Title: THE WORD OF GOD BRINGS LIFE
Focus: Drawing upon God’s Word makes life to abound and gives hope for today and the future.
Function: To move the people to seek and obey God’s Word and turn to Christ, the incarnate Word of God, to live by grace and with hope.
Text: I Kings 17:1-24
Have you noticed? The Bible continues to be the world’s
number one bestseller. But biblical illiteracy, especially in North America and
the western world is on the rise. You can no longer take it for granted that
people from my generation and the younger generation know who Moses and David
and Goliath were.
Have you noticed how communication, and information and education have increased exponentially these last few decades? Human intelligence is at an all-time high, so you would think. But our world has not become a better place to live even though we think we now have so many solutions for the problems we face.
Have you noticed how so many gods and religions have appeared on the menu of American society in recent years? Go to any major bookstore and note the shelf space given to books on witchcraft and eastern religions. Idolatry—the worship of other gods—other than the One, True God—is on the rise. Ancient pagan religions are back in our neighborhoods.
Have you noticed in your own family and circle of friends how people who ignore the Word of God pay a price or suffer because of their unwillingness to obey God’s Word and to draw from God’s Word?
Ignoring God’s Word, turning away from its truth, and going your own way lead to trouble, despair, and eventually to death itself. Drawing upon God’s Word, however, makes life to abound and gives hope for today and tomorrow. As we consider the story of Elijah, I urge you to seek and obey God’s Word and to turn to Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, so that you may live by grace and with much hope.
The story of Elijah as found in I Kings 17 is a fascinating account worthy of your time to ponder and to take to heart. Let me make some observations from the story. First of all, the story
· Moves from scene to scene: Elijah, a simple man of God from the town of Tishbe, confronts the most powerful man in Israel: King Ahab. Ahab has married Jezebel, a pagan princess from Sidon in Syria. She has moved Ahab to feed the religious appetite of God’s people Israel with Baal worship. Baal is a nature god, known also as the storm god who is responsible for rain. Baal and water—these are pagan symbols of fertility and life.
Ahab, along with his wife Jezebel, are promoters of idolatry. And the Israelites, in general, are going along with their king and bow their knees before the baals. God sent Elijah to Ahab’s court and pronounced judgment, a curse upon Ahab and Israel: “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” So then, we notice that the Word of God first appears at the palace of Israel’s king; and that Word of God confronts Ahab, Jezebel and all the idolaters in Israel and beyond.
The story moves from the courtyard of the king to the Kerith Ravine, to the wilderness, east of the Jordan, where God provides a place of hiding for Elijah. And there, in the wilderness, God provides food and water for Elijah. The Word of God has gone in hiding. The land of milk and honey, (Israel) is starving. But in the wilderness near the Jordan River, where we find the Word of the Lord in hiding, there is life.
After a while, as the drought becomes more severe and dries up the brook that provides Elijah with water, the story moves from the Jordanian wilderness to the Sidonian town of Zarephath, where a widow and her son encounter Elijah and the Word of God. It’s a moving story: from Israel’s courtyard to Jordan’s wilderness to Sidon’s town of Zarephath, the Word of God is on the move. And that leads me to my second observation: This story
· Centers on the Word of God: Listen to some key passages in the story: vs. 1 (Elijah speaks the Word of God to Ahab) saying, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives…there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” Note vs. 2: ‘Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: ‘Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.’” Clearly, central to the story is God’s Word.
Note, for example, also vs. 8 and 9: “Then the word of the Lord came to him: ‘Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.’” Then, at the end of the story, we have the clinching moment of God’s Word standing at the center of the story. In response to the resurrection of her son, the widow says to Elijah and to us: “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.” This story is about God’s Word in Elijah’s days. Here’s another observation from the text: this story
Ah, the power of God’s Word! Note, for example, the ravens. The nature of ravens is to feed themselves on carcasses and carrion. Ravens are nature’s ravenous “garbage cans.” But God overruled their natural inclinations and made them carriers of food for Elijah. Ah, the power of God’s Word at work!
Then notice that power coming to the foreground in that widow’s jar of flour and jug of oil. The force of the drought keeps the fields from producing wheat for grain and figs and dates for oil. But the word of the Lord provides an endless source of flour and oil from a jar and a jug.
And then, for all to see, the wondrous power of God’s Word envelops the corpse of the widow’s son: “O Lord my God,” cried the prophet Elijah, the bearer of God’s Word, “let this boy’s life return to him!” And the Word of God makes life to abound. The child rises from the dead. And the widow and her son have hope for the future again. Don’t lose sight of the mysterious, life-giving power of God’s Word!
