1 Kings 17:22

Such a prayer as Elijah uttered over the dead child had probably never gone up to heaven before: "O Jehovah my God, I pray You, let this child's soul come into him again." Wonderful! Scripture has no earlier record of anyone — Jew or Gentile, old or young — returning from the dead. Yet the prophet prayed like this! His faith went beyond Abraham's on Mount Moriah, when he laid Isaac on the altar, "considering that God was able even to raise him from the dead" (Heb. 11:19). Both Abraham and Elijah believed that nothing was impossible with God, and that even death would be no difficulty to Him. But it was one thing for Abraham to reckon that God could raise a boy from the dead. It was quite another for Elijah to ask outright for this great miracle.

As One with whom he is in conscious relationship, well known and proved, he can say with great confidence, "My God." ... Did any man, before or since, ask a greater request of God in language so simple and in a prayer so brief? It is very clear that the effective, fervent prayer is neither elaborate nor lengthy.

Elijah recognises that in himself he has no power. Perhaps the act of stretching himself on the child shows this, or, as the margin reads, he "measured" himself. He fully identifies himself with the dead child. He takes his measure and sees that, like the dead child, he has no strength. Elijah is powerless in the presence of death. But if the child is dead, God is living. If Elijah has no power, Elijah can pray. By stretching himself out he identifies with the powerlessness of the child. By praying he puts himself in touch with the mighty power of the living God.

The men picked him up as dead. Paul naturally breaks off his talk, goes down and throws himself on him, saying that life is still in him. The separation had not yet taken place... In the case of the child restored to life by Elijah (1 Kings 17:21-22) the soul had already left the body, and returned to it. From these cases, as always elsewhere, we see that the soul is entirely distinct from the body. In our present state the soul works through the body, but the body is only its dwelling. Life in this world is the activity of the soul through the functions of the body.

On this occasion the Lord acted simply and with dignity. That stands in striking contrast with the Old Testament prophets doing similar miracles. The Lord spoke and acted in His own right. The prophets had to look up with deep earnestness for power to raise the dead, because that power was not in themselves.

The three times speaks of resurrection... The Lord answered the prayer of Elijah and the soul of the child returned. So the widow learned that God was able not only to save from dying, but to restore life after death. Mary and Martha learned this lesson in John 11. They had only hoped the Lord would come to them in time to keep Lazarus from dying... But the Lord had a more important lesson to teach them, that He can bring life out of death.

It was resurrection that made Elijah known as a man of God, and the word of God in his mouth as the truth. So nothing else will make the word of God in our mouth known as truth in any adequate sense, or approve us as men of God.