Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Funerals are amazing events and they differ widely in cultures around the world, don’t they? Regardless of their differences, every society in the world places a very high priority on honoring people when they die. Have you discovered how spiritually powerful funerals can be, as everyone present is of course focused on considering the most important questions about life and death!! Today, let’s look at one of the most amazing end of life accounts in the Bible.
Genesis 49 is the record of Jacob calling each of his 12 sons, one a time, to come before him as Jacob spoke words over them which summarized their life and defined their future. If you read through this chapter you’ll be amazed to see the length and generosity of Jacob’s words over his two sons Judah and Joseph, but Jacob’s brevity and sometimes harsh words over his other sons. I wonder how this chapter compares with the customs of dying in your society? In your culture does the Patriarch or Matriarch gather their family together and speak such words over each son or daughter, before they die?
Were such words spoken over you? Are you even now planning final words you will speak over your children near the end of your life? Last words are long lasting in their impact and memory, aren’t they?! May I ask if you have considered writing down on paper what you plan to speak over your family, just in case death comes to you unexpectedly? If you do, then at least there will be a written record which can be given to your children. May I urge you to consider doing so for your grandchildren as well? Believe me, your descendants will cherish your final words spoken or written!
The Genesis record says Jacob then called his sons around him to give them final instructions: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite in the cave… which Abraham bought as a burial place… There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah.” (Gen. 49:29-32) I find it interesting my friends, that in Jacob’s farewell and his final instructions he takes no responsibility for his large family still being in Egypt, even though the famine which brought them there ended 12 years before! Nor does Jacob challenge his sons to pack up and move their families back to Canaan, re-settling in their God-given homeland, after they bury Jacob there. Oh Mr. Jacob, once again you failed to provide the leadership your family desperately needed from you.
And then the record says: “When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people. Joseph threw himself upon his father and wept over him… Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed Jacob, taking a full 40 days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for Jacob for 70 days.” (Gen. 49:33-50:3) This gives us a glimpse into the influence of Joseph among the officials of Egypt and the extreme to which he went to honor his father. You’ll notice Jacob had made no specific request of his sons regarding the treatment of his body after his death, only that his body be buried with his ancestors. This causes me to raise two or three very important questions today, which I want to invite you to consider, my global friends.
First... what will be the value of your body after you die? What are your plans for disposition of your body at death?
Customs vary widely around the world. From God’s perspective, there are no specific instructions given to us in the Bible regarding the appropriate care of or disposal of a person’s body after they die. This extreme embalming process, which Joseph planned for his father Jacob, should not be understood as a Biblical model or pattern. It was a decision made by Joseph as an expression of his high regard for his father. God has designed our human bodies as amazing, remarkable creations, but their primary purpose is to house our soul & spirit which God has made to be immortal, only while we live on earth. While our bodies age and die, our soul & spirit will live forever, no longer encumbered or limited by our ageing body. Once our bodies die, our bodies have virtually no purpose or value except perhaps for organ transplant donation or medical research. Thus disposition of our bodies may be as simple and unceremonial as you desire. Eventually all dead bodies decay back to the dust which God used to form the first man, Adam. When the final resurrection takes place, God doesn’t need anything remaining of your earthly body to form a heavenly body! (1 Cor. 15)
God has designed us to know that He exists and to pursue a relationship with Him while we are alive! God has made it possible that our evil sin, which separates us from Him, can be removed from us by the atonement death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. (John 3:16; Romans 3:23) Thus God has designed us to live in a wonderful relationship with Him, while we are alive here on earth, and then to enjoy an ongoing relationship with God in heaven for all eternity. This is all made possible through our trust in Jesus Christ to be our Savior and our Lord. (John 5:24; Ephesians 2:1-9) At the moment of our death, if we have trusted Jesus to be our Savior, our soul and spirit immediately go to heaven to be with God, leaving our then useless body behind, to decay after death. (Phil. 1:23, 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:8)
Second: What plan do you have for communicating to your family and friends, the desire you have for the distribution of all your assets, and the communication to them of your most important values and beliefs? The mechanisms for this differ by society and culture, but their importance is vital my friends.
Have you given sufficient thought to what you believe will be the best use of ALL that you own when you are no longer alive? May I ask if you have a plan that will continue your legacy by distributing your assets so they will be used for God’s glory and the advancement of what you believe will be for the greatest benefit of humanity? Have you prepared some method of communicating to your family and friends, the most important lessons you’ve learned in your lifetime and an explanation as to your greatest values in life? May I especially ask if you have a plan for explaining to your family and your closest friends what your most important spiritual beliefs are, especially your beliefs about Jesus Christ, and the basis of your confidence for where you will be after your body dies?
Genesis 50 tells us Joseph requested permission from the Pharaoh to honor his father’s wishes and take Jacob’s body back to Canaan and make certain that his body was buried in the family cave which his great grandfather Abraham had purchased. The Pharaoh agreed and please notice the description of the funeral procession: “All Pharaoh’s officials accompanied Joseph…besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household…. Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company.” (Gen. 50:7-9) Jacob was not royalty, but his funeral was a royal funeral. In fact I find no other such funeral described in the Bible for a person who was not royalty. Not even Moses or Peter or Paul or Daniel or even Joseph himself when he finally died! It’s important friends that we understand this opulent funeral had not been instructed by God, nor was it because Jacob was a great man. It was the choice of one son, Joseph, in his desire to honor his father from whom he had been forcibly separated for 22 years.
This raises for us today a third and final question: What desire do you have for your family and friends as they honor your death and remember your life?
Again cultures differ widely in the practices which celebrate a person’s life after they die. I have found when a plan has not been made, often family members find themselves in debate and too often disagreement, trying to make a plan. Also, they often spend extreme amounts of money that they would not have spent, had they discussed and developed a plan well before death.
May I strongly urge you my friends… make a plan, a good plan, and discuss it in detail with your family so they have a good understanding of how you’d like your death to be managed by those you leave. What legacy would you like to leave when your earthly journey ends?
Genesis 50 tells us Jacob’s ornately embalmed body was taken by extravagant procession the long distance from Egypt to Canaan and buried as he requested, in the simple cave, the family burial plot. And then this statement: “After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all others who had gone with him to bury his father.” (Gen. 50:14) Do you see the significance of this statement my friends? After all that is involved in the death, and the disposition of a person’s dead body, and the distribution of their assets, life goes on for everyone else. When finally your family and friends have completed the process, however laborious or simple, for dealing with all the details of your death… life will go on for them! The big question is HOW will life for them be different AFTER you are dead and gone? How will your life have impacted all your family and friends while you were alive, and what will they have learned about you in the process of your dying?
May I leave you today with the challenge to think deeply about these things and make a good, God honoring, detailed plan…and then discuss your plan with your family and closest friends so the time of your death will be as Paul describes his in 2 Timothy 4:7,8 “The time for my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord Jesus, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but to all who have longed for His appearing.”
Oh my friends, I urge you. . . make a God honoring, end of life plan, and communicate it clearly to your family! It will help you live with confidence that when God decides the time is right, your departure may be one of the most significant times of your entire life and legacy!
Today’s Scripture is Genesis 49:1-50:14.
Choose below to read or listen.
Genesis 49
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Genesis 50:1-14
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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