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worship you can turn in your Bibles to Psalm uh Psalm 20 Psalm 20 Psalm 20 I'll begin reading in verse one to the chief musician a Psalm of David may the Lord answer you in the day of trouble may the name of the god of Jacob defend you may he send you help from the sanctuary and strength you out of Zion may he remember all your offerings and accept your burnt sacrifice seah may he Grant you according to your heart's desire and fulfill all your purpose we will rejoice in your salvation and in the name of our God we will set up our banners may the Lord fulfill all your petitions now I know that the Lord saves his anointed he will answer him from his holy heaven with the with the saving strength of his right hand some Trust in chariots and some in horses but we will remember the name of the Lord Our God they have bowed down and Fallen but we have risen and stand upright save Lord May the king answer us when we call amen well please turn in your Trinity himels to hymn number 280 hymn number 280 we stand as we sing [Music] together [Music] Church Church of godall the [Music] ofar [Music] highest [Music] andus Our Savior and our King I from every St and [Music] shall glor [Music] well let us pray our blessed God and our Holy Father we come to you again on this sabbath day to praise and to glorify your most high name you are The God Who inhabits eternity you and you are the the most high the maker and creator of all things seen and unseen you are the God who governs all his creatures and all their actions you are indeed the god of our salvation how we praise you father for Sovereign election and predestination how we praise you for the sending of the son and for his life his death his resurrection on the third day we praise you as well for his current session at your right hand and for the Redemptive blessings that we have in and through him we thank you and we praise you as well for the ministry of the Holy Spirit who has made us alive who has effectually called us out of darkness in The Marvelous Light who has shown us the glory and the Majesty of Christ and has given us the Graces of faith and repentance certainly the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit are to be exalted and praised and glorified and it is our great privilege to gather in this house tonight and to sing at your praises and to call upon you in prayer and to look to Holy scripture we would ask that you would be enthroned upon those Praises that you would be uh Chief and foremost in our minds and in our hearts that God as we exit this place as we enter into a new week may it be the case that we would seek and strive to bring glory and honor to you and each and every area of Our Lives help us to receive with Thanksgiving that that principle our Lord sets forth that we are to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then these things will be added to us father help us to take every thought captive to The Obedience of Christ and help us to be faithful Witnesses and and and lights shining in this crooked and perverse generation and give us the courage and the boldness to hold forth your word of Truth and in all things may we bring glory to our great God we ask tonight that you would be pleased to to to look with favor upon this congregation we know God there are many with physical needs many with spiritual needs all of us with spiritual needs and so we would uh cast our burdens upon you knowing that you care for us would you undertake on behalf of those who suffer suffer in the body we pray God that they would be reminded of that blessed text that though the outward man does Decay the inward man is being renewed day by day and may all of us look forward to that blessed day when the Lord Christ will return in glory to judge the living in the dead may we have fond thoughts concerning our future may we indeed consider the reality that there is a heaven gained for us by our Champion by our Victor by Our Redeemer and friend and may these things encourage Us in the current in the current battle that we face on this or in this world we ask as well Lord God that you would encourage all of us as we do struggle with manifold Temptations and difficulties in the Christian Life we would ask that you would strengthen Us by the power of the Holy Spirit G us up for that battle and cause us to be able to say with Paul that we have uh fought the good fight that we have finished the race that we have kept the faith and may we with Paul realize there is a awaiting for those who by the grace of God have served Jesus Faithfully we would ask that you would forgive us now for our sins and our transgressions as we consider the scriptures as we consider the fact that you are indeed a holy God a God the angels have to cover their eyes when they stand before we would ask that you would indeed cleanse us from all sin and iniquity wash us from all transgression and and all of our lawlessness and cause us Lord God to renew repentance and to pursue those things that are indeed pleasing in your sight may you cause us to say with the psalmist oh how I love your law it is my meditation day and night we would pray father that you would be pleased as well to look with favor upon any and all who have not come to Christ as we heard this morning our savior bids us come the Lord Of Glory says to come and we would pray that that word would go forth and that by the power of the Holy Spirit a multitude would indeed believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we would pray that you would be merciful to our children and our young people we pray that in their youth they would remember their creator that they would be safely folded under the arms of the Lord Christ and they would know the Forgiveness of sins and that righteousness that does avail with a holy God we would pray Al also Father for those babies in the womb that you would bless them with physical health and strength and we pray that one day they would be born again unto a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ we ask our father also that you would be pleased to look with favor Upon This Nation and we know God it does not deserve your favor it does not Merit your favor in many respects we Echo the prophet who said in your wrath we pray that you would remember Mercy that you would send forth your glorious gospel that you would save sinners in this land that you would cause there to be a turning unto you a turning away from useless Idols a turning to the true and living God with an Earnest expectation of the the return of our Lord Jesus Christ we Look to You Lord God to change the hearts of men in high places for we live in a land that does indeed engage in much wickedness we see abortion continue unabated we see youth in Asia practiced more freely we see sodomy all around us and a whole host of other sins and God we know that politics and the the best efforts of men will not change the hearts of others so we pray for the preaching of that truth that gospel that has by Grace conquered us we pray that it would go forth conquering a great multitude and be merciful throughout the Earth and send forth your word the scripture testifies that Christ will see his seed that he will indeed have dominion from sea to Sea and so we pray for the continual progress of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray for those nations steeped in heathenism those Nations steeped in false religion we thank Father of those lands that are that are filled with Islam we pray that you'd raise up men in those Nations to proclaim the gospel of our Lord Jesus and that you would free Muslims from their false religion free Roman Catholics in those places where that is the predominant religion and God free atheists from their delusion and their Folly and cause them to reflect upon the truth that God is in the heavens and he does whatever he pleases we would pray father as well that you would be merciful to those who suffer for the cause of God in truth we know there are many in prison there are many suffering there are many God who are are are threatened on a regular basis for their commitment to the Lord Of Glory we pray that you would be merciful to