This is Spoken Gospel.

We’re dedicated to seeing 
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s 
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

Israel is dying.

In a visceral picture of the idolatry and failure
of Israel’s leaders, a famine has starved the land .

And a widow, unable to find justice from
her king, goes to Elisha, the prophet, for help.

Debt collectors will soon force her
sons into slavery unless the debt is paid.

Elisha tells her to borrow jars from her neighbors and to
take the little oil she has left and pour it into the empty jars.

Miraculously every empty vat in the village 
is filled from the oil in her small bottle.

The widow is left with more than enough
to pay off her debts and survive the famine.

Israel is dying, but Elisha brings life to
a home left for dead.

A wealthy woman, then, from the town of Shunem 
understands that Elisha’s ministry is unique.

She builds him a room on the roof of her house and
places inside of it a table, a chair, and a menorah (or lamp).

These are the same
decorations used in the temple.

They’re a sign that this Shunammite woman knows that
God’s life-giving presence abides with Elisha.

And in response to her
generosity, Elisha prophesies

that her dead womb will give birth
to a son—and miraculously it does.

For years the family lives happily 
until the son tragically dies.

She places his body in the rooftop temple and
strangely doesn’t tell her husband that their son has died.

She tells him that “all is well” and quickly 
sets off to find Elisha on Mt. Carmel.

Elisha’s servant Gehazi sees her from 
a distance and asks what’s wrong,  

only to get the same answer she 
gave to her husband: “All is well”.

She only reveals her
need to the man of God.

She knows only God’s man can bring life.

Elisha sends young Gehazi ahead with his 
staff to lay on the boy, but nothing happens.

It’s only when God’s mobile-temple—Elisha—
touches the boy that he then comes back to life.

In Elisha, death does not take life,
but life takes death.

We see this theme again as 
Elisha camps overnight in Gilgal.

He and his men make a stew from wild 
gourds only to realize they’re poisonous.

But the man of God takes
the death out of the pot.

And when his 100 men are hungry again, Elisha multiplies
loaves of barley and grain, with leftovers to spare.

[music]

During a time when Israel's temple was in shambles and
its leaders were corrupt, Elisha is a walking, talking temple.

He brings life and relief wherever 
he goes because God is with him.

In this way, Elisha’s ministry prepares us for Jesus.

Jesus lived in a time when Israel's temple
and leaders had also become corrupt.

Jesus knows he is a walking, talking temple.

Like Elisha, Jesus multiplies 
food and raises the dead.

He also heals the sick
and cleanses lepers.

Wherever he went life followed 
and death was pushed back.

Jesus was God’s life-giving
presence in the flesh.

He was the man of
God who could bring life.

But more significantly than resuscitating 
a widow’s son who would one day die again,  

Jesus has risen from the dead never to die again.

Like the Shunammite woman, we have no
need to bring our death to anyone but Jesus.

Because he lives forever, we know he will bring
life-giving relief to any who ask for his presence.

So, I pray that the Holy Spirit would
open your eyes to see the God of Life.

And may you see Jesus as the one
who gives that life, even to the dead.