He looks freezing. And that's what she's doing. She's boiling up and down. And 1 day when she's gazelling, she boils up and she sees Elijah walking past her house and through the town.

And she notices, this isn't the first time this bloke's done this. He's actually often on the road passing through. So she spots an opportunity. The next time this guy walks through, I'm gonna go out and offer him a meal. And that's what she does.

I think it must have been a delicious meal first 1 because it says that whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. It's like Cheevly service station. Which is immense. Maybe he even took a long way around on his journeys because he just wanted to pass her house with that beautiful pie that she was going to make him. Maybe, you know, on their 1 of their many meal time conversations, she says, what's your favorite food?

And she goes, oh, I just love a pigeon pie. Love a pigeon pie. And so every time she makes a pigeon pie for him. So that's the first act of kindness. This woman, she's got her eyes open enough.

To spot an opportunity to serve this man of God. She's looking out the window of her house actually. The curtains aren't drawn in the house. They're pulled back. So she can look out.

And when she pulls them back, she doesn't then turn her back and just go on Facebook or endlessly scroll on the internet. She's not stuck watching videos on YouTube. She's actually looking out the window. She's looking for opportunities. She's looking up, and she's noticing other people.

She's seeing how they're moving, and what they're doing, and she's thinking, what can I be doing for these people? How could I encourage Elijah in his ministry as he walks past me? How can I share my resources to support him? And it's not just a 1 off gift either. It's not just acts of kindness months.

She goes, acts the kindness month. Yep. Chucks in the meal, and then goes back. But actually, it says whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. It's like he becomes 1 of the family.

Uncle Elijah, come in. And it goes on. She keeps on gazelling, verse 9. She said to her husband, I know this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Let's make a small room for him on the roof and put in it a bed and a table chair in a lamp for him, then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.

So she's still boinging up and down this woman. She doesn't just go boing, I fed the brother, boing, and I'm gonna go to bed, She goes, what else could he do with? Oh, he needs somewhere to stay, and we've got a spare room, so we could stick him up there. And this is our first Easter by the way, because Elijah was staying in the upper room, if you remember that, in 1 Kings 17 at the widow's house. And maybe Elijah has actually told this woman lots of Elijah stories around many meal times of pigeon pie.

He's saying, oh, another thing Elijah did, another thing Elijah did, And she so she's heard and tell this story, and she obviously thinks that it's a cultural profit thing, but they wanna be in the rafters of the house. Our prophets, they like to live up in the in the rafters. They're a bit weird, but maybe that's where I will stick him. And so that's what she does. So a 1 off meal, became taco Tuesday, became bed and breakfast, fry up Friday.

And I'll notice the details that this woman's thought of as well. It's not really extravagant, is it? It's quite a bare room she's prepared for him, but she has thought carefully about what he needs. So he's got a bed, obviously, to sleep in. But he's also got a chair to sit at a desk lit by a lamp.

So he can open the scriptures, he can write letters, and he can encourage the people of God, which is going about his ministry. So the lesson from this woman for us is are our eyes open? Are the curtains drawn back? Are we giving ourselves time to be looking up and noticing where people are moving? What are they doing?

What needs do they have? Who is walking past your house literally walking past your house, or metaphorically walking past your house, who's hungry, who could do with a pigeon pie, or who could who could do with just a walk going out to encourage them. And when we are looking, are we noticing the details? Because giving Elijah A guitar maybe wouldn't have been that helpful, but giving him a desk with a lamp was just what this brother needed. And look, I'll be honest with you, ask, as I've been preparing this this week, I've been really convicted by this woman because If you're anything like me, you have a massive to do list.

And then when you get home, you have a massive hobby list that you then want to start working on and getting through. And so I have a to do list with my hobbyist stacked on top. And actually, I don't really leave myself any space for looking out the window. So that's the first lesson. Act-one, that's ACT-one scene 1.