our brethren in these lands you would be gracious to them and continue to to to fill them with the Holy Spirit to fill them with Grace from on high that they may serve you in the midst of trial and affliction and sorrow and difficulty and we pray now that you would continue with us help us as we sing to focus upon the truth that we sing help us to do so For Your Glory and for the edification of one another and God may you indeed turn our attention to the holy scriptures and give us the grace to receive that word to learn the lessons that you would have for us and by grace to put these things into practice and we ask through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen well please turn with me again in your Trinity himn to hymn number 21 hymn number 21 will stand as we sing [Music] [Music] together in the sea and R [Music] the [Music] bless for his [Music] Pro [Music] interpret amen you can turn in your Bible to Daniel chap 2 for our scripture reading this evening Daniel 2 will begin at verse 24 Daniel 2 beginning in verse 24 therefore Daniel went to aroch whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon he went and said thus to him do not destroy the wise men of Babylon take me before The King and I will tell the king the interpretation then arok quickly brought Daniel before the king and said thus to him I have found a man of the captives of Judah who will make known to the king the interpretation the king answered and said to Daniel whose name was belt chazar are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said the secret which the King has demanded the wise men the astrologers The Magicians and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed were these as for you oh King thoughts came to your mind while on your bed about what would come to pass after this and he who reveals Secrets has made known to you what will be but as for me this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king and that you may know the thoughts of your heart you oh King were watching and behold a great image this great image whose Splendor was excellent stood before you and its form was awesome this image's head was a fine gold its chest and arms of silver its belly and thighs of bronze its legs of iron its feet partly of iron and partly of clay you watched while a stone was cut out without hands which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces then the iron the clay the bronze the silver and the gold were crushed together and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth this is the dream now we will tell you the interpretation of it before the king you oh King are a king of kings for the god of Heaven has given you a kingdom power strength and glory and wherever the children of men dwell or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven he has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all you are his head of gold but after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours then another a third Kingdom of bronze which shall rule over all the earth and the fourth Kingdom shall be as strong as iron in as much as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything and like iron that crushes that Kingdom will break in pieces and Crush all the others whereas you saw the feet and Toes partly of Potter's clay and partly of iron the kingdom shall be divided yet the strength of the iron shall be in it just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay and as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile as you saw iron mixed with clay they will mingle with the seed of men but they will not adhere to one another just as iron does not mix with the with clay and in the days of these Kings the god of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever in as much as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it broke in pieces the iron the bronze the clay the silver and the gold the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this the dream is certain and its interpretation is sure then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face prostrate before Daniel and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him the king answered Daniel and said truly your God is the god of gods the Lord of kings and a revealer of Secrets since you could reveal this secret then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon also Daniel petitioned the king and he set Shadrach meach and Abednego over the Affairs of the province of Babylon but Daniel sat in the gate of the king amen so essentially what we have in this particular Vision or this dream of Nebuchadnezzar is a program concerning world history and many commentators agree that the various El elements that make up this particular image are indicative or representative of various World Empires and kingdoms of course Nebuchadnezzar was the leader or the chief or the king of the Babylonian Empire after the Babylonians came the medio Persian Empire and then the Greek Empire and then the Roman Empire and so what the prophet's intention is is to outline before Nebuchadnezzar what the god of Israel is going to do and in the dream portion notice that at the time of that last Kingdom in verse 35 it says and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth now in terms of the interpretation notice what happens in the days of that final Empire the Roman Empire verse 44 and in the days of these Kings the god of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever that is precisely what happens during the Roman Empire that is precisely what happens at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ not in his second Advent but in his first Advent in his first coming that is the establishment of this Kingdom this Kingdom that has no end this Kingdom that is indeed Eternal this Kingdom that is indeed the kingdom of our God and of his Christ and the language is truly blessed and in the days of these Kings the god of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed that doesn't mean that there aren't persons trying to destroy it but the Lord God most high is able to stabilize to secure to advance and prosper his glorious Kingdom and it tells us and this Kingdom shall not be left to other people it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever this is in fact the kingdom that by the grace of God we are participants of Nebuchadnezzar was instructed concerning theological history and certainly as we reflect from the New Testament vantage point we see that indeed God's plan was worked out completely and perfectly according to his will in history well let us pray Our Father we thank you for the kingdom of God we thank you for the kingdom that is that is ruled over by the Messiah by the Christ by the Lord Jesus we look forward to his coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead but until that day we pray that Kingdom would Prosper that Kingdom would go forth that Kingdom would indeed come the kingdom of grace through the preaching of the truth and the the salvation of Sinners and the the the further participation by image bearers in that great Kingdom and our God in heaven may you cause us to have a a a a proper view of History a theological interpretation of what God is doing in the world and grant us Grace to stand in awe of the power manifested and demonstrated in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and it's in his name that we pray amen well you can turn again to uh hymn number 80 in the Trinity Himel hymn number 80 and we'll stand and sing [Music] together [Music] in his [Music] exellent he to you he [Music] am am the all Str [Music] toep of shall not be over [Music] for I [Music] will [Music] and to all my [Music] [Music] ET J for [Music] will [Music] for can turn in your Bibles to First Kings chapter 17 First Kings chapter 17 we looked at this in our studies on Wednesday night did seem to me that the Elijah narratives deserve further exposure so I wanted to bring this message tonight and God willing we'll look at chapter 18 L uh next Lord's day but I want to read chapter 17 this is the early Ministry of Elijah the prophet I'll begin reading in chapter 17 at verse 1 and Elijah the tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand there shall not be dun nor reain these years except at my word then the word of the Lord came to him saying get away from here and turn Eastward and hide by the Brook carot which flows into the Jordan and it will be that you shall drink from the Brook and I have commanded the Ravens to feed you there so he went and did according to the word of the Lord for he went and stayed by the Brook carot which flows into the Jordan the Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening and he drank from the brook and it happened after a while that the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land then the word of the Lord came to him saying arise go to zarapa which belongs to sidon and dwell there see I have commanded a widow there to provide for you so he arose and went to zarap and when he came to the gate of the city indeed a widow was there Gathering sticks and he called to her and said please bring me a little water in a cup that I may drink and as she was going to get it he called to her and said please bring me a more of bread in your hand so she said as the Lord your God Lives I do not have bread only a handful of flour and a bin and a little oil in a jar and see I am Gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son that we may eat it and die and Elijah said to Hero not fear go and do as you have said but make me a small cake from it first and bring it to me and afterward make some for yourself and your son for thus says the Lord God of Israel the bin of flow shall not be used up nor shall the jar of oil run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth so she went away and did according to the word of Elijah and she and he and her household ate for many days the bin of flour was not used up nor did the jar of oil run dry according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by Elijah now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick and his sick sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him so she said to Elijah what have I to do with you oh man of God have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to kill my son 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 and he cried out to the Lord and said oh Lord my God have you also brought tragedy on the Widow with whom I Lodge by killing her son son and he stretched himself out on the child three times and cried out to the Lord and said oh Lord my God I pray let this child's Soul come back to him then the L Lord heard the voice of Elijah and the soul of the child came back to him and he revived 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 then the woman said 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 well let us pray father we thank you for the written word and we pray now for the ministry of the holy spirit to guide us and un grant us understanding into these things we thank you for your graciousness for your provision for your kindness for your mercy toward your people help us to learn first and foremost in First Kings 17 of our God help us to see your wonderful ways as the hym we sang says that you do in fact move in mysterious ways your wonders to perform feeding and sustaining a man through Ravens and through a widow God truly you are indeed an amazing God a god worthy of our praise and exaltation God worthy of adoration and we would pray that your spirit would help us now and we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ amen well Elijah is many respects is a larger than life sort of a character that the Bible presents and as I said the Elijah narratives in First Kings do indeed show us many glorious things concerning our God Paul house comments concerning Elijah says without question Elijah is one of the most distinctive and diversely talented individuals in the Bible he is a prophet preacher political reformer and miracle worker all at the same time at the heart of this multifaceted person the though rests one overriding conviction Elijah hates baalism as much as Jezebel loves the cult and he desires to magnify Yahweh over Baal and defeat the interloping religion once and for all that is a great way to understand what Elijah is doing here on the pages of First Kings in fact here in chapter 17 at verse one all the way till Elijah's death we see his constant opposition to idolatry and to oppression and especially his war against baalism in the contest at Carmel in chapter 18 but as we look at this particular section I want us to notice three things and I think they do testify concerning God and concerning this man Elijah the first place we ought to uh uh see the the prediction of drought in verse one secondly the provision of the prophet in verses 2-6 and then thirdly the power of the of Israel in verses 17- 24 now note verse one it says Elijah the tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab to love the way and appreciate the fact there's no introduction Elijah just appears on the scene it's almost as if he parachutes Out of Heaven to stand right before Ahab and to declare the word of the Lord God to him he says as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand there shall not be due nor rain these years except at my word now there are several things we ought to appreciate with reference to this verse in the first regard it is the Divine response to Wicked Kings if you go back to chapter 16 we get a sketch of the northern kingdom at this time in Israel's history essentially what we have is The Wretched condition of Israel set forth in chapter 16 basa a king ascended the Throne after assassinating naab his son aah aah was assassinated by Zim while he Aya was drinking himself drunk zimri reigned for seven days it's really a description of the the the not best and brightest who indeed served as kings in Israel and then z uh uh omry did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did worse than all who were before him again this is all in in chapter 16 omry is the one who founded the capital of Samaria omry is the one who Moved essentially religion and politics to Samaria for the nor for the northern tribes of the northern kingdom now om's son was Ahab and Ahab was incredibly wretched in fact look at chapter 16 very specifically at verse 29 just to give a flavor and a sense of the days in which Elijah the prophet lived says in the 38 year of Asa king of Judah Ahab the son of omry became king over Israel remember the kingdom was divided in First Kings chapter 12 yet had the one people of Israel the one nation of Israel divided in chapter 12 so you have 10 Northern tribes they go by the name Israel and then you have two Southern tribes and they are called Judah and so the narrator tells us in the 38 year of asau king of Judah so what's going on in the south is that asau is the king Ahab the son of omry became king over Israel up in the north and Ahab the son of omry reigned over Israel in Samaria 22 years now just as an aside we often get discouraged about how bad the times in which we live are and I'm not going to suggest otherwise but Brethren if we get a bad prime minister we get a bad president the most that they can rule or Reign is for8 years now I realize that in the midst of that eight years it seems like eternity it seems like forever but we don't have a man at the helm there for 22 years Manassa what 55 years I mean there are some terrible kings in the northern kingdom and the these men lived a time and reigned a long time and their Reigns were marked by wickedness and evil so I want us to appreciate the fact that when we say something like it's so bad out there nobody's ever seen the sort of turmoil that we have seen we need to guard our hearts and we need to watch ourselves because in this particular instance as we'll see as we move on in this description of Ahab he institutionalizes bail worship right there amongst the Covenant Community of Israel so yes we have difficulties in our day but they certainly had difficulties in their day now notice in verse 30 now Ahab the son of omry did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him and it came to pass as as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of jeroboam the son of nebat he was the first king of the the of