20230716 Genesis 23: The River We Must All Cross
Genesis: Looking Back in Order to Move Ahead Spiritually • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction:
1 Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3 And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites, 4 “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” 5 The Hittites answered Abraham, 6 “Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.” 7 Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. 8 And he said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, 9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.” 10 Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city, 11 “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.” 12 Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. 13 And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.” 14 Ephron answered Abraham, 15 “My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” 16 Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants. 17 So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over 18 to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city. 19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.
Genesis 23 begins with the death of Sarah and then there is a lengthy discourse on the purchase of land for Sarah’s burial by Abraham from Ephron. This chapter establishes that Abraham, the father of Israel, legally purchased and is the rightful owner of the land that is located in the region the Lord said would someday be the home of the nation of Israel
Genesis begins with the promise, you will not die. But there is the murder of Abel in Gen 4 Then from Genesis 5 through Genesis 11, 13 times we are told that someone had died. In Genesis 11:32 we read:
32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.
We are now at Genesis 23. It has been 1,948 years from Adam to Abraham. Death has come int the world. But from chapters 12-22 the word died has not been used . And then we read this:
1 Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
Take note: Sarah is the mother Isaac. Isaac is now 37 years old. Sarah gave birth to Isaac when she was 90. arah is the miracle mother. She is the mother of the promised child. She is the one through whom Abraham would have a son and Abraham and would become the father of many nations. But now she dies.
And here is the principle we must realize: Death is the reality for every person. Even those, like Sarah, through whom the Lord did a great miracle, was not immune to death.
And so this morning I want us to focus our worship on one simple truth: while we all will experience physical death, those who are in Christ have the hope of eternal life in Christ
The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come, usually called Pilgrim’s Progress, is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan.
Bunyan began his work while in the Bedfordshire county prison for violations of the Conventicle Act of 1664, which prohibited the holding of religious services outside the auspices of the established Church of England. It was begun during Bunyan's initial, more lengthy imprisonment from 1660 to 1672 right after he had written his spiritual autobiography Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.[14]
In it he describes the Christian life from regeneration to glorification as the story if a pilgrim, man named Christian, who journeys from his home in the city of Destruction to the Celestial City. Along the way he encounters various trials, tests, and temptations. He meets various characters, some good, some bad. And throughout his journey he sometimes has victories but also experiences failure. It is a wonderful book to read.
The great British preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon said he had read Pilgrim’s Progress one hundred times. Scottish theologian Alexander Whyte said he had read it almost as often. These two giants of the British pulpit have been called the “last of the Puritans,” so thoroughly immersed were they in Puritan writings. Spurgeon gives us the key to Bunyan’s genius: “Read anything of his, and you will see that it is almost like reading the Bible itself. He had studied the Bible; he had read it till his very soul was saturated with Scripture and…he cannot give us his Pilgrim’s Progress — that sweetest of all prose poems — without continually making us feel and say, ‘Why, this man is a living Bible!’ Prick him anywhere; his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God.”
In the Pilgrim’s Progress, the main character Christian and his fiend Hopeful are almost to the Celestial City. On the way, Christian and Hopeful meet a lad named Ignorance, who believes that he will be allowed into the Celestial City through his own good deeds rather than as a gift of God's grace. Christian and Hopeful meet up with him twice and try to persuade him to journey to the Celestial City in the right way. Ignorance persists in his own way that he thinks will lead him into Heaven. After getting over the River of Death on the ferry boat of Vain Hope without overcoming the hazards of wading across it, Ignorance appears before the gates of Celestial City but is turned away by the Lord of the Celestial City and sadly perishes in Hell.
Christian and Hopeful manage to make it into the Land of Beulah, where they ready themselves to cross the dreaded River of Death on foot to Mount Zion and the Celestial City.
What you need to understand is that the River of Death is a symbol for physical death.
There is no bridge to easily cross over. All true believers must cross the River. Some pass through it more easily than others. The River is more deeper for some than for others. The River is more fearful to cross for some than for others.
Christian has a rough time of it because of his past sins wearing him down, but Hopeful helps him over, and they are welcomed into the Celestial City.
What biblical lessons can we learn from this?
(1) Sarah’s death reminds us that we all must cross the River of Death to enter Eternity
27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
(2) There is something greater than death that awaits those who are in Christ
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,
(3) Death is not the end. But death will end.
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
(4) We worship the One who has conquered death
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
In part 2 of Pigrim’s Progress there is a believer named Valiant, and these are the words he quotes as he fearlessly crosse. But not everyone in Chrit’s has such strong faith. Remeber that the main character Christian is overwhelmed with his unworthiness and memories of his past sins. And Bunyan, who was a pastor with a pastor’s heart, perhaps he wants us to identify ourselves more with those who love the Lord but readily admit our imperfections and weaknesses. Perhaps Bunyan, as brave and willing to endure prison as he was, was also giving us a glimpse into his own humanity
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
It may be that when the time comes we will experience fear while we are dying, but for those who are in Christ there is no need to fear death itself.