1 Kings 17:19

This stern man could face an angry king and a wicked nation, and announce God's judgement. Yet he felt deeply for this poor woman. He had come to know her, and her heart was now very sore. The prophet spoke to Jehovah twice... we note that both in verses 20 and 21 the Holy Spirit says "he cried to Jehovah." We should never skip over this word "cried" when we read Scripture, because it expresses intense longing.

Elijah took the boy and laid him on his own bed. Then he prayed earnestly to the Lord and stretched himself on the child three times. Direct contact with the one who had life resulted in life coming back to the child. The three times speaks of resurrection. So it is only by direct contact with the Lord Jesus raised from the dead that we find the blessing of resurrection life... So the widow learned that God was able not only to save from dying, but to restore life after death.

It is not enough to know that death waits for us and will catch up with us. We also need to feel the real power death has over us as sinners. The widow needed this experience to learn the full extent of the power of grace. How, if her son had not died, would she have been able to know the power of resurrection that delivers from death?

Whenever we let anything block our path of simple obedience and devotion to Christ — parent or child, husband or wife, brother or sister — we can be sure that thing will be taken away. This widow had given her son a higher place in her thoughts than the Lord's prophet. So the son was taken from her, to teach her this: not only "the handful of meal" but also her dearest treasure on earth must be kept under the Lord's control and ready for Him.

The widow's son dies, and Elijah, though not without resource, goes through deep soul exercise before he takes hold of the grace that is in God to meet the need... Now he is led into the deepest of all mysteries — resurrection from among the dead. He had seen death stopped and its terrors eased. But now he meets sorrow at its depth, for a widow losing her only son, her last link to earth, is the sharpest picture of human grief. And God uses him to show His power and grace in overcoming death and bringing in new life.

This whole scene speaks to us of Christ. Elijah is a picture of Him. In sympathy he entered into all the consequences of man's sin. Just as Christ wept at the tomb of Lazarus, Elijah "cried to Jehovah and said, Jehovah, my God, have You also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?" Then he brought the dead child to life again, taking his place.

She had learned two things by the resurrection of her son: First, that God had come to manifest Himself here below in a man — "You are a man of God"... Before, God had shown Himself to her as the One who met her needs. Now He gives new life, resurrection life, in the very place where death came in through man's "iniquity". The second thing is that through resurrection she gained the assurance that the word of the Lord in Elijah's mouth was the truth. Resurrection proves that the word of grace is true.