A People for His Name

Choosing Burial Displays Our Love of Loyalty to a Deceased Person

December 29, 2023

We live in a day when more and more believers are choosing cremation instead of burial. Scripture, however, provides abundant revelation that shows that burial and not cremation is the right choice for every believer to make.

This post treats a premier reason for choosing burial instead of cremation. It does so by applying Micah 6:8 to what Scripture reveals about the importance of burial in 2 Samuel 2:4-6.

What Loyal People Do for a Deceased Person

When the men of Jabeshgilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul and to his sons, they acted at great personal cost (“went all night”) to ensure that Saul and his sons would be buried:

1 Samuel 31:11 And when the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul; 12 All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. 13 And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

Later, king David was informed of what these men had done:

2 Samuel 2:4 And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, That the men of Jabeshgilead were they that buried Saul.

When David learned of what they had done, David declared that what they had done to bury¹ Saul showed kindness (Heb. hesed) to Saul:

2 Samuel 2:5 And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabeshgilead, and said unto them, Blessed be ye of the LORD, that ye have shewed this kindness [hesed] unto your lord, even unto Saul, and have buried him. 6 And now the LORD shew kindness and truth unto you: and I also will requite you this kindness, because ye have done this thing.

Holladay defines hesed as ‘loyalty’ (A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 111). We thus learn from Scripture that burying a deceased person is how we show our loyalty to him.

God Requires Us to Love Loyalty

One of the most famous passages in Scripture teaches us that God requires us to love mercy (hesed):

Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy [hesed], and to walk humbly with thy God?

This passage that instructs believers to love hesed shows us that God requires that we love loyalty.

Applying Micah 6:8 to 2 Samuel 2:4-6

God has instructed us that He requires that we love loyalty (Micah 6:8). He has also revealed that loyalty to a deceased person is shown by burying that person (2 Sam. 2:4-6).

In obedience to God, therefore, believers should show that they love loyalty by burying a deceased person. Burial—not cremation—is the right thing for all believers to do for a deceased person.

Conclusion

Let us choose burial to display our love of loyalty to a deceased person.

¹ See my post Three Reasons for Why Cremation Is Unbiblical for an explanation of why the account in 1 Samuel 31:11-13 does not support cremation at all.

Picture Credit: M. Shires

In Exposition, Interpretation, Theology

Nehemiah’s Remarkable Statements That Stress the Importance of Burial

December 11, 2023

Nehemiah was an exemplary leader of God’s people. He was a devoted servant of God who repeatedly asked God to remember him for good because of what he had done for the sake of the things of God.

Two statements that Nehemiah made in his requests to King Artaxerxes when he requested permission of him to rebuild Jerusalem stress for us the importance of burial in a way that many may have overlooked:

Neh. 2:3 And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?

Neh. 2:5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.

Jerusalem was the place where God’s house was. Surely, Nehemiah regarded the place of God’s house to be of surpassing importance.

Nonetheless, Nehemiah did not say that he was sad because the city, the place of God’s house, lay waste and had its gates consumed with fire. Nor did Nehemiah request permission from the king to build the city because it was the city of his God’s house.

Remarkably, instead, he said that he was sad that Jerusalem lay waste with its gates consumed with fire—and he sought the king’s permission to build the city—because it was the place of his fathers’ sepulchers! For Nehemiah, what made Jerusalem of special importance was not just that God’s house was there—it was that Jerusalem was the place where his forefathers were buried in their tombs!

He later implicitly stresses the same point for the readers of Nehemiah by writing about what another Nehemiah repaired:

Neh. 3:16 After him repaired Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of the half part of Bethzur, unto the place over against the sepulchres of David, and to the pool that was made, and unto the house of the mighty.

By mentioning explicitly “the place over against the sepulchres of David” in this statement, Nehemiah made known whose sepulchres were of special importance to him.

Conclusion

Nehemiah’s heart for the place where his fathers were buried instructs us that such places of biblical burial is what godly people should choose for themselves and for their own.

Honoring our loved ones by burying them is the right thing to do.

Three Reasons Why Cremation is Unbiblical

Picture Credit: M. Shires

In Interpretation, Theology

Sunday School Bible Reading Report Fall 2023

December 10, 2023

Today, I finished teaching my part of the second half of an adult Sunday School series, “Written for Our Admonition: A Survey of the Old Testament.” Reading books of the Bible repeatedly was a key part of my preparation for teaching that series.

The following table shows how many times I read each of the books that I covered in the series and the dates when I finished reading them.