uh jeroboam becomes rather a standard for Wicked kings in the sins of jeroboam the son of nebat that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of ethbaal King of the sidonians and he went and served Baal and worshiped him so get that get that in your head understand what's happening so when we get to 171 and Elijah the fight appears before Ahab and and threatens drought this is the context he marries Jezebel and he goes and he serves Baal and he worships him but that wasn't enough for Ahab notice what happens in verse 32 then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal which he had built in Samaria so that new found capital of the north has become a place where there's a Temple to bail and there's an altar to bail and sacrifices are offered up to bail not Yahweh not the god of Israel and Ahab made a wooden image Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him so as we drop down now to 171 and Elijah the tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand we ought to see practically that this is the Divine response to The Wretched condition created by these Godless Kings in Israel in other other words we often times see things and we believe that it's going to flourish and Thrive and ultimately bury the kingdom of God not so is the case God sends Elijah to confront frontally this wicked Ahab one man makes this observation for to see Elijah appear thus I.E so suddenly reminds us that we need not despair when we see great movements of evil achieve aing spectacular success on this Earth imagine if you were living in the days of chapter 16 imagine if you knew your new king took a wretched Woman by the name of Jezebel as his wife a woman from sidon and he engaged in bail worship there and then he took bail worship right into the heart of Israel right into the northern kingdom you might be tempted to conclude that the religion of Yahweh is all but gone so this man sat has it reminds us that we need not despair when we see great movements of evil achieving spectacular success on this Earth for we may be sure that God in unexpected places has already secretly prepared his countermovement God has always his ways of working underground to undermine the stability of evil this passage teaches us to learn this this passage teaches us to expect this you hear it today oh Islam is growing so rapidly it's the fastest growing religion in in North America and the sort of unspoken implication seems to be that it's all going to but wipe out Christianity what does Daniel tell Nebuchadnezzar that in the days of these Kings God will in fact set up a kingdom that will remain forever and ever brethren we don't need to worry about the kingdom of God we need to be faithful in the kingdom of God we need to pray for the kingdom of God we need to prosper the kingdom of God in terms of our prayer and our witness and our our our service in the church but we ought not to fear that the Lord is going to lose in history he goes on to say God can raise men for his service from nowhere therefore the situation is never hopeless where God is concerned whenever evil flourishes it is always a superficial flourish for at the height of the Triumph of evil God will be there ready with his man and his movement and his plans to ensure that his own cause will never fail that's 171 that's the arrival of Elijah the tishbite it is God's indictment upon Ahab and upon baalism and upon the entirety of the nation of Israel and note the divine presence with his servant I love the way Elijah describes this in verse one he says as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand Brethren does that describe your Christianity before whom I stand you live life Corum Deo in the presence of God conscious of his face or conscious of his of his presence in your life Elijah the prophet is a man who can say on Earth he is indeed the Lord God before whom I stand and then note the prophet's prayer concerning the intervention of God at the end of verse one there shall not be do nor Reign these years except at my word now let us not miss the significance of this particular statement by the Prophet Elijah in James 5:17 it tells us Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for 3 years and 6 months so we see that this prayer of Elijah was indeed according to the will of God because it was a curse of the Covenant that God would indeed send drought upon Israel in Leviticus 26 and in Deuteronomy 28 in Spring sprinkled elsewhere in those particular books God tells Israel that if they are faithless if they break the Covenant if they go a whing away from God after other gods then God will send drought and so Elijah prays this in accordance with the will of God and God hears and answers his particular prayer but as well this whole idea of drought is a direct attack against baalism now the god Baal we know he doesn't exist and we know that all these Gods spoken of ashra and molak and Baal they were figments of men's imaginations but each of them was attached with a particular significance you know what Bale's job was baale was the storm God baal's job was to bring rain upon the Earth in order to water the crops and to promote fertility he was a fertility God his job was to provide rain now do you see the significance of the prophets words at this particular Point Ahab has now instituted baalism as the religion in Israel baal's job is to provide rain and so when God counters Ahab and Baal he sends Elijah the prophet who says there shall not be due nor rain these years except at my word that's an assault upon baalism that is a direct assault upon the religion that that celebrates Baal as the god of fertility and the God who brings rain upon the people the author is telling us that the god of Heaven and Earth is indeed the god of fertility the god of rain the God who controls these things and this is what the nation of Israel would learn by the manifestation of Elijah the Prophet this uh uh of the inhabitants of Gilead he would come to seek to correct things that was going on now now certainly as Bale was unable to provide rain it would be common for his apologists to provide a rationale as to why now now now just think with me for a moment you're a baale worshipper in this particular era and you know you go months years and there's no rain you'd think wouldn't you that you would conclude there's no bail if his job is to send rain and there's no rain we must conclude there's no baale well the apologists of Baal would explain that the god M the god M was the god of death or the god of the underworld and there would be times when Baal would submit to him and basically go into the Underworld for a period of time and then anat who was a godess would eventually rescue Baal out from the underworld and then he would perform his services in terms of rain and fertility upon the land the gods of the Canaanites were very very multiple and very uh uh uh very silly when we consider it from the the standpoint of biblical religion but nevertheless that was the context in which the prophet ministered and as proven says what is being taught is that it is Yahweh not Baal who brings fertility it is yahweh's presence in judgment that leads to infertility rather than his absence in death as it did with baale so let's look secondly now at the pr provision of the Propet and just before we start the exposition oops we ought to appreciate the god of Heaven and Earth because his ways are so wondrous we just sang that didn't we God Moves In A mysterious way uh uh his wonders to perform this God feed sustains and blesses his Prophet through Ravens and a widow you know what that should do practically it should make you want to read your Bible the Bible's exciting the Bible's thrilling the Bible is just amazing and that it holds forth to us a God who could have indeed created a Costco and had Elijah live right there in the lobby and go fetch whatever it is he wanted you know those Kirkland products that you know you go in for one thing and you got to buy that big of a thing God could have done that he's God right but he uses unclean birds and an unlikely woman to sustain his servant in a particular geographical region that is once again an assault upon baisa let's look