Act-one scene 2, elisha's act of kindness, verse 11. 1 day, when Elijah came, he went up to his room and he lay down there. He said to his servant Gajazi, call the shunammite, So he called her and she stood before him. Elijah said to him, tell her, you've gone to all this trouble for us. A 1 off meal, taco Tuesday, fry up Friday.

Now, what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army? So here's Elijah. He's so moved by this woman's act of kindness that he wants to do an act of kindness back to her. I don't know if you've had anyone knocking on your door this last few weeks with a gift.

You just go, wow. Thank you so much. You wanna do something back to them, don't you? I've wanted to do something back to them. Elijah wants to do something back to this woman.

And he hasn't got a kitchen to make her a pigeon pie in. He hasn't got a house to give her a sleep over in, but what he does have is an audience with the king. And he's got a word, he's got an ear with the commander of the army. And that's what he offers for her. So he's like, look, is there anyone that you know you wanna but I could just go and speak to the army of the commander too.

Or is there any, you know, could the king do a did you need relief or something that I can go and speak to the king too. I don't know. Maybe he was saying something along those lines. But he says, basically, can I go and speak to the king for you? Can I go to speak to the commander of the army for you?

And she says in verse 13, have a home among my people. Which is effectively her saying, I'm alright, actually. Thank you. I'm well looked after by the community around me. I've got a home.

There's actually nothing I need. It's quite a British response that really, isn't it? How are you doing? Yeah. I'm fine.

Thanks. You wanna think, no. No. No. No.

Thank you. But Elijah wants to be specific. He wants to actually look closely at her detail. He's not gonna let her off the hook this easily. So he has a whiteboard session with Guhazi.

Verse 14. What can be done for her, Elijah asked? Guhazi said she's had no son. And her husband is old. So the implication is that she's barren, she's been unable to have a child, and now it's too late.

And so verse 15, then Elijah said, call her, so he called her and she stood in the doorway. About this time next year, Elijah said, you will hold a son in your arms. Now here's the second easter egg, because the expression about this time next year is the exact same phrase that the Lord used in Genesis 18 when he spoke to Abraham. He said, I will surely return to you about this time next year and Sarah, your wife will have a son. So in Genesis, that's the Lord speaking to a barren woman, promising a supernatural pregnancy.

And that's what we're meant to think of when we hear Elijah say these exact words. So Elijah had offered to go the court of the king, but actually, he's gone into heaven's court to speak on behalf of this woman. Fair enough, you don't want to speak to the earthly king. I'll go straight to God then. And bless you with something.

Now Sarah's response in Genesis was to laugh, wasn't it? It seemed unbelievable. But this woman doesn't laugh, I think she believes Yay can do it. She believes the stories. She knows that Yay has the power to do this.

The thing that she says is don't get my hopes up. Know my lord, she objected. It's not that she doesn't want a child, but she says, please, man, of God, don't mislead your servant. I know it's possible, but I don't I've been wishing it my whole life and it's never happened, and I've just got over it. So don't It's kind of like when I say to Kerry, let's get a dog.

She's like, no. Don't get my hopes up. I don't want you to don't even pretend. Stop it. That's what this woman is doing.

She's like, don't joke, because actually I really want 1. And then here's act 1 scene 3, Yairwei's act of kindness. But this but the woman became pregnant and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son just as Elijah had told her. And it's quite interesting. All the other sort of barren women in the bible who are blessed by God with a child are named, so we know the names of the women.

And the people, the men who are born from these women, are often all used by God in his covenant plan. Of revelation and redemption. So all the way from Isaac to John the Baptist, these are men who have prepared the way for the lord. Except for this woman, and her son, that she's not named. And as far as we know, we never really hear about this boy again, So though it doesn't actually set a precedent that every barren woman will have a child, this is literally just an act of kindness from God.

It pleased him to bring happiness to this childless woman. So 1 Timothy 6 17 says, command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant, to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. God richly provided a child for this woman for her enjoyment. Isn't that just a lovely thought? And I mean, I could happily turn the TV off at this point.

