Grieving in Hope: Abraham Buries Sarah

Andy Davis preaches a verse by verse expository sermon on Genesis 23. The main subject of the sermon is the death and burial of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

- SERMON TRANSCRIPT - 

I. Introduction

Open your Bibles to Genesis 23, as you've heard read so beautifully for us this morning, and as we come to Genesis 23, we come to the account of Abraham's burial of his wife Sarah as he grieved in hope. At the beginning of the 17th century, India was ruled by Muslim emperors named Mughals. In 1612, the heir to the throne, Shah Jahan, married a beautiful young woman named Arjumand. He eventually became the fifth Mughal Emperor. This marriage was truly a love match. They loved one another deeply, and her name, she was called Mumtaz, she was her husband's inseparable companion on all his journeys in his military expeditions. She was his comrade, his counselor, and especially she inspired him to acts of charity and benevolence toward the weak and needy. Sadly, however, she died in childbirth in 1630, only three years after he had ascended to the throne. He was so overpowered by grief, Shah Jahan wanted to perpetuate her memory in some way, and so, he decided to build for his beloved wife, the finest sepulcher that had ever been built, a monument of eternal love. 

The sad circumstances around her death and the loyalty and the piety of the people, together with his desires, worked together to make a magnificent structure. After 22 laborious years, and the combined efforts of over 20,000 workmen and master craftsman called from all over India and Asia and Europe, the complex was finally created, completed in 1648, on the banks of the River Yamuna in Agra, the capital of the Mughal Monarchs. The graceful structure was a perfect fusion of the Muslim and Hindu styles, it had four minarets and a beautiful reflecting pool in front of it. It glistened in the sunlight, pure and white, because it was made out of white marble taken from Makrana, 250 miles away. Now, the skilled craftsmen that worked together so intricately inlaid the walls with every precious stone known to man that it was almost to be transported to be there and to look at them. For example, there was one flower, about one inch square that was made up of 60 different precious materials, and if you took your thumb and rubbed it across it, it would feel as smooth as glass. 

The quality of the workmanship was exquisite. The incredible building, of course, was called the Taj Mahal, and is visited by over 2 million visitors every year. Perhaps the most spectacular tomb in the world, built because one man loved one woman and he wanted people to know it forever. By contrast, about 19 miles south, southwest of Jerusalem, there is in the vicinity of Hebron, a cave. Like the Taj Mahal, it was provided for the burial of a beloved wife by a grieving husband. Like the Taj Mahal, it stands as an eloquent and lasting testimony to the nature of their relationship. However, unlike the Taj Mahal, it is not adorned in any way by human hands, there's nothing physically attractive about the cave, but it's purchased for 400 pieces of silver, 4000 years ago, speaks volumes about the faith of the grieving husband Abraham. More eloquent, in my opinion, than the luxurious mausoleum that is the Taj Mahal. 

I'm not saying it's not worth it to go see the Taj Mahal, if you have a chance, do it. But the cave speaks more to me than that structure ever will, for it speaks of faith. Sarah's tomb bought by grieving Abraham was specifically purchased in the Promised Land. And despite the grief of death and its permanent physical separation, Abraham's purchase demonstrated faith in a simple fact, and that fact is the central lesson of Genesis 23. It is this: God's promises are not exhausted in this life. Let me say that again: God's promises are not exhausted in this life. It is not for this life only that we trust in Christ. For every believer, the best is yet to come. Amen? For every believer, the best is yet to come, and not even death can quench faith and hope and the future promises of God. 

II. Sarah’s Death and Burial

Sarah’s Death

Now, Genesis 23 is a purely secular account of a business transaction between a tent dwelling nomad wandering from place to place and a small now extinct Palestinian tribe over a very small insignificant piece of land. There's not a single overt mention of God in this whole Chapter. But Abraham's faith in the promises of God are the central theme, and the lesson for us today.

