#95. Zarephath and Shunem vs. Nain

Published by Ben Stahl on August 11, 2020August 11, 2020

When Elisha came into the house there was the child, lying dead on his bed. He went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the LORD. And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm. He returned and walked back and forth in the house and again went up and stretched himself out on him; then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Pick up your son.”

II Kings 4:32-36 NKJV

Hardly a living person would disagree with the statement “Jesus was a great man!” Many would, however, disagree with the statement “Jesus is the God Man.” When the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons knock on your door they typically promote Jesus verbally and through their own literature and want their audience to think of their practice as “Christian.” But as you talk with them about their Jesus, it takes little time to recognize that the Jesus they promote is simply an idol and not the Jesus of Scripture who lives and reigns even now and will soon come from Heaven to judge the living and the dead. The Jesus they promote and the Jesus many admire today was a mere man like you and I and the great prophets of old.*

What is the difference between the Jesus of the Bible and you, me, and the prophets of old? Is there a difference? The histories of the widow of Zarephath and the Shunammite woman are very beneficial for teaching us about the person and work of Jesus Christ. These woman were friends of two of the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, Elijah and Elisha. They both witnessed their sons die. Both saw their sons raised from the dead. Let us consider briefly the means the Lord used to demonstrate His power over life and death in these two women’s sons.

“So [Elijah] took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. Then he cried out to the LORD and said… ‘O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.’ Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him.”

I Kings 17:19-22

“When Elisha came into the house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed. He went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the LORD…then the child opened his eyes.”

II Kings 4:32-36

In the hour of need both Elijah and Elisha went to the Lord in prayer. They did not have any power in themselves to raise the children from the dead. In both instances, the Lord heard and answered their prayers and raised the children.

Didn’t Jesus also raise the dead? What is the difference then? Let us consider again the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17). The two crowds of people, mourners and disciples, met outside the gate of Nain. Jesus had compassion on the widow: “Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, Young man, I say to you, arise! So he who was dead sat up and began to speak” (Luke 7:14-15).

Like the great prophets of old, Jesus ministered to a woman who lost her only son. That is where the similarity ends. In contrast to the prophets of old, Jesus did not pray to ask God to raise the dead. Jesus spoke to the young man and told him, in His own name, to “arise!” Jesus had and has power in, of, and through Himself to command the dead to rise and they obey Him. Jesus has authority and power that no prophet ever had. Who can command life to return to a child but the one who gave the life and took it away? The Lord God is the giver of life. The Lord God takes away life. The Lord God will raise all lives at the last day. No one has power to speak to a dead man and raise him from the dead but God only.

Has anyone ever told you something like this: “Jesus never said He was God?” Such a fallacy can simply be refuted with these words: “The whole of Scripture is testifying to this truth: Jesus was and Jesus is the LORD God.” Go to Zarephath. Go to Shunem. Then go to Nain. He who made all things, breaths the breath of life into man, and raises the dead to life, He alone is God and worthy of all adoration, belief, and worship. His name is Jesus, He is God, and He came to save His people from their sins.

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*We have seen in previous devotionals that many in Jesus’s day thought that Jesus was a great man, but a mere man. “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (Matthew 16:14).

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