first at the provision through Ravens in verses 2 to7 note that Elijah Works according to the word of the Lord verse two then the word of the Lord came to him saying and The Specific Instructions is that Elijah was to hide by the Brook carot now he's supposed to hide because Ahab and Jezebel are in the business of liquidating the true prophets the prophets of Yahweh in fact Obadiah in chapter 18 hides uh uh several prophets from the murderous regime of Jezebel in chapter 1810 Obadiah tells Elijah that Ahab has basically looked for him everywhere and so the Lord God tells Elijah to hide by the Brook carot and it will be there that these Ravens will sustain him with provision there's also another significance to this idea of Elijah hi by the Brook carth and the significance seems to be this the word of the Lord comes to Elijah Elijah is the prophet of God Elijah is the voice of God Elijah is the mouthpiece of God so if Elijah is hiding by the Brook carth what does that mean for the nation of Israel it means the absence of the word of the Lord it means that God is bringing judgment to Bear upon them it means that sin has consequences it means that when you build an altar to bail and when you build a temple to Baal and when you bow to Baal or when you're Ahab and you marry Jezebel when you engage in that sort of corruption and that sort of wickedness the Lord God most high will withdraw his prophet he will in fact withdraw the word from the people who at one time had it Davis says The Disappearance of Elijah spells the absence of the word of God from the life of Israel Israel's judgment is the drought of the land and the Silence of the Lord you see that Elijah is hiding does not spell good news for the people in Israel that Elijah is hiding spells God's judgment so yes there will be drought which is a direct assault upon Baal and his supposed ability but as well the fact that God has withdrawn his word from the nation of Israel we see that 1 Samuel CH 28 Saul's at the end of his rope he's got to go into battle but he wants a Divine word there is no word for go uh from God for Saul so what does Saul do he employs the witch at Endor to try to provide for him some some sort of a guidance or some sort of a a word so that he can operate in terms of battle you see in the prophet Amos that the Lord God threatens upon Israel a famine not a famine of bread not a famine of water but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord brethren we ought never to take lightly the fact that we have the scriptures we ought never to take lightly that we have our Bibles that we have good Christian books that we have access to churches that we have access to Sermon Audio that we have in many respects a great glut of the word of God there were times in history where the nation of Israel itself did not know that word because of their sins against God the fact is we have been blessed immeasurably and we ought to appreciate the Lord God for his goodness and for his kindness so he is told to hide by the Brook carot and he has promised provision via Ravens now Ravens were unclean Leviticus 11:15 and Deuteronomy 1414 he's not being told to eat the Raven so it's not a violation of the law he is being told to eat what the Ravens deliver now I doubt the Ravens delivered Pizza I doubt they delivered In-N-Out Burgers I doubt they delivered something that looked incredibly Sumptuous to Elija but they would in fact bring that which was able to sustain The Profit here by the Brook carot Davis says what kind of meat would Ravens bring don't ask simply cook it very well and eat up I think that's an accurate description of the sort of fair that Elijah was privy to there by the Brook carrot God doesn't always promise US steak and lobster he does in fact say that he will sustain that he will provide our daily bread and this is precisely what Elijah is learning here by the Brook carot so the prophet obeys God the prophet is sustained the way Israel was in the wilderness uh meat and provision by God in a supernatural sort of way and the prophet ultimately has to move on notice in verse 7 it happened after a while that the Brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land remember chapter 17 verse 1 there will not be any due nor Reign these years except at my word 171 is crucial to keep in mind throughout 17 and 18 it provides the very context for the contest at Carmel this is the goal that Elijah has when he goes up to Carmel is to challenge these false prophets in terms of who indeed is the real God now notice secondly the provision for for or through a widow in verses 8 and N the word of the Lord again comes to Elijah came to him saying arise go to zerath which belongs to sidon and dwell there see I have commanded a widow there to provide for you so he arose and went to zerath uh uh we'll we'll read on in a moment but it's important for us to locate zarap on the map if you were to look at the back of your Bible and you looked at the maps you would see a region north and east called uh uh uh north and west rather called Phoenicia and there in Phoenicia you have sidon you have zarap and you have Ty this is the Ty and siden we read of this morning in chapter 11 in Matthew's gospel and the Lord Jesus upgrades the cities of Galilee and he says if Ty and siden would have seen the things that you saw they would have repented in sackcloth and Ashes so this is the region of Phoenicia this is the homeland of Baal it's very important that we understand this geographical note arise go to zarap which belongs to sidon and dwell there see I have commanded a widow there to provide for you so he arose and went to zarap look back at chapter 16 and verse 31 it describes Jezebel the end of verse 31 as the daughter of ethbaal King of the sidonians that again is in Phoenicia just a bit further south from uh uh from uh ath is just a bit further south from sidon so it is baal's home turf it is Baal land baleville it is the the city of baale the region rather of Baal and so Elijah is told to go to Baal land and there meet up with this particular woman now the woman was indeed a gentile and the city as I said is the hub for baal's worship the storm God failed not only in Israel but also in his own Homeland you would think that Baal if he was able to do anything would certainly do it in Phoenicia but it's not the case this woman and her son are destitute and they are at the point of death Matthew Henry says Jezebel was Elijah's greatest enemy yet to show her the impotency of her malice God will find a a hiding place for him even in her own country you got to appreciate What's Happening Here Elijah is sent to where Jezebel s from Elijah is sent to the to the hub of baale worship and it's there that Elijah will be sustained by a widow at zarap a non-israelite what's the author saying that while Israel has essentially shut itself off from the word of the Lord the word of the Lord is not stopped the word of the Lord will find its Mark in the heart of this Widow at zarap the word of the Lord will be fleshed out right before baal's eyes in his own Hometown the word of the Lord will go forth conquering and to conquer and it will not be stopped he's the emphasis throughout the book of First Kings is that God cannot be stopped the emphasis in Daniel chapter 2 God cannot be stopped the emphasis throughout the Salter God cannot be stopped the emphasis throughout the New Testament what does Christ say all authority in Heaven and Earth has has been given unto me go therefore and Make Disciples of all the nations what is Christ telling us he cannot be stopped his kingdom cannot be thwarted it cannot be sidetracked it cannot be taken off the uh off the course of history one other man says to demonstrate on Phoenician soil where Baal is worshiped that Yahweh has power over things in which Baal has failed this is the significance of the geography involved now note the meeting with the woman there in verse 10 when he came to the gate of the City indeed a widow was there Gathering sticks and he called to her and said please bring me a little water and a cup that I may drink and as he was go as she was going to get it he called to her and said please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand now note the desperate and pathetic and terrible condition of this Widow in zerath verse 12 as the Lord your God Lives I do not have bread only a handful of flour and a bin and a little oil in a jar and see I am Gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son that we may eat it and may die it's terrible isn't it I mean doesn't your heart go out to This Woman This is the result of idolatry this is the result of false godism this is what happens when you worship Baal rather than the god of Heaven and Earth there is drought in the land remember reading a book some years ago on the on the issue of economics and we're inclined to think that those Nations that prosper and those Nations that that have many good things just Were Somehow fitted with sewage systems and and Railways and and skyscrapers and all that sort of thing and that those Nations that are in abject poverty are that way because they lack the natural resources the author points out that it's a matter of faith I'm not suggesting that Canada and the United States of America are the bastions of of Godly Faith but there were men who came initially that had some fear of God they had some commitment to the principle of Holy Scripture the idea being that the land prospers not because of your Ingenuity or wisdom the land prospers not because of your Savvy the land prospers not because of your Social Engineering but the land prospers in so far as you are faithful to the god of Heaven and Earth and that those lands that are in abject poverty it often times can be traced back to the reality that they worship Sticks and Stones they worship idols they are engaged in Rebellion against Liv living in the true God righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people this is the Proverbs this is Solomon's wisdom do you see Brethren what we find in this instance is that this pathetic woman is about to die because she lives in a region that subscribes to Baal as the storm God the god of fertility now notice the provision of the Prophet very clear uh closely in verses 13 to uh 13 to 18 note the gravity of El's demand you'll see this at Carmel as well Elijah is a larger than life sort of figure look what he says do not fear he prefaces it with do not fear that's a blessing but go and do as you have said but make me a small cake from it first and bring it to me go and do as you have said what has she said she's going to cook up the last little bit of flour she has and take the last little bit of water she has give it to her son give it to herself and die Elijah says okay go ahead and proceed but make sure you feed me first this runs absolutely contrary to anything and everything that this woman would hold dear ladies let me ask you what is most important in your life your children I I hope men would say the same thing as well we wouldn't ever say oh yeah let me go feed this prophet and watch my son pass away now you've got to keep in mind brethren we know how the narrative ends the Widow at zerth doesn't know Elijah from any other tishbite she's never heard of a tishbite probably doesn't know who the inhabitants of Gilead are has no clue whatsoever what's happening down in Israel has no clue whatsoever what's happening with Jezebel and with Ahab and with the institutional institutionalization of baale worship in the place where the god of Israel is to be feared and hallowed so he says go and do as you have said but make me a small cake from it first and bring it to me and afterward make some for yourself and your son it's a pretty bold statement there but he couches it in the kindness and the grace and mercy of God he says for thus says the Lord God of Israel remember Brethren she is not a Yahweh worshipper she is a gentile she is a heathen she lives in Phoenicia she's been taught to Bow a bail and for Elijah to highlight this reality he is teaching this woman something and her response as we see it flashed out in the narrative is the response of faith we see her conversion we are seeing her called out of Darkness into Marvelous Light we are seeing her brought into that sphere of Redemptive religion we are seeing her Born Again by the power of the Christian Gospel we are seeing the grace and mercy of God most high for thus says Yahweh of Israel verse 14 the bin of flowers shall not be used up nor shall the jar of oil run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth now note the woman does according to the word of Elijah she went away and did according to the word of Elijah and she and he and her household ate for many days the bin of flour was not used up nor did the jar of oil run dry according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by Elijah Davis helpfully points out faith is staking everything upon yahweh's sheer word wagering all upon the veracity of God that's beautiful I know it's 605 and I know it's warm and I know that this is an old Antiquated passage that may not seem particularly relevant for us today but observe this woman she goes against the natural affections of her heart she goes against the natural affections of every woman's heart she gives the last of her bread and water to the Prophet this is taking God at his word this is responding the way that we should this is hearing Matthew 11:28 and coming to the Lord Jesus Christ faith is staking everything upon yahweh's sheer word wagering all upon the veracity of God taking John 637 into our hearts and Reckoning that Jesus says all that the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out I am going to stake my all on the TR truthfulness of the word of God when Christ says come to me I'm going to come and I'm going to know that he is not going to cast me out because the Bible is replete the Bible is repetitious the Bible goes on with that blessed refrain that those who come to him will indeed find him ask seek knock what does the Lord say when you ask you're going to be frustrated when you seek you will not find when you knock the door is going to be closed unto you that's not what Christ says he gives gracious glorious invitations for us to ask and seek and knock Hebrews 11:6 without faith it is impossible to please him why because he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek him that's what this woman does the prophet says give me the the the bread first and she does it Brethren this is an expression of great great faith you might think wow Phoenicia zarap Widow what's the big deal her faith puts us to shame now notice well before we move on the surprising ways of our God Matthew pool says God's providing for his Prophet first by an unclean bird and then by a gentile whom the Jew Jews esteemed unclean was a notable pressage of the calling of the Gentiles the fact that this zarap woman comes to God most high is a down payment of the New Covenant isn't it the fact that the gospel will be preached to All Nations that men from every tribe and tongue and people and Nation will be included in the Redemptive plan of God and then Davis in his pithy way makes this observation concerning the surprising ways of God is this not ventage Yahweh who else would ever design to use unclean Ravens and the unlikely Widow as sustainers of his servant who am I to object if Yahweh Delights to use dirty birds and hopeless women we should however adore the scintillating and that simply means brilliant or excitingly clever or skillful we ought to adore the scintillating creativity of a God who brings help to his people through channels they would never suspect this is why you should read your Bible cuz it's exciting have you ever heard that oh the Bible's so boring what Bible are you reading CU this is incredible I mean come on who would have ever thought that the man who is indeed God's response to institutionalized idolatry in Israel would be a man sustained by the Brook carth by dirty birds and would be sustained infin the homeland of Baal by a woman of zarap who would have ever imagined that such would be the case behold your God the word of God declares now notice finally the power of God in verses 17 to 24 we see the death of the son verses 17 and 18 now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned this the house became sick