Now, if you look at Genesis 23, it breaks into three sections. Verse 1-2 is the count of Sarah's death and of Abraham's mourning over Sarah's death. Verses 19-20 is the simple account of Sarah's burial. But in between those brief bookends, we have from Verses 3-18, the account, the narrative of Abraham's purchase of a burial place. Most of the chapter is the purchase of the cave. Now the question is, why did Moses include this account? What is the purpose of putting this chapter in Genesis? Why did he emphasize so prominently the negotiations over this cave? What is he getting at in this account? 

Now, look at Verse 1-2, and the account of Sarah's death. “Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.” Now, Sarah was a great woman of God. She is the only wife of a patriarch whose age at death is mentioned in the Book of Genesis. She's a very significant figure in redemptive history. She is a Godly woman who's submission to her husband was the pattern or is the pattern for all godly women who would follow after her. That's what Peter says in 1 Peter 3. In Verse 3-6, it says, “Wives, Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.”

So Peter picks Sarah as an example of a Godly wife, and so she was. Sarah never murmured against following her husband's calling. And it was a difficult calling, her life was made very difficult by Abraham's faith-filled obedience. She served her husband, she shared his table, his bed, his life. They suffered the pain of childlessness together. She was unfortunately his partner in sin as they lied both to Pharaoh and later to Abimelech in the same way. But more she was his partner in faith and in the promises of God. Her faith grew as his did. They grew together in faith, and her barrenness was the stark tablet of pain against which God painted a beautiful picture of power in the birth of Isaac, a supernatural birth. Her trust in the Lord was, it says in Hebrews 11, essential to that birth. Hebrews 11:11 says, "By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had made the promise." And so, Sarah was a faith-filled woman whose faith is essential to the fulfillment of the promise of God. 

Universal Death Penalty from Adam

Now, also, as we come to these first two Verses in Genesis 23, we come again to a sad reminder that sin brought death in the world and that the entire human race is under the physical death penalty. "For it is appointed unto man to die once, and after that comes judgement." Abraham was called God's friend, but God did not spare even his friend, this physical death penalty. God will not spare anyone that death penalty short of that final generation who will be alive when Jesus returns. The curse of the entire human race is physical death. It links the godly with the ungodly. It links the rich with the poor, it links males and females. And it links Americans with Lithuanians and Aborigines, and people from every tribe and language and people and nation. It is universal, all of us are under the physical death penalty, no one is exempt. This is the final enemy that Christ will destroy at the end of the world. In 1 Corinthians 15:26, it says, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” 

Pain in the Final Details

And so, all of us have to wrestle. And so, there's an empathy that we have with Abraham as he's kneeling there beside his dead wife, as he has to get up from beside her to care for her burial. All of us can feel the poignancy of that. And there is pain therefore in these details, isn't there? There's pain in the details. It says that Abraham went to mourn for her. There are actually two Hebrew words used here for the mourning. It was a whole process, and there were many things that he would have done to show his grief for the loss of his wife, a whole ritual of grief. Don't know what it would have been, but anything from the tearing of clothes, putting dust on the head, to any one of a number of other things, fasting, lamenting, and weeping. Faith in the resurrection does not mean that we do not mourn for the dead. We do mourn. And it was painful for Abraham to lose Sarah. Jesus wept at Lazarus' tomb, and no one believed in the resurrection more strongly than he did. Job lamented over the death of his children, even though he also believed in the resurrection. 

“Faith in the resurrection does not mean that we do not mourn for the dead. We do mourn.” 

Also, there's a little detail, and I don't know for sure if this is the case, but the Hebrew reads this way. It's possible that Abraham was absent when Sarah died. It says literally in the KJV in verse 2, “And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.” The Hebrew implies, therefore, that Abraham was away on a trip, on some kind of a journey or something when Sarah died, thus the death was probably a shock to him. If she had been in some kind of lingering illness, if death had been imminent, he never would have left. And so, it's probably the case, similar to Adoniram Judson who was away on a trip when he found out that his wife had died in a very shocking and sad way, that Abraham may have been stunned by Sarah's death as well. This is part of the grief and the pain of death, its unexpected nature. We never know when it's going to strike. And so, the death was unexpected, and therefore painful. 

