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“Burial”
Here in the United States it seems as though we bury everything. On almost every day of the year we bury tons and tons of garbage. Furthermore, we bury our loved ones every day of the year. Let us consider the word “burial” for this article. When did the act of burying our loved ones or enemies first begin? The first recorded evidence of a “burial” in the Bible is that Abel. Of course we are aware that Cain slew his brother Abel. Now that Abel was dead what could he do with the lifeless body? Cain certainly did not want the rest of the family to know what had happened to Abel. He decided to bury Abel’s body in the ground! Gen 4:9 - 10 “And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? 10And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.” Our all knowing God knew exactly what Cain had done, Cain could not hide his sin from God. Why did God ask these questions of Cain if He knew what had been done? Could it be that God wanted Cain to confess his sin? Since the death of Cain was probably the first death this is also the first “burial” of a human body. We should also note that the very words of God testify that the body of Cain was buried in the ground as God said that Abel’s “blood crieth unto me from the ground”. Where we are buried is important to some: Gen 50:5 “My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.” Jacob, the father of Joseph made Joseph swear that he would not bury him in Egypt as he wanted to be “buried” in his home land where his family had been buried. I find it of interest to learn from God’s Word that the family of all the deceased attended the burial” Gen 50:8 “And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.” A sad day in my life was the day I was asked to do a graveside memorial. The deceased was from Springfield, Mo. and was buried at Harrisonville. There were only a hand full there and it really bothered me. I recall another gospel preacher being very troubled after doing a funeral for an elderly lady and the only people present were the pallbearers. But then as we consider the burial of Abel we realize that the only person present at his burial was his murderer. Again referring to the Bible we learn that often friends attend the burial: Luke 7:12 “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.” Of course this is done to show respect to the deceased but it also is a comfort to the survivors. If the departed has been a faithful Christian it indeed can be a joyous time; he is in heaven! Perhaps you are wondering why I chose this topic for our bulletin article. Allow me to explain. I use to say I don’t care what happens to my dead body. Do what ever you want to with it. My motive for such a comment was that I knew once the soul had departed from the body it is of no value. Although I have expounded on where the bodies are buried [in the ground] and that the burial was attended by family and friends none of the actions expounded on can have any effect on the salvation of the soul. Only what has been done while we are alive affects where the soul will spend eternity. Friends, there is one burial that will definitely make a difference. Of course I’m speaking of being buried in Christ. Rom 6:3 - 7 “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7For he that is dead is freed from sin.” If you desire to be free from sin this is one burial you must partake of.
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