Sarah died at the age of 127 and Abraham buried Sarah, "out of his sight". Genesis 23:4
Abraham had to go forward in life, not in death.
I Thessalonians 4:13-17 Paul instructs: But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
(Dead people are simply sleeping. They will rise with Christ when HE returns!)
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with HIM. For
this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive
and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep (dead).
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
(We will have new bodies then, which are not subject to pain or sorrow or death or decay. I Corinthians 15)
Most
people try to cling to the old life through photographs and going to
familiar places where they had been with the person who died.
Abraham made proper arrangement for Sarah and "buried her out of his sight". He set a pattern. His new life was now begun and he had more things to which to attend.
When
I think of my dead parents or my dead aunt or uncle, I always think of
their resurrection with Christ in the return of Jesus when HE gathers
the church. I never think of their dead bodies or their grave. I
always rejoice, for I know they belonged to God.
In 2019, two people sent me photos of past years: Me and parents when I was in elementary school. My high school graduation picture. My mother in the last year of her life.
I looked at the pictures and felt my flesh rise up a little. But I want to go forward in Christ as Paul said to do. I just threw those photos away, setting my mind on going forward.
Lot's wife looked back and she was turned into a pillar of salt. Genesis 19
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