Pain in the Permanent Separation

But more than that, there's the pain and the permanent separation. I don't mean eternally permanent, but I certainly mean permanent in this world. Abraham would never see Sarah in this world again. They would never share a table together, they would never share a bed together, they would never talk about Isaac again together. They would never pray together again, it was finished their earthly relationship. It was till death parted them, and death had now parted them. They would not be together again in this world. 

Pain in the Physical Preparation

And then, there's pain in the physical preparation for the burial. To me, I find this to be one of the most challenging aspects that I've been through funeral after funeral, and I've seen what is involved, and that is that the one left behind has a lot of work to do, and it's difficult. There's all the preparations, there's the dealing with the funeral home, the funeral director, there's calling of relatives, there's making myriad decisions. There are financial issues that have to be resolved, it's really very difficult and very painful, and Abraham isn't spared that either. He's got to get up and dicker with the Hittites over a burial place for his wife. And so, we see the pain of death here.

III. A Present Piece of the Future Inheritance

God’s Repeated Promises Concerning the Land

But now we get to the center of the text, and the center of the text in this account is the actual purchase of the burial place. He is negotiating for a present piece of the future inheritance. He's negotiating for a present piece of the future inheritance. Now, let's remember the promises that God has spoken already to Abraham concerning the land. In Genesis 12:7, it says, “The LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.” 

In Genesis 13:14-15, the Lord had said, “The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, 'Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.’” Notice by the way, it is to you and to your offspring. We'll come back to that in a moment, but it's striking. Genesis 15:7-9. “He also said to him, ‘I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.’ But Abram said, ‘O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?’ So the LORD said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.’”

Now, you remember Genesis 15, the amazing covenant cutting ceremony. It was all based on, “How can I know I'll get the land?” And so later in that chapter, it says, “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates — the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites…’” and that's who he's dealing with here in this account, Hittites, “‘Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.’” I practiced that much of the morning. But I'm glad that we got through it. Genesis 17:8, “The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you [to you and your descendants after you]; and I will be their God.” So notice that God promised the land to Abraham and to his descendants, not just to his descendants. Very striking, isn't it? But not yet. Not yet.

Acceptance of Present Limitations

In Genesis 15, he spoke of a 400-year lapse in which Abraham's descendants will be enslaved in a country not their own, where they will be mistreated for 400 years, but God would bring them out of that place with a mighty hand, an outstretched arm and bring them into the Promised Land. And so, Abraham has to show humble acceptance of the not yet part of the promise. Abraham's almost in a position of a beggar here in the Promised Land. He is begging for a small piece of land that's all, and so he's humbly bowing down and he's begging and he's asking, he's bowing and scraping, because it's not his yet. It's not been given to him yet. Abraham was an alien and a stranger. Look at Verse 3-4, “Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, ‘I am an alien and a stranger among you.’” So he calls himself an alien, and a stranger. He said, I don't belong here, this isn't my homeland in that sense.

In Hebrews 11:9, it says, “By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.” So he's a stranger in a foreign country, but the foreign country is the Promised Land. God gave him, the Scripture says in another place, not a foot of ground there. Stephen in his speech in Acts 7:5 says, “God gave Abraham no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, [notice Stephen got it, he and his descendants after him would possess the land] even though at that time Abraham had no child.” So there is a now and a not yet, there's the promise now, but the rest is not yet, concerning the land. This is the nature of the promises of God. And this is the way it will be for you. The overwhelming majority of the promises God makes you in Christ will be unfulfilled, as you draw your last breath. The overwhelming majority of the promises God makes to you will be unfulfilled as you die. Will you die in faith believing, trusting those promises? That's the question of the text. I believe Abraham and Sarah did. The Hittites, they were the present owners of the land, they were occupying the land. They would be future enemies of the people of God, but they were the present owners. They are the sons of Heth, it says in Genesis 10, descended from Heth, the Hittites. They were listed among the future enemies of the people of God in Genesis 15, as I already noted, and God would drive them out in Joshua's day. Exodus 23:23 says this, “My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.” They are the future enemies of the angel of God, future enemies of the people of God. In Abraham's day, however, they were courteous and respectful, as you can see in this text. How things change, but at that point they were... Eventually, they would become the enemies of the people of God.

