It says, "If a man beget a 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."
Now I'm going to get into the untimely birth in a moment, but first I want to point out
the fact here that it gives this situation, you know, first in verses one and two we talked
about a guy who's very rich and powerful but then he dies or he doesn't get to enjoy it
for whatever reason.
Now we're talking about a guy who's successful in another area because he begets a hundred
children which is obviously, again, success.
Not necessarily in the eyes of 2021 America, but that's because we live in a strange society
that values all the wrong things and we're an empire in decline and so we think of children
as being a burden and a bad thing, but in the Bible children are seen as a great blessing.
I mean even a worldly guy like Haman is bragging about the fact that he has ten kids because
that's the way people thought back then and so here this is another kind of success being
described about a guy who begets a hundred children, but yet the Bible says if he have
no burial, I say that an untimely birth is better than he.
So what's the big deal about no burial?
What's going on with that?
Now obviously what's intended there is the idea that nobody really cares about him enough
to bury him, or to have a funeral, or to take his death seriously.
And look, I guarantee you there are people who die all the time where nothing much really
happens, there's not much of a funeral, maybe a couple people show up, and nobody is really
that heartbroken.
And he's basically saying that that's a sad situation.
But I want to focus in on the burial itself for a moment, flip over if you would to First
Corinthians chapter 15.
You know, whenever I hear about someone wanting to cremate their loved one, this is always
the verse that pops into my mind every single time.
When somebody talks about cremating someone, I think about this verse about how dishonorable
it is to have no burial.
And so that's why I would not want any of my loved ones to be cremated.
I don't want to be cremated.
I want to be buried, okay?
Now I don't need anything fancy, just put me in a pine box and bury me under the earth,
but I do want to be buried, I don't want to be cremated.
And today it's sad because our society is now pushing cremation and part of it is just
because of the cost.
It can just be expensive, it's just cost prohibitive to bury people so then they just cremate people.
But Christianity teaches burial of the dead and it's the Christian thing to do to bury
people, okay?
Now you're turning to 1 Corinthians 15 but there's an entire chapter, Genesis chapter
23, devoted to Sarah's burial, you know?
So it's like a big deal that's being made in the book of Genesis about burying Sarah.
And then in 1 Corinthians 15 we get a little bit of the symbolism of what burial represents
for the Christian.
It says in 1 Corinthians 15, 42, "So also is the resurrection of the dead, it is sown
in corruption."
Now what does it mean to be sown?
It's talking about a seed being planted in the earth isn't it?
It is sown in corruption, it is raised in corruption.
It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.
It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power and watch this, it is sown a natural body.
It is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.
And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made
a quickening spirit.
So the body is sown into the earth.
Obviously not literally, obviously how a person's remains are dealt with has nothing to do with
what happens to them after they die as far as their soul is concerned.
But it's symbolic, it's not a literal seed that you're putting into the ground, but it's
symbolic that when you bury the dead body, you are symbolically planting a seed because
you believe that that person is going to rise again one day.
Just as when you plant a seed, there's a new, fresh plant that grows up, a new life is produced.
The same thing with the dead body that's buried in the earth because they're going to be resurrected
someday, and you're expressing your faith in that when you bury the dead.
You don't have to turn there, but Romans chapter 6 verse 4 says, "Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead, even so we also
should walk in newness of life."
Watch this wording.
"For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in
the likeness of his resurrection."
So notice again, the word planting is used in tandem with the word burial, symbolic in
baptism, but being buried is also symbolism.
Why do we get baptized?
Why don't we do like the Presbyterians and just do something like that?
The reason why we actually baptize by immersion as Baptists is because we believe that it
symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
We're buried with him by baptism into his death.
And it says in Colossians, same thing, buried in baptism.
And so that's what that pictures.
And so we're also picturing that when we bury the dead.
We're picturing the fact that it's just a seed.
It's the natural body being sown.
Someday the spiritual body will be raised.
Well, if you think about it that way, then you know,
what does cremation seem to symbolize?
I mean, it's like, it makes you think of like burning
in hell or something, which obviously if you cremate
the saved person, they're still going to heaven.
And if you bury the unsaved,
they're still going straight to hell.
But what do we want to symbolize?
Do we want to be like the Hindus?
Pagan Hindus cremate their dead because they're pagans.
Okay, because they're not worshiping the Lord,
because they're not Christian.
And the same thing with the ancient Greeks.
You know, if you study ancient Greek culture,
it was all about being cremated.
They wanted to be cremated.
That was the highest honor for them, is to be cremated.
And there are many other pagan cultures like that,
because the ancient Greeks and the Hindus,
they're all worshiping demons.
And so they have similar demonic religions
and similar ideas about what happens after death.
Of course, they believe that they were all going to Hades.
And they were right, they were all going to Hades.
But we as Christians, you know what?
We're going to heaven.
And so we should follow the Christian practice of burial.
And you know what?
It hurts me to see people struggle with this
because of the financial aspects of it.
You know, it's kind of insult to injury when someone dies
and you're already grieving the loss
and then you get hit with these incredible bills.
You know, you wish it was like the old days
where the church had the cemetery out back of the church,
right?
But, you know, alas, I don't think the city of Tempe
would like that very much.
'Cause I would do it.
I would love that.
You know, that someday our church
would have its own cemetery.
But you know what?
And, you know, we try to help people out
in that situation, too, when we can,
because of the fact that, you know,
we don't wanna see people cremate the children of God.
You know, when the saints die,
precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the saints.
And, you know, it's precious in our sights, too.
And so, we like to see them buried.