Revelation 11:3-10 powerfully attests to the biblical importance of burial:

Revelation 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. 5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. 6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. 10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

During the cataclysmic event of the last days, God will direct two witnesses who will prophesy in a unique ministry lasting for 1260 days. These two witnesses will engage in a miraculous ministry that will bring great torment to the whole world.

When they have accomplished their God-given mission, the beast that will arise from the bottomless pit will slay them. The world will rejoice greatly at their demise and will not permit their dead bodies to be buried.

Three and a half days after their deaths, God will miraculously raise them from the dead and then cause them to ascend up into heaven while their enemies watch (Rev. 11:11-12).

Discussion

Although these witnesses will die in Jerusalem (cf. 11:8, “where our Lord was crucified”), the Spirit does not explicitly say that they are Jewish people. Yet, the Spirit highlights that the world will not allow them to be buried.

By doing so, the Spirit highlights in a profound way that burial will continue to be the will of God for His servants regardless of how far removed in time from biblical times their deaths take place! He also teaches us that He wants His people buried after their deaths even when the entire world stands in opposition to their being buried.

Application

Burial is an important part of the testimony of believers to a world that stands in opposition to God. God’s people should not have anything to do with the unbiblical practice of cremation. They should bury their own whenever they have any say in what happens to His people after they die!

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Scripture records several remarkable testimonies about a man who followed the Lord fully! Consider the following passages:

Divine Testimony

After Caleb had served God faithfully in the mission to spy out the land of Canaan, God commended him highly:

Numbers 14:24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

God testified to how Caleb had followed Him fully and would reward him for having done so!

Multiple Testimonies

God, however, did not fulfill that promise to Caleb until 45 years had elapsed after He had first made that promise (Josh. 14:6-14). When He did so, three additional testimonies were given to Caleb’s having followed God fully .

First, Caleb testified that he had done so:

Joshua 14:8 Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God.

Second, he then spoke of Moses’ having testified of his having done so:

Joshua 14:9 And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the LORD my God.

Finally, the inspired writer of Joshua testified that he had done so:

Joshua 14:13 And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance. 14 Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel.

Scripture thus records four testimonies to Caleb’s having followed the Lord fully!

Exhortation

Scripture highlights for our profit that Caleb fully followed God. As he did, so must we. Let us do so in the fullness of the Spirit and by the grace of God!

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Every Christian who knows his Bible knows that his relationship with God is all-important in his life. Although many may think that they are right with God, we must accept what God says that He requires to be perfect with Him and allow that information to inform us about whether we are right with God or not.

An Essential Requirement for Being Perfect with the Lord

It is tragic that many of God’s people either do not know or have not heeded crucial revelation that He has given that explicitly speaks of what being perfect with the Lord requires:

Deuteronomy 18:9 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. 13 Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. 14 For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

In this exceedingly important passage, God emphatically declares that there must not be among His people anyone who has any contact with the occult and its practitioners! We as believers must not dabble in any way with the things of the occult!

We as God’s people must be diligent to meet this essential requirement for being perfect with the Lord our God.

Exhortation

Is your heart right with God? Are you perfect with God? If you are dabbling with the occult in any way, your heart is not right with God and you are not perfect with God

God wants you to repent and have no contact or involvement with anything that has to do with the occult. Be perfect with the Lord your God by not having anything to do with any such things or with the practitioners of such things.

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

God commands believers to flee idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14). Isaiah 44 explains a fearful reason that we must flee idolatry:

Isaiah 44:9 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. 10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? 11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together. 12 The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint. 13 The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house. 14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. 15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. 16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: 17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god. 18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. 19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? 20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

We must not fail to note the fearful reality that this passage attests to at its end—those who participate in idolatry have deceived hearts that have turned them aside so that they cannot deliver their souls!

Put differently, this passage reveals that idolaters are incapable of delivering themselves from their idolatry. Only God in His mercy can deliver a person after he has been ensnared by the deceitfulness of idolatry.

We must flee idolatry and not have anything to do with it in any way lest we become ensnared by it and become unable to deliver ourselves from it!

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.