Hello my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
I wonder who the oldest people are that you personally know? What great lessons of wisdom have you learned from them? These days we’re traveling with Abraham, Sarah and Isaac, and yesterday we witnessed one of the most significant events in all history, in Genesis 22. Abraham had been tested by God with Isaac, and after God provided a ram in response to Abraham’s full obedience and faith, the record says “Abraham returned to his servants and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.” (Gen. 22:19)
There’s a gap of about 20 years between the end of Genesis 22 and the opening of Genesis 23 which says “Sarah lived to be 127 years old. She died in Hebron in the land of Canaan and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.” Sarah had been 90 years old when her miracle son Isaac was born to her. Thus they had 37 years together before Sarah died. Oh how wonderful those years must have been! What important, wonderful lessons mother Sarah must have taught her son Isaac? In their family travels, the record tells us Abraham had once before settled his family in Hebron, (Genesis 13:18) but that was shortly after Lot had separated from Abraham, and long before either Ishmael or Isaac had been born. I’ve often wondered why Sarah was in Hebron when she died, and it appears Abraham was down in Beersheba? Perhaps she had not been ill, had been visiting friends in Hebron, and died while she was there?
Death brings change to every family, regardless of the person’s age or cause of death, isn’t that true? The record says “Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and weep over her.” (Gen. 23:1) We don’t know how young they were when they married, but we’ve been traveling with them since Abraham was probably in his 50’s and Sarah in her 40’s, as they left Ur and traveled with Abraham’s father Terah to Haran. (Gen. 11:31) We know Abraham was 75 and Sarah 65 when they left Haran and traveled to Canaan. (Genesis 12:4) Oh my they’ve been through an awful lot as a couple and family, haven’t they? But now the inevitable comes into their family… death. This is reality for all of us isn’t it, and I see some important lessons we can learn as we step into this grieving moment for Abraham.
The record says “Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. ‘I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.” (Gen. 23:3,4) Oh my, do you hear the pain in this moment my friends? It appears Abraham is unprepared. Like many people he had to do the difficult business of funeral arrangements while grieving his dear Sarah’s death, because he evidently did not have a plan. He had not purchased a grave site before she died. Oh my friends, may I ask you a very important question right here, right now… do you have a plan? The one thing you can absolutely be sure of, with 100% certainty is… death. Yours, every member of your family, and every friend that you have will die! No one will escape death. It is the God designed end to our human journey. Our bodies will be separated from our soul & spirit when our bodies cease their normal, human function. Our soul & spirit are immortal and will continue to live for all of eternity, but our body will begin to decay the moment it ‘dies’. So I ask you, boldly and straight forward… what is your plan for your body when it dies? Evidently Abraham did not have a plan.
Genesis 23 tells us Abraham was evidently well respected by the people of Hebron and so the process of selecting a burial site for his wife, negotiating a price, paying the price and receiving the title deed to the cave and field, happened fairly quickly. Abraham was very fortunate. Too often in our day, that process can take a long time and be very complicated, with many crucial and very expensive decisions. When a plan has not been made beforehand, people often experience tremendous stress by rushing through hastily made funeral arrangement plans, and paying a very high ‘procrastination price’, which they regret for a long time. Do you know anyone who has had that painful experience? Oh friends I urge you… please make sure you make your end of life plans well before you or your family need to use those plans! And make sure you write down all the details of the plan and discuss them in detail with your family, so there are no surprises. Sadly, I’ve witnessed some terrible family feuds when the plans were not clearly understood by family and disagreements turn into relationship breaking fights!
The record says “So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre, both the field and the cave in it, was deeded to Abraham as his property… Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Hebron, in the land of Canaan…” (Gen. 23:17-20) Do you notice there is no mention of Isaac? In those days burial needed to take place very soon after death, as there was no embalming as we know it today. Thus it appears Isaac was likely way out in the fields tending to Abraham’s business and unable to receive the news and travel to Hebron quickly enough. It provides another lesson for us, doesn’t it my friends? Do you have a plan of how you will effectively spread the word when your spouse or parents or children die? Or may I ask you another important question? If you become very ill and cannot speak for yourself, do you have someone to whom you have legally given the authority to make medical or end of life care decisions on your behalf? And finally, have you given sufficient thought to the disposition of your body at the time of your death?
There are no specific instructions in God’s Word about the disposal of our decaying body after we die. Abraham laid Sarah’s body in a cave, we presume wrapped in some cloth. You’ll recall Lazarus had been similarly ‘buried’ for when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he came walking out of the cave with his body wrapped in some ‘burial cloths’. (John 11) And of course Jesus was similarly buried in a cave wrapped in burial cloths, but when Jesus arose, those cloths remained in the cave! (John 20:6,7) But do you remember what instructions Joseph gave to his physicians about the care of his father Jacob’s body at death? Joseph was second in authority in Egypt only to Pharaoh himself, so Joseph’s father Jacob was given the treatment of a high ranking, important person, with an official state funeral! The record says “So the physicians embalmed Jacob, taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming.” (Genesis 50:2,3) Then Joseph led an official procession with chariots and horsemen, and Jacob’s entire family. It was a “very large company.” And they carried Jacob’s coffin all the way from Egypt north to Hebron, to this very same place Abraham buried Sarah’s body more than 100 years before! Why you might ask?
Listen to what Jacob said to his family as his death approached: “Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried. There Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried. There I buried Leah…” (Gen. 49:29-32) This family burial site is still today regarded as a sacred place for Jews and Muslims, near the town of Hebron. So my friends, what is your plan? What are expectations in your culture, wherever you live in the world?
I believe these end of life plans you make are a very significant statement of what you hold as truth regarding God, your relationship with Jesus, your body, your soul & spirit, your eternal destiny after death. The apostle Paul twice referred to death as ‘departure‘. (Phil. 1:23; 2 Tim. 4:7,8) He wanted us to understand that at the moment of our death, our bodies remain here decaying, but the soul and spirit of a redeemed, follower of Jesus Christ, is immediately transported from earth into God’s presence in heaven. “Absent from the body but present with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8)
The disposition of our earthly body is not important, for it was designed by God as a temporary residence for our soul & spirit in our lives here on earth. Thus my dead body may well be used by medical science for research or by surgeons for organ transplants to save other lives. Or my body may be buried in the ground and decay to dust. Or my body may be incinerated in cremation.
One day my soul & spirit will receive a new, God created, eternal, heavenly body similar to that which Jesus had in His resurrection and ascension. That wonderful body is described in 1 Corinthians 15. So my friends, let’s sit with Abraham, outside the cave near Hebron where he has buried the body of his dear Sarah, and let’s ponder the wonderful promise Jesus made, outside the tomb of Lazarus. Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never perish.” (John 11:25,26) Can you celebrate this truth as your truth? Can you celebrate that Jesus is your Savior, because you have fully trusted in Him to have paid for your sins by His death? Are you confident that at the moment of your death your soul & spirit will immediately be transported by God into heaven, where you will be with Jesus for ALL eternity future?
Let’s celebrate that truth with this wonderful song my friends,
Today’s Scripture is Genesis 23.
Choose below to read or listen.
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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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