The cry for salvation by this widow woman came into the ears of the prophet Elisha during the days of the Kings.
“The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.” Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” “Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.””
2 Kings 4:1-2 NIV
The days of the ministry of the prophet Elisha were a prophetic pointer to the New Testament times. Elisha moved in a double portion of the anointing of the prophet Elijah. In his days salvation was preached to both the children of Israel (represented by this widow woman and her sons) and to the Gentiles ( represented by Naaman the Syrian Army General who was healed of leprosy).
When our Lord Jesus Christ came in the flesh, he walked in the fear of God , he always did all those things which pleased the father and preached the Good News of the Kingdom of God. He had to go to the cross to pay the debt of sin that he did not owe. The debt that was left upon all humanity by Adam. God in his abundant mercy, did not leave us without hope, but left us with a promise that Christ was going to come in the flesh, and through his death on the cross, defeat sin in the flesh and pay off all our debt by his precious blood.
The Old Testament prophets had preached the coming of the Messiah in Israel, the Spirit had spoken through Moses and said:
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.”
Deuteronomy 18:15 NIV
The prophet Joel had also prophesied of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the last days:
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” Joel 2:28-29 KJV
We see in the story of this widow woman and her sons how we all inherited the debt of sin from the first Adam who died a long time ago in the Garden of Eden. As a result we were taken captive by the devil and were enslaved in all kinds of sin . We had no way of ever paying back the huge debt of righteousness we owed to God ( the creditor) . In other words , ‘there is nothing in my house’ that I could ever pay to God for the redemption and the forgiveness of my sin. This widow was humble enough to admit her status of inadequacy before God.
The widow woman believed and carefully followed the word of God as spoken by the prophet :
“She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.””
2 Kings 4:7 NIV
Now the jar of oil this woman had in her house represents Christ the anointed one. He also represents all the other vessels of oil that the widow woman sold to purchase the redemption of herself and her two sons. Jesus is also represented in the alabaster box of expensive ointment that was broken and his fragrance fills his church. He is the oil that is poured out into each one of us as we are filled with all the fullness of Christ , the anointing of the Holy Spirit that fills every child of God. Judas Iscariot had demanded that the alabaster box of ointment be sold and the money given to the poor. Yes, Christ paid with his precious blood and poor sinners like you and me were saved.
We have become the adopted sons, we are like the vessels that this woman borrowed from her neighbours. We were once strangers to the word of God and could not partake in his promises, being gentiles in the flesh. But through the broken body of Jesus, this enmity was broken and we were adopted into God’s own family, sealed by the Holy Spirit unto eternal life.
We were freed from the bondage of sin and we are now his very own people, that he bought for a price. The question asked by the Psalmist on our behalf was answered in Christ:
“Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me— those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches? No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them— the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough— so that they should live on forever and not see decay.” Psalms 49:5-9 NIV
Glory to Jesus our Redeemer “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” Titus 2:14 NIV