JESUS GIVES A WARNING

1) The original, angelic revelation that the child would be born indicated that He would be coming down from heaven, that He would be Emmanuel, God with us.

2) The angels proclaimed that to Joseph, to Mary, to Zacharias and Elizabeth, that their son would be the forerunner.

3) They proclaimed it to the shepherds.

4) The virgin conception of Mary indicated that this child was God. The virgin birth indicated that He was God.

5) His parents affirmed it. Ananias...or Zacharias and Elizabeth affirmed it. So did Anna and Simeon.

6) Even more importantly, God the Father affirmed it at His baptism and so did the Holy Spirit.

7) Jesus began His ministry, He showed power over Satan in triumphing over temptation. And then He showed power over demons in casting the demons out. saying, Luke 4:34“Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

8) His power to heal the diseases, it was clear that He was God because every time He healed somebody He recreated them, recreated them physically, as well, in a sense, as reviving them, resuscitating them spiritually by casting demons out.

9) His teaching also manifested His deity because He taught as no one had ever taught, with knowledge and wisdom that is without equal.

B. Luke then, finally, in building this case that Jesus is God, comes now to His power over life and death.

C. The great 19th century theologian R. L. Dabney (1820-1898) was away on ministry when he learned that his beloved young son had come down with a serious illness. Dabney traveled all night to reach his son as quickly as possible. This is what happened next, as he wrote in a letter to his brother:

1) We used prompt measures, and sent early for the doctor, who did not think his case was dangerous; but he grew gradually worse until Sunday, when his symptoms became alarming, and he passed away, after great sufferings, Monday. . . . A half hour before he died, he sank into a sleep, which became more and more quiet, until he gently sighed his soul away. This is the first death we have had in our family, and my first experience of any great sorrow. I have learned rapidly in the school of anguish this week, and am many years older than I was a few days ago. It was not so much that I could not give my darling up, but that I saw him suffer such pangs, and then fall under the grasp of the cruel destroyer, while I was impotent for his help. Ah! When the mighty wings of the angel of death nestle over your heart’s treasures, and his black shadow broods over your home, it shakes the heart with a shuddering terror and a horror of great darkness. To see my dear little one ravaged, crushed and destroyed, turning his beautiful liquid eyes to me and his weeping mother for help, after his gentle voice could no longer be heard, and to feel myself as helpless to give any aid – this tears my heart with anguish.

D. Some of you know that anguish. You have lost a child. Or an infant. Or a preborn child. All of us know someone who has died. The question we ask is: Does God provide any comfort for grieving people? And, is there any hope beyond the grave?

E. Luke narrates here with extreme economy. Jesus enters the little town of Nain; this is the only time it is mentioned in the Bible, and this is one of the few times Luke notes the locale of an event.

1) The town probably lay six miles southeast of Nazareth, at the foot of Little Hebron over the valley of Jezreel (Fitzmyer 1981:658).

2) Near the city gate a funeral procession is in process.

3) Probably this only son of a widow died earlier this same day, since Jewish tradition encouraged a quick burial in order to avoid ceremonial uncleanliness [1]

II. The Divine Purpose (7:11-15)

Luke 7:11 Now it happened, the day after, that He went into a city called Nain; and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd. 12 And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her.

A. The Setting of the Miracle (7:11-12)

1) The base of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee and his adopted hometown was the city of Capernaum (Matthew 4:13). Jesus healed a centurion’s son in Capernaum (Luke 7:1-10), and soon afterward he went to a town called Nain (7:11a).

2) This is the only place in the entire Bible that mentions Nain. It was about twenty-five south of Capernaum.

3) Jesus went to Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him (7:11b). Presumably they left Capernaum early in the morning, and it was late in the afternoon by the time they arrived in Nain.

4) As Jesus, his disciples, and the crowd with him drew near to the gate of the town (7:12a), they came across an all-too-familiar procession. It was a funeral procession.

5) Luke said that a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her (7:12b).

6) Leading the procession was the mother. She was followed by men carrying a bier (7:14), which is “a stretcher or plank used for carrying a corpse to a place of burial” on which her only son was placed.

7) Along with the considerable crowd from the town were professional mourners, whom Luke does not mention, but they would have been there because Jewish tradition stated: “Even the poorest in Israel should hire not less than two flutes and one wailing woman” (Ketuboth 4:4).

8) Jesus immediately understood what was going on.

i. The woman at the front of the funeral procession was alone. There was no husband or other children beside her.

ii. Her grief was intense, and one commentator said that the professional mourners wailed loudly so that the one grieving would not be embarrassed by her expressions of grief.

iii. There was also a bitter irony with the contrast of the considerable crowd behind the solitary woman.

iv. Today they were with her, but tomorrow she would be all “alone in this world – without a provider or protector.

v. Tomorrow she would awake by herself, brokenhearted, without the sustaining footfall and sounds of her beloved son.”

vi. The death of a loved one is always difficult, but the death of one’s child is unquestionably one of life’s greatest difficulties. The widow Jesus encountered that day in Nain was filled with overwhelming grief. She was on her way to bury a part of herself that day.

vii. But little did she know that Jesus was about to intervene in a most dramatic way.