1 Chronicles	6/19; 11/4	2
2 Chronicles	7/6; 11/5	2
Ezra	8/19; 11/10	2
Nehemiah	8/21; 11/24; 11/28; 12/1	4
Esther	8/24; 11/22; 11/25; 11/26	4

Isaiah	4/17; 9/19; 9/23	3
Jeremiah	5/25; 10/14	2
Lamentations	6/3; 10/14	2
Ezekiel	8/6; 10/20	2
Daniel	8/10; 10/26; 10/28; 10/29	4

Joel	7/31 (2x); 8/20; 8/24; 8/25; 8/28; 8/31; 9/1; 9/2 (2x); 9/3; 9/4; 9/7; 9/8; 9/10	15
Obadiah	8/9; 8/24; 9/4; 9/7; 9/10	5
Jonah	8/12; 8/24; 9/5; 9/7; 9/11; 9/15 (2x)	7
Micah	8/12; 9/25; 9/26; 9/29; 9/30 (3x); 10/1	8
Nahum	8/13; 8/24; 9/5; 9/7; 9/11; 9/15 (2x)	7
Habakkuk	8/13; 9/25; 10/2; 10/3; 10/4; 10/5; 10/6; 10/7; 10/8	9
Zephaniah	8/13; 9/25; 10/2; 10/3; 10/4; 10/5; 10/6; 10/7; 10/8	9
Haggai	8/13; 11/10; 11/12	3
Zechariah	8/14; 11/17; 11/18 (2x)	4
Malachi	8/15; 11/25; 11/29; 12/2; 12/3; 12/4; 12/7; 12/8; 12/9; 12/10	10

This fall has been the most concentrated time that I have ever had in reading the Minor Prophets. I found this intense time of reading these books to be very profitable and highly recommend using such an approach to studying them.

In Bible reading, Ministry, Sunday School

Salvation Testimonies to the Praise of His Glory!

November 27, 2023

Over the years, several brethren have given me permission to post their salvation testimonies on my blog. These testimonies abundantly give praise to God the Father for His glory in saving people.

Anonymous by request – A Vital Question to Consider: Are You Really Saved?

Anonymous from an unknown source – Un testimonio anónimo de la salvación

Mr. Homer Chinn – The Salvation Testimony of Homer Chinn

Mrs. Stephanie Heimann – A Grace Story: Stephanie Heimann’s Testimony for Baptism

Dr. Mary Kraus – HEDONIST CONVERTED: What Really Matters

Dr. Yoh Shirato – “From Japan with Love”: Yoh Shirato’s Testimony

I also praise God for what He has done in saving me:

How I Became a Christian

Cómo me convertí en un cristiano

In Testimony

What Is Worldliness?

November 22, 2023

I have been thinking a lot lately about what Scripture teaches about Christians, the world, and worldliness (see the discussion that I recently started on Sharper Iron). This is a subject that I have never studied in-depth.

Based on Pastor Minnick’s four messages so far in his series, “Out of, Not of, Into the World,” and on my own recent study, I have come up with the following working understanding concerning worldliness:

¹Here are some key passages that have helped shape my present thinking about this subject: John 17; Ephesians 2:1-3; Colossians 1:13; James 4:1-12; 2 Peter 2:19-20; and 1 John 2:15-17.

²As God directs, I probably will be editing and adding to this post as I continue to study this subject.

In Theology

Does Ecclesiastes 6:3 Speak of the Importance of a Burial?

November 18, 2023

Does the Bible teach that having a burial is important? Scripture has much to say about that issue, including a key statement by Solomon:

Ecclesiastes 6:3 If a man beget an 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.

Although Ecclesiastes 6:3 speaks explicitly about not having a burial as a very bad thing, some believers today hold that the verse is not talking about having a burial per se. Rather, they hold that the verse is teaching about the importance of not having a funeral and not necessarily the importance of a person’s not being buried.

Lamenting and Mourning Distinguished from Being Buried

Examining the following passages that speak about burial shows us that this interpretation is wrong because all the passages distinguish lamenting and mourning for the dead loved one, which is typically a very important part of funerals, from burying that loved one:

Gen. 50:7 And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt . . . 10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days . . . 13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.

1 Sam. 25:1 And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

1 Sam. 28:3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.

2 Sam. 3:32 And they buried Abner in Hebron: and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept.

2 Sam. 3:33 And the king lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth?

2 Chr. 35:24 His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

2 Chr. 35:25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.

Acts 8:2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.