“The overwhelming majority of the promises God makes to you will be unfulfilled as you die. Will you die in faith believing, trusting those promises?”

Stages of Negotiation

Now, let's look at the negotiation, stages of the negotiation. Now folks, if you're in a business, I'm not gonna get out of these principles of cutting a business deal, that's not what we're looking for here, but it's interesting to me how they go back and forth, isn't it? Stage 1, verses 3-4, Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, ‘I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.’”  That's stage one, he wants some land and he doesn't just want a gift of land, this is very important, he wants to buy it. More on that in a moment. 

Stage two, the Hittite response. The Hittites replied to Abraham, “The Hittites replied to Abraham, 'Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.’” Notice how gracious they are. They’re very gracious, they compliment him, calling him literally a prince of God among us. That's the only mention of God in the whole text, and it's really just an honorific title, a great man among us. And they offer him any burial place he wants, anything that he would choose as a gift. But notice also that they do not give him what he wants, and what does he want? He wants a price, he wants to buy the land. He doesn't want a gift. 

He wants a sale of land so he can bury his wife. He wants to own the burial place, not merely receive as a gift. Now, why is this important? Do you remember back after the battle in Genesis 13, when the king of Sodom came out and wanted to give him a bunch of plunder and loot from the battle? He wouldn't accept anything from the king less the king of Sodom should say, "I made Abraham rich." Well, I think that's on his mind here too. “I don't want a gift, I wanna own this thing, fair and square, no strings attached. And so give me a price and we'll settle on it.” But instead they're offering to give them him a gift and he doesn't want it. 

Look at stage three, verses 7-9, Abraham's urgent request, which is ownership of a piece of Promised Land. That's what he wants. “Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. He said to them, ‘If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you.’”

Now, first of all, Abraham has already picked out a specific place, he knows what he wants. He already knows what he wants. Now, this word Machpelah, the cave of Machpelah comes from the Hebrew, which means to fold over double. And so it probably was a cave complex, it was at least a double cave in it. So there's plenty of room for burial. The proceedings are very formal, they fit a certain pattern of negotiation in the ancient near east of things negotiated and bought and sold especially land. Again, Abraham has in mind to be the full and legal owner, no strings attached. He doesn't want whether he gets to stay in the cave or his wife gets to stay in the cave to be at the whim of some future Hittite tribal chieftain, and whether they're in a good relationship with the people of God. He wants to own it. End of story. And that's what he's looking for. He wants to pay the full price in a legally witness transaction. So, he humbles himself in the extreme, he's bowing down again and again here so that he can get what he wants, he wants the price. 

So, Ephron makes his reply in the fourth stage, stage four, Ephron's reply, Verse 10-11, “Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. ‘No, my lord,' he said. ‘Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.’” What do you notice about the offer? He is not yielding to the very thing that Abraham wants, namely, he wants a price. 

Now, there's back and forth about why he doesn't give him a price. It could be that this is just the next stage of negotiation. For example, if you went to a Mid-East bizarre and you're dickering over something and at some point they say, "Is it a matter of money between us? We're friends, I'll give it to you," but you both know it's not a genuine offer. What he's saying is, "Your last offer wasn't good enough, let's keep trying." And it could be that that's exactly what's going on here. Give me a price. Well, Abraham wants them to set the price. 

So stage five, verses 12-13, Abraham comes again with a request for a price. Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land and he said to Ephron in their hearing, ‘Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there.’”  Abraham simply will not accept this burial place as a gift, he wants a price. 

