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Articles 2024-2026
News about Jesus was spreading in Galilee. And it was to His Galilean home town of Nazareth that He came to make a specific announcement. After reading publicly in the synagogue from the prophet Isaiah, while everyone’s eyes were fixed on Him, He made a remarkable statement. Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing (Luke 4:21).
It is one thing to read and to love God’s written word. It is another to be participating in the actual fulfillment of a specific promise from that word. How we respond at such times will indicate whether we are involved only with what is written or if we are also spending time with the One who authored it. God gave us the Holy Scripture so that we might know Him (John 5:39).
At first, the members of Jesus’ hometown synagogue were quite positive about His announcement. “Why this is Joseph’s son. I remember when He was just a child. And today He is speaking such words of grace.”
And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’”
Jesus had been teaching and ministering in various Galilean towns including Capernaum. And news about Him had spread to Nazareth. “So, you’ve been bringing healing to people’s lives in all these other places but we haven’t seen anything like that here. If you’re such a physician, heal yourself. We need to see change in you. We need to see proof in our midst of what we have been hearing.” And Jesus could see that what they wanted was Him on their own terms.
And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.”
In Elijah’s day, Israel was being ruled by the wicked couple Ahab and Jezebel. They had introduced much idol worship into the land and she especially gave herself to killing every prophet of the Lord that she could find. But then Elijah stepped into view. We first see him when he tells Ahab that it will not rain again in Israel except at his word. I am sure that the king was incredulous. “Are you kidding? We sacrifice to Baal the fertility god. We’ll have plenty of rain as well as great harvests.”
But knowing that Ahab would see Elijah as the source of the coming drought hardship and would try to kill him, the Lord told the prophet to hide by the brook Cherith (1Kings 17:3). There He fed the prophet miraculously using ravens who flew to him with bread and meat every morning and evening (I’m thinking that Elijah was not a vegetarian. And since his confidence was in the Lord, I doubt that he had any concerns about where those unclean birds were getting the meat).
In any case, it became clear after a time that God was allowing the drought affecting Israel to also impact His servant who had foretold it; the brook dried up. So, the Lord sent him to Zarephath, a town in the region of Sidon where Jezebel was from. God intended to reveal Himself there to a Gentile widow. And just like He had directed the ravens, He had commanded her to provide for His servant (1Kings 17:8 - 9). But she didn’t know that.
This woman did not know the Lord. When she spoke to the prophet, she referred to the Lord his God (1Kings 17:12). And her only vision for her future was that she intended to make a meal for herself and her son and then die together. But wait. I thought the Lord had spoken to her to serve His prophet.
God does speak to unbelievers. It’s just that they do not know His voice. But His sheep do. For example, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about a great statue. But he had no idea what it meant. So, God anointed Daniel to tell him. Similarly, right now, He is speaking to many who do not know Him because He intends to reveal Himself to them. At the same time, what He is doing with them is also for the sake of what He has purposed to do among His people. The life of Elijah is a good example of this truth. Because the widow served the prophet, he ultimately would succeed in calling down fire from heaven in the midst of God’s people (1Kings 18).
God’s purpose supersedes the plans of men. Today, the nations are in turmoil and many have made plans for the future. But all the strategies of man lead to death. At the same time, God has issued commands into the hearts of many unbelievers because of how He intends to glorify His name among His people. We must stay tuned. We will not discern His kingdom by simply listening to the secular media. And what the Spirit has said to many who do not know Him will only come into clarity to them as we faithfully speak forth what He has put into our hearts. Our ministry must be confirmational to the preparatory work of the Holy Spirit in others, to exposing hidden truth in their hearts.
So, Elijah told the widow to first make him a small cake and then afterward make something for herself and her son because the word of the Lord was that her oil and flour would not be used up until the rains returned. When the prophet spoke, the Lord’s commandment that had already been spoken to her by the Holy Spirit came suddenly into focus in her heart and she immediately responded.
At this point she was aware of the Lord in a way that she had not been previously. And she welcomed His supernatural supply of food for her household. But when her son died, everything changed. To her, all she could see was that the man of God had ultimately brought to her an awareness of her own failures, her own iniquity which then resulted in the divine judgment of death. Of her beloved son (1Kings 17:18).
But notice her response when the Lord raised the boy and Elijah restored him to her.
Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.
She had met the One who is truth. Previously, she had seen God’s supernatural supply of her food. Then she had become painfully aware of her own sinful condition. But when the Lord heard her anguished cry and restored the life of her son, she suddenly came face to face with the Lord Himself. He had not only heard the prophet’s prayer. He had answered the deepest longing of her own heart. It suddenly hit her. Israel’s God cared for her. He had wrapped His arms around her and was now in her life. Ultimate Truth had broken into her little home.
Many years later, God sent His Son so that what the Zarephath widow experienced would take place across the whole earth. Jesus’ telling of this story in Nazareth revealed Heaven’s strategy. Then, He told a second story.
And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.
Naaman was a mighty Syrian military leader who had been successful in war. Against Israel. But then he became afflicted with leprosy. In one particular raid against Israel, a little Jewish girl was captured and became a servant to Naaman’s wife (2Kings 5). But it was Israel’s God who had placed her there. Notice her strategic words to her mistress.
I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy.
So, Syria’s king sent Naaman to Israel to be cured. And Israel’s king became severely troubled. “How can I cure anyone of leprosy? The Syrians are simply looking to make trouble!” But when Elisha heard, he invited Naaman over to his place. But he didn’t even come out and meet the man. He simply sent his servant to tell him to go and dip himself seven times in the Jordan river. And Naaman became furious. “What’s so good about the Jordan? Syria’s rivers are much better. And why didn’t the prophet come out to me and wave his arms around and pray to his God?” Unbelievers have their own ideas about who God is and how he ought to do things – if He even exists.
Again, the unbeliever had heard God’s voice – first through the servant girl and then through Elisha’s servant. But he did not know the Lord or His ways. And his first reaction to the prophet was anger. But his servants encouraged him to do what Elisha had said. “After all, what have you got to lose?” So, he did. But after dipping himself six times, nothing happened. Clearly, it wasn’t the river that was the source of healing power. But at the seventh, God healed this man. Notice his words to Elisha.
Behold now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel…
This man of influence in Syria was now a walking miracle. And his first thoughts had to do with how he could worship the God of Israel while living in Syria and also how he could serve his king faithfully while also being true to the Lord (2Kings 5:17 - 18).
Many years later, God sent His Son so that what happened to this powerful man who was on the road to obvious destruction (there was no cure for leprosy), would also happen to many others in many nations across the earth. God had sent his Son not simply for Israel but to Israel for the sake of the whole earth. For God so loved the world…
But like Naaman, the first response of the people of Nazareth to God as He really is and not at all like their expectations was rage. And they sought to kill Jesus. Hopefully, like Naaman, many later had second thoughts. So, in this coming year, arise O God, make Yourself known among the nations! Amen.
Donald Rumble – January 2024
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