The Gospel Lesson of Elijah’s Resurrection Miracle

The Gospel Lesson of Elijah’s Resurrection Miracle. 

“The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed, and the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.” (St. Augustine).

The “Old” Testament? Actually, I don’t think I agree with Augustine’s long-accepted claim. First of all, can’t we Christians start referring to the “Old Testament” as the “First Testament” (FT), or the Hebrew Bible, or the Earlier Testament, or the Jewish Scripture, or simply the Torah? “Old” implies something that is outdated, hobbled by age, past its usage date, irrelevant, antiquated, expired… none of which is true of the Hebrew Bible. The Old Testament is the First Testament, Act One of a Two-Act Bible, and the New Testament is the Newer Testament, the Second Act of that Two-Act Drama. The First Testament anticipates and lays the foundation for the Newer Testament, which fulfills the earlier Scripture. If I were a Jewish believer, which in many ways I am since I follow the Messiah Jesus and am thus grafted onto the Jewish tree (Romans 11), I would be offended by those who assume that the Jewish Scriptures are unnecessary or past its prime. Of course, the Bible of the completely Jewish Jesus, the Scriptures read daily by Him and considered by Him to be the eternal Word of God, was the First Testament. We who follow Jesus don’t have the right to consider the FT as irrelevant or past its usage date.

The First Testament! The other reason I disagree with the claim that the NT is concealed in the OT is that that there are countless stories, teachings, and prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures that very clearly point directly to the gospel story. These mini-gospel vignettes are fascinating and inspiring, and they fertilize the ground for the Good News, preparing the way for us to welcome in a fresh way the story of salvation and deliverance. Many of these mini-gospels are not well-known, while many are quite famous. So some of the stories in this series might be vaguely familiar, while the reader might be tempted to skim over others because of their familiarity. Either way, the gospelettes in the Jewish Bible deserve to be unpacked. The criteria I try to use as I choose these FT stories include… the story has to include gospel themes such as sacrifice and death; resurrection and life; redemption and deliverance; punishment and hope; forgiveness and healing. And each gospel vignette in the Hebrew Scripture needs to be a preparation for Christ in some way, pointing to Jesus Messiah as the fulfillment of the story. In other words, if the FT story is the only story you know from the Bible, would it prepare your imagination and spirit for the story of Jesus? Would this vignette make the story of Christ less unexpected and more feasible? If you happen to hear the full gospel story after first hearing the FT story, would the gospel story in the NT remind you in some way of the FT story?

A Quick Overview of Prophet Elijah. We read about the astounding ministry of Elijah in 1 Kings 17-21 and 2 Kings 1-2. We don’t know the family background of Elijah, though we do know he was from the other side of the tracks in Gilead. He was a unique personality in Scripture… Sometimes fearful, other times fearless; sometimes weak, other times strong; sometimes discouraged, other times full of confidence; sometimes he ran from trouble, and other times he ran right into the middle of it. Because he was a loner, he often felt isolated and abandoned. We also know he enjoyed an unusual personal relationship with God. He was consistently a man of deep faith and fervent prayer. Elijah was noted for his distinctive wardrobe: a famous cloak made of fur and animal hair stitched together; and a leather loincloth, a homemade piece of underwear that no doubt raised the eyebrows of many. Elijah was a religious reformer and a miracle worker. He was a thorn in King Ahab’s side, who even called Elijah “the troublemaker of Israel.” (1 Kings 18:17). He had a flair for the dramatic and the supernatural. Elijah prayed successfully for a drought, then prayed for a rainfall three years later. He multiplied food and oil for a poverty-stricken widow, and then raised her son from the dead, the first resurrection in the Scripture. He held a divine duel between himself and 850 pagan prophets on Mt. Carmel, and he won. With God on his side, it was no contest. He was fed by ravens in the wilderness, and then by a personal visit by the Angel of the Lord. He listened to God whisper to him on Mt. Sinai, and was ushered into heaven by a chariot and horses of fire. To top it all off, we find Elijah in the Gospel 900 years later, talking with Moses and Jesus at the Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor (Matt. 17). Elijah was complicated and unpolished, and James said he was “human just like us.” (James 5:16-18). Just like us? Yes, he had his human frailties like all other humans, but nonetheless he was used powerfully by God in a unique time and setting.