Moreover, other passages clearly distinguish lamenting and mourning for dead people from burying them by revealing that none of these proper actions that are distinct from one another would be done for them:

Jer. 16:4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

Jer. 16:5 For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies. 6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:

Jer. 25:33 And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.

Conclusion

Scripture plainly teaches us that burying someone is distinct from lamenting and mourning his death. Based on what all these passages teach, Ecclesiastes 6:3 does not speak (merely) of how bad it is for a person to not have a funeral—it greatly stresses just how bad it is for a person not in actuality to be buried!

In Discipleship, Exposition, Interpretation, Theology

“Christ is Risen! Hallelujah!”

November 9, 2023

“Christ is Risen! Hallelujah!” by John S.B. Monsell is a hymn about Christ’s resurrection and exaltation that I do not remember ever singing before this year. I have been blessed in singing this hymn in my devotions on several mornings this year!

Christ is risen! Hallelujah! Risen our victorious Head!
Sing His praises! Hallelujah! Christ is risen from the dead.
Gratefully our hearts adore Him as His light once more appears,
Bowing down in joy before Him, Rising up from grief and tears.

Christ is risen! Hallelujah! Risen our victorious Head!
Sing His praises! Hallelujah! Christ is risen from the dead.

Christ is risen! all the sadness of His earthly life is o’er;
Thro’ the open gates of gladness He returns to life once more;
Death and hell before Him bending, He doth rise, the Victor now;
Angels, on His steps attending, glory ’round His wounded brow.

Christ is risen! Hallelujah! Risen our victorious Head!
Sing His praises! Hallelujah! Christ is risen from the dead.

Christ is risen! henceforth never death or hell shall us enthral;
We are Christ’s, in Him for ever we have triumphed over all;
All the doubting and dejection of our trembling hearts have ceased;
‘Tis His day of resurrection, let us rise and keep the feast.

Christ is risen! Hallelujah! Risen our victorious Head!
Sing His praises! Hallelujah! Christ is risen from the dead.

In Music

VBA Code to Sort Data of Varying Length!

October 27, 2023

While working on a work document, I recently figured out how to sort data of varying length (total number of rows) using VBA code. I arrived at the following code that works perfectly for my purposes for sorting data that is in 3 columns on the worksheet!

By first finding out how many rows are in column 1 (lrow), I was able to use lrow instead of a fixed number in the sort statements to get the code to automatically determine how many rows the data has and then sort it according to my specifications.

In Computers

New Song: “Come, Now, O Blessed Spirit”

October 21, 2023

I recently wrote a new song that is sung to the same tune as “O God Beyond All Praising”!

Come, Now, O Blessed Spirit

Come, now, O blessed Spirit,
our hearts fill with grace
that we Your saints may give to
Jehovah our praise.

For none else is worthy
of honor, glory, laud,
For e’er Yours the kingdom,
pow’r, glory, O God.

We bless and magnify You
with blessings we bring.
May Your name be hallowed
for e’er O great King!

You can sing the song to the following MP3 audio of the song in the key of A!

In Music

What Did Paul Testify When He Evangelized Both Jews and Gentiles?

October 16, 2023

What did Paul testify when he evangelized both Jews and Gentiles? A careful examination of two passages instructs us plainly what Paul spoke when he ministered evangelistically to both groups.

Acts 13

Luke reveals to us what Paul testified as “the word of this salvation” in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia:

Acts 13:26 Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. 27 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. 28 And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. 29 And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. 30 But God raised him from the dead: 31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.

Paul did not just testify (to the Jews and the Gentiles who were in the synagogue) of the death and resurrection of Christ—he also told them that Christ was buried and was seen many days by His witnesses.

1 Corinthians 15

Paul himself testifies to the gospel that he preached evangelistically to the Corinthians (who were Gentiles [cf. 1 Cor. 12:2]) so that they were saved:

1 Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 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: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

As he did to the Jews and Gentiles in Antioch of Pisidia, Paul spoke evangelistically to the Gentiles in Corinth of Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and appearances—he did not just testify to the death and resurrection of Christ.

Conclusion

The Spirit has inspired for our profit that Paul ministered evangelistically to both Jews and Gentiles by testifying to them of Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and appearances. Whenever it is at all possible, we should follow Paul in evangelism by doing the same.

In Discipleship, Evangelism, Interpretation, Theology

What Loyal People Do for a Deceased Person

God Requires Us to Love Loyalty

Applying Micah 6:8 to 2 Samuel 2:4-6

Conclusion

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Lamenting and Mourning Distinguished from Being Buried

Conclusion

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Come, Now, O Blessed Spirit

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Acts 13

1 Corinthians 15

Conclusion

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