Provision for the child in Grace (Romans 5)
Place of the child in Grace (Matthew 18)
Pictures of the child in Grace (Roms 5:12; 2 Sam 12:20-25; 1Kings 17:18ff; 2Kings 4; Mk5)
Pictures of Resurrection
Perhaps today in our own land one of the most prominent and certainly one of the most promoted anti-Christian philosophies would be that of evolution
The athiest / agnostic and evolutionist would generally cite that their strongest evidence lies in the fact the events of the past have left their echo in the rocks of the present – they look for fossils: 'the present is the key to the past.'
We as Christians know a God who knows not only the past but also the future and we as Christians would often cite as our strongest evidence the very converse of the evolutionist, that lieing within the past are echoes of the future: in other words the past contained and continues to contain within it the key to the future!
“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:” (Isa 46:8-10)
“I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.” (Isa 46:11)
The Christian therefore looks not for fossils of the past in the present but the believer, fully appreciating the greatness and sovereignty of his God seeks for shadows of the future in the past! Only God can do that!
I want to do something that may seem strange therefore to the mind of the unbeliever, the educated but unenlightened mind, the philosopher of the world I want to look for hope in Christ in the future by looking at Gods hand working in the past!
I am seeking Gods promises for the future by looking for Gods patterns in the past.
The believer understands why I am doing this!
As I look back for hope of a future resurrection for the child, I find that out of 8 specific individuals raised again from the dead in scripture other than Christ there are 3 children who are specified as having being raised again from the dead in the past. These 3 are very interesting:
Elijah and the widow of Zarephath's son (1 Kings 17)
Elisha and the son of the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4)
Jarius Daughter (Mark chp 5)
In these 3 resurrections of children in the scriptures we have:
The resurrection of the son of the gentile woman (1 Kings 17) – in case we missed this the Lord emphasised this very point on the occasion of the commencement of His public ministry in the synagogue in Nazareth in Luke 4:26.
The resurrection of the daughter of a Jewish man – again hard to miss this; Jarius the scriptures highlight for us was the “ruler of the synagogue” - of what relevance did that have to the resurrection of his daughter or to the greatness of the need of the family?
The resurrection of a son “according to promise” (2 Kings 4:16) a condition identical to that of Isaac and the New Testament believer: “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.” (Ga 4:28)
We have therefore pictures of the resurrection of:
Children of the gentile nations
Children of the Jewish nation
Children of believers
In all 3 pictures, for some reason, the state of the dead child is linked with that of sleep:
Elijah before he will raise the dead boy of 1 Kings 17: “And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.” (1Ki 17:19)
Elisha before he will raise the dead son of the Shunammite in 2 Kings 4 will raise the child under similar circumstances: “And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed.” (2Ki 4:32)
Most explicitly of all we have the startling and perhaps slightly puzzling statement of the Lord Jesus concerning Jarius daughter: “And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth.” (Lu 8:52 AV)
Perhaps you say what could be more natural than for the Lord to raise up a dead person from their bed? Is that after all not where dead people are often to be found lieing on a bed?
Well interestingly if you you look at the other 5 specified resurrections of the Bible you find:
The man of 2 Kings 13:21 was raised from a sepulchre
The widow of Nain's son, a “young man” was raised from his coffin
Lazarus of John 11 was raised from the tomb
Dorcas, a believer in Acts 9:39, raised from her place in the “upper chamber” - often used as a guest room
Eutychus of Acts 20:9 the young man who fell asleep whilst Paul was preaching, mind you I have to reluctantly confess that the scriptures do seem to blame the preacher for the audience falling asleep: “as Paul was long preaching” - if the audience fall asleep the preacher needs to waken up. Eutychus may well have been in need of his bed but he wasn't raised up from his bed either but from the ground where he landed having fallen from his seat in the open window!
Add to this those who are raised en mass when the Saviour died, unspecified individuals (Matt 27:52) who were raised from the graves!
So as it turns out the children are the only ones to be raised from their beds in a state of sleep!
Although as we are aware, interestingly this picture of sleep becomes a consistent picture of the condition of the dead in Christ (John 11; 1 Thess 4), but ever before the believer in Christ died to sleep with the promise of a future awakening, the child had been for many generations entered already into the enjoyment of that very experience!
Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath: A Picture of Rapture:
A child dies, but more than this, a child is committed into the care of Elijah (17:19)
Carried by Elijah out of the bosom of his mother to abide where he abides, to rest where he rests (cf. Luke 16:22)
“he took him” (v19)
“give me thy son” (v19)
Many times the Lord asks us to give to Him that which we least desire to part with, that we might trust Him for that which means most to us.
This is the essence of faith.
This was the essence of Abraham's faith in Genesis 22: “take thy son thine only Isaac.”
The God who requires from me that which I least desire to part with is the God who “spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all.”
For the purposes of the narrative it would have been enough to record “he took him” but the Spirit adds “out of her bosom.” From a mothers heart.
For some time, up until the resurrection of her son that was all the mother knew – the pain and sorrow of an empty heart.
Here is our problem – our sorrow lies in time and our hope lies in eternity.
As Elijah departed with the child and the door closed behind them, this widow woman was unable to see what was transpiring above, in the upper room, she only knew of the sorrow which was her portion below, the sorrow of an empty heart.
Here is our great disability, our eyes can only see to the horizon of time.
That is where we are too, trapped in time but with our hope in eternity.
“carried him” (v19)
Notice the direction “up” and the location “loft”
“into a loft”: 5944: stair way, upper room, the sky
The deaths of at least 7 individuals in scripture are linked with the loft or upper room:
Eglon the king of Moab (Judges 3)
David mourns for his dead Absalom in a loft or upper room (2Sam 18)
Ahaziah falls through a lattice in the loft (2Kings 1)
Son of the widow of Zarephath
Shunammites son layed in the loft (2Kings 4)
Dorcas lay in the upper chamber (Acts 9)
Eutychus (Acts 20) falls from the upper chamber.
Out of these 7 deaths linked with the loft or upper room, 4 know the power of Gods resurrection – the 2 believers and the 2 children!
The widows son is taken not just to a place but to His presence: “where he abode”
Gods place for us is of course consistently defined by His presence there:
“today shalt thou be with me in paradise”
“Abraham's bosom”
“in my Father's house...”
3. “laid him upon his own bed” (v19)
Not only a place and a presence but perhaps also the thought of peace
The place where Elijah slept is now the place where the child sleeps!
There are those who do not simply die and perish but who “sleep in Jesus” (1 Thess 4) perhaps like Lazarus of John 11 “our friend Lazarus sleepeth”
This is where the child is left at the end of verse 19
Is the child left or is the child lost?
Out of the sight of the empty heart of the mother, is there the fear preying upon the mind that the child has not simply left but is actually lost?
Perhaps unappreciated by the mother, the one into whose hands she has committed her son is one who has a powerful intercessory ministry with God (v20) cf. James 5:17.
Will she see her son again? What is the setting of this reunion?
A cry / shout (17:20,21)
The “voice” of Elijah (17:22)
The resurrection of the child (17:22)
The child descends (17:22)
The child, the mother and Elijah united once again (17:23)
Oh yes, and who is Elijah?
'El' – God
'Jah' – Jehovah – the Lord
“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven
with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and
the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord...” (1Th 4:15-18)
In 2 Sam 12 David has a hope of being reunited with his dead child
In 1 Kings 17 the hope linked with Elijah is not that of being reunited in death but rather reunited in rapture together.
This is fitting of course for Elijah, since he is the prophet who himself never saw death but was raptured to heaven alive in the chariot of fire.
When we come to the hope of the Shunammite woman of 2 Kings 4 her hope is linked more resurrection, to be reunited in resurrection:
setting is “carmel” or fruitfulness
she is greated with a 3 fold “shalom” (2 Kings 4) as did the Lord His disciples after the resurrection in John 20.
Looking in particular at the NT miracle of the resurrection of Jarius daughter we find that in the pattern of Marks gospel this event is part of a triplet of events in Marks account of the ministry of the Lord Jesus.
There are 3 events in that gospel which are marked out as distinct as the only occasions when Christ is present together with the inner corm of the 3 disciples: Peter, James and John:
The raising of Jarius daughter – the resurrection of a dead child by Christ.
