JUST ANOTHER WAY TO DISPLAY HIS LOVE
Death marks the end of a lot of things. Death is the end of a heart beating, lungs breathing, a body moving. Death is the end of consciousness, the end of a unique personality, the end of responsibilities and possibilities and plans for the future. Death, of course, is the end of life. Death puts a stop to of a lot of good things - which makes sense since death is the result of sin. It is a direct effect of the fruit eaten by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and it is also inevitably follows the sins we ourselves commit today. Death finalizes a sinful life. It’s proof of imperfection. Death is an unpleasant reminder about who we are and what kind of world we live in.
But from the very beginning death has also been just another way for the Lord to display his love. It’s amazing, really, how the Lord has taken the state of death and has used it in countless circumstances to display his love to his children. Think of that incident in the Garden of Eden: Adam and Eve sinned and so they were punished with the future consequence of death. But God also used that moment as a way to display his love. He promised them a Savior from their offspring who would rescue them from their sins and crush the serpent’s head. Or consider the first actual death in this sinful world: the sad story of Cain killing his brother Abel. It was a horrible act of hated without a doubt, but it was also an opportunity for the Lord to once again show his love: he talked to Cain, he implored Cain, he warned Cain… the Lord took this murder and turned it into a chance for Cain to repent of his sins and trust in his God once again. The Flood was a world-wide destruction that brought death to millions if not billions of people. But it was also yet another way for the Lord to display his love: this time to Noah and his family. The Red Sea caused thousands of deaths when it crashed back over the Egyptian army, but it was the way in which the Lord saved the Israelites from their enemy. The snakes sent by God himself in the desert brought death to the Israelites they bit, but it was also a way in which the Lord brought them back to repentance through a bronze snake on a pole - which ultimately pointed to Christ on the cross. The stoning of Stephen was a wrongful and horribly anti-Christian death, but even then, the Lord used Stephen’s martyrdom to force the Word of God to be spread throughout the world as Christians were scattered by the subsequent persecution. Death is not nice, death is not something we look forward to, but the Lord will always use it to demonstrate his love.
In 1 Kings 17 we have a singular instance of an unfortunate death that was also just another way for the Lord to display his love. The death itself was heartbreaking at the time - like most deaths are. And this death produced a little bit of anger and confusion - like many deaths still do today. But the Lord did not consider this death as a tragic ending; he saw this death as a way to highlight his grace for those he loved. “Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, ‘What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?’ ‘Give me your son,’ Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the LORD, ‘O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?’ Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, ‘O LORD my God, let this boy's life return to him!’ The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, ‘Look, your son is alive!’ Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.’”
It should not be a surprise when even Christians struggle with death. Since we know our Savior and believe in his kindness and compassion, it sometimes puzzles us why the Lord would ever make us unhappy by taking away someone we love. If he is our Father and we are his children, if he is a loving God and wants the best for us in every way, why would he ever let us become miserable in this life? Why would he ever make me cry? Why would he ever make me hurt? Why would he ever take such a treasured blessing away so that my life is harder now than it was before? Death, and especially an untimely death, confuses us. It doesn’t seem to fit God’s pattern of love. It doesn’t look like it will be able to contribute to God’s gracious will in any way.
And aren’t these the kinds of thoughts that the widow in Zarepheth was struggling with? When her son died she immediately went to Elijah and almost scolded him! “Why did you let this happen to me? I thought you were supposed to be a man of God! What did I do wrong? Why am I being punished? Did you come here just to rub my past sins in my face by killing my son? Why did God have to take away the only thing that was important to me, the only thing I had left?” This widow was clearly a little upset. And she couldn’t understand why this was happening to her - especially after all of the God-pleasing things she had done!
Do you remember why Elijah was staying at her house in the first place? There had been a great famine in the land of Israel and so God sent Elijah to this widow’s house until the three year drought was over. And this widow had trusted in the Lord enough to bake Elijah a loaf of bread with the only oil and flour she had left instead of making her last meager meal for herself and her son. But, of course, the Lord had kept his promise to her and provided oil and flour for her family in a miraculous way as long as the famine lasted. And on top of that, the widow had put her own life and the life of our son in danger by housing an “enemy of the state” so to speak - a prophet whom the king and queen of Israel were hunting down. This widow had certainly acted commendably! No one would have questioned her dedication and love for the Lord. She was, arguably, a more upright Christian than any other in the entire land of Israel.
