This post is based on Genesis 23 thus making it best understood after reading that passage.
As human beings, our mortality is an inescapable reality of our existence.
Death is something that surrounds us, our entire lives. Everyday thousands of people around the world are born, and thousands of people die. The indiscriminate reality of life is that we all will die. It could be at a ripe old age, after a long life, such as Sarah, or it could be before we acquire a wrinkle in our skin. Death is coming for us all, and no one knows when it is coming for them.
You would think that the universal truth of our mortality would cause every single person to give great attention to becoming ready to die. You would think that every person in the world would seek the truth about what happens when we die. While there are many people who rightly pursue peace and knowledge in this area, the strange reality is that many, many people – particularly in our western culture – do not give nearly enough thought toward death. Instead of preparing for death, the way of our culture is to not talk about it, to not think about it, to try and ignore it, or just kick the can down the road in whatever way they can.
As we enter into the Genesis 23 of Abraham’s life we are faced with the reality of death, as Abraham experiences the loss of his beloved wife, Sarah.
The blessed thing for us is that the Biblical worldview answers these questions and considerations. The Gospel answers these concerns.
Explanation of the text
Before we look more at Sarah’s death, we must notice the events that take place proceeding her death. After Sarah’s death, and after a time of mourning, Abraham begins to look around for a place to bury his wife, of course. Specifically he wants some land that he can buy. Let us remember that Abraham, was a wanderer, a sojourner; he was a foreigner in this land. He was a nomad, he had no home, no land of his own to call home, or to call his own.
So Abraham goes around asking for some land, or a cave, or a tomb, some burial place to buy. In verse 6, the Hittites say to Abraham, “Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.” So these people, in the land of Canaan, had great respect for Abraham, and they begin to offer up their tombs for Abraham to use. But Abraham, though honored by this, wants to buy a tomb for his own. And so we see that Abraham does find a guy that will sell him some land with a cave to bury his wife.
The Significance of Abraham Purchasing Land After a Life of Sojourning in the Land of the Canaanites
All of this could seem like a pointless detail of the story of Abraham that doesn’t seem to matter to us today or apply to our lives. It’s an entire chapter describing Abraham’s endeavor to buy a piece of land. But this is not insignificant. There is significance in Abraham actually purchasing and owning land after a life of sojourning as a stranger in the land of Canaan. How is that significant? If you remember, way, way, back in Genesis 15, God promised to give Abraham this land. This land that Abraham bought was part of the Promised Land. Now obviously the full fulfillment of that promise was not to come at this time, but this is just a step in that direction. It’s a little hint from God to Abraham that He will indeed keep his promise. It is a little foreshadowing of that promise’s fulfillment.
In purchasing this land to bury his wife, Sarah, I believe that Abraham is showing faith in the promises of God, and particularly the land promise. Abraham is buying land in the midst of the land that God promised to him. He is trusting that because of that promise, the tomb for his wife will remain there in his land for generations to come. So I believe that this is not merely a land and money transaction, but this is an act of faith on the part of Abraham. If my belief is right, this gives us a little hint here that Abraham had a hope beyond death. He had a faith and a hope in God that kept him from giving way to despair at the death of his beloved wife.
A Sojourner
In verse 4 Abraham calls himself a “sojourner and a foreigner.” As we mentioned, Abraham was nomadic, moving from place to place. Abraham’s life of sojourning was not just how his life was; his life of being a sojourner is something that we all as Christians can relate to, and actually, in a way, participate in.
Abraham to Israel to Jesus to Believers
Abraham sojourned, living a life of faith in God, waiting on God to fulfill His promises to him. In the same way, the nation of Israel spent many years as foreigners – sojourning in a foreign land. In fact, back in Genesis 15, God told Abraham that that would be the case. But Abraham’s life of sojourning was not meant to merely picture the way of the Israelites. Years later when the promised seed would finally come, He would be a sojourner as well. Jesus said in Matthew 8v20, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Jesus lived his life as a sojourner, when He began His earthly ministry. He travelled from place to place, preaching and doing many miracles. Yet He had no home; no place to lay His head.
So it follows that if our father in the faith, Abraham, the chosen people of Israel, and our Lord Himself were all sojourners in this world, then we are today, as God’s people. As Christians, who are citizens of a heavenly kingdom, this world is not our home. We may live here, but it is not our home. We are foreigners in this world. We are simply sojourners in this land.
Even more, this concept of sojourning helps us understand not only this life, but also death. This life isn’t forever, we are just sojourning here. We’ve been promised life, but not this life. We’ve been promised the next life. Jesus gave up His life, because He knew that His life here was not ultimate. When we understand that we are but sojourners, that this life is not ultimate, then death is not something that we must fear. In fact, we become able to die; we become ready to die.
Ultimately, all of this surrounds the event of Sarah’s death. Why a chapter dedicated to this?
Ultimately, all of these events in chapter 23 is because of, and surrounding the event of Sarah’s death. One thing that this signifies is the legacy that Sarah left. If Sarah were unimportant the details surrounding her death would not be mentioned.