God’s Appointment of a Gentile Widow. Soon after Elijah declared to idolatrous king Ahab that God was about to punish Israel with a long drought (1 King 17), the Lord directed Elijah to travel a rather long ways northward to the Gentile region of Sidon on the Phoenician coast, to a village named Zarephath. Yahweh told him that this wasn’t to be a leisure short-term visit, but that Elijah would remain there until told otherwise. This directive from God was probably a little bit surprising to Elijah, since this town outside of Israel was the home territory of the notoriously evil Queen Jezebel and in the very heartland of Baal worship. But Elijah didn’t even question the Lord, he merely obeyed and eventually met up with a widow there. Elijah saw the widow gathering sticks to burn at home for her last meal. She and her son were out of flour and oil and everything else that was needed to make food for themselves, and she told Elijah that she and her son were preparing to die of starvation.

The Widow’s Astounding Step of Faith. Elijah told the destitute widow that she could confidently go and prepare a little biscuit for him and for herself and her son, and she needn’t worry about running out of supplies. Elijah told her that the Lord is going to make sure their jars of flour and oil would not become empty until after the drought was completely finished. So without a word of objection or uncertainty, the widow just accepted Elijah’s words as truth and confidently went back in her kitchen to prepare what little she thought she had left. Her simple obedience led to a dramatic provision for her and her son. We have all heard of Jesus’ multiplication of bread and fish. Well, this was the precursor to that miracle, the multiplication of flour and oil for an entire year!

The Bible’s First Resurrection from the Dead. But Elijah wasn’t done with the miracles that anticipated Christ. At some point after this first miracle at the widow’s house, her beloved son became deathly sick and indeed passed away, leaving her grief-stricken and with no means of support. Elijah was right there on the spot and was told of her son’s death. Elijah asked that she hand her son’s body over to him. So she lifted her son’s body from her lap where she was holding him in her grief, and Elijah took the boy’s body into his arms, carried him up to his sleeping loft upstairs, and laid him on his bed. Elijah then placed himself full-length over the son’s dead body three times. It could be he gave the body mouth-to-mouth resuscitation each time, we’re not sure. But Elijah loudly prayed to the Lord, “O Lord my God, this widow has suffered enough! Did you really want to do this? I beg of you, let the life breath return to the body of this child!” (1 Kings 17). Yes, sure enough, the son began to breathe once gain and life returned to his body. Elijah then picked him up and brought him down to his mother and triumphantly announced to her, “See, your son is alive!” 

At the Close of Elijah’s Ministry. Elijah’s last offer to Elisha, his anointed disciple, reveals what every worthy mentor offers to his or her follower. The mentor asks, is there anything I can do for you before I die, before I retire, before I move to another location? The good mentor doesn’t selfishly say, you’re on your own. Good luck, buddy. Elijah was generous and gracious to the end. After a lifetime of ministry, Elijah ministers to his disciple right to the very end. And then, the end came for Elijah with a flourish. Instead of tasting death, Elijah enjoyed the thrill of being taken to the heavenly realm in a whirlwind of horses and chariot made of fire.  Like Enoch long before him (Genesis 5:24), Elijah didn’t die, he was translated, he simply moved from residence to another, from earth to heaven. Elisha witnessed this miracle, undoubtedly dumfounded, and then faithfully picked up Elijah’s “prophecy cloak” and started his unique ministry in the spirit of Elijah.

Elijah returns! But that’s still not the end of Elijah. That’s not the last we see of him in Scripture by a long shot. He is mentioned again in the last lines of the Hebrew Bible (Malachi 4:5). It was prophesied that Elijah would come and prepare the way for the Messiah. Jesus explained that one had indeed come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and that was the prophet John the Baptist (Matt. 11:14). Rabbinic tradition held at that time that since Elijah didn’t actually die, he would return in his earthly flesh and prepare the world for the Messiah. And that’s why it is recorded in the gospels that many did ask if John was actually Elijah returned in the flesh. Unbelievably, Elijah still makes another appearance in a dramatic scene during the life of Jesus. During the Transfiguration, Elijah and Moses appeared out of nowhere and were seen hovering in the air, discussing important matters with the Jesus, especially the coming Passion of Jesus. Moses represented the Torah and all that was written down for the benefit of the believers and the Hebrew community. And Elijah represented the prophets, God’s messengers who helped keep the Faith alive before its fulfillment in Christ. Could God have found better representatives to have an encouraging talk with Jesus? Nah.