But now God had taken away her son anyway! And it didn’t seem fair; it didn’t seem right! Why would the Lord do such a thing to a woman who had proved herself to be loyal to his Name? And so the widow assumed that her son’s death must have been payment for some past sins she was guilty of. “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” As far as the widow could see, her son’s death was either a harsh punishment for things she had done or an unjust act of an inconsiderate God. What other explanation could there be?
But the widow was wrong. All wrong. Her words, her thoughts, her accusations, her assumptions weren’t even close to explaining the Lord’s motives in this matter. And how foolish she must have felt, how guilty she must have looked when the Lord did the miraculous and actually raised her son from the dead through his servant Elijah! What a turn of events! What an incredible act of God’s love! What a lesson to be learned. She had no right to have said what she said, blaming Elijah and even the Lord himself for her misery. She had no right to demand an explanation - especially when the Lord clearly had her best interests in mind all along.
We have no right to ever be disgruntled with the Lord either. We never have any reason to complain, to question, to assume, to criticize, or to object to the Lord’s decisions. Because first of all: we don’t deserve anything good in the first place. Let’s establish that fact right away. We don’t deserve to be blessed; we don’t deserve a chance; we don’t deserve anything more than punishment. And secondly, we have no right to find fault with God’s plans because he always has our best interests in mind anyway. Anything that happens to us is just another way to display his love. So how dare we question the ways in which the Lord shows us his grace! How dare we second guess his decisions! Even in death.
Even in death the Lord finds ways to display his love. For the widow in the town of Zarepheth he showed his love raising her son from the dead and proving to her that he was the true God and Elijah was his prophet. For the widow in the town of Nain during Jesus’ lifetime, it was the same thing on a larger scale: Jesus raised the boy from the dead to show the widow his love but also to show the townspeople his power. When Jesus’ friend Lazarus died it was to show his genuine sorrow over a dead friend, to remind Martha and Mary about eternal life, and to demonstrate to everyone there that Jesus himself holds the power over death and makes possible the resurrection. And, of course, we haven’t even mentioned the most amazing death of all: the death of Christ. Jesus’ death was the ultimate display of God’s love. Your forgiveness would not have been completed without that death. Your salvation would not have been won without that death. Your life in heaven would not be secured without that death. Jesus’ disciples and his other faithful followers and Jesus’ own mother certainly were devastated when the Lord died. But he had planned the entire time to use this death to display his love in the most miraculous way possible. You are free from guilt; you are released from punishment; you get to go to heaven. And that was all made possible through the death of the Son of God.
I know that many of you in this room have had to deal with death on a very personal level because someone you loved was taken away from this life. How did the Lord use that death that caused you so much pain and misery and heartbreak? I don’t know. I don’t know. And I’m not going to attempt to guess because it would be just that: a guess. But I do know this: If the death of God himself can be used for the good of his people, then the death of a sinful human being on this earth can certainly be used for the good of his people as well. And it is. Count on it. Every death is used by God to show us love. Because Jesus does not let death win.
He might not raise someone from the dead anymore, he might not visibly demonstrate his power to everyone around by giving life back to someone whom you care for, but there are many other ways the Lord displays his love during those difficult times. Sometimes we are able to see how he uses the ending of a life to our benefit and sometimes we can’t. But we can always be assured that death is just another way he will display his love for us. And when you die, he will use your death in the exact same way. Your death will be for your good! It will not be unfortunate, it will not be untimely. Your death will not be tragic no matter how or when or where you pass away. Because your death will take you home. In fact, your death, besides the time you were brought to faith in your Savior, will probably be the best thing that ever happens to you! What could be better? What could be better than seeing your Savior for the first time or living in a perfect kingdom with tens of thousands of other believers or being free from every pain and sadness and sin for the rest of eternity? Christ has actually made death a good thing for you! He has turned death into a blessing for all believers because in no other way will the Lord show us the full extent of his love.
Amen.
“You turned our wailing into dancing; you removed our sackcloth and clothed us with joy, that our hearts may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord our God, we will give you thanks forever.” - Psalm 30:11-12
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