#175: The Resurrection: A Yet More Glorious Day
Then Elisha died, and they buried him. And the raiding bands from Moab invaded the land in the spring of the year. So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.
II Kings 13:20-21 NKJV
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For not following the Roman Catholic Church, Thomas Hawkes was burned at the stake in Coggeshall, England in 1555. As a sign to his friends that God helped him endure to the end, he threw up his hands and clapped three times before the fire consumed him. Many believers have experienced great trials but by faith in Christ Jesus they were led safely through to glory in Heaven. The writer of Hebrews affirms that through the witness of God concerning men and women of faith, though they have died, yet they still speak (Hebrews 11:4). They bear witness to those of us now living that we like them should endure to the end looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
After Elisha died, his usefulness to the Lord did not end. The Lord determined to use Elisha’s death and tomb as a message for all ages – the dead will rise. The account in these verses is somewhat mysterious. A dead man was being buried when raiding Moabites showed up. The dead man’s friends had to discard of his body quickly so they threw him into Elisha’s nearby tomb. Instead of forgetting their friend and running, when the man’s body touched Elisha’s bones, immediately he rose from the dead and was alive. The word choice of “revived” in some translations should not concern us as to whether he was dead or not, it is the same Hebrew word for the Widow of Zarephath’s son who was dead but “revived” (I Kings 17:22). It is also the same word translated “restored to life” in II Kings 8:1,5 related to the Shunamite’s son. The man was dead, his friends put him in Elisha’s tomb, and he who was dead rose up and was alive.
The final act of God through Elisha comes after his death. Perhaps to take the glory off of Elisha and put our minds where they ought to be, focused on God, Elisha has nothing to do with this great miracle but God does it all. The account points us backward at the lives and ministries of both Elijah and Elisha. It also points us forward to the raising of the dead by Christ in His earthly ministry. We can think of Matthew 9:15 where Jesus restored Jairus’s daughter to life; of Lazarus in John 11; and the widows son of Luke 7:11. God is the only living and true God and He alone has power to raise the dead!
Very well, we must then go beyond the accounts of the dead rising at the command of the Lord and His prophets and focus on one resurrection in particular. That is the resurrection of Christ from the dead (Matthew 28:1-6). Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; He was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (I Corinthians 15:3-4). The young man who rose from the dead in Elisha’s tomb points us to that great resurrection of Christ and what it means for us. Because Christ died and is risen, He is the first fruits of those that are now sleeping and those that will sleep.
The Shunammite’s son is not the first fruits, Lazarus is not the first fruits, Christ is the first fruits. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Why are the other people not the first fruits? These figures did not raise themselves nor did they keep on living. They were raised by the power of God and eventually they died again. We do not know how long they lived the second time but they are not with us now. God used them to teach the reality of the resurrection, to encourage the Old Testament church, to remind us it is the same God in the Old and New Testament, and to point us forward to Christ the first fruits of those that sleep.
How much better is the resurrection that Christ accomplished of which He is the first fruits? Jesus Christ died, rose from the dead, and lives forevermore (Rev. 1:18)!
Now then, let us bring this study of the lives and ministries of Elisha and Elijah to a close with this great comfort and truth: Jesus Christ rose from the dead and is the first fruits of them that sleep. Jesus lives for evermore. Therefore, we who are raised with Christ shall live for evermore. The resurrection we long for is not like that experienced by this young man at Elisha’s grave. The resurrection that is coming is a far more glorious resurrection where the resurrected righteous shall be with the Savior Jesus Christ for evermore! The message of Elijah and Elisha is the message today, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall not perish but have everlasting life!
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
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