Burial

7 June 2020

Dear Phyllis,

The other day Pammy asked me what I wanted her to do with my body (dead). For the past year I have thought about that. In California when you get a drivers license you have to make a check what you want officials to do with your body if you get killed in an auto accident. There are three options – nothing, organ transplant, medical research. Neil and Peggy Verwey opted to give their bodies for medical research; so as soon as they disrobed their earthly tabernacle, their son, David, called the university who immediately came to get the cadavers and that was the end. I had put that on my California drivers license.

That is extremely noble but I am not sure that is the biblical approach. Abraham bought a burial site for Sarah; she was buried in it, he was buried in it, Isaac was buried in it, Jacob was buried in it and Joseph was buried in it. But there is another story that I want to share with you that has two or three important lessons.

In the days of David there was a three year famine (2 Sam. 21). Three years is a long time for the Lord to turn off the faucet in heaven. Obviously David had done a great deal of praying and the Lord told him a surprising answer. It was because of a minor, foolish, thing Saul had done 40 or 50 years previously.

When Israel invaded the promised land they wiped out Jericho and Ai. Everyone was terrified. The town of Gibeon came up with a clever strategy and sent a delegation to make a treaty with Israel saying that they had come hundreds of miles away (Jos. 9). No body thought about asking God about it and Joshua made a treaty with them. When they discovered that these fellows lived just a few kilo meters down the road they said, “Those liars, let's wipe them out.” But Joshua said, “We can't do it because we signed a treaty and we can't break our word.” Nearly 500 years later, Saul, in his fleshly zeal for God, decided to wipe them out.. Another 50 years after that God turned off the faucet in heaven and the Lord told David the problem was because of what Saul had done to Gibeon.

There are two or three points to this letter. If there is a message here it is that God holds us responsible to keep our word. God keeps His Word and He expects us to keep ours. If there ever was a time when anyone could be excused for breaking a promise it was here. This is the lowest level of responsibility that there is. Israel had ever reason for not honoring their treaty. These rascals had lied to them, the Gibonites had tricked them into making a treaty and Israel could be excused for not honoring it. But 500 years later; in his ill directed zeal for God Saul decides to wipe out some remnants that Joshua had left; 50 years after that God turned off the faucet in heaven. David prayed for three years and finally God said, “It is because of what Saul did to the Gibonites” (2 Sam. 21:1). You talk about an extreme illustration, now here is one.

And the second point is that God keeps balanced books. This has got to be one of the stranger stories of the Bible. Another message for us here is that God does not forget. One of the last words written in the Bible is “AND THE BOOKS WERE OPENED” (Rev. 20:12). It's all there. Everything you have ever done in your life, it's all there. God has a video of every actual event. If we have videos to use in courts here it is a safe bet He has good copies stored there. And everyone is going to have a chance to look at everything they have ever done in their life.

There is an enormous amount of injustice in this world. I told you last week how my stomach just churns over the unbelievable amount of criminal activity that Hilary, Brennen, Comey, etc (endless) did for years and got by scott free. While Trumps friends get raided in the middle of the night, put in solitary confinement, and bankrupted fighting false charges. Oh where is justice? I know the answer but I don't like it. The Lord said, “Vengeance is Mine” (Rom. 12:19). God swings the hammer of justice – not us. Jesus assured us that in the end the books will be settled. He promised us that in the day of judgment everyone will have to account for every idle word (Mt. 12:36). That is pretty serious. Every word that comes out of our mouth will receive an appropriate reward. Andrew Wiseman is one of the most evil men who ever served in the Justice Dept. He has a lot of pay-back coming. Hilary will get more than an orange jump suit. I want to see it now, but Gibeon had to wait 50 years.

David went to Gibeon and asked. “What can I do to make up for the injustice done to you?”. They said, “We want seven sons of Saul”. Saul had a wife, or concubine, Rizpah, who had two sons; and his daughter, Michal, had five sons by her second husband. Michal was Davids first wife, but that was a fool thing she did in mocking David when he danced before then Lord (2 Sam. 6:16-23). She paid a dear price for it. David gave the seven men to Gibeon and they strung them up. Justice was served, but the faucet still didn't get turned on.

There is a sub-point here in that God honored Rizpah. She said, “I'm not going to let the buzzards and wild dogs eat the bodies of my sons.”. She spread a sheet on a rock and slept there day and night to protect those decaying corpses. David saw what she did and thought, “There is one more thing that I can try”. When Saul fought with the Philistines and got killed on Mt. Gilboa, the Philistines cut off his head and hung his body, and the body of his son, on the wall of Bethshan. When the citizens of Jabsh-gilead heard about it, some brave men went at night, took the bodies down, carried them back, cremated the decayed bodies, and buried their bones under a tree in Jabesh. They had been there for probably 30 years.

After David had given the seven sons of Saul to the Gibeonites who strung them up, but there still was no rain, David said, “Let me try one more thing.” David went to Jabesh, dug up the bones of Saul and Jonathan, took them back to the land of Benjamin, and buried them in the sepulcher of his father Kish. They had a proper funeral – and AFTER THAT GOD WAS INTREATED FOR THE LAND (2 Sam. 21:14). That turned the faucet on.

The point is this; perhaps God is more concerned about the bones of His saints than we think. Perhaps God doesn't think it is honoring the bodies of Christians to have med students play with them and discard the left over fragments in dumpsters in medical schools. I admire Christians who donate their bodies for medical research, but I am beginning to question if maybe Jesus would appreciate it if we were a little more honoring the remains of the bodies where He used to live. British Christians wanted the body of David Livingstone sent back to England. The natives cut his heart out and buried it in Africa and then did an amazing thing in carrying his body several hundred miles to the coast to be sent back to England.

I don;t know. Pammy doesn't have to worry about my body for quite a while, but we will have to make that decision someday. Praise God it won't be long before all the dead in Christ will be raised and that is the main thing. It won't matter where we left our bodies.. We will get them all back restored in better shape than when we left them here.

Thank the Lord, bill