Don’t see the audio player? Click here.
Many people today pre-plan and even pre-pay their funerals. They pre-plan to have the funeral they want. They pre-pay to lock in current costs and keep relatives from having to pay expenses after they die. Pre-paying burials has a long history. In Genesis Chapter 23, we see that after Abraham’s wife, Sarah, died, he bought a burial place for her, himself, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah. In buying a burial place in Canaan, Abraham sealed his faith in God. It meant he intended to stay where God had led him. This burial place also sealed his faith that God would keep His promise to give him the entire land of Canaan. But even beyond this earthly resting place, Abraham knew God had a heavenly home waiting for him. Hebrews Chapter 11 tells us that these ancients died in faith “looking for a better place, a heavenly home land.” Abraham mourned the death of his wife Sarah, who had fulfilled God’s promise to give them a son in their old age. But his faith looked past her death to the time when God would keep His greater promise to bless the world through his offspring. God is fulfilling that promise today as He offers eternal salvation through Abraham’s descendant—Jesus Christ. Of course, we make plans to bury our earthly bodies. But we know that beyond the grave, we have a heavenly home. God is reserving it for all who accept His Son as their Savior.
