The Death of a Princess, Part 2

As we examine Genesis chapter 23, we're going to look at the death of a princess. Let's look at her lover. Who was that? That was Abraham.

Abraham was her lover. And three things I want you to notice about Abraham. Number one, his tears.

Number two, his testimony. Number three, his tomb. First of all, his tears.

The text says that when Sarah died, Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. Abraham loved Sarah. And I like what the Bible records here about his weeping for her.

The tears he shed on her behalf. You know, sometimes I think that we as Christians like to say, well, you know, at death you shouldn't cry. It's not really the manly thing to do or the godly thing to do because they're in a better place.

Well, that's not true because Abraham, a great man of faith, would weep and mourn the death of his wife. Why? Because her companionship was gone. Her friendship was gone.

That great relationship that they had was no longer in existence. It was gone. She was his bride.

The text says that he would weep at the result of her death. Genesis 23 not only records the first grave in the Bible, it records the first time tears are shed in the Bible. And it's shed over a man who loved his wife.

And God, according to his divine appointment, took her home to be with him. You know, I think that in the midst of pain, such as the loss of a loved one, tears are very appropriate. We know that that loved one is home with the Lord if they know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

And we know that the Bible says in Revelation 21.4 that one day God's going to wipe away every tear. But in the meantime, there are going to be many tears shed over the loss of loved ones. And we know the Bible says in Psalm 116, verse number 15, that precious in the sight of the Lord are the death of his saints.

We know what the Bible says there. And so we know that if death is a divine appointment, it's a divine appointment because God is calling that loved one home to be with him. Their work here on earth is over.

It's done. It's complete. They've accomplished what God has designed them to accomplish.

And now the text says because the death of his saints are precious in his sight, he calls that loved one home to be with him. And yet, even though that loved one is called home to be with him, we feel the loss, don't we, of that friend, that companion, that loved one? And that's where Abraham was. And even though we have hope, remember what Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse number 13, we're not as those who have no hope.

Our tears are different than those of the unbeliever, aren't they? We know that one day we'll see our loved one again. We know that we'll join them in heaven to worship the Lord again. We know that one day the dead in Christ will rise first, and we who are alive shall be caught up together in the air with them, so shall we ever be with the Lord.

And the Bible says that we are to comfort one another with those words, because one day we will be with that loved one again. But in the meantime, isn't that true that we feel the loss of the one we love so very much? So Abraham would share his tears. But I want you to notice that in the midst of his tears, he had a testimony.

He had a superb testimony. The text says in verse number three, then Abraham rose from before his dead and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner among you. Give me a burial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

Listen, Abraham had a great testimony. They go on to call him a mighty prince. In other words, they saw him as a prince of God.

They saw him with a man with a remarkable reputation in the community. Listen to me very carefully. When a loved one dies, your testimony is very significant to an unbelieving world.

In fact, over in Deuteronomy chapter 14, listen to what God tells the nation of Israel, verse number one. He says, you are the sons of the Lord your God. You're different.

You shall not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. And the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

God says, listen, when someone dies that you're close to, I don't want you to do what the world does. And as you read through the Bible, you realize that the pagan community would cut themselves many times over with stones to mourn the death of a friend or a loved one. God says, I don't want you to do that.

Why? Because you're my people. You're my called people. You are my chosen possession.

You are to live distinctly different than everybody else in the world. It doesn't mean you can't mourn the loss of a loved one, but your response to their loss needs to be completely different than the world's response when they lose a loved one. Why? Because we know the future.

We know our destiny. We know our loved one's destiny. And in spite of all that, we have a testimony to uphold.

And Abraham had a supreme testimony. He realized that he himself was not a citizen of that land. He was a sojourner, he says.

I am a stranger and a sojourner among you. You see, listen, if you realize your citizenship in heaven, then you become a respected citizen on earth. That's the point.

If you realize your citizenship is in heaven, as Abraham did, that he was a stranger and a sojourner in this land, then you become a respected citizen on this earth. You never hold things too close to you here. You never grip them too tight because you know that one day you're going to leave.

That's the way Abraham was. He was a sojourner. He was a stranger.

He was an alien. He had a supreme testimony in the land. And even when his beloved Sarah dies, his testimony rises for all to see a great man of God.

