A Poor Widow’s Saving Faith

Today is the tenth anniversary of the terror perpetrated by Islamist terrorists who skillfully used our airplanes to kill about three thousand innocent men, women, and children. This county has had to spend about three trillion dollars so far to deal with this terrible menace.

The terrorist Osama Bin Laden is killed, but that does not solve this terror problem. Keep your eyes on the Arab spring, the rise of the caliphate, and the spread of the Shariah law. Keep your eyes on Israel, which will be attacked by these terrorists. They will not rest until Israel is destroyed and the West is terrorized enough to be brought under their control. In my view, of all the nations of the world, this country is still the best in every way. It is the first to respond in compassion to the tragedies of other countries. So today I call for a strong national defense. I also call for this nation to return to its biblical heritage and culture, to staunch the rot of spiritual and moral decline.

Today we also grieve with the relatives of all who died on that terrible day (9-11-01). Yet we know that nothing happens by chance. My prayer is that God’s purpose be done through this tragedy.

Terrorism is the result of the fall, as is war, disease, plague, death, and hatred of every type. Only faith in our Lord Jesus Christ can reverse the results of Adamic sin. Today we want to speak from 1 Kings 17:1-16 about the saving faith of a poor Gentile widow from Zarephath in Sidon. We will examine three points: the faith of Jezebel and Ahab, the faith of Elijah, and the faith of the widow of Zarephath.

The Faith of Jezebel and Ahab

Jezebel and her husband, King Ahab, put their faith in Baal, not in the God of Israel. By the time they began to rule, the northern kingdom of Israel was thoroughly apostate. From the days of Jeroboam, it had rejected the worship of the true and living God-the worship of Jehovah, the God of the covenant, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who delivered Israel from Egyptian slavery. How quickly they forgot the Lord! Yet even earlier, Solomon introduced religious pluralism and syncretism to God’s people. Solomon is proof that economic prosperity never draws people closer to God. As we read, “Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, he became heavy and sleek. He abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior. They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to demons” (Deut. 32:15-17a).

The Bible says Ahab was the most vile king Israel ever had. He not only walked in all the ways of Jeroboam-rejecting the Bible, rejecting the worship of Jehovah, rejecting the temple worship, and worshiping golden calves-but he also married Jezebel of Sidon, a Baal worshiper. Jezebel introduced Baal worship to Israel. Her husband Ahab built a temple for Baal and introduced the worship of the Asherah pole, a vile sexual image. He ordained prophets of Baal and Asherah. He and his feminist wife killed the true prophets of God by the sword. They really believed that Baal, the storm god, the god of rain, was the source of fertility and prosperity.

People in this country love prosperity. For a long time, just like Ahab, Jezebel, and Israel, they have been serving Baal. Gold, not God, is their slogan. Most evangelicals serve Baal also. Oh, yes, they serve Jesus, but only to get more money, more stuff, and more happiness.

Americans worship consumerism. Their motto is, buy more stuff and be happy. Consumerism is supposed to produce greater economic growth. More consumption means more money, and more money spells prosperity, which is what happiness is, to most people. Sinful humans never realize that true happiness is found only in salvation from sin and death. True happiness is eternal life, which Jesus Christ alone gives to those who believe and serve him alone.

Baal is a fraud. Like the gods of Egypt and Babylon, he is incompetent to give what he promises. All religions, except true Christianity, which proclaims salvation through Jesus Christ, are incompetent to save anyone. The true prosperity of salvation comes only from the triune God, the Creator and Redeemer. But Baal controls nothing. The God of the Bible controls nature and all creation. He alone sends rain and gives grain, wine, and oil. He alone satisfies the hunger of all his creatures.

Baal and his worshipers cannot help us. Baal worshipers are, in reality, Satan worshipers. Satan comes, not to save or make anyone happy, but to steal, kill, and destroy. He comes to give people the pleasures of sin and then destroy them. Be not deceived, friends, God is not mocked. We must pay dearly for our sins, both in this world and in the world to come. Ahab and Jezebel worshiped Baal for the rain of fertility and prosperity. But suddenly a prophet of the Lord came to confront these demon worshipers. Dressed in a hairy garment with a leather belt, his name is Elijah. His name itself gave witness to the true God. It means, “My God is Jah.” Yahweh is the Lord, the eternal “I AM,” the God of heaven and earth, the God of the covenant, the God who saves and the God who judges.

To Ahab, Jezebel, and all apostate Israel, Elijah declared, “There shall be no rain until I say, “˜Let there be rain.'” He was challenging the idol worshipers, declaring that He who defeated the gods of Egypt would also defeat their Baal and prove him to be a fraud.

God comes to judge when we least expect him. He will touch our economy, our security, our health, and everything we have. He will punish us for our sins. He must, because he is holy and almighty.

