Sermons

Genesis 23 - The Conquered Enemy of God and Men

July 8, 2012 Speaker: Series: Genesis

Topic: Sunday Worship Passage: Genesis 23:1–23:20

[Text: Gen. 23)

Scripture Intro: As Genesis 22 closed, the promise of God was confirmed that an offspring of Abraham would one day come who would conquer all of his enemies. That promise itself echoes the original promise in the Garden of an offspring who would triumph over the enemy, the serpent, and the dark power he represented. Now Genesis 23 opens and the power of the enemy, death, itself an enemy of God and man, storms back into the scene.

[Read and pray]

Death separates what was never meant to be torn apart.

We aren’t really sure how long Abraham and Sarah had been married, but we know it was more than 62 years. Some say that they were close to their 100th anniversary when Sarah died! Sarah was 65 when she followed her husband out of Haran on the way to Canaan and they were probably married well before then. But even at the minimum guess, 62 years is a long time for two people to be one flesh, not just sexually, but in their calling by God to be wanderers and sojourners in Canaan, away from their country, their clans and their fathers’ houses. For many of those years they were one flesh in the deeply painful and long unfulfilled desire to have children. For more than 62 years they were one flesh in their brokenness as they each showed their unbelief in God in different ways and yet both were united by their faith in the God who made and keeps promises to men.

After more than 62 years together in the pain of waiting and in the of Isaac, in bitter tears over sin and laughter at God’s promise of joy to an old man and woman, through arguments over a slave woman and solidarity in their calling, through sinful unbelief and deep joy at the provision of God – after more than 62 years Abraham loses his faithful wife, his imperfect-yet-perfect-for-him helper, his fellow heir of the promises of God, half of himself.

Death separates what was never meant to be torn apart.

The genealogy back in Genesis 5 had the echoing refrain, “and he died,” to remind the reader of a real problem in the world. The consequences of Adam’s sin weren’t a joke. In the same way, Sarah’s death following hard after such a beautiful display of hope in chapter 22 is meant to remind the reader that the Story of Redemption isn’t finished yet at this point. God was still at work because the enemy was still at work. And then as now, sin marred the beauty of the created order and its consequence, death, still clawed at life to overtake it.

No matter what we think, no matter what games we play or how we try to justify our own actions, sin is no game in God’s eyes. Just look at the consequence of sin, death, and know that is true! We know that death is an enemy to us, but know, too, that we are helpless against it because it is what our rebellion against God has earned for us. Like a paycheck, the Scriptures tell me, death is the wage my works of sin have gotten for me.

And death separates what was never meant to be torn apart. Not just husband from wife, parent from child, brother from sister, and friend from friend. Death tears apart body from soul, the physical from the spiritual, in an un-natural undoing of God’s good creation. In an ultimate sense, death can even separate man from God in an act of justice that, but for the grace of God, brings the consequences of our sin to bear in awful permanence.

So, the reality and sting of death leads Abraham to mourn. After 127 years of life, the enemy takes Sarah even in the land that would come to symbolize the rest God intends to give to his people. So, Abraham grieves for his wife and weeps for her.

Let this text stand against those who say that “death is just a part of life” and condemn grief and sorrow as “un-Christian,” speaking platitudes like, “God works all things together for good” or “God has His reasons.” While true, those realities are miss-applied when they would seek to negate the pain of death being felt by a mourner. John Calvin, as in the guy behind Calvinism, said, “…to feel no sadness at the contemplation of death, is rather barbarism and stupor than fortitude of mind.”[1] Abraham, a giant of our faith, grieved over Sarah’s death. And through it he teaches us how to lean into this world broken by sin.

Abraham teaches us because he grieves, but not like a person without hope. He knew he (along with Sarah) was a stranger, a foreigner, an exile in that land. He spoke to the Hittites in v. 4 saying, “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you…” because (as the book of Hebrews tells us) “people who speak (that way) make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” (Hebrews 11:14-16 ESV)

Abraham’s hopes in the midst of grief because he believes that, for the people of God, death is not the end. Yes, he weeps over the separation of body from soul, of husband from wife, of friend from beloved friend. But he knows that God is at work in His broken creation putting life back together through forgiveness and grace that brings peace and rest. And remember Abraham’s rational faith from the near-sacrifice of Isaac. He had faith that even if the LORD had actually allowed him to sacrifice his boy, Abraham would receive him back from the dead, which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back! Abraham has hope in the midst of grief because Abraham believes there is a resurrection! He has an eternal hope that isn’t just confidence in this piece of dirt or plot of real estate he is purchasing, but in a heavenly country where all the enemies of God and man, including death itself, have no place.

