So we're going to be reading
together in Genesis chapter 23. We'll read the whole chapter
and it is to do with Sarah, the wife of Abraham, Sarah's death
and burial. So let us read together now.
And Sarah was 107 and 20 years old. These were the years of the life
of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kirjitharba,
the same as Hebron in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to
mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. And Abraham stood up from
before his dead and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am
a stranger and a sojourner with you. give me a possession of
a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my
sight.' And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto
him, Hear us, my lord, Thou art a mighty prince among us. In the choice of our sepulchres,
bury thy dead. None of us shall withhold from
thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.' And
Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, even
to the children of Heth. And he communed with them, saying,
If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight,
hear me and entreat for me to Ephron, the son of Zohar, that
he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the
end of his field. For as much money as it is worth,
he shall give it me for a possession of a burying place amongst you. and Ephron dwelt among the children
of Heth. And Ephron the Hittite answered
Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all
that went in at the gate of his city, saying, Nay, my lord, hear
me. The field give I thee, and the
cave that is therein I give it thee. In the presence of the
sons of my people give I it thee. Bury thy dead. And Abraham bowed
down himself before the people of the land. And he spake unto
Ephron and the audience of the people of the land, saying, But
if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me. I will give thee
money for the field. Take it of me, and I will bury
my dead there. And Ephron answered Abraham,
saying unto him, My lord, hearken unto me. The land is worth four
hundred shekels of silver. What is that betwixt me and thee? Bury therefore thy dead. And
Abraham hearkened unto Ephron. And Abraham weighed to Ephron
the silver which he had named in the audience of the sons of
Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the
merchant. and the field of Ephraim which
was in Machpelah, Machpelah which was before Mamre, the field and
the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the
field that were in all the borders round about were made sure unto
Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth,
before all that went in at the gate of his city. And after this
Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah
before Mamre, the same as Hebron in the land of Canaan. And the
field and the cave that is therein were made sure unto Abraham for
a possession for a burying place by the sons of Heth. Amen. May the Lord bless this
reading of his word also. This chapter that we have before
us today gives an account of the death and the burial of Sarah,
wife of Abraham. She was a good age, she was 127
years old when she died. And interestingly, she is the
only woman in scripture whose age is reckoned during her life
and the date of her birth, or her age, sorry, her age at her
death is specified. Isaac was born when she was 90. So if she dies at 127, Isaac
is now 37 years of age. This account is the first burial
that we have an account of in scripture and also the purchase
of the burial place is the first commercial transaction. that
is recorded in the Word of God. So there are some interesting
things about this chapter even before we get in to think about
the narrative and the information that we are given. The conversation
that takes place between Abraham and the children of Heth and
this man called Ephron the Hittite is very respectful and very polite. Indeed, it is beautifully written. and the way in which the conversation
and the dialogue is presented to us moves us on very quickly
through the account and yet it seems only a little step and
a little step and a little step from the beginning of Abraham's
first approach to the conclusion of the matter of the sale and
the possession of the burial ground. And it really is very
beautifully written. It seems as if all were willing
to give this burying place as a gift to Abraham. But the old patriarch was wise
and he knew and he wished for a property that he had bought
and purchased of his own. He desired a cave, the cave here
in the field of Machpelah that he might bury Sarah. And he wished to have this transaction
publicly witnessed. We will remember from our previous
studies that Abraham was heir of the whole land of Canaan. And here he was trying to buy
one little particular piece. And in truth, this is the only
piece of the land of Canaan that he personally possessed in his
lifetime. And here too, in this same cave
where Sarah is buried, he would also be buried. And so in one
sense, Abraham has possessed this little piece of Canaan personally
for all of time. I just wanted to mention three
quick points that I feel are very interesting in this little
account. The first one is this. Abraham
loved his wife Sarah and the pair remained faithful and committed
to each other all of their lives. There were trials in their marriage
and we have read about some of them and we have thought about
some of them. There wasn't a child for very
many years and that brought tensions in their relationship. But they
did not separate and they did not divorce. They were faithful
and united to one another. they worshipped the true God
together. Together they believed God's
promises. They worked out their problems
and their differences with a mutual love and respect for one another. And this shows us that who we
marry and who we raise a family with, and who we share our lives
with is important. And these scriptural examples
that we have, such as with Abraham and Sarah, show us how God honours
and blesses the relationships of his people. These two were
joined in faith and they were joined in marriage together. The second thing I want to point
out is that Abraham loved Sarah and wept and mourned for her
as it was proper to do. All of us who trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ believe that we are going to heaven. and we believe
that our life, our eternal life in heaven will be better than
our life here upon earth. Nevertheless, losing a loved
one still hurts. Sarah was with the Lord. but
Abraham still felt the loss that he had suffered. When Sarah died,
Abraham needed to bury her quickly. He says, I need to bury her out
of my sight. Sarah was a very beautiful woman
in life, but in death, Corruption quickly destroys our bodies. Here's an interesting thought
though. Sarah has now been dead for thousands of years, but do
you know that the Lord Jesus Christ knows exactly where she
is buried and he is still looking after her remains. Sarah, as far as her body is
concerned, is long gone from the minds and memory of anyone
that she knew when she was alive, but the Lord still holds his
promises and his covenant promises for her in his mind. He knows where she is buried
and someday, Someday, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come
back and raise Sarah's body from that cave, that grave in which
she is in. Now if you're like me, you're
thinking to yourself, wow, that's pretty amazing. All of the Lord's
people who die in this world, whether they are buried in the
ground, whether their bodies are burned in a fire, whether
they are buried at sea, all of the bodies of the Lord's people
the Lord knows where their dust and where their ashes are, and
he will gather that dust, and he will gather those ashes, and
he will raise it again to life in the resurrection. When the
Lord Jesus Christ rose again, he defeated Satan, he defeated
death, and he defeated the grave. And now the graves of all the
Lord's people They do not entrap their bodies, but they protect
their bodies until that day of the glorious resurrection of
the bodies of the Lord's people. The Lord Jesus Christ has power
to raise himself from the dead, and he has power to raise his
people from the dead, and none can restrain him. Because I live,
he says, ye shall live also. And here's the third point, and
with this we are done. Abraham said farewell to Sarah. Her body was in the grave, it
was a cave, and her soul was with the Lord. Many years later,
in the New Testament, the Apostle John was told Blessed are the
dead which die in the Lord. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord. And so when Sarah died, she was
blessed because she died in the Lord. She died believing in the
Lord Jesus Christ. She died as a woman whose sins
were forgiven. To die in the Lord is to leave
this life trusting in the grace of God and trusting in the cleansing
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And to have faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ is to be blessed indeed, both in life and in death. Sarah had faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Abraham had faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And may we too, you and me, know
the grace and mercy that brings a poor sinner like us into that
living relationship with Jesus Christ and fits us and prepares
us for his presence in heaven and everlasting life with him. Amen.