“We have come here to tell you the good news that the promise made to your ancestors has come about! God has fulfilled it to their children by raising Jesus from the dead!”  (Paul preaching to a Jewish audience in Acts 13:32-33).

God’s first promise about the Resurrection was way back in the Garden of Eden, when God promised Satan that he would be defeated by a descendant of Eve. “He will crush your head, and you will bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:15). To crush the head was certain death. God is giving us an early hint that a man would defeat Satan by a powerful act, which turned out to be the Resurrection. Here we have a foreshadowing of Christ’s Resurrection, a promise that the Evil One would eventually be destroyed, and salvation would come to the world through this one special Man. Bruising His heel refers to Satan’s repeated attempts to hamper Christ’s ministry on earth, Satan’s nibbling away at his life and actions. It also refers to the Cross, in which Satan may have injured Christ, but it was not an injury that leads to ultimate death. Satan’s injury to Christ on the Cross was not fatal. The Resurrection overcame Christ’s injury and defeated Satan’s strongest weapon, which is death. Jesus died, but then defeated death through His Resurrection. The empty tomb was the crushing blow to Satan’s head, to Satan’s powers, now a doomed foe. That portion of Genesis is called “the First Gospel,” because it was the first time God prophesied a Savior that would come and destroy Satan and His works. There was only one way to defeat Satan, and that is by destroying death itself, by overcoming death through life. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (1 John 3:8).

“I AM the Resurrection and the Life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25). Elijah’s miracle of bringing that son back to life was the first physical hint that such a thing was even possible, and it helped pave the way for Christ’s resurrection miracles. Elijah’s resurrection miracle was certainly used to inspire later biblical writers to mention the joyous probability of the resurrected life. And Christ’s ringing declaration here with Martha at Lazarus’ death confirms that what Elijah did with the widow’s son, Jesus will do for others, and the Father will do for Him.

Another Miracle for My Brother, Jesus? A resurrection of a dead person is still unexpected, even if Jesus had already accomplished two resurrection miracles: 1. – Jairus’ daughter was raised to life by Jesus (Matthew 9, Mark 5, Luke 8); and 2 – the widow’s son was raised while lying dead in his coffin, no less (Luke 7). Is this what Martha was thinking when she told Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.” (v. 22). Perhaps Martha, in a moment of great faith, was hoping against hope that God would give Jesus the power of another resurrection miracle for her brother Lazarus.

Afterlife. When Martha confirmed her belief in the general resurrection at the End, she revealed that she had indeed been listening to Jesus’ earlier teachings. Jesus spoke often of the resurrection of the dead, especially in moments like John 5: 24-29, “I tell you the truth, those who listen and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life. Indeed the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who continued in evil will rise to experience judgment.” So Jesus wasn’t shy about discussing resurrection, whether of all people, or specific people, or even himself. He told His disciples on a number of occasions that He Himself was going to be resurrected: Matthew 16:21; Matthew 20:19; Matthew 26:32; Mark 9:90; Mark 10:32; and Luke 18:31. So the topic of a general resurrection or a particular resurrection was nothing new if you hung around Jesus. Maybe the Hebrew Bible hinted at such things, but not Christ.

Heaven on Earth. Even after the resurrection miracles of Elijah and Elisha, the Jewish believers throughout the Hebrew Bible were for the most part not all that interested in the afterlife. They didn’t talk much about heaven or hell as a place to go after death. Their sense of God’s judgments were intended for life here on earth. People who were cursed in their life if they didn’t obey God were experiencing for the most part their hell on earth. They were judged here and now, and were suitably punished if that’s what God wanted to do. And the same for God’s blessings. People living on earth could be blessed during this life for obeying God. They didn’t need to think about the blessed life after they die, since they more or less have their heaven on earth. There were a few hints, though, that some old saints in the Hebrew Bible were thinking about an afterlife with God. Job made a beautiful statement of faith in Job 19:35, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!” Or look at Daniel 12:2-3, “Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace. Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.” There are other passages that refer to the resurrection of the dead, including Isaiah 26:19, Hosea 13:14, and many times in Psalms (17:15, 49:15, 71:20). Most of what Jesus had to say about the resurrection seemed to have their foundation in those passages in the Hebrew Bible. Jesus switched things around by making it more of a focus. Who could doubt that Jesus had Elijah’s resurrection miracle in mind as well?