I believe it is about Abraham’s realization of a resurrection that Jesus himself said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” (John 8:56 ESV) Although Abraham didn’t know the name of Jesus nor fully how God in the flesh would have to die in order to defeat death, nevertheless Abraham’s faith was directed in hope and deep joy toward a God who would raise the dead and keep all of His promises, even about who would one day live in the land he was about to buy.

And God proved Himself worthy of that faith through the work of Jesus. As the perfect sacrifice for sin, both a man without fault or blemish and God whose righteousness is needed by sinners, Jesus conquered over death by death, turning the weapon of the enemy against him. Though death remains a deeply painful reality in this world, the sting of death has been removed because in Christ’s death on the cross forgiveness of sins has been secured for the people of God. The sting of death has been removed because we know there will be a day when we will be united in worship with those saints who have gone before us because Jesus was separated from his Father on the cross. It should not be lost on us that only our God truly understands the deep horror of death and the separation it causes because the Triune God, who enjoyed perfect intimacy from eternity past, was torn apart as God the Father could not even bear to look at the cursed Jesus who bore our sin on his cross.

Do you need a listening ear because death causes you pain? You need run no farther than where you stand because your prayers can rise to the One who sympathizes with your pain…and has done something about it.

The Scriptures testify that as we rest in Christ’s work on our behalf we are united to him so that His death becomes our death, but more than that, his life becomes our hope beyond this life. Paul says in Romans 6, “For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.” (Romans 6:7-9 ESV) Because Jesus is no longer under the dominion or rule of death, we are not ultimately either!

Again, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:50-57)

Thanks you, God, because Christ has fulfilled the law of God for us! He took the wages of our sin, death, upon himself on the cross and removed the curse from us so that there remains no fear in death for the one who runs to Jesus as their only hope! Indeed, the grave becomes a time of rest for this tired flesh until the Lord comes to remake us and give us a body like his glorious body. But our souls…our souls don’t go into the ground. Though death for a time still separates body from soul, physical from spiritual, our souls are made perfect in the holiness of Christ and immediately pass into the glory of His presence as we await the day of the resurrection, the day of our victory because it is the day when death itself, the last enemy, is fully and forever destroyed.

Although he did not know the fullness of the hope God had in store for him, Abraham had the seed of this hope germinating in his heart and cherished it. So, even in the face of death, Abraham’s faith knows where to look. He directs his faith to the LORD, the Covenant Keeper, the Everlasting God, the Provider, and then acts in line with what God has promised to him and to his family. Everything that follows in the passage is the picture of a man who walks forward entrusting himself to the same God he encountered in the past 11 chapters, a God whose faithfulness is sure even when life itself fails.

By faith, Abraham goes to the people he lives among and secures a place, not to farm or to develop or to sell again for a profit to make himself rich but simply a place to bury his dead. Calvin says,

“He did not desire to have a foot of earth whereon to fix his tent; he only took care about his grave…in that land which had been promised him for an inheritance, for the purpose of bearing testimony to (his descendants) that the promise of God was not extinguished, either by his own death, or by that of his family; but that it then rather began to flourish; and that they who were deprived of the light of the sun, and of the vital air, yet always remained joint-partakers of the promised inheritance. For while they themselves were silent and speechless (in death), the (grave itself) cried aloud that death formed no obstacle to their entering on the possession of it.”[2]

Calvin is saying that Abraham knew death itself could not prevent the promises of God from coming true. In fact, death became a servant to the glory of God because it showed that the fulfillment of the promises could only come about through the faithful work of God and not through human effort.

The grave that Abraham bought for his wife (a grave which was large enough to hold Sarah’s bones along with his own, Isaac’s, Jacob’s, Rachel’s and Leah’s in the years to come) was inside the land of Canaan. Although the whole land did not belong to Abraham at this time, still God had promised that some 400 years later the land would belong to Abraham’s children and be their “everlasting possession” (Genesis 17:8).

So it seems strange, on one level, that even though this already-promised land is offered to him for free, as a gift of respect from his neighbors, Abraham insists on paying the full price for it. But consider two things. First, this is perfectly in keeping with the faith he set in God alone as the Source of his blessing. He said it earlier when in Gen. 14:22-23 he spoke to the King of Sodom saying, “I have lifted my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’” Of course, Abraham is more polite in saying that in this case, since he isn’t speaking to a greedy king who has dishonored him, but rather to a group of men who respect him deeply enough to say, “you are a prince of God among us.” Still, he won’t take it as a gift even though it was twice offered for free.