The Faith of Elijah

Unlike Ahab and Jezebel, Elijah, the servant of God, trusted in God and obeyed him implicitly. Where there is true faith, there is full obedience. Faith without obedience is demonic. It is Baalism. If you call yourself a Christian, you are declaring to all the world that, as a follower of Jesus Christ, you trust and obey him only. You are saying that you not only hear his word, but also obey him implicitly.

In 1 Kings 17 we read, “Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah” (v. 2). The word of the Lord is coming to us now also. The word of Lord came to Elijah and told him what to do. God has the right to tell us what to do. He does not beg; he always commands. He told Elijah, “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine east of the Jordan” (v. 3). We must obey everything God tells us. The Lord continued, “Drink water from the Brook Kerith, and eat what the ravens bring you, because I have commanded them to do so. If you go anywhere else, the ravens will not bring you food there. You must go where I tell you, and stay there.”

“So he did what the Lord had told him” (v. 5). Will God say that about you, that you hear his word and do what he says? If we do not go in the way of the Lord, we shall not prosper. Do we say we don’t like to do what God says? Then we cannot be blessed. But Elijah did not complain or argue. He left Israel, traveled eastward, and hid himself at Kerith Brook, east of the Jordan.

The hiding of the prophet was judgment on Israel. God was bringing a severe famine to Baal-worshiping Israel. First, it would be a famine of physical bread. But then something more serious and severe than that would occur-a famine of God’s word that had been coming to the people from Elijah. So there is prosperity, but there is also judgment. Here God was removing his presence and saving word from apostate Israel.

Notice, Elijah did not complain about God using unclean birds to bring him meat and water twice a day; he submitted to divine sovereignty. He stayed at the Kerith brook and the ravens brought him food daily. Not only do the winds and waves obey God, but birds do as well.

Then the word of the Lord came again to Elijah, giving him further direction (vv. 8-9). The Kerith brook dried up. Kerith means drought. It was a mountain stream, so it was the first source of water to dry up whenever there was a drought. The drying up of Kerith tells us that change and decay are all around us. We cannot count on anything-we can lose our jobs, develop a terminal disease, see our children grow wicked, or watch our spouse become false. There is no abiding city here for God’s people. But our God does not die or dry up. When one door closes, God opens another, for he is the Way.

For Elijah, there was no more water, as well as no more ravens bringing bread and meat twice a day. It all stopped. But God led his prophet to a distant town called Zarephath. Located on the Mediterranean coast, it was in the region of Sidon, which was ruled by Jezebel’s father, a Baal-worshiper. But he who had commanded the ravens to supply food for his prophet already commanded a very poor Gentile widow to supply food for Elijah.

So God’s word came to Elijah: “Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to sustain you with food.” Elijah was a man of faith. When God speaks, he demands the obedience of faith. So Elijah left the Brook Kerith and traveled a long distance, arriving tired and worn out at the gate of Zarephath.

For God’s people, there is no greater blessing than walking where the Shepherd leads us-the narrow highway of holiness that leads us to the abiding city of the living God.

“So he went” (v. 10). This was complete obedience. What about you? Do you immediately obey without argument or complaining because God is speaking through your parent or your pastor? God said, “Those who honor me, I will honor.” We honor God when we obey his word. That is why the fifth commandment says, “Honor your father and mother.” Honoring means obedience. We do not honor God through disobedience.

God’s word came to Elijah several times (vv. 1, 2, 8), and he obeyed the word of the Lord exactly, immediately, and gladly. Elijah had strong faith in God. He would say, God has spoken, I believe his word, and I will do his will. In so doing, I will honor him and be blessed of him. “Trust and obey” is the only way of our happiness. To obey is better than the sacrifices of thousands of bulls. As we go in the way of God, he will sustain us by giving us bread and water, at minimum. So we read in Isaiah 33:16, “This is the man who will dwell on the heights . . . his bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him.” Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33, KJV). Paul says, “For if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (1 Tim. 6:8). He also says, “And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory” (Phil. 4:19). David said, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall lack nothing.” As we obey God, God will command ravens to feed us. He will command a poor widow to feed us. He will command angels to feed us. And even the resurrected Lord Jesus fed the disciples with freshly grilled, miraculous fish and freshly baked, miraculous bread on the seashore of Galilee.

Trust him. He is the living bread and the living water. He, not Baal, alone will quench our hunger and thirst.

The Faith of the Poor Widow

Faith has three aspects. First is notitia, information. The Bible gives us information. Second is assensus, that we agree with what God has spoken. Third is fiducia, that we trust in Jesus Christ and follow him. So we say, Fides est fiducia (faith is trust). Suppose you love a girl. It is when you marry her that you display trust.

This widow was a Baal-worshiping Gentile. She was like the Syro-Phoenician widow who exercised great faith in Jesus Christ for the healing of her daughter. (PGM) But the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, both Jew and Gentile. And if Israel rejects the gospel, then Gentiles will welcome it.

