“And Sarah died at Keriath Arba, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.”
– Genesis 23:2
One of the things I love about the Bible and we’re seeing it from all these initial stories in Genesis 23:2, is that the Bible does not gloss over the realities of sin in this world, of suffering in this world, and even the pain of death in this world. This picture of all that we’ve seen in Sarah and Abraham, their relationship, God’s promises to them, God’s grace, and God’s provision for them. God bringing them a son in their old age. I can just imagine this scene as Sarah dies and Abraham is mourning and weeping, like this man so blessed by God, yet so hurting in this picture and this is the reality of life in a fallen world, right. God is so gracious.
The reality of life in a fallen world is that death is certain, but followers of Christ long for the day when God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
Genesis 23:2 Reminds Us God is Faithful Through Difficult Times
He blesses us in so many ways and yet there’s still hurt and there’s still pain and ultimately the hope we have is that there is coming a day when there will be no more pain and there will be no more death and no more weeping. I just think about Revelation 21 when God will wipe every tear from our eyes. So I can imagine that there might be some who are listening to this who have whether it’s family members or friends, you’ve seen die in recent days, or maybe it was relatively long ago, months, years ago.
When someone you loved died and there’s still a sense of mourning and weeping and hurt and pain and I just wanna remind you, in this passage in God’s word of God’s love for you, God’s care for you, God’s presence with you in a world of weeping and morning and hurting and God’s hope that he has given us, that all who trust in Christ will one day be with him and no more pain, no more sorrow, no more weeping, no more tears will be present, because the old will be totally gone and the new will have come.
God Has Defeated Death
“God we look forward to that day and I pray particularly for people who are hurting right now as they’ve lost family members, friends. I think of people in my life, friends, close friends who have died over recent days. Just praise you for your love in the midst, weeping, and mourning and are hurting and pain. I praise you Lord Jesus that you have conquered death. That you have defeated death completely. That you have risen from the dead. You are the Resurrection and the Life and everyone who believes in you, though he dies, he will live.
All Glory be to your name for that reality and for the promise that flows form it, that one day, death itself will be no more. That death has no more ultimate victory. That there’s coming a day when you will personally wipe every tear from our eyes. God help us, help us in this weeping and mourning and pain in this life as we anticipate that day. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.”
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
