Pastor Jeff Anders continues Elijah — God’s Praying Prophet on Sunday evening. After recalling the morning’s two movements — when Elijah prayed, the rain dried up, and when Elijah prayed, the provision showed up — this message lands in 1 Kings 17:17–24: when Elijah prayed, the dead rose up. The story of the widow’s son who dies and is raised becomes both a window into persevering prayer and a picture of how God brings a sinner to saving faith. The hinge text is the widow’s confession: now by this I know that Elijah is a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in his mouth is truth.
From the Morning: Rain, Provision, Emptiness
The evening opens in James 5:15–18. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, and Elijah is the example — a man of like passions who prayed and the rain stopped, then prayed again and heaven gave rain. Cherith is retold briefly: ravens, the brook, and a drying stream that was not God’s failure but God’s redirect. When God dries up one brook, He opens another. Stay in the center of His will.
Zarephath follows: enemy territory and a destitute widow down to a last meal. Put God first; the barrel and the cruse will not fail until the Lord sends rain (1 Kings 17:13–16). The morning take-home returns: if you want God’s provision, empty yourself out. Only the empty can receive. Pour out what the Word and the Spirit have put a finger on — God has more, but not while you cling to the old supply.
When Elijah Prayed, the Dead Rose Up (1 Kings 17:17–24)
The Son Falls Sick and Dies (1 Kings 17:17)
After a season of never-failing meal and oil, the son of the woman falls sick; the sickness is so sore that there is no breath left in him. Everything looked well — then sickness, then death. God’s ways can feel like two-plus-two equaling five. If you will not believe God is sovereign, the Bible will not make sense. He even uses sickness and death to accomplish His will. It had to get real bad before God could do something real good.
Grief, Darkness, and Unfinished Faith (1 Kings 17:18)
The mother asks Elijah whether he has come to call her sin to remembrance and to slay her son. Grief speaks oddly. She has respect for the man of God and has lived under his provision, but she is not fully a believer yet. Light is in the house; she has not stepped into it. Truth is preached; she has not embraced it. She is still steeped in idolatry while the prophet who came to confront Baal stays under her roof.
Emptiness Deeper Than the Barrel (1 Kings 17:19)
Elijah says, give me thy son. He takes the boy from her bosom into the loft and lays him on his own bed. Emptying the barrel and the cruse was real — but it was not everything. More precious than meal or oil was that son. God knows what we love more than Him, what we hold that is not His will, and affections that keep us from clinging to Him. When He works, He may ask for what we never thought we would have to release. The best thing she can do is turn the lifeless son over to the man of God; the best thing we can do is surrender what He is emptying — and He can fix it, and fix us.
Honest Prayer and Persevering Prayer (1 Kings 17:20–21; Luke 11)
This is no longer about food in a barrel. Can the God of Israel — unlike Baal — give life to a dead body? Elijah cries out honestly: has God brought evil on the widow by slaying her son? A praying prophet talks to God with the reality he is facing, not with flowery filler. Then he stretches himself upon the child three times: O Lord my God, let this child’s soul come into him again.
He prays once — nothing. Twice — nothing. Many would quit. Elijah goes a third time. He is a praying prophet not only because he prays, but because he perseveres until God answers. Jesus taught men always to pray and not to faint — the friend at midnight who keeps knocking (Luke 11). Ask and keep asking; seek and keep seeking; knock and keep knocking. Maybe not the first time or the second — but if it is God’s will and you keep praying, He will hear and answer.
The Boy Lives (1 Kings 17:22–24)
The Lord hears Elijah; the child’s soul returns; he revives. Elijah presents him: see, thy son liveth. The woman answers: now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in his mouth is truth (1 Kings 17:24). That confession opens the rest of the sermon.
How God Brought Her to Saving Faith
She appreciated Elijah, but she did not yet believe that Israel’s God is the one true and living God. By the end of the chapter she believes. Pastor Anders traced the path — and invited hearers to recognize their own:
- Dryness — famine, barrel and cruse running out; joy and happiness drying up on the inside.
- Desperation — down to a last meal, knowing serious trouble has come.
- Death — death at the door, then the son himself dies. Into that scene God sends the man of God. Elijah did not invent Zarephath after Cherith dried; God already had her in mind to turn her from idolatry to Himself.
Man of God, Word, Mercy, Bread, Oil, Presence
When Elijah arrives, the Word of God arrives — put God first; supply will not fail. Mercy settles on an idolater who deserved death; left alone with that last meal, she and her son would have gotten what they deserved. Bread of God supplies what ran out — like wilderness manna, and pointing to John 6: Jesus the bread of life; whoever consumes the Son has everlasting life. Oil of God never runs dry — and Old Testament anointing oil (Samuel anointing David) pictures the Holy Spirit, who never runs out. Put together: the presence of God has come to her house.
Faith Sealed by the Resurrection of the Son
Meal and oil were not enough to save her. She needed to rest her faith in the resurrection of the son. When God raised the boy, she believed. The gospel parallel is clear: God brings sinners through dryness, desperation, and the shadow of death so they will quit looking at emotions and people and rest entirely in what Jesus did at the cross and in the empty tomb — the raised Son. Three times Elijah stretched himself on the boy; three days and nights, the tomb is empty. The question remains: will you believe?
The closing prayer asked God to bring the lost to rest in Christ’s finished work, to grow His people, and to raise up men and women who, like Elijah, learn to walk with Him in prayer.
Take-Homes
- Effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much; Elijah of like passions prayed and heaven responded (James 5:16–18).
- Stay in the center of God’s will; when one brook dries, He opens another (1 Kings 17:2–9).
- Provision follows emptying — put God first; pour out what you cling to (1 Kings 17:13–16).
- Emptiness can go deeper than food: God may ask for what we love most (1 Kings 17:17–19).
- A praying prophet is honest with God and perseveres — ask, seek, knock; always pray and not faint (1 Kings 17:20–21; Luke 11).
- The living God, not Baal, can give life to the dead (1 Kings 17:22–23).
- Saving faith rests in the resurrection of the Son — Christ crucified and risen; mercy, bread of life, and Spirit attend that work (1 Kings 17:24; John 6).