Archives For rajesh

“Elohim” with Plural Verbs to Signify False Deities

August 18, 2022

Using the search capabilities of the GSE tool in BibleWorks 10, I am currently in the process of examining intensively the occurrences of elohim in the Hebrew OT. So far, I have not found a single occurrence of elohim functioning as the subject of a plural verb form where elohim refers to the true God.

Each of the following 18 verses has elohim with a plural verb. In every verse, it refers to false gods and not to Yahweh.

Exod. 32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

Exod. 32:4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

Exod. 32:8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

Exod. 32:23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

Deut. 32:17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

Jdg. 2:3 Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.

Jdg. 10:14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.

1 Ki. 12:28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

1 Ki. 19:2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time.

2 Ki. 18:33 Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

2 Ki. 18:35 Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?

2 Ki. 19:12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar?

2 Chr. 28:23 For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

2 Chr. 32:13 Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the people of other lands? were the gods of the nations of those lands any ways able to deliver their lands out of mine hand?

Isa. 36:18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

Isa. 37:12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?

Isa. 41:23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

Jer. 2:28 But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.

In Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Languages, Interpretation, Theology

Explicit Passages about the Worship of Demons

August 7, 2022

Scripture provides at least 9 passages that pertain explicitly to the worship of demons:

Leviticus 17:7 And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.

Deuteronomy 32:17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

2 Chronicles 11:15 And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made.

Psalm 106:37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,

Matthew 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Luke 4:6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

1 Corinthians 10:20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. 21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.

Revelation 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver,

Revelation 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

*Scripture also provides many other passages that explicitly speak about humans involved in demonic activities but do not explicitly speak about the worship of demons.

In Theology

Learning from the Spirit’s Working through Even a Dead Prophet’s Bones!

July 31, 2022

Elisha was a great prophet of God who did many miracles. Elisha, however, did not have any innate power to do any miracles; the Spirit effected all the miracles that he did throughout his life.

Remarkably, even after Elisha had died, was buried (2 Kings 13:20a-b), and his body had at least partially decomposed (“bones” [2 Kings 13:21a]), the Spirit effected a miraculous resurrection through a dead man’s body coming into contact with the bones of Elisha (2 Kings 13:21b-e):

2 Kings 13:20 And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.

21 And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.

This passage supports holding that the Spirit remained in his body even after he had died, been buried, and his body had been reduced (at least partially) to its bones. It also correlates strongly with other passages to stress the importance of preserving the integrity of the bones of a believer after death.

Moreover, it suggests that the battle between Michael and the devil for the body of Moses after he died may have been at least in part to prevent the devil’s misuse of the body of Moses particularly because his dead body was also the dead body of a prophet:

Jude 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

In Interpretation, Theology

Deriving Prescriptive Statements from Narrative Passages: 6 Examples

July 24, 2022

In a recent online discussion about what is sound doctrine concerning the doctrinal importance of narratives in Scripture, I presented the following six examples from Scripture concerning deriving prescriptive statements from narrative passages.

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #1

Jesus used information that is given to us in a narrative passage to issue a prescriptive statement based on that information:

Genesis 19:26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

Luke 17:32 Remember Lot’s wife.

The information about what happened to Lot’s wife is given to us in a passage that is a historical narrative of God’s judging Sodom and Gomorrah and delivering Lot and his two daughters from that judgment.

That statement reveals and describes what happened to her, but Jesus issued a command to His disciples that they must learn from that narrative information, keep recalling to their minds what happened to her, and by way of legitimate and necessary implication, not do as she did.

Obviously, it was not very likely that His disciples (or we) would face a situation that was exactly the same as she was in or even closely parallel to it. Nonetheless, Jesus commanded them to profit from that narrative information.

When Jesus issued the command to remember Lot’s wife (Lk. 17:32), He took “descriptive” information from a narrative account in Scripture in Gen. 19:17-26 and used it to utter a prescriptive statement in Lk. 17:32.

Gen. 19:17-26 —> Lk. 17:32 is a biblical example of how something that is given in a “descriptive” passage was legitimately used by Jesus to utter a prescriptive statement.