B. The Compassion of Jesus (7:13)

1) Luke 7:13 When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

2) Jesus immediately understood that the widow was in great turmoil. She was now alone in the world with no companionship and, perhaps more importantly in that culture, no visible means of financial support.

3) His great love drew him to the woman in sympathy. He took the initiative to reach out to the widow in her loss and pain.

4) And so he said to her, “Do not weep.” Jesus was not telling her to suppress her emotion. He did not tell her to stop crying as we perhaps sometimes thoughtlessly tell others to do. He was instead expressing heartfelt caring for her and, in this instance, was aware of the miracle that was about to happen.

5) Luke has included this encounter in his Gospel because he wants us to understand that Jesus still cares for us today.

6) Regardless of the pain and suffering and sorrow and loss we experience, Jesus cares.

7) The same Jesus who had compassion on the widow of Nain reaches out to us in our pain and suffering and sorrow and loss.

8) Isaiah 53:4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.

9) The compassion Jesus had on the widow of Nain is still available to every suffering and anguished soul today.

C. The Power of Jesus (7:14-15)

1) Luke 7:14 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.” 15 So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.

2) Jesus knew what he was doing. Here was Jesus, the author of life, encountering the procession of death. Here was the creator of the entire universe (John 1:3) confronting the destroyer of human life. Here was Jesus, whose heart was filled with compassion, halting a procession that was the terminal expression of human sin.

3) And so Jesus, at whose command the entire universe was previously spoken into existence (Psalm 33:6, 9), simply said, “Young man, I say to you, arise” (7:14b).

4) At this point the crowd may have really wondered about Jesus. But, they did not have to wonder for long. Luke said that the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother (7:15).

5) I want you to notice two very important truths that commentator Kent Hughes points out. First, it is significant that “when performing lesser miracles, Jesus would sometimes enjoin specific actions along with the healing. The actions were spiritually instructive. But when it came to resurrections, he used only his word (cf. Mark 5:41; Luke 8:54; John 11:43). Clearly, he wanted everyone to see that resurrection power rests in him!”

6) And second, “notice too that when he spoke to the boy’s cold corpse, the boy heard him. The young man was dead in body, but he was fully alive somewhere! For we humans, death is only death of the body.

7) A few years later Jesus was crucified. He died and was buried. But three days later, he was raised back to life. Now that he himself has risen from the dead, he has the power to grant eternal life to anyone who comes to him in faith and repentance. His resurrection is the promise and proof of our own resurrection.

8) Let me come back to R. L. Dabney, who wrote to his brother about the loss of his precious young son. After giving full expression to his anguish, Dabney went on to affirm his confident hope in the resurrection. He wrote:

i. Our parting is not for long. This spoiled and ruined body will be raised, and all its ravished beauties more than repaired. . . . Our little boy, we hope and trust, is now a ransomed spirit. . . . This is a hope inexpressible and full of glory. As I stand by the little grave, and think of the poor ruined clay within, that was a few days ago so beautiful, my heart bleeds. But as I ask, “Where is the soul whose beams gave that clay all its beauty and preciousness?” I triumph. Has it not already begun, with an infant voice, the praises of my Savior? . . . He is in Christ’s heavenly house and under his guardian love. Now I feel, as never before, the blessedness of the redeeming grace and divine blood, which have ransomed my poor babe from all the sin and death he inherited through me.

9) This is the hope of every Christian, is it not? Through the death of Jesus we have forgiveness of sins, and through the resurrection of Jesus we have hope of eternal life.

III. The Response of the People (7:16-17)

Luke 7:16 Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen up among us”; and, “God has visited His people.” 17 And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.

A. They Worshiped (7:16)

The first response of the people is that of worship.Luke said that fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” (7:16).Over 500 years earlier the prophet Elijah had gone to a small town named Zarephath, just as Jesus went to Nain. There he met a widow at the gate of the town, just as Jesus did at Nain. The widow had an only son who became ill and died, just as the widow of Nain. Elijah took the boy from the widow, and prayed to God for the return of his life. The Lord heard Elijah’s prayer, and that boy came back to life (1 Kings 17:19-24).1 Kings 17:19 And he said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. 20 Then he cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?” 21 And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.” 22 Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives!” 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.”

It is understandable that the people thought that a great prophet, surely one like Elijah, had risen among them.

And so they worshiped God for doing something new and great in their own day. Jesus was of course much greater than Elijah, but the people did not know that yet.

B. They Witnessed (7:17)

And the second response of the people is that of witness.Luke said that this report about Jesus spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country (7:17).News about Jesus continued to spread.

IV. Conclusion

We of course know that Jesus is God in human form. We know that Acts 4:12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

We should glorify God for the compassion of Jesus and, especially, for his power over death. We should tell others that there is resurrection power available to all who will believe in Jesus and repent of their sin.

Jesus’ compassion and power over death gives us hope. It doesn’t take away all our tears – at least, not yet – but it does give us a hope for the future.

[1] Bock, D. L. (1994). Luke (Lk 7:11). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Related Media

Related Sermons