Finally stage six, Ephron names his price. Verses 14-15, “Ephron answered Abraham, ‘Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between me and you? Bury your dead.’” Now, most commentators say it was way overpriced. I have no idea. All I know is that Abraham finally gets what he's looking for and he doesn't dicker anymore. He's not gonna go down to 200 and then 250 and then they meet somewhere in the middle. They're not gonna do that. 400 shekels of silver it is. So he immediately accepts the price, and the transaction is formally made. Now, if you put everything together, I don't sense that Abraham was hurting financially. Do you? And I think he had the money with him at that particular moment. He's ready to go. He's got the 400 shekels, and so he weighs it out.

Stage seven, Abraham immediately accepts Ephron's price and the transaction is formally made. Verses 16-18, “Abraham agreed to Ephron's terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants. So Ephron's field in Machpelah near Mamre — both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field — was deeded to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city.” So Abraham has the silver with him, he knows the right amount that the merchants use for their weight, there's no standard currency in those days, so they weigh out the silver. And so they weigh it out according to the standard merchant weight. There are solemn formalities here. The whole thing is done at the gate of the city with a bunch of witnesses and there's a deed, and it describes what's on the land, the trees are included, which is a good thing. They're very difficult to move, very hard to move trees. But they're included in the land along with the cave and everything in it. Do you sense the formality of the legal transaction that's going on here? In my opinion, it's the point of the whole account. In addition to finding out that Sarah has died, but it's the point of the whole account is this negotiation and the title deed of the land transferred over to Abraham for a certain sum of money.

The Burial Completed

And so finally we get the completion of the burial. Verse 19, “Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan.” So Abraham laid his wife's body in that cave, and he did it in future hope of resurrection. 

We've seen this before just as he was willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac, believing and trusting that God would raise him from the dead. I believe he'd buried his wife Sarah, believing in the same way that God had power to raise him from the dead. Now, look at the final verse. In Verse 20, it says (this is the summary of the whole account), “So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.” My friends, that's the point of the whole account. It's that he bought this land and it was deeded to him, he is now legal owner of a piece of Promised Land property.

Future Burials

Now, in the future, in the Book of Genesis, there will be other burials in this same cave complex. Abraham himself will be buried there. In Genesis 25:7-10, it talks about the burial of Abraham after his death at age 175. It says, Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre, the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife.” 

So, Abraham is gonna be buried in that same cave. Later Isaac will be buried in that same cave. In Genesis 35:27-29, it says, “And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.” So, he also is buried in the cave at Mamre. Later in the account, Rebecca will be buried there, Leah, Jacob's first wife, will be buried there, and Jacob himself, and this is really striking, at the end of the whole book of Genesis, kind of the summary of the Book of Genesis, Jacob is on his death bed, he knows he's dying. 

He's already moved down to Egypt, he's left the Promised Land. He's gone down to Egypt because of the severity of the famine, and Joseph was down there second in charge over all of Egypt, you know the story. And he's on his death bed. And so he gathers his sons around him and he gives them one final command, and this is what he tells him in Genesis 49:29 and following, “Then he commanded them and said to them, ‘I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. [There's like 17 different identifiers. “Do you know the cave I mean? You know that very one, please bury me there.” He is very clear about this.] There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah — the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.' When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.” This is his last command on earth. After all of the years on earth, the last thing is, "Please don't bury me here in Egypt, but take me back to the Promised Land and bury me there, with Abraham and Sarah, with Isaac and Rebecca, and with Leah."

And they obeyed him. In Genesis 50:12 and 13, “Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place.” This is not insignificant friends. This is a significant theme in the Book of Genesis. And here it is purchased. It was a piece of the Promised Land.

