#98. “Women Received Their Dead Raised To Life Again”
So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she picked up her son and went out.
II Kings 4:37 NKJV
What is faith? The world asks Christians this regularly. Can you answer? How is the Christian faith different from the Muslim faith or the Buddhist faith? Is it different? In the Bible the Lord speaks of faith in a way that is unique to Christianity. In Hebrews 11, the Lord teaches us what faith is by giving a history of faith from the Old Testament saints. We sometimes call this chapter the “Hall of Faith” because it highlights those who lived their lives in faith to the Lord. Is there a hall of justification or a hall of sanctification? Those doctrines are taught in different ways but faith is taught in this unique way by showing us those who lived by faith in Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 11 begins by telling us very simply what faith is: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen… By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible… Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Then the chapter launches into names and acts of men and women of faith: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rahab. So many names time would fail us to recount them all but suffice it to say that by faith, all those mentioned, “subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to fight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again” (vs. 35 emphasis added).
Through faith, women received their dead raised to life again. This only happened twice in the Old Testament both in the days of Elijah and Elisha with the widow of Zarephath and the Shunammite woman. Through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, these women received their dead sons raised to life again.
This is no small account recorded in an obscure chapter of II Kings! The raising of the Shunammite woman’s son from the dead teaches us about saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who have this faith spoken of in Hebrews 11, sometimes called saving faith to differentiate from worldly faiths, have this trait: They receive and rest upon Christ alone for salvation as He is freely offered to us in the gospel*. Through this same faith that we have now, by the grace and mighty power of the same Lord that we worship now, the Shunammite woman’s son was raised from the dead and she is set up for us as an example of faith for all generations to emulate.
Do you have faith in Jesus Christ today? Are you resting in Him alone for salvation as He is freely offered in the gospel? There are many false Christs being presented in the world today. None of them have power to raise the dead. The Christ of Scripture alone has all power in Heaven and on Earth. Believe in Him alone today. Trust in Him alone today. Rest in Him alone today. Everyone else and everything else will let you down. But those who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone will never be let down. For through faith women received their dead raised to life again!
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*See Westminster Shorter Catechism Q&A #86.
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