Elijah and John the Baptist both provided the bread of life for those without means

Part 2...1 Kings 17:8-16

Christ Jesus said, “And if you are willing to receive it, [John the Baptist] is Elijah who is to come.” Matthew 11:14

God sent Elijah to a place where a widow would provide him with food and water to help him survive through the severe drought. When Elijah came to the gate of the city, he saw the widow whom God spoke about. At this time, Elijah asked her to bring him some water and a small piece of bread. In terms of the Spirit, a widow is one whose provider of the word of God, for nourishment of the spirit and soul, has died. In the times of John the Baptist, the widows were the Jewish people because the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes were dead as providers of the word of God. We can envision John the Baptist asking these widows for bread and water, meaning to ask to receive something of their faith in the living God to encourage and nourish his own spirit and soul.

The widow said to Elijah that she did not have bread, but only some flour, a little bit of oil, and that was only enough to keep her and her son alive. The widow didn’t have any bread already made, but she did have a tiny bit of flour and oil to make some bread. We can envision that the answer given to John the Baptist, when asking to see the faith of the Jewish people, was the same. They didn’t have the Bread already made to feed their spirit and soul, but they did have the ingredients necessary to make bread. John the Baptist, like Elijah, would have the widow to mix the ingredients together, which would become the Bread of Life to feed their spirit and soul and keep them alive to God.

In a sense, the flour represents the Old Testament scriptures, and the oil represents the Holy Spirit. When the Old Testament is mixed with the Holy Spirit, we see Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, who nourishes and brings life to our spirit and soul. The Jewish people had the Old Testament, and they had the Holy Spirit filled preaching and teaching of John the Baptist to lead them to Jesus Christ.

Elijah said to the widow to prepare bread as she said she was going to do for her and her son. Elijah also said to the widow that a small cake of bread should be made for him first. This is like John the Baptist who said to those who came to him that they must first bring fruits worthy of repentance, “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance…” Matthew 3:8 After that, then Elijah said to the widow to make bread for her and her son. Like Elijah, John the Baptist was teaching people obedience to God, to love Him, and to love others as themselves, and John said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30 Elijah said to the woman that she would have an inexhaustible supply of Bread, and it would endure until the rain came again. These words are spoken about the ministry of John the Baptist, “Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” Luke 3:5-6

Jesus Christ is the successor of John the Baptist, “And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” John 6:35

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“Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ ”

So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.

1 Kings 17:8-16