SIGN OF DRAMATIC REDEMPTION (v. 7)
As a sign, this miracle of the widow's oil points to something. It bespeaks of something more dramatic than this miracle that sets the widow free from her debt and sustains her life. For this miracle anticipates the complete redemption of God's people from all kinds of bondage and slavery unto life.
At this point in the story Elisha is back in the scene. He is called the man of God (v.7). The widow came to him and told him about the abundant provision of oil. We are not told, young boys and girls, how happy she was as she reports back to Elisha that his word came true. But we can just imagine how glad and joyful she and her sons would have been. Tears of joy could have flowed from her eyes knowing that she's not going to lose her two young boys anymore.
Elisha further instructed her to go and sell the oil and pay her debts. He assures her that the remaining amount from the sales will take care of her and her sons to stay alive and out of debt. He says, “You and your sons can live on what is left.” Elisha, in his office as the prophet of God, speaking to the widow, prefigures the prophetic work of our Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 1:14-15; Matt 4:12-17; 5-7) who is the living Word and the One who speaks the living word of life.
Through this miraculous provision of oil, the widow was not only saved from further anguish caused by the creditor's threat of slavery. She was also saved from sure hunger and eventual death. In other words, she was not only delivered from debt and slavery, she also was given a new life. She was about to lose everything – children, house, future, even life. No one was willing to redeem her.
So in performing this miracle, God once again has fulfilled His promise that He would defend the cause of the fatherless and the widow (Deut 10:18). Moreover, God has literally became a kinsman redeemer to the widow and her sons. The debt they could not pay was paid by the Lord. When no relative has claimed and helped her, God has assumed the role of the kinsman redeemer for her. Now she's free and alive. What a deliverance!
Maybe some of you have experienced some difficult times in life you couldn't see a way out. But I'm pretty sure you can testify how the Lord has provided you the way out. Each of us has our own story of deliverance by the Lord. Those stories are signs of God's divine power and grace.
This story of God’s miraculous provision causing the widow to be released from debt portrays a more dramatic redemption that God has effected in our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know that God also became our kinsman redeemer? When He came as flesh and blood in the person of His Son Jesus Christ God has redeemed us from debt. The late Dr. Raymond Dillard was right when he says, “The greatest debt we all have is the mortgage on our soul. It is a debt we cannot pay. But God can pay it. He has paid it by giving his own Son as a ransom for our souls.” In Christ, we are brought into God's kingdom debt-free. Now God calls us to live in that freedom, in faith and obedience to His word.
Praise the Lord that through Jesus Christ He continues to supply our every need (Phil 4.19). He will never fail to add the blessings of His kingdom to those who seek it (Matt 6.33). In fact, He will cause His kingdom blessings to abound in us as we remain in Him (John 15.7). The widow and her sons have experienced a foretaste of that abundance in the kingdom of God, just as you and I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good.
But the fullness of it is yet to come when Christ the King returns. Through our Lord Jesus Christ God is going to effect the most dramatic redemption of all: the fullness of redemption of the elect, the bride of Christ. When Christ comes again, all the people of God would revel in the super-abundance of God's blessings and provisions in the new heaven and the new earth. Aren’t you excited of that? No more sin, no more sufferings. No more threat and terror. No more death. There is only life, life in its fullness in the presence of our triune God.
But as we wait for His glorious appearing LET US continue to walk in the way of faith, loving God and doing good to our neighbor.
You know what, I may not be able to live and see the freedom of our country from corruption, exploitation and idolaty. That dream might just remain as it is – a dream. But the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to take His people with Him and to bring them to His kingdom of glory and bliss, free from any bondage, is no dream. It is going to happen! And I know it's going to happen for He who has promised these things is faithful. And He will do it by His power and for His glory. May God find faith in us now and at His coming.
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