and his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him now some suggest that he was in a coma that he was in a coma and that when Elijah laid down on him three times it was a form of sort of you know pre uh uh uh premodern uh CPR that when he laid down on him three times it it got the heart beating again and perhaps he breathed in no no no the the boy was dead it says his soul returned to him the boy was dead and this is what we ought to see in this passage his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him so so she said to Elijah what have I to do with you oh man of God have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to kill my son now we ought to at least observe the ways of God continuing the theme the surprising ways of God she's a new believer isn't she she has just confessed the god of Israel now I know it's not in the same sort of way that you and I have confessed the god of Israel she wasn't baptized there wasn't a luncheon afterward the fact that she received the word of the Prophet Elijah and she hands her last morsels to him based on the word of the Lord which he spoke by Elijah indicates that she had passed from Death to life she is a Believer now notice what happens to this brand new believer her son dies she wouldn't have been a fan of Benny Hinn and and Joel ostein she would have said that's not been my EXP experience as soon as I came to the god of Israel my son died you see it's not all Rosy on this side of Heaven for the people of God if you have it in your mind that that that bad things don't happen to Believers you've not read scripture you are not familiar with the truth you have not come to real uh come to grips with with the statement of job 1:21 the Lord gives the Lord takes away blessed be the name of the Lord I mean job this Widow at zarap a whole host of others will indicate to you that the Christian Life at times is punctuated with hardship trials and afflictions now thankfully the story turns out nicely for her but Breen it doesn't always God would be no less God if this boy had died God would be no less God if this boy had remained in the grave so this Widow under understand something that the Modern Age often times misses the Christian Life is at times punctuated with trial sorrow afflictions and woes and this woman has understood it now note the intercession of Elijah in verses 19 and following 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 then then he cried out to the Lord and said oh Lord my God have you also brought tragedy on the Widow with whom I Lodge by killing her son is that amazing he imitates what the Widow said appreciate what the prophet does not do here Verse 18 she says to Elijah what have I to do with you oh man of God have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to kill my son he doesn't say how dare you ever utter such a thing in the the the the the the the presence of the god of is is whom I serve no Elijah doesn't do that he doesn't reprove her he doesn't shut her up he hears her cry and he takes that cry to the throne of grace almost word for word I mean there's obviously some differences semantically lexically but he essentially takes her prayer to the Lord verse 20 oh Lord my God have you also brought tragedy on the Widow with whom I Lodge by by killing her son Elijah shows himself as perplexed as she you see Brethren this is the way we can minister to one another at times of grief and in times of pain if a brother or sister is Sorrowing and hurting they may not necessarily need a three-point sermon by you on why they should never sorrow or hurt sometimes they may need you to take their their complaint to the throne of grace that's what the prophet does here now there are times if somebody is sorrow or hurting sorrowful or hurting and it's their own fault or they've done something foolish or they're living in Rebellion against God it's good for us to gently encourage them to consider their situation and all that sort of a thing but but but for this particular Widow Jo uh Elijah doesn't upgade her notice job's counselors they were great in terms of the wisdom that he needed to hear only he didn't need to hear it he just needed them to cry with him he needed to sympathize with them he needed them to take his complaint to the throne of grace we can be like job's friends at times somebody's hurting somebody's full of sorrow and we want to lecture them this happens in marriage doesn't it I mean come on men we we want to Le lecture our wives when they're Sorrowing or they're hurting we don't want to enter in we don't want to embrace their situation can happen conversely as well men aren't the OR women aren't the only ones who sorrow and hurt men can go through sorrow and hurt and pain last thing they may need is their wife to lecture them at that particular time on how they need to Buck up and be a better you maybe they just need us to cry with them to internalize their pain to externalize it at the throne of grace that's what Elijah does with this Widow verse 20 he cried out to Yahweh and said oh Lord my God have you also brought tragedy on the Widow with whom I Lodge by killing her son he stretched himself out on the child three times I don't think this was an active CPR it was what's called an acted Parable you'll often see the prophets engaged in not only word but indeed to symbolize the fact that they are calling upon God to do a very specific thing he falls on the son or he lays himself on the child three times and he cries out to the Lord and says oh 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 and he revived now again we ought to appreciate the amazingness of God in raising this dead boy from the dead but also appreciated in the context of Baal Baal could not only not bring rain but he certainly couldn't raise people from the dead in fact Baal the God was in the Underworld subject to the god M so you see Yahweh is not like Baal Yahweh has the power over life and death Yahweh has the ability to hear the Prophet Elijah and to raise this boy from the dead and his soul returned unto him Dil makes the observation which shows that the child was really dead and a proof that the soul dies not with the body but exists in a separate State without it so God hears the prayer of Elijah the soul returns to the boy and he revives and then notice the confirm here of the prophetic word verse 23 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 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 now it seems to me Brethren this is the particular and the proper interpretation of the miraculous other words she's happy to see her son I do not doubt I mean she expressed great grief at the fact that he had died now that she sees him breathing and wanting bread and water no doubt her heart has gone gone out to him with great affection and with great joy but what's the significance of the miraculous for this particular woman now I know that the word you speak is in fact the word of Yahweh you see Miracles are not given in the Bible simply to amaze Miracles are not given in the Bible simply to return Dead Boys to their grieving mothers Miracles are given in the Bible to confirm the revelatory word to confirm the fact that Elijah is in fact God's mouthpiece to confirm the fact that the god of Israel is no dumb God he's no dead God he is not subject to M but rather he is in the heavens and he not only does whatever he pleases but he speaks to his servant the tishbite from the inhabitants of Gilead this is underscored by the woman in fact I think this woman could teach the charismatics and the Pentecostals a thing or two about the miraculous 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 so there's our Exposition we ought to just close with three observations first the utter futility of baalism the Judgment upon Baal begins here it's going to come to fruition it's going to come to a head in chapter 18 I mean that great scene when Elijah challenges those prophets of Baal to that contest at Carl but it begins here in chapter 17 at verse one with the presence of a drought that demonstrates the futility of Baal Brethren if your God can't do what he's supposed to be able to do you ought to abandon him now I'm said