You're at home. You could just turn off there. That's a wonderful first act. See you later. You know?

Go to bed, happy, you know, uncle Elijah comes over for dinner, every taco Tuesday, every Friday up Friday. There's a lovely family. God's blessed with the child. Isn't that just a wonderful opening? Just a beautiful sort of acts of kindness happening everywhere.

Act 2, Acts of desperation. Act 2, scene 1, the woman's desperation. So verse 18, the child grew and 1 day he went out to his father who was with the Reapers. He said to his father, my head my head, his father told a servant, carry him to his mother, and the servant had lift oh, after the servant had lifted him up and carried into his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon. And then he died.

So in 2 short verses we go from the boy, the child grew, verse 18, verse 20, then he died. And I think I think this detail is quite agonizing for me. The boy sat on her lap until noon. We know how much this boy meant to this woman. And so it's quite an agonizing detail that we just we see her holding him for a whole morning.

In her arms as his life is slipping away from her. But she immediately does something in verse 21, that's totally unexpected. This is not a normal thing to do after what just happened. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out. So this is our third easter egg.

In 1 King 17, Elijah takes a lifeless boy up into his bed in the rafters, where the prophets like to be. And lays him on the bed and he prays for his life to return. And this must have been another meal time story that Elijah had told her. Because she goes, oh, I'll go up and I'll put him on the bed. And so what she's doing is instead of preparing his body for burial, She's actually preparing his body for resurrection.

That's how much faith that she has in this in this God, Yahweh, her God, who can raise the dead, she believes what what he did through Elijah. And so that's what she's doing. She's preparing him for resurrection. So she doesn't actually even tell her husband that this Charles died. It's quite odd conversation what happens here, verse 22.

She called her husband and said, please send me 1 of the servants in a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly in return. Why go to him today? He asked, it's not the new moon or the Sabbath? Oh, that's alright, she said. So She's like, do you mind if I borrow the donkey?

I'm just gonna go and see the prophet and he's like, why? It's not even Sunday. Why would you wanna go? She's like, no, it's fine. It's fine.

I'll be back in I'll be back in a few hours. It's slightly odd, she doesn't really tell him, but she's heading out of the door desperately. She's heading out of the door desperately. So in verse 24, she settled the donkey, she said to the servant, Lead on. Don't slow down for me unless I tell you.

So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. So the the child's died, she's put him on the bed. She's headed out the door with the donkey. And now we see ACT 2 seem to elisha's acts of desperation. When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gahazi, look, there's the shunammite.

Run run to meet her and ask her, are you alright? Is your husband alright? Is your child alright? And this reaction kinda reminds me of the reaction he had to the widow last week who came to him. Remember he dropped everything?

And he said, how can I help What have you got in your house that we could work with? We saw God's heart for people who come to him for refuge. It's quick to bend down and help. And so there's another barrage of questions here. Are you alright?

Is your husband alright? Is your child alright? And he's asked his servant Gohazi to run to her and meet her, probably because he's just he's more sprightly than Elijah is. But she does another quite British thing here. She she doesn't wanna speak to Khuhazi, so she says to him, everything's alright.

Are you alright? Is your child alright? Yeah, it's fine. Get out of my way, I wanna speak to the prophet. But in verse 27, When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet.

Ghazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, leave her alone. She's in bitter distress. But the Lord has hidden it from me, and has not told me why. Did I ask you for a son, my Lord? She said, didn't I tell you don't raise my hopes?

It's interesting. Their relationship actually doesn't know what's happened. He said the Lord hidden it from him. The Lord hasn't revealed it to him. And even though she hasn't said the words died, dead, or death, yet, it becomes clear to him exactly what's happened.

Didn't I tell you? Don't raise my hopes? This woman's hopes were in a child. He knew that. And now here she is at his feet in desperation, the boys died.