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #2

In 1 Corinthians 10:6, the Apostle Paul uses information provided to us in a narrative passage in Numbers 11 to provide prescriptive teaching to Christians:

1 Corinthians 10:6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

Numbers 11:4 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

Because of their lusting after evil things, God judged the Israelites fiercely. It’s important to keep in mind that God has not recorded (as far as I can tell from Scripture) that He had previously provided specific warnings to the Israelites not to do what they did on that occasion. Nevertheless, when they sinned in that manner, they experienced intense divine judgment at the hand of God.

From Paul’s stating that example was provided as an example to us with the intent that we would not lust after evil things, as they did, we see clearly that descriptive information from a historical narrative passage was used in apostolic prescriptive teaching to all Christians.

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #3

In 1 Corinthians 10:7, the Apostle Paul cited information from a historical narrative passage to forcefully issue an apostolic command:

1 Corinthians 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

In support of this apostolic command, Paul quoted from the end of a narrative statement in Exodus 32:

Exodus 32:6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

Paul’s use of a descriptive statement about the sinfulness of the Israelites on a particular occasion in a prescriptive command to all Christians plainly shows the use of information from a historical narrative to issue a prescriptive statement to all Christians.

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #4

In 1 Corinthians 10:8, the Apostle Paul issued an apostolic mutual exhortation to instruct believers not to be immoral:

1 Corinthians 10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.

He used information from a historical narrative passage as support for his exhortation:

Numbers 25:1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. . . . 9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.

Paul’s use of narrative information (about the sinfulness of the Israelites on a particular occasion and God’s judgment of them for doing so) in a negative exhortation to all Christians teaches us that he used information from a historical narrative in Scripture to issue authoritative instruction to all Christians.

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #5

In 1 Corinthians 10:9, Paul instructed believers by issuing an apostolic mutual exhortation not to tempt Christ:

1 Corinthians 10:9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.

He based his exhortation on a historical narrative passage:

Exodus 17:2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? . . . 7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?

As in 1 Cor. 10:8, Paul’s use of narrative information (about the sinfulness of the Israelites on a particular occasion and God’s judgment of them for doing so) in a negative exhortation to all Christians in 1 Cor. 10:9 teaches us that he used information from a historical narrative in Scripture to issue authoritative instruction to all Christians.

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #6

In 1 Corinthians 10:10, Paul commanded believers not to murmur:

1 Corinthians 10:10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

He supported his command to all believers by referring to information provided to us in some historical narrative passages:

Numbers 14:2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!

Numbers 14:36 And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,

Numbers 16:3 And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?

Numbers 16:32 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.

Numbers 16:41 But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord.

42 And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.

43 And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation.

44 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

45 Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.

46 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the Lord; the plague is begun.

47 And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people.

48 And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.

49 Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah.

Paul’s issuing a prescriptive statement to all believers that has as its basis biblical revelation provided in various descriptive passages shows the use of information from historical narrative passages to issue a prescriptive statement to all Christians.

Analysis and application of #1-#6

All 6 of these biblical examples of descriptive—->prescriptive have in common divine judgment against human sinfulness, and that judgment was recorded within the narrative passages themselves.

This analysis supports going to other narrative passages that speak explicitly of divine judgment against human sinfulness and issuing prescriptive statements to Christians not to sin in those same ways. Other factors must also be considered in formulating such prescriptive statements from such narrative passages, such as explicit NT teaching that would indicate that making such prescriptive statements to Christians would not be legitimate.

The ultimate justification for formulating such prescriptive statements comes directly from explicit teaching by Scripture about itself that all Scripture is profitable not just for doctrine but also for reproof (convicting us of sinfulness), correction, and instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