Sarah’s legacy of faith
Sarah left quite a legacy of faith. She left a life that is marked by the sheer, unmerited grace of God in her life that worked faith in her. Her life shows us the struggles, pains, doubts, and victories that are all involved in living a life of faith in the promises of God. Her life is documented in the great faith chapter of Hebrews 11, where it says, “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.” (Hebrews 11v11). Oh to have that faith, that gift of God that considers Him faithful who has promised! That is the life we strive to live.
Despite all of her flaws, her doubting, her laughter, her insufficiencies, her deceit, she was a woman of faith. She believed God and what He promised. All of her sin was covered by Christ. The Lord blessed her with 127 years of life. That’s a long time. What a life. It is only fitting that the woman who is the matriarch of our faith, who is spoken highly of in the New Testament, have an entire chapter documenting her death and the events surrounding it.
God Cares for us in Dying
What’s more about the significance of an entire chapter dedicated to Sarah’s death, is that it teaches us that God cares for us in our dying. He cares about His saints that die, and He cares about those who are survived by their loved ones; in this case it is Abraham, Sarah’s husband.
We have many verses throughout the Bible that tell us how God cares for us in this life, how He is near to the brokenhearted, how He comforts the afflicted, how He provides for our needs. But the Lord doesn’t just care for our life, He cares for us in death also. Psalm 116v15 is such a sweet verse, it says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” The world doesn’t care much for us when we die, but Jesus does.
Our death is not sweet to the Lord in a psychopathic type of way in which God enjoys watching people die. Far from that nonsense. Rather, it is sweet to Him in that we get to be with Him, face to face. It is sweet to him in that our life of sojourning in this world is over and we are called home. It is sweet to Him in that our faith becomes sight. It is sweet to Him in that we have finished the race. It is sweet to Him in that He gets to be with us, fully. Do you ever think about how it is not just us who long to one day be with the Lord, but that the Lord longs to one day be with us, fully?
Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His saints, the Scripture says. We might take Genesis 23 for granted. We might be tempted to think that Genesis 23 contains nothing for us. But Genesis 23 is precious to the Lord because the death of Sarah was precious in the eyes of the Lord. If this event was and is precious to the Lord, it should be precious to us. For the Christian, death is not God forsaking us; it is God receiving us into His presence. Or it is God giving our spouse or loved one, everything that He promised to them.
Yet, We Still Mourn Death (Abraham Mourned and Wept)
Despite the fact that “precious in the eyes of the Lord are the death of His saints,” we still mourn. The death of our spouse or loved one, may not be precious to us, in that moment, or in this life. The Scripture says in verse 2 that “Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.” Mourning and weeping are not words that even today we throw around lightly. These are intense words of anguish. Even for someone of great faith like Abraham, death is an event that can gnaw at the deepest emotions of our soul.
Mourning, weeping, and grieving, are not bad things, they are certainly not sinful. It is perfectly natural, and right to properly grieve, and particularly to grieve death. Romans 12v15 tells us to “weep with those who weep.” Of course we know famously that Jesus wept. He did so at the death of Lazarus, his friend.
But We Don’t Grieve as Those Who Have no Hope (1 Thess. 4)
Christians grieve death, but we do not grieve as those who have no hope. 1 Thessalonians 4v13-14, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.” The chapter goes on describing the return of the Lord and then at the end of the chapter it says, “Therefore, encourage one another with these words.” Ladies and Gentlemen, 1 Thessalonians 4v13 tells us that Christians do “not grieve as others do who have no hope.” For we believe Jesus died and rose again. It doesn’t say that we don’t grieve. It says we don’t grieve as others do, who have no hope. It is saying that Christians grieve with hope. Particularly we grieve with hope in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and that all those who are in Him, are kept in Him. The presence of pain and grief does not signify a lack of faith. In fact, proper grieving, grieving with hope in Jesus reveals a great work of faith in us.
What did Abraham do in his mourning? He did not grieve as the Hittites grieved over their loved ones. He grieved with hope, and he showed us this by purchasing land to bury his dead in the land that he knew God promised to eventually give him.
Why do we Bury the Dead? To Signify that we Hope for Resurrection
In his commentary on Genesis, John Calvin talks about how Abraham displayed faith in God by simply burying his wife. He said that Abraham gave proof that he had hope of resurrection by burying Sarah. Now, I wouldn’t say that cremation is necessarily wrong or sinful, and certainly not that it could somehow affect the eternal state of that person. However, there is a reason that Christians in particular have historically buried the bodies of their dead, beginning here with Abraham, our father in the faith. Why do we bury the dead? To signify that we hope for resurrection. We do so to show that we believe in resurrection, and that our Lord was buried and experienced bodily resurrection on the third day. Even our burials are a gospel opportunity and a gospel witness to those who do not have hope, and encouragement to those who do.
Sin, the Reason we Experience Death
For the Christian, death is an opportunity to say that sin is the reason we experience death, and that the wages of sin is death. The universality of death is due to the universality of sin. Why does everyone have to die? Because we are all sinners. This is one reason death is a sad thing. Death is a recognition or a reminder that we are all sinners. Why do good people die? They don’t. Sinners die.
As a child I would spend many nights terrified, unable to sleep, because I was afraid to die. I would have thoughts and dreams of going to hell, burning, and seeing the devil. It tormented me for many years of my childhood. Some people today will attribute that to the “Left Behind” scare culture of the church at that time and call it bad, and say that I should never have had to experience those fears. I have my issues with the Left Behind scare culture, but I reject that. I attribute what I experienced as a child, at least in part, to the Holy Spirit.
Why was I afraid of dying as a child? Because of my sin. Because I knew what the punishment for sin was. Because I believed (and still do) that Hell is real. Some preachers today refuse to preach about Hellfire and damnation because they don’t want to scare people or be labeled a “fire and brimstone” preacher. (But insofar as Christ is proclaimed “fire and brimstone” preaching is actually quite biblical). But a serious assessment of our culture should make us believe that maybe what we need is more unbelievers terrified of eternal flames! Maybe we need more unbelievers tormented by the wages of sin! It’s not a scare tactic, it’s the truth. Biblical warnings are meant to be declared and heeded.
Throughout history, the Holy Spirit pierced the consciousness of sinners with the reality of hell, thus bringing them to comfort in Christ. He still does this. Let the piercing of our consciences drive us to Christ, who was pierced for our transgressions.
Back in our text we saw that Sarah died. Abraham mourned for her. He bought land and buried her. And she stayed there, dead. Later Abraham joined her. And later their son Isaac joined them. But years and years later a descendent from Sarah would live and die, and be buried, placed in a tomb, but He wouldn’t stay there. He would get up, three days after dying, and walk.
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ
The answer to our fears of death is the death of Christ because the answer to our sin problem is the death of Christ. Even more so we can say that the answer to our fear of dying is the reality that Jesus died, but didn’t stay dead. The answer to our fear of death is that Jesus is alive, alive today. The answer to our fear of judgment is that Jesus was judged for us. The answer to our fear of pain is that Jesus has removed death’s stinger, he has defanged death’s bite. It will still bite us, but it won’t hurt us.
The Lord Jesus, when He died, bearing the sins of his people, was bit by death, but death wasn’t ready for a God-Man that would bite back. Jesus bit back so that “Death was swallowed up in Victory” as 1 Corinthians 15v54 says. I love the vision that John sees of Jesus in Revelation 1: “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.’” “Fear not!” Jesus says. Jesus died, and behold! Behold He is alive forever more! And he holds the keys of death and hades in His hands! Our Lord is all powerful, He beat death. Jesus put death to death for the believer. Jesus died for our sins, under the wrath of God, was buried, resurrected from the dead, thus putting death to death burying death in it’s tomb, sealing the grave, and taking the keys for it never to come back and haunt us again. This is the victory of Christ! How can a Christian fear death when this is the guy that we follow? “Fear not” Jesus says, “For I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive.”
The gospel prepares us to die, because it promises us resurrection. Jesus makes us ready to die, because in Him we know that we will rise again. Christ comforts us in death because he removes our fears. On his deathbed, the Puritan Richard Baxter was asked how he was. He replied, “I am almost well.” There is no comfort for the soul, there is no cure for our fears, there is no remedy for death like the blood of our Lord Jesus, and His Spirit that walks us through the doors of death holding on to the hand of Christ.
If you ever experience the death of your spouse who is a believer, just know that they’re okay. They have been escorted by Christ Himself through doors of death and into the full presence of God. While it is painful for you, the Spirit of Christ remains with you, believer, to carry you the rest of the way. This is a great balm for the soul, that because of Jesus, death can do us no harm.
1 Thess. 5v9-10, Christ “died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.”
Perhaps the greatest comfort in death is that we will be with Christ. In fact, scripture tells us that the greatest comfort is that in death we will actually live with Christ. As I mentioned, when I was a child I feared death and hell, and the punishment for my sin. But oh what a promise and a comfort 1 Thessalonians 5v9-10 is for me today and for all who are in Christ. It says this, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” Our Lord Jesus Christ died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live him. That is our promise; that we will be with him. For the Christian, death is good because it means life with Jesus.
Sarah, though she died, she, right now, at this very moment, is alive. She is with Christ in the presence of God experiencing pleasures and joy forevermore. Her reward is so far beyond all the struggles and doubts and waiting and trusting that she went through in her life.
Our comfort in death is this, that whether we are awake or asleep, Jesus died for us so that we might live with Him. Therefore we do not grieve as others do who have no hope.
It is interesting that God designed it so that the cross, the place of Christ’s greatest discomfort and torment, is where we find our greatest comfort and our torments are put to rest. Jesus died for our sin there, He took God’s wrath for our sin there, He took our punishment, our pain, He beat death, He rose again, and lives to comfort us, to pray for us, and when we pass through the waves of death, we will find ourselves on the shore of eternal life in the presence of Jesus Himself. There our battered and bruised bodies will hear those words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant” – just as Sarah has heard.
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