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The Death of Death
Jesus Raises A Widow’s Son
At Nain
Story 75
One day He travelled to a city called Nain.
His newly appointed disciples were with Him, and they were
followed by a huge crowd. The people couldn’t seem to get enough of this
radical, healing teacher.
As the Lord Jesus walked towards the city gates, there was a
funeral procession coming out. They were carrying a dead man in a coffin.
He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. How
frightening for this dear woman.
She would have no man to protect her, and in those days that was
a very dangerous thing. It made her incredibly vulnerable.
A large crowd was following them outside the city gates.
When Jesus saw the grieving widow, He was filled with
compassion. He told her, “‘Do not weep.’”
Then He touched the coffin and the men carrying it stopped
moving forward. Then Jesus declared, “‘Young man, I say to you, arise!’”
At the words of Jesus, the son who was dead rose up in his
coffin!
He began talking to the people around him! Can you imagine the
shock in that crowd?
Can you imagine the moments of surprised confusion for the
widow… and then her absolute joy?
Can you picture the look of radiant delight on her face?
As the young man began to speak, Jesus gave him to his
astonished mother.
Many people were watching as the incredible miracle happened.
All the multitudes that had been following Jesus as He went into
the city saw Him touch the coffin.
All of the people who were coming out of the city from the
funeral saw it, too.
As the two crowds flooded into each other, they stood amazed.
They were also very, very afraid.
What manner of man was this? This was not supposed to happen.
The dead were supposed to stay dead.
Who was this stranger that seemed to have power over death itself?
The miracle was too great to be believed!
The people began to give glory to God, saying “‘A great
prophet has arisen among us!’”
They declared with their rising belief, “‘God has visited his
people!’”
What a stunning event! What new hopes must have filled their
hearts. Here was someone that actually could do something about suffering and
death!
It is interesting that when Luke told this story, he made sure
to point out that Jesus had touched the coffin.
According to the Jewish Law from the Old Testament, touching the
dead made you unclean.
A faithful Jewish person would have to go through special
rituals to become clean again. They had to spend time apart from the rest of
their family and follow certain rules.
It was one of the sacred regulations that God gave His people.
They were a part of the nation of Israel’s holy covenant with their God.
The Jewish people held these regulations very close to their
hearts. It was one of the ways they could show their devotion to their Lord.
But the time for those regulations had come to an end. Those
laws and rules were a gift from God to purify His holy nation from the
contamination of sin in this world.
It gave them a structure of life that would honor God before all
the nations. They were meant to be a model of His righteousness as His
priests.
They knew that God would somehow establish Him Kingdom on earth
through them.
Now the true priest had come. While it was the job of other
priests to stand under the Law and enforce it among the people, Jesus stood
above the Law.
He was bringing in a new era when the force and power of the Law
over society was no longer necessary. He was bringing a New Covenant!
When Jesus touched the coffin, it didn’t make Him unclean!
Jesus was not only doing away with the Law. He was doing away
with the important reasons for the Law.
It is good for a society not to worship the dead. It is good to
have a habit as a nation to not touch dead bodies or treat them with
disrespect.
It is good not to come into contact with things that are
decaying. But Christ was going to destroy death itself!
He showed through this widow’s son that He had the power of life
in Him to conquer death itself!
News of this powerful miracle spread all over Galilee, down to
Judea and Jerusalem and all around the surrounding region.
Imagine all those multitudes who saw the miracle as they
returned to their homes.
Imagine them as they went in every city from Tyre to the
Decapolis to Jerusalem telling the amazing story of Jesus raising the man from
the dead at his own memorial service.
How powerful would it be if a blind man from your village
returned from a trip with his sight, telling stories about the healings of
Christ?
Imagine how the Pharisees in the synagogues of Galilee that had
confronted Jesus must have squirmed.
What were the discussions like among the religious leaders in
the great Temple in Jerusalem?
Imagine the families whose children were sick or whose elderly
parents were dying. What hope was there in this man!
Jesus was showing bright and glorious glimpses of the world as
God wanted it to be for us in the first place. He was restoring what was lost
and broken by the curse.
He was making things whole and right and good again. He
continues to do that mighty work, even today.
One day His work will be complete. Christ will reign as King in
His heavenly kingdom and all will be made new!
There will be no more suffering or tears. But would the people
of his time on earth see the miracles and believe? Would they put their faith
in Him? Will we?
For deeper reading on the Death of Death in Christ, go
here: http://www.onthewing.org/user/Owen_Death%20of%20Death%20-%20Modern.pdf
And here: http://www.all-of-grace.org/pub/others/deathofdeath.html
And to spend a little time meditating on the beauty of who He
is, go here:
JENNYGRACE777
There
are many things about Christianity that are so arrestingly beautiful...a God
who came to die for His people, for example, that I have never been able to
move away from a love for Jesus. However, I had a number of years when many
parts of the Bible were terribly confusing, even angering to me. How could God
tell Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? How could God command the Israelites to commit
genocide against the Canaanites? At times I used these questions as a reason to
walk away from the faith entirely. Then I had the privilege of going to a
university with scholars who understood God's story. They helped me see His
goodness and justice as he has worked over thousands of years to reach a dark,
fallen, sinful race of humans with His plan of salvation. My deep desire is to
give others a chance to see God's glory in His story...the story that is our
story...as well.
Luke 7:11-17 English Standard Version (ESV)
Jesus Raises a Widow's Son
“11 Soon afterward[a] he went to a town called Nain,
and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. 12 As he
drew near to the gate of the town, behold, 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.
“13 And when the Lord saw
her, he had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ 14 Then he
came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he
said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise.’
“15 And the dead man sat up and
began to speak, and Jesus[b] gave him to his mother. 16 Fear
seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has
arisen among us!’ and ‘God has visited his people!’
“17 And this report about him
spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.”
Footnotes:
a.
Luke 7:11 Some manuscripts The
next day
b.
Luke 7:15 Greek he
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