In Interpretation, Theology

Ezekiel 39: A Test Case for Certain Notions about Cremation versus Burial

July 19, 2022

Ezekiel 39	Notes
¹Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:	This passage is divine prophecy in a prophetic book of Scripture–it is not a narrative passage.
²And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
³And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
⁴Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.	^{God will employ birds of prey and beasts of the field to devour the multitudes of people on whom He will render divine judgment.}
⁵Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.
⁶And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
⁷So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.
⁸Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
⁹And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:	^{There will be such an abundance of wood available from the weapons of the slain that the Israelites will burn them for 7 years.}
¹⁰So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God.	^{Because of the abundance of that flammable material, the Israelites will not take any wood out of the field or cut it down from the forests. This statement shows that the Israelites did both of those things in other circumstances in which they needed to burn things.}
	^{A Profound Divine Emphasis on Burial}
¹¹And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.	^{God Himself will provide graves for Gog and all his multitude. Even though there will be an abundance of wood available that could be used for cremating these people, God has ordained that they all will be buried and not cremated. Clearly, a supposed lack of wood that would have been necessary for cremation will not at all be the reason why these multitudes of humans will be buried.}
¹²And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.	^{For seven months, the Israelites will bury these multitudes of people so that the land will be cleansed. Burial of their divinely executed bodies is what will cleanse the land.}
¹³Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God.	^{All the Israelites will be active in burying them. Their doing so will be to their renown! Burying dead bodies of divinely executed people will bring divine commendation to all those who do that burying!}
¹⁴And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.	^{For the second time, the passage states that burying the dead bodies is what will be done to cleanse the land.}
¹⁵And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.	^{Even a single remaining bone of a human will be and must be buried.}
¹⁶And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.	^{In order for the land to be cleansed, all the bones of all the divinely executed people will have to be buried. This third statement of that truth profoundly emphasizes the importance of burial of the bones of divinely executed people.}
¹⁷And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.
¹⁸Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
¹⁹And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
²⁰Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God.
²¹And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
²²So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward.
²³And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
²⁴According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.
²⁵Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
²⁶After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
²⁷When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
²⁸Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
²⁹Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.

There will be no shortage of wood for cremation on this occasion. Nonetheless, God has ordained that there will be no cremation–all the multitudes will still be buried, including all remaining bones of any humans. Such burial of those bones will be necessary in order for the land to be cleansed.

Cremation of those bones will not cleanse the land. By the direct ordination of God, multitudes will be buried in order to cleanse the land.

This passage proves conclusively that burial is the will of God even for vast hordes of unbelievers even when there will be far more wood available than would be needed to cremate all of them.

There is zero biblical basis for any Christian to support cremation.

Note: I will likely be adding to this table and revising its contents repeatedly in the future. Its content, therefore, will likely be continually changing.

In Exposition, Interpretation, Theology

The Worldwide Supremacy of the Law of God

July 7, 2022

Scripture profoundly teaches us about the worldwide supremacy of the Law of God:

Deuteronomy 4:6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

All the Law that God gave Israel was more righteous than any laws of any other nation!

Moreover, all of God’s Law was uniquely glorious in other ways as well:

Nehemiah 9:13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:

Romans 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

The Law of God that He gave to Israel was right, true, good, holy, and just! There was not any nation in the world whose laws could even begin to compare to the Law of God.

The worldwide supremacy of the Law of God is a revelation that has profound implications and applications that go far beyond what many of God’s people may ever have understood!

In Interpretation, Theology

More Than 10,000 Hours!

June 25, 2022

After God saved me in 1990, I immediately had an immense hunger for reading and studying the Bible. I read the Bible through three times that first year.

Recently, the thought occurred to me that I have probably spent thousands of hours reading and studying the Bible.

Very conservatively doing the math, this is what I came up with for how much time I have spent:

8 years X at least 30 minutes a day x 365 days/year = 1460 hours

23.5 years X at least 1 hour a day X 365 days/year = 8577.5 hours

Total time: 10,037.5 hours

In my 31 1/2 years as a believer, I have spent more than 10,000 hours reading and studying just the Bible itself.

I fully realize that many, many other people have done far more than I have, but I still praise God for the freedom and ability that He has given me to spend this much time reading and studying His Word!

In Bible reading, Discipleship, Testimony

Cremation versus Burial – Amos 2:3

June 16, 2022

Amos 2:1-3 is direct divine speech that reveals fierce divine punishment on a pagan nation for burning the bones of a pagan king into lime:

Amos 2:1Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: 2 But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kirioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet: 3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the Lord.

God provided this revelation on purpose because He wanted to communicate truth not just about the sinful people involved–most importantly, He wanted to communicate truth about Himself and His mind.

To understand and profit fully from this revelation, we need to ponder the answers to two key questions:

What does this passage teach us about God?

Why does God want us to know this information?

If God judged the pagan Moabites for burning to powder a pagan king, what do the following verses imply about His mindset about those who burn the bodies of believers to powder?

1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

Revelation 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

We are a royal priesthood! We are kings unto our God and Father! We will reign on the earth!

Because God was intensely displeased when pagans burned the bones of a pagan king to powder, how much more intensely displeased is He when anyone burns the body of one of His royal saints to powder!

Our bodies belong to Him. We are not free to do whatever we want to them.