IV. New Testament Commentary

Now, the Book of Hebrews gives us a little bit of a commentary on what they were feeling and thinking at this time. It's in Hebrews 11:13-16. And it's printed in your bulletin, so you don't have to take time to flip there, but you can if you'd like. But in Hebrews 11:13 and following, it says, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, [Do you realize how important that is? They died in faith, not having received] but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. [That’s what Abraham does in this account.] Hebrews 11:14: For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”

Now, Abraham had opportunity to go back, along the journey, Mesopotamia back to Ur of the Chaldees and bury Sarah if he'd wanted to. I'm sure that his relatives which were still living at the end of Genesis 22, we know they're there and they'll come into the story in Genesis 24, they're all still there. He could have gone back there and buried her there. But no way. He’s going to stay in the Promised Land. Abraham's true home is in the center of God's promises. That's his home. And even though he doesn't own a foot of ground in the Promised Land, and he's got to bow and scrape to get a cave from these people, that's where he's going to bury Sarah. 

These All “Died in Faith”

It says also in Hebrews 11 that these folks died in faith, not having received what they were promised. The promises were begun, but still unfulfilled. And what I say to you is true of them, is just as true of us. Faith shines most brightly beside the grave. It shines most brightly when we come face-to-face with death. More on that in a moment, but this intense purchase of land and this heart felt burial, all of it is a testimony to the significance of this cave and the piece of the Promised Land and Abraham's faith in the promises of God. 

In effect, Abraham is saying, "Some day all of this will be mine, my lasting possession, and this cave is a testimony of it." It reminds me very much of another real estate purchase later in redemptive history, at a very, very difficult time when Jerusalem is surrounded by Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians. When Nebuchadnezzar has conquered everything else and seems irresistible, when the walls of Jerusalem are crumbling, at that moment, a hated prophet, Jeremiah who's saying, "By the way, your only hope is to go through the walls and go surrender to this guy, therefore, he's a traitor." One of the most difficult ministries anybody's ever given anyone, God had ever given to anyone, Jeremiah's task to stand in the city and say, "It's over, Nebuchadnezzar is going to conquer this city." In the midst of all of that, a relative comes and wants to sell them a piece of property out there. 

Now, I would think that this would be an unwise investment, wouldn't you? I mean at this particular moment, the Babylonian army seems to have full intention of having an empire there. Why in the world would you wanna buy a piece of that? Do you remember the relative comes and says, "Why don't you buy some of my ancestral land and I can sell it to you at a really good price." You know? It's like buying the Brooklyn Bridge. Will it ever come into possession? But the Lord spoke to him and said, "Buy the land, get the title deed, have it witnessed, roll it up and put it in a jar for safe keeping. 70 years later, it'll be needed." That's a remarkable thing.

And at the height of that conquest by Nebuchadnezzar, at the height of the besieging of Jerusalem, he buys some land. Jeremiah is beside himself with joy and faith. This is what he says in Jeremiah 32:16-17, 24-27: “After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying: ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who has made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. … ...Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. Yet you, O Lord GOD, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses”— though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’ … The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ‘Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?’” 

The Promises Will ALL Be Fulfilled

That land is the Promised Land, and it doesn't make a difference who's trampling it right now, it doesn't make a difference what armies are on it. That land was promised to Abraham and to his descendants forever. And so this is what I come to. We come to the edge of life, to the end of life. We come to death. We come to the grave. And are you able to say what Job said [Job 13:15], “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” Because the slaying is not the end. There's more beyond. There's something beyond. And God has some unfulfilled promises. Faith knows that those unfulfilled promises will all, every one of them come true. 

Now, what does it mean? Aliens and strangers have no lasting possession here on earth. Do you know that? I hope you do. The things you say in the body, and in the flesh — “This is mine” — it's yours temporarily. Use it for the Kingdom, you won't have it long. And you know why? Because the book of Hebrews tells us that some day this physical world will go away. It will be transformed. It will be rolled up. Listen to the Hebrews 1:10-12, “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”

Peter testifies to the same thing in 2 Peter 3:10-13. It says, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But [oh, what a sweet “but”] in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”

Central Lesson

So, let's go back to the central main lesson that we said at the beginning. God's promises are not completed or exhausted in this life. There's more yet to come beyond the grave, and he's going to fulfill every one of them. All of the promises that he's made. Now, Hebrews 11:16 says this, “But as it is, they [the patriarchs and believing people] desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” A country, a heavenly city. Very interesting, isn't it? And how in Revelation, you heard earlier, Revelation 21:2, it says, “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”

There's a kind of a mysterious, and I don't have it all figured out yet, but a mysterious kind of unity or union between the heavenly and the earthly. The new heavens and the new earth, the home of righteousness. And so remember that God had promised to Abraham and to his descendants forever this land. But it's gotta be transformed. It's gotta go through the remaking of the new heavens and the new earth. And so this cave at Machpelah, it's just a symbol of all the incredible glorious things that are yet to come.

