What a sad day when the prophet Elisha died and was buried. But then, miracles can still happen, even after someone has passed away.
How is this possible?
“Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.” 2 Kings 13:21 (NIV)
This is not an everyday occurrence, but this man was truly dead and he was resurrected, all because his dead body touched Elisha’s bones. How is this possible?
Elisha was a man dedicated to God. He knew our Heavenly Father personally. Within his bones, the presence of the Holy Spirit was still present. After all, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Romans 8:11 (NIV) The Holy Spirit is the One who “Raised Jesus from the dead”.
If a dead bone from a holy man can resurrect a dead body, how much more this is possible through the death of Jesus on the cross! “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live.” John 11:25 (ASV) His death and resurrection assures us of our resurrection. It’s now our reality! “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” Romans 8:16-17 (NIV) But that Elisha. Resurrections don’t happen today… Or do they? Consider this true story about the railway engineer who died, confirmed by seven doctors:
“Ask Doctor Blanchard who relates the testimony of a railway engineer who lay dead in a hospital; rigor mortis gripped his corpse.
Doctors and nurses consoled his wife, as she knelt by his death-bed.
After a few hours they tried to persuade her to leave the dead husband and go home, but she refused. They didn’t realize this woman wasn’t grieving as she knelt by the bed, …she was believing God!
Here’s what she said…
‘No, he is not dead. He cannot be dead. I have prayed for him for twenty-seven years and God has promised me that he should be saved. Do you think God would let him die now after I have prayed twenty-seven years and God has promised me that he should be saved? Do you think God would let him die now after I have prayed for him for twenty-seven years and God has promised, and he is not saved?’
‘Well,’ the doctor replied, ‘I do not know anything about that, but I know that he is dead.’
The dead man testified later:
“To satisfy my wife, other physicians were brought, one after another, until seven were about the cot, and each one of them as he came up and made the examination confirmed the testimony of all who had preceded. The seven doctors said that I was dead.
Meanwhile my wife was kneeling by the side of my cot, insisting that I was not dead–that if I were dead God would bring me back, for He had promised her that I should be saved and I was not yet saved.
By and by her knees began to pain her, kneeling on the hard hospital floor. She asked the nurse for a pillow and the nurse brought her a pillow upon which she kneeled. One hour, two hours, three hours passed. The screen still stood by the cot. I was lying there still, apparently dead. Four hours, five hours, six hours, seven hours, thirteen hours passed, and all this while my wife was kneeling by the cot-side, and when people remonstrated and wished her to go away she said: ‘No, he has to be saved. God will bring him back if he is dead. He is not dead. He cannot die until he is saved.’
At the end of thirteen hours I opened my eyes, and she said: ‘What do you wish, my dear?’ And I said: ‘I wish to go home,’ and she said: ‘You shall go home.’ But when she proposed it, the doctors raised their hands in horror. They said, ‘Why, it will kill him. It will be suicide.’ She said: ‘You have had your turn. You said he was dead already. I am going to take him home.’
‘I weigh now 246 pounds. I still run a fast train on the Pennsylvania Lines. I have been out to Minneapolis on a little vacation, telling men what Jesus can do, and I am glad to tell you what Jesus can do.”
Testimony reproduced from the book: John R. Rice, “Prayer–Asking and Receiving,” Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1942, pp. 269, 270.
May we always remember that nothing is impossible for our Heavenly Father. We have a glorious future waiting for us!
Rob Chaffart
(To access the entire “The Witness” devotional series, please click here.)