Sure, he wept. Sure, he felt the loss of a loved one. But he rises from her dead body and speaks to these men because he wants to bury his beloved wife.

He confessed that his dreams and ambitions weren't in this world. You know, every time there's a funeral, I always share Ecclesiastes 7, verse number 2. Always. I have to.

I'm compelled to. And people really, you know, it's interesting to be at a funeral when there are a lot of unbelievers that are there. They look at you as if, you know, you're on some kind of drug or something.

But Ecclesiastes 7, verse number 2 says, it's always better to be in a house of mourning than a house of feasting. It's always better to be in a place where there's a funeral than to be in a place where there's a party. Why? Because the why says, take it to heart.

It's at that point that we realize the destiny of man. We realize the truth about life and death. And you see, God wants you to come to that point where you understand the significance of death.

And that's why it's better to be in a house of mourning than it is to be in a house of feasting. Because a house of feasting is not reality. A house of mourning is reality.

You see, we like to cover ourselves with laughter and with things that make our heart feel at ease instead of facing truth and coming to a conclusion. As to where we will spend eternity. But the why is taken to heart, Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 7. So here's Abraham in the house of mourning, living out his faith, living his life for the glory of almighty God.

And they saw him as a mighty prince of God. And he would conduct himself in a very orderly manner. He would go and ask to purchase a place to bury his beloved wife.

With openness and honesty, he wanted a specific cave. The cave at Machpelah, who was owned by a man by the name of Ephron, who happened to be in the crowd. Abraham wanted to bury his wife in what he would call their home for over 20 years there in Hebron.

And so he would ask to purchase the cave. And yet he had to purchase more than just the cave. He had to purchase the whole land, the whole plot of land.

Why? Well, according to Hittite law, if you just purchased a partial aspect of that land, you wouldn't have to pay the taxes on that land. But if you purchased the whole property, then you'd be responsible for the taxes. And so, therefore, they would make sure that Abraham would purchase the entire plot of land, which, by the way, is very significant, even today, 4,000 years later.

Why? Stay with me, because this is so important. Are you ready? Who occupies Hebron today? The Arab nations do. They say it's their land.

You know what? Genesis 23 says it can't be their land. Because Abraham purchased the land. He bought Hebron.

He purchased it. He has a deed certificate to the land. Can't get around it.

Hebron belongs to the Jewish people, like the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people. You say, well, didn't God give him the land of Canaan? Why would he have to go purchase the land if God gave it to him anyway? Let me answer it this way. Matthew 5 says, the meek shall inherit the earth.

Do you know that this earth is yours and mine? Do you know that Disneyland is yours and mine? Did you know that that beachfront property down in Newport Beach is yours and mine? Did you know that? Say, well, if it's ours, then how come we can't live down there? Well, it's coming. You're not going to convince the people in Newport Beach that that's your land. You're not going to convince those who own Disneyland that that's your land, but it is your land.

Because the Bible says, the meek shall inherit the earth. One day, all that's God's is going to be ours. It's all ours.

God gave it to us. And yet, as God gave Abraham the land of Canaan, it was his land. It was a promised land.

As a responsible citizen of heaven, he would do everything according to the law of the land. In so doing, he would purchase the cave at Machpelah, which is in Hebron. And so in doing so, what he did was demonstrate once again that the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, not to the Arab nations.

So 4,000 years later, we would all know the truth. This man had a great testimony. The third thing I want you to notice is Abraham's tomb.

In verse 17, Ephron's field, which was in Machpelah, which faced Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees which were in the field that were within all the confines of its borders, were deeded over. It's all Abraham's. It's all the nation of Israel's.

To Abraham for possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, for all who went in at the gate of the city, buried Sarah's wife in the cave of the field at Machpelah, facing Mamre, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded over to Abraham for a burial site by the sons of Heth. It just keeps repeating over and over again.

It was deeded over to him. He purchased it. It's Abraham's.

Because there's no question about it. In this tomb, you can still go to it today, you have the life of, or the death of Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, Leah, Sarah, and Jacob. They're all buried in the cave at Machpelah.

He buried her in the land that God had given to him, the land of Canaan. He buried his wife in hopes of a future resurrection, in hopes of what would happen in the future, that God would one day raise that body up again, as He most surely would. The last thing I want you to notice is her legacy.