V. Why Did Moses Include This Account?

Business Transaction?

Now, let me ask a simple question. Why did Moses include this secular account? Is it because he wanted us to know how they dickered back then? So that we also could learn business techniques? That is not it, folks. It has everything to do with redemptive history. That's why he included it. It's a purely secular account. I've said that before, there's no mention of God at all except in the honorific title given to Abraham. Then why is it included? What does it matter to us, a modern people, that some tent dwelling nomad bought a piece of land, an insignificant piece of land 4000 years ago? I'm sure he doesn't own it now.

So why do we have to learn this? Well, let me tell you, first of all, Moses wrote this. What was Moses's immediate situation? Well, he's coming out of Egypt with Abraham's descendants. And the way I read it, he was very busy, right up until they came to the edge of the Promised Land, and they chose to disbelieve the promises of God and not enter and take the land. So they turned back and said, "Fine, you'll wander for 40 years until your children will go in." Now, all of a sudden Moses has nothing but time on his hands, and he's got some time to write. He's got time to write the book of Genesis.

Moses’ Immediate Audience

And he's writing, and his immediate audience are these unbelieving Jews who devalue the Promised Land, who didn't think that God had power to fulfill his promise. So he's writing to them saying, "Look what Abraham did concerning this cave. Look what Isaac did. Look what Jacob did. Jacob commanded that his body be carried back and not buried in Egypt, but buried instead. “You're the ones that said, aren't there enough graves in Egypt? Bring us back so we can die there.” Oh no, Jacob would never have allowed it. He said, “Bury me in the Promised Land because God promised it to us. That's our land."

So the immediate audience of Moses is the unbelieving Jews whose children would then go in and take the Promised Land, value it properly, it's the Promised Land, God promised to Abraham, "And you will have it by the edge of the sword, by Joshua's conquest." But the fact of the matter is, even that doesn't fully answer it, you know why? 'Cause Abraham didn't have it. He was dead. Isaac didn't have it. He was dead. Jacob didn't have it. Frankly, only the resurrection can fulfill this promise. Amen? Only the resurrection can give Abraham his eternal inheritance, and Isaac and Jacob.

And so it's yet to be fulfilled, and so the final audience, folks, is you and me. We are supposed to read Genesis 23, we're supposed to learn the lesson that God's promises are not exhausted in this lifetime, and that we also have some promises. You say, "Well, do any of them involve real estate? I heard it's a great investment." Well, yes, as a matter of fact, there's one that does. How about this one? Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” That's a good promise, isn't it? Are you in present... Presently a legal owner of any chunk of the earth? Well, you may be. You may be a homeowner, but let me tell you something, we already know from Hebrews 1, you hold on to it loosely because it will be taken from you at death.

No, what you want is a lasting inheritance, isn't that right? You want a lasting possession. Well, Jesus said, "The meek will inherit the Earth in the future." What earth? I want the Good Earth, I want the new heaven and new earth earth, don't you? Meanwhile, the Hittites they do better here on Earth, than we do. They trade better. They kind of own it. They seem to do very well. We, however, we're the believing ones, and we've got a gravel for a cave, but we've got the promises, don't we? The meek will inherit the Earth. It's written for us.

VI. Application

So, what application can we take from this? What lesson and what application? Well, you tell me. God's promises are not exhausted in this life. Death doesn't end it, there's more beyond. More things are promised to you as a Christian than you will receive in this life. Nothing in this world is permanent, even precious relationships like that of a godly spouse, a husband and wife relationship, it's temporary. For every believer the best is yet to come. So, what applications can we take from this?