The boy has died. So verse 29, Elijah said to Khohazi, top your cloak into your belt. Take my staff in your hand and run. Don't greet anyone you meet. And if anyone greets you, do not answer.

Lay my staff on the boy's face. So Guhazi, again, he's the quickest runner. So he sent ahead to this boy, but he sent with Elijah's staff, and the plan is to lay on his face. It's a desperate move by Elijah to try and get some of his power to help this poor little lad. But this woman shows probably the best understanding, and she has got an extraordinary faith in God here, because you would think she would come to the prophet.

The prophet's given a plan. Right. How's he going? He's gone with my staff. He's gonna lay on the boy's face.

You'd think you should go, right, see you. And run. But she doesn't. She actually understands where the real power is here. There's no power in a staff.

It's not a magic trick or magic wand that you can just wave. You need the living god to resurrect a dead person. And so she says, surely as the Lord lives. And as you live, I will not leave you. So he got up and followed her.

She knows that she needs the Lord's profit, not his staff, if this is gonna work. So she doesn't go off ahead with Gahazi. And there's another Easter egg here as well. Because this expression is surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you. You might recognize that because that is word for word, the exact phrase that Elijah said to Elijah on his farewell tour.

He went to Bethel, Gerico, and the Jordan, and at every place, Elijah said to Elijah, stay here. And Elijah turned to him and said, as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you. And here's this woman saying it to Elijah, and I bet there was a twinkle in his eye. As he was like, oh, how dare you use my own line against me? And so here's the second lesson for us.

When the Lord has hidden from us why he is doing something, I often feel like Elijah. We don't often go, I know exactly. My god is doing this. We often are exactly like Elijah. We're like, oh, the Lord has hidden this from me.

So when the Lord is hidden from us, why he's doing it, and when we're in desperate need, What we need to do is to cling onto the lord even tighter than we were before. When disaster comes, this woman heads straight for the lord's profit, And when she gets to him, she will not leave him. She will not leave him, even though an alternative has been offered to her, the staff The staff is gonna be the thing. The staff is the answer to all your problems. The staff will save your son.

She says, no. The Lord will save my son. And I think how many people in our lives offer us staffs to deal with our problems? How many people tell us to run after a staff instead of clinging to God? It's tempting to think Oh, forget God.

He's not got control of this. I'm just gonna go with the staff instead. God's not doing a great job here. I'm gonna take this into my own hand, but this woman, instead of being angry at God, or paralyzed with emotion. She clings onto his feet and says, I will not leave you.

And now we see actually that she was absolutely right to stick with the prophet and not the staff. Verse 31, Ghazi went on ahead. He with the staff, he was running, and he laid the staff on the boy's face, but there was no sound or response. So Ghazi went back to meet Elijah and told him the boy's not awake end. Another easter egg, you must be getting sick of these easter eggs.

The phrase there was no response which Khohazi uses here, is the same phrase found in 1 kings 18 on Mount Carmel, where the false prophets were calling on bail to light this altar from morning till noon. They said, bail answer us, they shouted, but there was no response No 1 answered. No 1 responded. There was no response because Yawei had not been called. And simply laying a staff on this boy's face no matter who the staff is, it's not going to be enough.

They're trusting in this empty powerless staff just like the prophets of Baal were trusting in an empty powerless God. The boy has not awakened. Said Gihazi. There's no response, but then verse 32. When Elijah reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch.

He went in, shut the door on the 2 of them and prayed to the lord. Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy's body grew warm. So finally, the profit is calling on the name of the Lord. He's in prayer here.

He prays. And he's likely praying what Elijah had prayed in 1 king 17. Lord, my God, let this boy's life return to him. You're the 1 who holds our life in Your hands, not us, you are the 1 who holds the keys to Death and Hades, not us, so let this boy's life return to him. And the last Easter egg is that the language used for how he lays on the boy is the same language used to describe how Elijah was bent on Mount Carmel, and earnestly prayed for rain.