And second, he pays for the already-promised land because he has fully bought in to God’s promises. He believes that this is the place where God intends His people to be in years to come, forever, actually, and so he is willing to legally obtain some of the land as a burial place so that the bones of his wife and family need never leave the land of the promise until the resurrection. By paying for it and having the transaction witnessed in a common ceremony of the day, the result is permanent, binding and contractually solid. Legally, a gift could have been taken back after a generation. So instead, money was exchanged. It was attested to by witnesses. The land was secured and could never be taken away from Abraham or his heirs after him. The place of their rest in death, in a land that would come to represent the long awaited, deeply desired rest that only God can give, is secure and will be waiting on the children of Israel when they come out of bondage in Egypt and into the Promised Land. This cave and field was simply the down-payment, the foretaste of what was to come.

But make no mistake, the true hope of Abraham and Sarah and the hope of the children of Israel was never in dirt and rocks (lots and lots of rocks). Their true hope was in the LORD and in the Offspring of Abraham who was to come, who did come as Jesus of Nazareth. His victory over all of his and our enemies, including death itself, by his resurrection from the dead assures us that our rest has been secured and we await the day of his coming just as eagerly as Abraham. His resurrection is the down payment of our resurrection to come.

A singer[3] once introduced me to a wonderful concept. Have you ever thought about this? There will come a day when the last human death ever occurs. One man or woman with a specific name in a specific place will be the last human ever to die and then Christ will return. There will come a day when the last human child is abused, one last cry of pain, before the Lord returns to soothe that pain and make things right again. There will come a day when the last sin is sinned and then death itself is swallowed up by the coming age of beauty and wholeness and peace when Jesus returns and all his enemies will be put under his feet, even physical death. It’s true that in that time those who desired life apart from the God of Abraham in this age will receive darkness apart from the God of Abraham for eternity in the age to come. The Scriptures call that the second death – forever anger and loneliness and bitterness - and the absurdity of that reality is that those who reject the Lord would not have it any other way.

But on that day you who desire forgiveness and long for rest will find that you have received both by grace in the person of Jesus. He is our King who conquers all his and our enemies – even death – both now and in the age to come, which is why all of our songs of joy and love will be to him, our Victor, our Redeemer, our Friend and our faithful God.

If all that is true, then it must change things for us now.

Abraham believed that even though he and his family would die, God would not fail to bring them into the inheritance promised to them, a land of peace and rest where the enemies of God and man are not. So, you who set your faith in Jesus, take heart in the midst of your struggles that nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ – not even death itself – because Christ has conquered all to bring you into his rest. And because he lives, you will also live and see him with your living eyes in the age to come. As we look to the work of God in the past and listen to his promises about what is to come, it comforts us and strengthens us in the present as His Spirit convinces us that those actions and promises are always true in Jesus.

When Paul wrote the beloved phrase we read earlier,

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” he followed it by saying, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58) For Paul, and hopefully for us, the hope of Christ’s ultimate victory and the promise of new life for us in him transform us into a people who are not frightened by anything that is frightening (even death). We are transformed into a people who are confident in our hope even in the face of persecution or temptation. And we are transformed by that hope into a people who eagerly run into the work the Lord has given to his people. Think about it this way, what would you be willing to do in obedience to Christ if fear was taken away from you? Pray that the Lord would help you realize that in Christ, you don’t need to be afraid of anything because he is your Everything in the Gospel.

Still, in the Gospel there is freedom to grieve death now. But in the Gospel we do not grieve like those who have no hope. Believe with Abraham in God and in His provision for you and your family in Christ. Embrace Jesus by faith and then act accordingly in this world, not looking for citizenship here, but looking for a better home, a city built by God himself. God is not ashamed to be called the God of such people and Jesus, your victorious King, is preparing a place for us now. His death won that for us and his resurrection guarantees it.

[1] Calvin’s commentary on Genesis, pg. 578.

[2] Calvin’s commentary on Genesis, pg. 579.

[3] Jeremy Casella, in an unknown song performed at a concert with Andrew Peterson as part of Peterson’s “Behold, the Lamb of God” tour in Durham, NC in December 2011.

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