The Mount of transfiguration – the revelation of the future resurrection glory of Christ, along with the NT believers – Peter, James and John and Old Testament Saints – Elijah and Moses
The Garden of Gethsemane – the Lord returns from His sufferings to find His saints whom He has left in His absence, during the night to be active and in prayer, He finds them asleep and raises them up (Mark 14:37). This word “sleep” is the same word as that used of the sleeping saints whom the Lord finds at His return for the saints in 1 Thess 5:10.
Are these 3 groups in Marks gospel pointing forward to 3 groups who have part in His resurrection?
The child – covered by His blood
Expectant OT and NT saints who await and anticipate His coming
Sleeping NT saints – saved but not living on the tip toe of expectancy
The resurrection of Jarius daughter raises a number of problems:
Inability
Innocence
Inaccuracy
Inactivity
The Problem of Inability:
Can someone who is unable to believe be saved? The question of faith.
Can't believe is different from won't believe
Inability to accept Christ is distinct from active rejection of Christ
Gods eternal condemnation and personal, individual judgement of humanity is always based on the active rejection in part or in whole of the person and work of Christ.
“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (Joh 3:19)
“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (Joh 3:18)
“And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;” (2Pe 2:6)
“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.” (Re 20:12-13)
The condemnation of the whole of humanity, in the opening 3 chapters of Romans and the conclusion of Romans 3:23 is on the basis not of our association with Adam – a reality that brings the condemnation of death in Roms 5:12 but it is on the basis of personal guilt, by virtue of the fact that I have transgressed the revelation of the true God in:
Creation (Roms 1)
Conscience (Roms 1+2)
Covenant (Roms 2+3)
Christ (Roms 3+4)
Condemnation to Divine Judgement in the first 3 chapters of Romans is as a consequence of personal corruption.
The condemnation of God in scripture rests upon those who are able but not willing to respond to God.
What was her status before God?
Born in Adams sin, guilt imputed because Adam had sinned but without any personally committed sins – 'faultless failure'.
Was she condemned to judgement or covered by the blood?
The question of fairness.
Does God regard such as innocent?
Consider the following scriptures:
“For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.”(Isa 7:16)
“Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.”(Deu 1:39)
“Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.”(Jer 2:34)
“Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;”(Jer 19:4)
“Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.”(Psa 106:37-38)
iii The Problem of Inaccuracy:
Why did Christ say “she is not dead” ?
There are perhaps echoes here of John 11: “These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.” (Joh 11:11), but the Lord goes a stage further than that here with Jarius daughter: “she is not dead but sleepeth” (Luke 8:52).
In John 11 Christ did not deny the reality of death but here in Luke chp 8 Christ denies the reality of death.
Why is this? Why does Christ not impute death to Jarius' daughter?
Was it simply because in this special case that Jarius' daughter was going to be raised from the dead or was there something different in essence about the death of Jarius' daughter compared to that of an adult?
The Lord did not say: 'she will not remain dead' or 'her death is not permanent' or as He did with Lazarus; 'your daughter will rise again' cf. John 11:23 but here with Jarius' daughter He denies the reality of death!!
The simple reading of the words of Christ here are not consistent with them being a reference to her impending resurrection at all!
Resurrection is life raised up from the dead.
The Lord denies that she is dead in the first place!
This is not the way the Lord approaches the issue of resurrection with Lazarus:
“Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.” (Joh 11:14). The Lord does not deny here the reality of Lazarus death!
How can the Lord say here “she is not dead but sleepeth” (Luke 8:52)?
Is it because He speaks not only as a man amongst men but as God?
Consider a very similar statement in this connection concerning the patriachs of old: “Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.” (Lu 20:37-38)
The Problem of Inactivity:
Why the wait?
Why the delay?
The Lord could have gone to Jarius house at the stage of Luke 8:4, but He took time to deal with the women with the issue of blood.
Why was this?
Jarius daughter had enjoyed 12 years of life.
The woman had endured 12 years of death!
But if Jarius daughter died and went to hell how could that delay have been justified?
Taken from a message preached at New Cumnock Gospel Hall on 1st September 2009
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