During His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus spent a great deal of time in and around the city of Capernaum on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee. It was in this region that many of His mighty works were done. To the southwest of Capernaum was the village of Nain. Now, the Lord Jesus visited this village on a certain day according to this account in Luke 7; and as He entered the village, He encountered a funeral procession for a young man who had recently died. We read in verses 11 and 12, “And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.
Now when He came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.” You can just imagine the sadness of this scene! The death of a loved one is always a very sad event, but somehow I think this particular situation was especially tragic. This young man was the only son of his mother, who herself was a widow; this widow had therefore lost about everything in her world—first her husband, and now her only son. Besides this terrible loss, her very means of support was much in question given that now all the men in her family were gone. Perhaps the magnitude of this tragedy could be measured in some degree by the large number of people who accompanied her and mourned with her in this procession. It must have been a very sad day indeed for this mother, and one full of tears and uncertainty.
My dear friend, perhaps you have experienced the extreme grief and sense of loss associated with the death of a loved one. We have often heard the saying, “where there’s life, there’s hope,” but when one has died, we are powerless to help. Man has no power over death, and that fact remains true even today despite all man’s progress in science and medicine. Today, we can treat many types of life threatening conditions and extend life in certain cases. But we cannot prolong life indefinitely, and when one has died, we have no medical remedy for that. Now, death is the consequence of sin; and because all men have sinned, we are all faced with death. It was to deal with sin once and for all and to free man from the power of death that the Lord Jesus came into this world. God knew our desperate plight, lost, ruined sinners that we were, and He sent His Son. At Calvary, the Lord Jesus conquered sin which leads to death, so that we who are dead in our sins might have life through faith in him. “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?” (John 11: 25, 26).
I do not believe that the widow of Nain or anyone in the crowd expected what was about to happen; yet this woman’s sorrow was about to be turned to very great joy—she and the entire crowd were about to meet the God of resurrection! We read in verse 13, “And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.” I love to read those words: ”He had compassion on her.” God cares, and He does see and hear when His own are in distress. We read in Psalm 34:15, “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.” But sometimes I think that in the midst of deep sorrow, extreme disappointment, or desperate trials, it can seem that we are all alone in our suffering. In times of great stress, we may tend not to remember that God loves us and that He cares about our situation. Have you ever heard someone say, “where is God in this thing?,” or “Doesn’t God care?” Dear friends, we need to remember that it was the love of God which caused him to send His only begotten Son into the world to rescue us from our hopeless situation: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” (John 3:16).
In #135of the Little Flock Hymn Book, we sing,
“We joy in our God, and we sing of that love, So sovereign and free which did His heart move! When lost our condition, all ruined, undone. He saw with compassion, and spared not His Son!”
In verses 14 and 15 of our chapter, we find the Lord Jesus acting to comfort and restore: “And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.” Can you imagine the astonishment and joy of this mother as the Lord Jesus accomplished what no other man could do? This young man was dead, and up to the point where Jesus spoke to him, he could not hear the voices of those around him as the mourners wept and lamented; he could not hear the braying of a donkey, nor the clap of a cartwheel on the stony path. But he heard the voice of the Lord Jesus, and at the sound of His voice, the life of this man was restored, and he could return to his family! This reminds me of the words of the Lord Jesus in John 5:25, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” If you have placed your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, then you too will one day hear His voice and will be raised to life.
Raising someone from the dead is a great miracle, and one that did not go unnoticed by the crowd at Nain. We read in verse 16, “And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.” Can you imagine the astonishment of the crowd when they realized what the Lord Jesus had done? A man who was known by all to be dead and ready for the grave, suddenly sat up and began to speak when the Lord commanded him to arise. But who can raise the dead? Fear fell upon the crowd as they witnessed the power of God intervening in their lives in a very tangible way. I don’t know what the crowd actually understood regarding Jesus, whether they saw Him as just a great prophet, or the Son of God; but clearly they saw the mighty power of God touching them right where they lived, and they glorified God.
If you are a Christian, I’m sure you’ll agree that it is comforting to realize that the Lord Jesus, the very Son of God, saw with compassion the tears of a poor widow woman from an insignificant village in Galilee, and He acted to give relief and hope where previously there had been none. Remember, this is The same Lord Jesus who is now seated at the right hand of His Father in glory! Though it is true that he is no longer walking in this earthly scene, He yet loves His own. He knows our troubles and seeks to comfort His own. If you are a child of God, then whatever tragedies you may encounter as you walk through this world, you have the sure knowledge that the Lord Jesus knows and is ready to comfort and encourage, and to minister to you in your time of need. He is only a prayer away!
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need,” (Hebrews 4:15,16).