I trust that these observations prepare us for some
insights into the story. For example, this story of Elijah plays out against
the background of
1. Ahab’s/Israel’s idolatry: God’s people Israel, along with their royal leaders, are practicing Baal religion; they are putting their trust in pagan, natural deities or gods such as Baal, the storm god of the Canaanites. It turns out, however, that Baal is unable to provide rain to Israel; God’s people suffer under Baal. Baal worship is useless. Baal is powerless.
But in contrast, the Word of God makes life to abound and gives hope to all who put their trust in God’s Word. Elijah, the man of God, flourishes in the midst of the drought. The widow of Zarephat and her son—though pagans and living in darkness—flourish as they come in contact with the Word of God. Are you getting the picture? The Word of God makes life to abound. Away with idolatry! Long live the Word of God!
Here’s insight number two: 2. It’s hazardous to your soul and health to ignore the Word of God: Ahab and many of God’s people did—and they suffered a drought; they faced starvation and poverty; their future dried up and turned dim. Despair became their daily companion. When you ignore God’s Word, you do so at your own peril.
You know, ignoring God’s Word is bad. But equally traumatic and devastating is the experience of God’s Word going into hiding. When God sent Elijah into hiding, Israel had no longer access to the Word of the Lord. For Elijah is the bearer of God’s Word. He is God’s Word on “feet.” When you see Elijah, you see God’s Word. When you hear Elijah speak, you hear the Word of the Lord echoing and ringing in your ears.
When you run away from God’s Word, you’ve got a problem. But when the Word of the Lord runs away from you, you are left with nothing to turn to or to carry you through life—and death. It’s hazardous to your soul and health to ignore God’s Word. One more insight:
3. Elijah as the bearer of God’s Word foreshadows and points us to Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God in the flesh. Elijah heralds, trumpets, and like a mailman delivers God’s Word. Jesus Christ, however, embodies the Word of God. (John 1:1,14) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This story found in I Kings 17 has all kinds of shadows that point us to the reality that is found in the Son of God. This story prepares us for God’s salvation found in Jesus Christ and his awesome work on the cross and in the tomb and now on the throne as the risen, ascended and glorified King of kings and Lord of lords.
These insights, I trust, drive home this truth from God’s Word today: drawing upon and turning toward God’s Word makes life to abound and gives hope for today and tomorrow.
Perhaps you came here today disheveled, your life chaotically turned up-side-down. Your marriage is rocking and reeling; your children are giving you grey hairs; you are restless; you don’t know where to turn for help. You dread getting up out of bed each morning to face another day. Your life is out of control. Hope is fleeting; despair has taken a threshold. If that’s you, then “crawl into this wondrous story of the Bible and take heed of its message: The Word of God--especially as it is bound up in Jesus Christ--makes life to abound and gives hope for today and tomorrow.
Therefore, I say to you: turn to Jesus. Consider his life, his death, his resurrection and his kingship. He rules and overrules; he governs our lives as we invite him into our hearts, as we bow before him and cling to his grace and mercy. Apart from Jesus, we are dead in sins and trespasses. Apart from Jesus, there is no hope. But in Christ Jesus, life abounds.
Take
another look at that boy. There he lies—a corpse. No future for him. And no
future for his mother. There is no one to take care of her in her old age. No
one! Well, take another look: The Word
of God, delivered and captured by Elijah, envelops the boy. Three times the
Word of God stretched himself out on the boy and the Word cried out to the
Lord: “O Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him.”
Anyone who turns to Christ Jesus, the eternal Son and
Word of God will encounter this very same thing (in principle already today)
and (in fullness) at the end of time, when Jesus returns and raises us from the
dead. He will cry out with a loud command; the graves will open; and Jesus will
reconstitute our dust and grant us restored, resurrection bodies. And we shall
live with him forever. God’s Word makes life to abound and gives us hope for
today and tomorrow!
You ask, how can I find this Jesus? How will his life
abound in me? Ah, turn to
God’s Word, the Holy Scriptures. Embrace its truth; draw from its
wisdom; obey its precepts. Live it, chew it, ponder it, and make it your home.
And you’ll discover that the triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit will make
their home in you.
Turn to Jesus Christ, God’s Word in-the flesh, and God’s
inscripturated Word, the Bible. And you’ll discover hope and strength to go
through life; and yes, so powerful is that life and hope in God’s Word and
God’s Son, the Lord Jesus, that when we go through the valley of the shadow of
death—we discover that the door of death has become a door into eternal life.
For Jesus has said: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live,
even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
The Word of God is always
at work, making life to abound.
In the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.