“God's promises are not exhausted in this life. Death doesn't end it, there's more beyond.”

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Do not grieve like the hopeless

Well, do not grieve like the hopeless, don't grieve like death is all there is, don't act like a pagan at the grave, don't forget what's promised to us in Christ. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, it says, "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep or to grieve like the rest of men who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him." So don't grieve like the hopeless. We have a sure and certain hope of resurrection, don't we? 

Bury loved ones in faith

Secondly, when the time comes to bury your loved ones, do so in faith. Let the world see your belief, let the world see your trust in the promises of God. “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die." Do you believe this?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ she said, ‘I believe…’” [John 11:25-27] Well, then, how about all of us, how about act like it at the moment of burial.

Prefer burial to cremation

Thirdly, can I say gently that you as a believer should prefer burial to cremation? Now, I think it's possible that some of you have cremated relatives, and I'm not being negative towards you. I wanna say two things about that directly. First, there is no overt command against cremation in the Bible. And second of all, do not think for a moment that God is not capable of raising to resurrection life those who have been cremated. Think about those believers who were on the jets that crashed into the buildings in 9/11, there were some believers there, their bodies were incinerated by the jet fuel. God is fully able to raise them up to resurrection life. He will do it.

That's not the point. The point is that this burial clearly means something to Abraham, doesn't it? He takes an awful lot of time concerning the corpse of his wife. The physical burial of Sarah is a testimony of resurrection, so also was the physical burial of Christ as they wrapped him up with grave clothes and the grave clothes empty were a great testimony to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. How we treat the body at death can be a testimony to the watching world of our faith in resurrection. 

Die Well

Fourthly, die well. Die well. When it is your time, if you are in a lingering illness, you know that death may be approaching, may I urge you to die in faith, believing. May I urge you to say with Job, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." There's more beyond, even if I'm suffering now, even if I'm dying, even if it hurts, God is faithful. Die in faith. Because what you're saying when you die in faith is there's more yet to come. This isn't the end of the story. There's more yet to come. And so it is.

Do not hold on to earthly things

Fifthly, do not hold on to earthly things, they're not yours forever, use them wisely, use them well, use them as those who are going to soon lose them, because you will. This earth is not all there is, and it will be destroyed by fire. But in keeping with his promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth. So don't hold on to earthly things. Let the Hittites be more worldly-wise than you are, let them do better in business, let them get advancements that you won't have in this world. We know the truth. The meek will inherit the Earth. It says in 1 Corinthians 15:19, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” It is not for this life only that we hope in Christ.

Rejoice in future glory

Six, rejoice in the future glory of all believers and of all creation. Some day this world will be made incredibly beautiful, without any corruption, without any corruption, it will be incredible. Don't you want a piece of it? I do. I wanna be there. I wanna be in lasting possession, eternal inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade kept in heaven for me, I want it.

Restore your faith

Seventh, restore your faith by seeing how faithful God was to Abraham. He fulfilled the promise by bringing the Jews into the Promised Land at one level. He did it, he has the power to fulfill all of his promises.

Make the most of your married life

And then finally, to you who are married, make the most of the brief life you have on Earth with your wife, with your husband. Make the most of it. It says in Ecclesiastes 9:7-9, “Go eat your food with gladness and drink your wine with a joyful heart for it is now that God favors what you do. Always be clothed in white and always anoint your head with oil, enjoy life with your wife whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun, all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toils and labor under the sun.” 

I'm not gonna take the moment to explain what meaningless means in the book of Ecclesiastes, but what I will say is this, enjoy life with your wife, enjoy life with your husband, enjoy life with your children. Make the most of every opportunity. Make the most of the days. We don't have them for long. It won't be long before you'll be kneeling beside your dead spouse and then rising to handle the burial. Make the most of the days that you have.