Luke 7 | The Long-Awaited Messiah
Pop quiz: before Jesus came, how many people do we know were raised from the dead?
Let’s see:
1. In 1 Kings 17, Elijah raised a widow’s son.
2. In 2 Kings 4, Elisha raised a wealthy woman’s son.
3. In 2 Kings 13, an unnamed man sprung back to life in a very strange way! After his body was tossed into the grave of Elisha, his body touched Elisha’s bones, and he “revived and stood on his feet”! (2 Kings 13:21)
So the answer? Three. All of them connected with the great prophets, Elijah and Elisha.
Then 800 years went by with no other reports of the dead being raised.
Until, we read in Luke 7, a man in the town of Nain, dies.
As Jesus came upon the procession, He was moved with compassion on the grieving widowed mother. So He spoke a word and the dead man just sat right up! And started talking!
The crowd makes the appropriate connection, “…‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’”
Indeed, a prophet! But more than a great prophet. This was the promised Prophet foretold by Moses all the way back in Deuteronomy 18.
Meanwhile, a Roman centurion picked up on something else. He recognized Jesus as having authority over life and death; the authority of a King.
And the sinful woman at the Pharisee's house? She, too, saw something special in Jesus. She poured an expensive gift on His feet as she wiped them with her hair and wept before Him.
Then Jesus, Prophet and King, did something else: He forgave this woman her sins, and pronounced a blessing of peace upon her, just as the priests of old did for the people of Israel in Numbers 6:23.
Prophet, Priest, and King. The long-awaited Messiah was finally here!
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen…” Deuteronomy 18:15
“Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!” Isaiah 26:19
“Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Luke 7:22–23.