Through this revelation, He has made known that He does not want human bodies burned, etc. to powder (except when He may have specifically authorized it as a form of judgment). Burial—not cremation—is the mind of God for His own!

In Discipleship, Interpretation, Theology

The Vital Importance of a Divine Promise of Burial – Genesis 15:15

June 12, 2022

God promised Abram that he would be buried at the end of his life:

Genesis 15:15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

When God made this promise, He was not following some OT Hebrew preference because Abraham was the first Hebrew so there was no long-standing or well-established Hebrew preference that had already been in place that could be or needed to be followed by God.

Because this verse is the first mention of burial in Scripture, we learn that within the limits of what is revealed in Scripture, we are to hold that God is the One who communicated to the Hebrews the importance of burying their own. He, therefore, was not following some OT Hebrew preference when He did so–He was making a divine promise that communicated the vital importance that He placed on burial!

Moreover, based on this understanding of this key promise, we learn that the numerous repeated mentions of the burials of God’s people in the OT are not instances of OT Hebrew preference of burial. Rather, they show the vital importance that God placed on burial when He promised Abram that he would be buried in a good old age.

Picture Credit: M. Shires

In Discipleship, Interpretation, Theology

The Worldwide Importance of Christ’s Burial

June 4, 2022

Before the risen Jesus ascended to heaven, He commanded His disciples to preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). The apostle Paul instructed the Corinthians that the gospel message that He received directly from the glorified Christ specifically states that Christ was buried:

1 Cor. 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

God, therefore, has ordained that we are to tell every human being that Christ was buried.

Regardless of what practices for handling dead bodies may be prevalent anywhere in the world, the Christian must convey to every person everywhere that Christ was buried. In order to do so knowledgeably, we must understand biblically why Christ was and had to be buried. To that end, this article treats three reasons that Christ was and had to be buried.

God’s Command to Bury Had to Be Obeyed

First, more than at least 1300 years before the Passion of Christ, God had commanded His people that those that they had hanged on a tree had to be buried:

Deut. 21:22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: 23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Peter and the apostles declared to the Jewish council and high priest that they had slain and hanged Jesus on a tree:

Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.

Later in a premier evangelistic message to Gentiles, Peter preached again that the Jews had slain the anointed Jesus of Nazareth and hanged Him on a tree:

Acts 10:39 And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:

Because the Jews slew and hanged Jesus on a tree, they had to bury His body in obedience to God’s command. As righteous Jews, Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus obeyed God’s command and buried His body (John 19:38-42).

Christ was and had to be buried because God’s command to bury had to be obeyed. As seen through the gospel ministry of Peter, the truth that Jesus was buried is to be proclaimed to both Jews and Gentiles—it is of worldwide importance!

Christ’s Burial Was Prophesied

Second, Christ was and had to be buried because God had prophesied that the Messiah would be buried:

Isa. 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Had Jesus of Nazareth not been buried in fulfillment of what God had prophesied, He would not and could not have been the Messiah. There would then not be any gospel of Jesus Christ to proclaim to the world.

Christ Spoke of His Body’s Being Buried

Third, before His crucifixion, Jesus of Nazareth revealed that Mary (John 11:2; 12:3) had anointed His body for His burial:

Matthew 26:12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.

Mark 14:8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

John 12:7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.

He added that what she had done to anoint His body for His burial would be spoken of all over the world wherever the gospel would be preached:

Matthew 26:13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.

Mark 14:9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

Christ was and had to be buried in order to fulfill what He said about Mary’s having anointed Him for His burial.

Had His body not been buried after His crucifixion, He would have been shown to have been wrong in what He said. Had He erred in the truthfulness of what He said concerning what Mary had done, He would not and could not have been the Messiah. There would then not be any gospel of Jesus Christ to proclaim to the world.

Conclusion

As the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth was and had to be buried after He had been crucified. As believers, we all must understand biblically why this is true.

We all must also proclaim to all men everywhere the gospel truth that Christ was buried. The burial of Christ is of worldwide importance!

Picture Credit: M. Shires

In Discipleship, Interpretation, Theology

Archives For rajesh

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #1

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #2

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #3

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #4

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #5

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #6

Analysis and application of #1-#6

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

God’s Command to Bury Had to Be Obeyed

Christ’s Burial Was Prophesied

Christ Spoke of His Body’s Being Buried

Conclusion

Share this: