Raising the widows son

Introduction:

one thing that has captivated the mind of man throughout all of human history is the resurrection of the dead...

from Genesis to Revelation we see only 14 different resurrections…

between where Elijah revived the widow of Zarephath son in 1 Kings 17:17-24 to Paul raising Eutychus in Acts 20:9-10 we see dead bones brought back to life, children being brought back to life...

we see the promise of the saints being resurrected and we see the savior himself bringing a few people back and we see then savior bringing himself back after 3 days in the tomb...

and man kind has been obsessed with raising the dead throughout our history...

in societal history we have the Egyptians, Mayans, and the Mesopotamians all believing their kings (and queens) would be resurrected from the dead

in our literary and cinematic history we have books/movies like Frankenstein, Dracula, and zombies which have captivated generation after generation

and in our scientific history the goal has always been to prolong or to bring back to life what is dead

to say we as a people are obsessed with resurrection would be an understatement

and point blank we refuse to believe unbelievable claims like people being resurrected and Luke knew this so he wanted to help unbelieving minds

this single event in the gospel of Luke is an awesome event because it shows the great compassion christ has for man in their grief and suffering, but also the awesome power he has over somehting that we are absolutely fixated on

and this starts with Jesus the messiah coming to a seemingly inconsequential city for what seemed like no reason at all

in verse 11 we see jesus coming to Nain

Luke 7:11 KJV 1900

And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.

now keep in mind this was the day after jesus healed the centurions servant (Luke 7:1-10) and also the same area where Elisha raised the son of the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4:18-37)

and also see that many people unknowingly come with christ to witness this great conquest of death

and look god never acts randomly, he always acts with a fixed purpose…

with me and you, we see coincidences but with god all things are planned and purposeful

he is settled unchanging and infallible in bringing things into fulfillment that he has set up… (called his sovereign will)

and we know that jesus is God in the flesh so we know that Jesus acts in the same exact way...

this wasn’t a happenstance encounter… it was purposeful and was to show people who he was....

just like last week when he had to go through Samaria because there was a divine appointment waiting on him, here we see the same type of divine appointment

only this time their was a crowd watching, his disciples were there of course, but there was also “MUCH PEOPLE”

and in this MUCH PEOPLE we know their were some who were in disbelief over who jesus was, some probably just liked his teachings, some probably thought he was a great.... but he was about to minister to them for the reason of proving to them who he was...

just like today much people follow a form of christ thinking of him as a great teacher or whatever but if they would look at the proofs of who he is in the bible they would see him as the messiah

look at the text with me:

I. Look at the great compassion of Jesus (12-13)

Luke 7:12–13 KJV 1900

Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.

A. Jesus was touched by the death...

you have to understand men dying in sin was why Christ came to earth in the first place…

like think about it for a minute this mans sin, and this mans death had to have flashed through his mind

the high cost of sin which we can talk about and imagine, but he actually saw the cost of mens sin

he also knew his death was coming and it was because of the sins of men he would die

Romans 14:9 KJV 1900

For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

He was also touched by the broken heart of the mother

she was a widow, probably somewhat up in years, and her only child had just died

she was now alone in the world

and this world is harsh on anyone alone, much less a woman in that time period

she would have no companion, no provider, no protector

and the one she provided for, protected, and loved unconditionally as only a mother can has just died

needless to say she was broken, hurting, without understanding, and was completely hopeless

and if you read the text you will see this was a good woman probably from a family that at one point was well thought of because it wasn’t just her out here it was her and “MUCH PEOPLE OF THE CITY”

and read into that however much you want but probably in this instance many were hurting over this death

and the master who loves us enough to die for us saw one of the people he loved in this situation… again it goes without saying he was moved with compassion...

and then look at that no one asked for the help of christ here… again he sought out the hurting and the broken and helped without being asked

it was “THE LORD” who saw her

(side note this is the first time Luke uses the title “THE LORD” in his book indicating the sovereign god of all creation saw this widow woman and was moved with compassion towards her)

and on that note it was “THE LORD” who had the compassion for her without invitation… and then it was “THE LORD who spoke and who gave assurance to her when he said “WEEP NOT”

so much can be seen here if we open our eyes to the situation…

she is a picture of the world who’s sons are dying lost in their sin

the dead man is a picture of us lost dying in our sin (which we will get too), and the lord sees it is moved by it, and he acts for us in compassion and without invitation

what a picture of love shown by “THE LORD” of all creation that he is investing into our lives so much that he cares when we are hurting and will move with compassion towards us...

II. Look at the great power of Jesus (14-15)

Luke 7:14–15 KJV 1900

And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.

A. the power to bypass so much

the power to bypass religious customs

the belief of the day was that if you touched a dead body you were then polluted, unclean, and not acceptable to god...

but knowing that christ was always in communion with god, was always sinless, and was never defiled we know that by touching the bier he was showing them (and us) that he had the power to override traditions and customs of the time

and look their are people today with customs and traditions that they believe are untouchable and if you touch them you are unclean or defiled...

and i understand the tradition in context here was mosaic law when it came to dead bodies, but we serve the fulfillment of the law not the law

and if we look to the master we will see so many of these traditions and customs are nothing more than barriers to us from watching the lord work

and i don’t know about you but i want to see the lord work, i wanna see him move, i wanna feel his presence, and i was see the fruit of the master in my life

and sometimes that means i (and we) have to knock tradition down and simply follow him

the power to by pass cultural traditions

in the culture the funeral procession didn’t stop until it got to the burial place (much like today)

but when christ touched the bier the people carrying it “STOOD STILL” they obeyed his touch

now take this however you want but when i read this what the holy spirit brings to my mind is they were probably at first appalled that this man would touch the dead, and then amazed at the mans compassion for the widow, and then astounded at the crowds that followed him…

he hadn’t raised him from the dead yet and they could have just kept walking which was their job, but they stopped they obeyed the touch of the master here...

listen to me you have to obey the touch of the masters hand before the master will work in your life as well

when the master comes up and touches your life if you don’t stop and pay attention to the touch of his hand you will either remain dead yourself or never see him work in your life…

and once again we go back to the former point i wanna feel the masters touch in my life and see him move in my life and sometimes that means i have to stop what I’m doing and pay attention

The power to raise the dead

King James Version Chapter 7

Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.

that is all that was said but in this simple subtle command is the power of god

before we even get to the next verse imagine the thoughts going through these peoples heads...

remember in verse 11 “MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES WENT WITH HIM AND MUCH PEOPLE” and then remember verse 12 you have the widow and “MUCH PEOPLE OF THE CITY WAS WITH HER”

i don’t know and i wont pretend to know but i would imagine 100’s of people were around from both sides here… imagine it from each perspective

first the city people saw this group coming from no where and walk up to the funeral procession..the leader of this unknown group was compassionate on the mother and then did the unthinkable and touched the dead and then he told the dead to get up…

then imagine the ones following christ some were disciples some where unbelievers who were just following they see this random enough looking funeral and jesus just told the dead man to rise and he had done a lot of cool stuff and healed alot of people but he had not yet raised the dead…

but look at the next verse

B. He that was dead sat up

Luke 7:15 KJV 1900

And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.

i don’t know what this guy said but it doesn’t say he got up and look around or anything like that it says he sat up and began to speak

i would imagine whatever he had to say was important because of what comes next and i would imagine the people listened to him ( i know i would)

i would imagine whatever it was is so awesome in description of where he had been that God omitted it from the bible for a reason

i would imagine that the people who heard him speak never forgot the words said because it had to be amazing

but again we see the compassion of the savior as he simply delivers him to his mother...

he cut it short whatever it was because he knew the mom would want to hold her boy… she would be in disbelief and want to verify this miracle that had just happened…

and how awesome is that!!

he could have let this man go on and on about everything he saw wherever he was (hell or Abrahams bossom we don’t know which but we know whatever he saw he wanted to tell people about) but instead jesus wanted to mend the broken heart of the mother…

he knew the rest would be dealt with n time, but the hurting of the mother was now

just like when he leaves the 99 to chase after the 1 … just like when we went out of his way to knock on your hearts door to show you your sin and then save you from your sin

he knew the rest would be dealt with in time, but at the time he needed to deal with your sin…

III. Look at the great reaction of the people (16-17)

Luke 7:16–17 KJV 1900

And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people. And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judaea, and throughout all the region round about.

before we break this down we have to understand the word “FEAR”

the word comes from a greek word that means terror or fright, but it has a connotation of reverence

so what this means is they had a great reverential fear… they were reminded how great their god was

A. they glorified God

this is whats called an imperfect active tense word here so it means they began to glorify god and then they continued in the glorification of god

B. they believed Jesus was a great prophet

again think contextually jesus had not yet revealed himself as the son of god and this is the area where the prophet Elisha had done something similar to this right here

C. they knew God was dealing with them

again the context is amazing when looked at

there was a revival going on in Isreal. the message of John the Baptist had been heard by tons of people and jesus was beginning his ministry in a huge way

after 400 years of silence God was once again speaking to his people and now they had witnessed this awesome miracle

and you now what happens when a people Glorifies God, starts magnifying the name of Christ, and understands that God is dealing with them??

REAL REVIVAL!

and this is why i firmly believe that the modern church needs to remember that reverential fear that these people seemed to have forgotten

because when we remember how great our god is we will also remember to glorify him, praise the name of jesus, and be open to being dealt with by him

and then we will do like they did and we will start to spread the name of christ all over and we will be excited to tell others who jesus is

we will follow the leading of the spirit and we will answer the calling put on our life...

we will see the great compassion, we will see the great power, and like these people we will have a great reaction to the dealings of god

Conclusion:

maybe you have never forgotten to have reverence for god like we should, but at times i have and in those times i have not glorified god like i should

lets be honest here and lets get back to reverencing the God of all creation

lets be real here and remember who our god is and glorify his name and spread his gospel to all

maybe god is touching your life today....

listen to me maybe he is going to bring you to life for the first time spiritually speaking, or maybe he is trying to show you somehting amazing

but you have to stop and respond to the touch of the masters hand on your life to see him working

the lord of all creation saw the hurt of his people and came and died for them to have life...

he did it without invitation but out of necessity

he is today seeking the lost, broken, and hurt to minister to them