The widow’s husband, the wage-earner, died-maybe in the war or due to a disease or in an accident or someone killed him. Widows were poorest of the poor. There was no Social Security to help them. There were no laws to protect them. They were easily exploited by the society. In Luke 21, we see a very poor widow who only possessed two very small copper coins, giving both of them to God-all she had to live on.

This widow of Zarephath was also very poor. Yet she, like the Samaritan woman, was chosen by God to be saved. So the prophet who left Ahab and Jezebel in judgment was sent to this widow by divine commission. Elijah asked for some water from this woman as she was gathering sticks. Probably he surmised from her clothing that she was a widow, for widows dressed differently from others. As she went to get water, Elijah called her again and asked her to bring some bread also. She said she had no bread to give to the prophet. She said she was going to prepare two silver-dollar-sized cakes with the leftover flour and oil, one for her son and one for herself. They would eat their last little meal together and then die.

This is the miserable condition of all Adam’s descendants. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Paul says, “Sin entered the world through one man and death through sin-and in this way death came upon all men because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). For the wages of sin is death. The widow was dying, and her son was dying. But God sent his prophet all the way to Zarephath, to this widow and her son, not to conduct their funeral but to bless them with life eternal.

The widow knew that she had sinned and that God must punish her. She thought Elijah was sent by God to punish her. But the truth is that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son in the atoning death of the cross, so that those who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Yes, the wages of sin is death, but that is not the whole story. The gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

But the widow must believe and obey the prophet. Remember Naaman, the rich Syrian general? He was sinful, unclean, and leprous. He came all the way to Israel to Elisha and heard the gospel: “Go and immerse yourself seven times in the Jordan River, and you shall be healed.” Naaman refused. His pride was hurt and he became angry. He would rather go to hell than repent, believe, and be saved. A person can keep his pride and go to hell, or lose it and go to heaven.

But then something happened: Naaman changed his mind. He repented, believed, and obeyed Elisha. He went to the River Jordan, immersed himself seven times, and was healed. He went back to Syria, saved and happy to serve only the God of Israel.

Jesus spoke about Naaman and this widow, saying there were other widows and other lepers in Israel, but they were not saved (Luke 4:25-27). May that not be true in this place. God is speaking to you that you may be saved, healed, helped, and go to heaven.

After asking her for water, Elijah told the widow, “I know your situation, that you are about to die.” Then he asked her first to make a cake with all she had and give it to him, as the prophet and bearer of God’s word, for the God of the covenant, the God who saves and demands all from us.¹ In the same way, Jesus demanded all from the rich young ruler: “Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Matt. 19:21). We must lose our lives that we may possess them. Repent, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. That is the gospel. Surrender all to Jesus, and you will be saved.

So Elijah told the widow, “First make a cake with all you have and bring it to me. Then you can make all the cakes you want for yourself and your son.” Then he gave them the gospel: “For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: “˜The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land’” (v. 14). This was the word of the true, covenant God says, who cannot lie and who can be fully trusted. He tells the truth. What was the truth? “The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.” In other words, Elisha was saying, “Woman, you and your son will not die. You shall live. God has sent me to tell you that. And he is giving you life as a gift.”

The widow believed and obeyed, and she and her son were saved from death: “She went away and did as Elijah told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah” (vv. 15-16).

No one can be saved without repentance and faith. Yet the Bible says these are divine gifts, given only to elect sinners, both Jews and Gentiles. God in Jesus Christ comes to the elect, dying sinners and commands, “Live!” and they live. Elijah tested this widow, and, by grace, she passed the test. She believed and obeyed. She gave him all she had. And God gave life eternal to her and her son, as well as bread for their bodies.

God demands, “Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.” Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” He gives us eternal life but he also gives us all things that our bodies need.

Do You Have Saving Faith?

Where is the God of Elijah today? We should ask this question. Where is this miracle-working God? The answer is, he has come down from heaven in the person of his Son. He became incarnate and was born of the virgin Mary. He pleased God by doing his will in life and in death. By his death, he atoned our sins. He is our righteousness, holiness, atonement, and redemption. He is our life. Where is the God of Elijah? He is here today, and we can hear his word, just as the widow heard the word of God through Elijah. In Matthew 18:20, Jesus said, “Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” – the great I AM is in our midst.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall not die, but live forever. The God of Elijah is here today to bless us. Listen to his voice. Trust and obey him. Offer him the sacrifice of a broken spirit and a contrite heart, and he will save you. From his fullness, we receive grace upon grace.

Today I set before you life and death. Choose life. Pay attention to him, so that your peace will be like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Cry out like the publican, “Have mercy upon me, the sinner.” Cry out like blind Bartimaeus: “Jesus, son of David, have mercy upon me!” Cry out, like the dying thief from the cross: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Cry out to God, and you will enter into paradise today.

¹ J. Robert Vannoy, note on 1 Kings 17:13, in The NIV Study Bible: New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1985), 509.