And not to mention he's doing exactly what Elijah did, laying out on the boy in the upper room. So the picture we're meant to get is this earnest prayer, this desperate cry to the lord. Lord would you let this boy's life return to him, and that is the prayer that glorifies God, and that he's willing to answer. And so verse 35, Elijah turned away, walked back and forth in the room, and he got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy's knee 7 times.

And open his eyes. Blessy, right, epilogue, I feel like I've been on a, like, a marathon. Do you? Epalog? We've reached the epilogue.

This ending that we get here is better than the world can offer us. It's better than Titanic, it's better than life is beautiful. Verse 36, Elijah's son in Gajazian said, call the shunammite, and he did. When she came in, he said, take your son. She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground, then she took her son and went out.

Everything can be fixed except death, unless you are yahweh. Unless you run to yahweh, Unless you cling on to yahweh's feet and say I will not leave you as surely as you live. Then you can fix death. Then life really is beautiful. Just to finish with, 800 years after this event took place.

Jesus is in a town called Nain. Which is literally geographically, just on the other side of this hill, where these events take place. And in Luke chapter 7, we read this. Soon afterwards, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out.

The only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her when the Lord saw her his heart went out to her and said, don't cry. Now Elijah, back on the mountain, his heart went out to the woman, didn't it? When she came to him. He said, are you okay?

Is your husband okay? Is your child okay? But here, Jesus's heart doesn't just go out to her, out to her distress. Jesus has the authority to end her distress. Because he says to her, don't cry.

Elijah couldn't say that. Elijah just had to run and pray. Here Jesus says, don't cry. Which is a pretty callous thing to say to a grieving mother, unless you have the authority to stop the reason why she's crying. So story goes up, then he went up to went up, touched the I think that says beer.

They were carrying him on, and the bearish stood still. He said, young man, I say to you, get up. The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to mother. So where Elijah had to desperately bend over this boy and pray to the Lord, Jesus simply speaks, and the boy has raised the life. Here is God himself same God who was on Mount Carmel, who heard the Elijah's prayer, here he is, and it's his human eyes that he sees this woman suffering, and his heart goes out to her in the same way as it did for the woman in the story that we've gone through.

And with a word, he can raise the dead. They were all filled with awe and praise God. A great prophet has appeared among us. They said, God has come to help his people Here is the God of Elijah come himself to help his people. So let's just tie all of this up.

Why is this story in the bible? What do we have to learn? God has come to help us people. God has sent his own son Jesus to help us, to end our crying, to raise the dead, to raise us from the dead, to restore the joy of the first act. And you don't just have to be a grieving widow or mother to benefit either, All who believe in the son of God, all who run to him, cling on to his feet, all who believe in his atoning sacrifice for our sins on the cross, all who believe that they've been washed clean by his blood, all who believe that they've been pardoned of their sinfulness by this Jesus will be raised again on the last day.

And so the question that I'm gonna leave you with is what epilogue are you gonna have to your life? You have the first act, you have the second act. What is gonna be the final word on your story? Are you gonna cling to the lord? Though sometimes, we're like, he's not revealed to me why he's done this.

It's perplexing. I don't understand. Or are you gonna run after empty staffs that have no power in this world, and in the end are silent. When you're lying in your grave, do you want a silent staff to be placed on your face, or do you want Jesus to call your name? So be like this woman, cling to the lord, as surely as the lord lives, do not leave him.

And if you do that, you will share in the same joy of her epilogue of this resurrection and this new life. Let me just give thanks to God for this story that he's given us. Father, thank you that you could have just told us, I will raise you from the dead, believe in me, cling on to me. But actually, you you worked in history, and you've recorded this story for us to read. Thank you that you show us through this woman what we will be like if we come to you.

Thank you so much for resurrection. For restoration of the first act of joy, with you, with each other, with the truly beautiful life. Please, would you help us not to run after staffs that are empty? Help us to cling onto the Lord Jesus Christ and what he's done for us. And we just thank you and praise you again in Jesus' name, amen.