you're bre Brethren you get the point if you find yourself worshiping something that can't do what it's supposed to do you can't say that as a believer in Jesus Christ Our God is in the heavens he does whatever he pleases he is the god of Heaven and Earth he is the god of fertility he is The God Who rains he is The God Who Lightnings he is The God Who Thunders he is the God who causes snow he is the god who gave us this beautiful day today he is the god of absolute unrivaled unparalleled Sovereign Majesty and he always acts consistent with his being with his character the presence of the drought indicates the storm God couldn't deliver rain the ab inability to sustain life the woman in Phoenicia was going to die who sustained her who kept her going certainly the provision in view is is to Elijah we are seeing Elijah gloriously upheld By Ravens and by this Widow but according to vers 12 the Widow is about to die guess what God is doing in Bale's Homeland he's upholding one of Bale's subjects and then as well the inability to bring back life God raised the boy from the dead secondly we ought to appreciate the Perfections of the god of Israel we see his Justice the justice of God is demonstrated through his answer to prayer of Elijah in terms of the drought the no Dew the no rain this is God's judgment upon the nation of Israel for their baalism we see the faithfulness of God in his provision of the Prophet through Ravens and the Widow he calls this man to serve and he sustains him in order to serve God demonstrates his faithfulness as well we see the graciousness of God in his conversion of a gentile a woman of Phoenicia a woman talked up there in zarap homeland of Baal the fact that God went after her through the the Prophet Elijah and brought her into into the sphere of Redemptive religion highlights his grace and as well we ought to appreciate the power of God in the resurrection of the Dead son and then finally the typical significance of the chapter in other words how does it point us forward the conversion first of this Phoenician woman I hope it reminds you of Matthew's gospel I realize we're in Matthew 15 a long time ago but there was a Phoenician woman that comes to the Lord Jesus and what does he do he saves her that wasn't new that's consistent with who God is God Saves this Phoenician woman at the time of Elijah the tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead and he saves a Phoenician woman in Matthew 15 it is intriguing in that Matthew 15 context it's verses 21 to 28 the previous section was on the unbelief of the Pharisees similar to the structure here we have chapter 16 ending with basically the unbelief of Israel as they've turned from God to Baal and what happens to the Phoenician woman she comes to God from Baal as well we have the doctrine of sovereign election and divine judgment now I realize that may seem a bit of a stretch I've tried to sort of sketch it a little bit the withdrawal of the word of God from Israel the fact that Elijah goes to this Widow at zarapa indicates that this is indeed God's judgment upon Israel and if you doubt this application or the typical significance please turn quickly to Luke 4 Luke 4 this is precisely how Jesus interprets the Luke 7 uh the First Kings 17 incident in Luke 4 remember the scene it's beginning in verse 16 we don't have time to sketch the whole but Jesus comes to Nazareth where he had been brought up as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read he takes the scroll of the prophet Isaiah he reads Isaiah 611 and2 he takes it hands it back to the attendant sits down and says today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing imagine being there for that the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing the Christ of whom the prophet wrote is here in your midst now note the response verse 22 so all bore witness to him and marveled at the gracious Words which preceded out of his mouth and they said is this not Joseph's son he said to them you will surely say that proverb to me physician heal yourself whatever we have heard done in Capernaum do also here in your country then he said assuredly I say to you no Prophet is accepted in his own country but I tell you truly many widows were in Israel in the Days of Elijah when the heaven was shut up three years and 6 months and there was a Great Famine throughout all the land but to none of them was Elijah sent except to zarap in the region of sidon to a woman who was a widow what is Jesus saying to Israel at his time time the fact that you are not coming to me the Lord Jesus Christ the fact that you are not stepping out of darkness and The Marvelous Light to embrace the Messiah promised in Isaiah 61 is akin to that time in First Kings 17 there were a whole host of widows in Israel at the time of Elijah but what does God do God sends Elijah out of Israel up to zarap what is that in IND ative of it is indicative of the fact that God is judging Israel God's justice is upon Israel the word of the Lord departs from the confines of Israel goes up to Phoenicia and there the Widow of zarapa comes to know her God they understood these people understood what Jesus was saying because as we read on Note verse 27 many lepers were in the were in Israel at the time of Elisha the prophet and none of them was cleansed except non this non the the Syrian see same sort of thing there were plenty there to be healed in Israel but notice that God didn't do that through Elijah Elisha he healed the one so all those in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath you hear what the the the preaching of Sovereign Grace does to people go go back to verse 22 let's just see it so all bore witness to him and marveled at the gracious Words which proceeded out of his mouth and and they said is this not Joseph's son that they Marvel but what does Jesus do he lowers the boom he brings the word of judgment he speaks of reprobation he speaks of God's sovereignty in Justice and God's sovereignty in judgment and this provokes a different response they're no longer marveling at the gracious Words which proceed out of his mouth verse 28 when they heard these things were filled with wrath and Rose up and thrust him out of the city and they led him to the brow of the of the hill of on which their city was built that they might throw him down over the cliff you see that's what you get when you're the Lord Jesus Christ and you apply Isaiah the prophet in the midst of the heers in Nazareth it is akin to what Elijah the tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead faced at the time of Ahab we see the resurrection from the dead not just the particular boy but the resurrection from the dead this boy along with gyrus his daughter the Widow at na son and Lazarus they all typify the power and the glory of God to be able to raise the Dead the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much never miss that typological connection between Elijah in First Kings 171 and what James tells us in James 5: 16 to 18 but primarily what we see I think in terms of the typical significance is the utter veracity of God's word and rest assured that if The God Who promised this Widow at zarapa that her jar would never run dry that her cupboards would never run bare and is offered to give her life that God who brought that to pass is the same God of our Lord Jesus Christ who said come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest the Widow believed and she was saved may you indeed believe and be saved well let us pray Our Father we thank you for your word we thank you for this account in First Kings 17 the life and the ministry of Elijah the prophet certainly a a wonderful type himself of our of our Lord Jesus and of John the Baptist and and a man that was used mightily by God we ask that you would help us to appreciate the things we've learned tonight help us to see your provision to us in ways unexpected and may we indeed be submissive to the Divine will and may we be submissive to the Divine word go with us now and watch over us in this coming week and we pray through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen we'll close with a brief time of meditation and then be dismissed