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Cremation or Burial, What Saith the Scriptures
Scripture Passage:
Genesis 23:1-4 Introduction: We live in a day where God’s people are more and more open to the practices of this world. If God’s word is truly our authority on all matters then we ought to be willing to follow its direction over the trend of society any day. One such practice that is becoming more and more acceptable among Christian people is the practice of cremation. Is this acceptable to God? Are the scriptures silent on the matter?
- THE COMMON PRACTICE WAS BURIAL
- Notable People in Scripture Who Were Buried
- Sarah (Genesis 23:19And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.
See All...) - Abraham (Genesis 25:9And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;
See All...) - Rachel (Genesis 35:19And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.
See All...) - Isaac (Genesis 35:29And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
See All...) - Rebekah (Genesis 49:31There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.
See All...) - Leah (Genesis 49:31There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.
See All...) - Jacob (Genesis 50:4-6 [4] And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
[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.
[6] And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.
See All..., 12-13) - Joseph (Genesis 50:24-26 [24] And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
[25] And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
[26] So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
See All...; Joshua 24:32And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.
See All...) - Miriam (Numbers 20:1Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.
See All...) - Aaron (Deuteronomy 10:6And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead.
See All...) - Moses (Deuteronomy 34:6And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.
See All...) - Joshua (Joshua 24:30And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash.
See All...) - Eleazar (Joshua 24:33And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim.
See All...) - Gideon (Judges 8:32And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
See All...) - Samuel (1 Samuel 25:1And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
See All...) - David (1 Kings 2:10So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.
See All...) - Solomon (1 Kings 11:43And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.
See All...) - Elisha (2 Kings 13:20And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.
See All...) - John the Baptist (Matthew 14:12And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
See All...) - Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:5-10 [5] And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
[6] And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.
[7] And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.
[8] And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.
[9] Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
[10] Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
See All...) - Stephen (Acts 8:2And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
See All...) - God Buried Moses (Deuteronomy 34:6And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.
See All...) - The Lord Jesus Christ Was Buried (1 Corinthians 15:1-2 [1] Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
[2] By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
See All...) - THE ABSENCE OF BURIAL
- Likened Unto Dung Upon the Earth (2 Kings 9:36-37 [36] Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel:
[37] And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.
See All...; Jeremiah 8:1-2 [1] At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves: [2] And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
See All...; Jeremiah 16:4They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
See All...; Zephaniah 1:17And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.
See All...) - Likened Unto a Curse (Ecclesiastes 6:3If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.
See All...) - The Death of an Animal (Jeremiah 22:18-19 [18] Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
[19] He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
See All...) - THE SCATTERING OF A PERSON DENOTES WICKEDNESS (JUDGES 19:22-30
See All...) - THE BURIAL LOOKS FORWARD TO A RESURRECTION
- Our Resurrected Body Will be Changed (Romans 8:23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
See All...; 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 [51] Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, [52] In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. [53] For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. [54] So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. [55] O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
See All...) - The Physical Body is Sown for the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:34-39 [34] Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
[35] But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
[36] Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
[37] And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
[38] But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
[39] All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
See All..., 42-44) - The Rapture Seems to Expect Burial (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 [15] For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
[16] For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
[17] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
See All...)
Conclusion: Some are turned away from cremation because of the grossness of the practice itself, but those who are not ought to be willing to follow the pattern of the scripture. Are you willing to follow God’s plan?
Proverbs 30:16
The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.