TIME in the Word - Daily Devotional Together for Inspiration, Motivation, and Encouragement
Verse of the Day - Hebrews 11:35 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
Puritan Catechism Question #24 - How does Christ execute the office of a priest?
Answer: Christ executes the office of a priest, in his once offering up himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice (Heb. 9:28), and to reconcile us to God (Heb. 2:17), and in making continual intercession for us (Heb. 7:25).
Chapter 29 - All believers are a holy and sanctified people, and that sanctification is a spiritual grace of the new covenant, and an effect of the love of God manifested in the soul, whereby the believer presseth after a heavenly and evangelical obedience to all the commands, which Christ as head and king in His new covenant hath prescribed to them.
Devotional Thoughts As we continue now this week in our study of Faith and the Faithful in Hebrews 11, we come to verse 35. This verse, included in a paragraph of text that tells us about a multitude of the faithful and their trust in Christ we soon learn that there is a price to be paid for faith! Up to this point we have seen the positive results of faith - promises made and fulfilled, victory, conquest, salvation, and abundant blessings. But here we read about the relationship of faith to torture and death.
The Bible tells us first here that women received their dead back to life again. Who were these faithful women and who died? This is a reference to two godly and faithful women mentioned in the First and Second Book of Kings.
The first is the widow of Zarephath and her only son who had died (1 Kings 17. This woman was out gathering sticks with which to build a fire in order to prepare a last meal for her and her son. She was out of food and out of hope, with nowhere to turn and no one to help her in this desperate hour of need. There was a severe drought in the land, proclaimed by the Lord through His prophet Elijah, and the effects were devestating to the people of Israel. This widow had no idea about what God had planned and at this point was simply ready for one last meal and then death.
The Lord sent Elijah to her though. He came into town and asked her for a cup of water and a meal to eat. She replied that she had no bread and only a handful of flour and a little oil left. Elijah's response was that she should not fear but should make him a small cake from the flour and oil and then she should make some for herself and her son.
How selfish! This prophet wanted her to fix him a meal when she did not even have enough for herself and her son! But this was indeed a test of faith - and she had faith. She obeyed his voice and heeded his words because when he told her this he said to her, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.’”
So this was not selfishness at all. It was an opportunity for faith and the glory of God. And she trusted God. She did what Elijah asked and God made that little bin of flour and little jar of oil not run out until the drought was broken by plentiful rain some 3 years later. Did you hear that? She never ran out of what she needed. God provided daily, renewing that supply of flour and oil. She and her son never went hungry.
Later however there was an even more severe test of her faith. Her son became sick and he died. She asked Elijah why he had come to her. When they met years before she was ready to die with her son but through faith she saw God spare them both and provide supernaturally for their most basic needs. But now her son had died anyway. She thought that perhaps this was the result of sin in her life, a judgment from God through Elijah, a steep price to pay for some unmentioned sin of long ago.
Elijah though asked her for her son's body, took him up into the upper room of her house where he was staying, and laid him out on the bed. He then cried out to the Lord asking why He had brought this tragedy on this woman. He then stretched himself out over the boy 3 times and prayed, "O LORD my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him."
The Bible tells us that the Lord heard Elijah's prayer and the child came back to life! Elijah took him down and gave him to his mother, proclaiming, "See, your son lives!" This confirmed to her that Elijah was a prophet of God and spoke His Words.
We see here both the reality of the penalty for sin, which this widow understood - the wages of sin is death. But above that we see the deep reality of faith. Elijah asked God to raise this boy from the dead, and He did. This widow received her son back to herself alive from the dead because of the power of God in answering prayer.
We learn here that God not only promises to provide for what we have need of, but He also promises to give us life!! He gives us new life in Christ by this same power that He raised this boy from the dead. You see, death cannot stop God - even as we celebrated yesterday on Resurrection Sunday - the grave cannot stop God. He is the giver and taker of life, and here we see the first instance of this great power over sin and death in the life of this young boy and his mother who was a widow.
Tomorrow we will see how the prophet Elisha was used of God to raise up the son of the Shunammite woman. For today, remember, not even death can stop God. Trust Him as did this dear widow, for He can be trusted with our very lives!
Links for Further Study (links to study each daily topic in more detail if you have the desire and the time)
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