What did she leave behind? Turn with me, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter 3. And two things I want you to notice specifically about what Sarah left behind as a legacy. And specifically for us, or for you as ladies, and for all of us as men, there are things that we can glean from this, but specifically for the ladies. Look at what it says in 1 Peter chapter 3. In the same way, you wives.

Now, in the same way, it takes us back to chapter 2 of 1 Peter and deals with the relationship of the believer with the unbeliever in the world. So the context immediately is going to take you to a marriage relationship where there is a believing wife and an unbelieving husband. Okay? The text says, in the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands.

That is, in the context, unbelieving husbands. So that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, that means they don't believe what the word of God teaches, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. And let not your adornment be merely external, braiding the hair and wearing gold jewelry or putting on dresses, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.

For in this way, in former times, the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves being submissive to their own husbands. Thus, Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. It takes us back to Genesis chapter 18.

That's where Sarah called Abraham Lord. Genesis 18, verse number 12. But the legacy that Sarah leaves behind, listen very carefully, is a model of submission.

A model of submission. She had to learn that, didn't she? For by nature, she wasn't submissive. By nature, ladies, you are not submissive either.

The Bible says in Genesis chapter 3, we studied this many months ago, the woman's desire will be to control her husband. That's a result of the curse, as a result of the fall. So a woman's natural tendency is to control her husband, to rule over her husband.

His tendency is to beat her down so that she doesn't control him. That, of course, is a result of the fall. Genesis chapter 3 is very clear about that.

And Sarah, somehow trying to take control of the events of her life through offering the Hagar to her husband Abraham to usher in the promise seed, because she was impatient. She was tired of waiting on God. She was tired of waiting on her husband.

She had to learn to be submissive. And she did. Because Peter uses her as an example of submission.

To learn to obey her husband. To fall in line. To do what he says.

You know, it's not easy to submit yourself to someone who is ungodly. It's not easy to submit yourself to someone who is unruly. It's not easy to submit yourself to someone who's an unbeliever.

And yet, Sarah becomes a model for us in what it means to learn submission. She paid a great price for stepping out from under the headship of her husband to take control. How many women have paid a great price because of their unwillingness to submit to the leadership of their husband? She was a model of submission.

And Peter is concerned that there is something about your behavior, the meek and quiet spirit, the adorning yourself on the inside. Listen, I'm all for adorning yourself on the outside. I think that every woman ought to look as beautiful as she possibly can for her husband.

I think that's important. But not to the setting aside of that which needs to be on the inside, that meek and quiet spirit, so that your influence becomes so powerful that even the unbelieving man can see a woman who honors her God and loves her God. She became a model of submission.

She also became a mark of salvation. It says in verse number 6, Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear. If you do what is right.

If you do what is right, you become one of her children. And she is the mother of the faithful if you do what is right. If you live a life not frightened by the fear that society wants to bring upon your life.

You see, in the context of 1 Peter 3, women tend not to submit to their husbands because of what society might say. Society today, probably more so than any other time in our nation's history, rebels against submission. Takes a strong stand on women's rights and women's responsibility to care for themselves and not to depend upon their husband or anybody else for that matter.

And so it's very easy to be frightened by that kind of fear that society imposes upon you. But we remember last week as we studied Genesis 22 that the fear of God has manifested itself in submitting yourself to the commands of God. And so because we fear God more than we fear society, we realize that God means more to us than anything in the world.

The Bible says up in verse number 5, For in this way, in former times, the holy women also who hoped in God used to adorn themselves being submissive to their own husbands. Do you know that one of the clearest marks of your salvation is demonstrated in your submissive spirit to your husband? Did you know that? Sure it is. Holy women of God adorned themselves in like manner, as Sarah did, learning to submit to her husband's leadership and thus becoming a mark of true saving faith.

Because obedience to God's commands are the greatest and the most significant aspects of our life. And here's Sarah. Learned submission.

And thus the holy women of God who followed after her learned submission. Why? Because listen very carefully. When you submit, you are not submitting to your husband.

You are in reality submitting to God. Right? Because he's your ultimate head. Women who are unwilling to submit to their husbands are unwilling to submit to God.

That's the bottom line. Has nothing to do with that man's lack of leadership or great leadership. Has everything to do with the woman's perspective of God and following him.

Believing that God will work in her husband. Just like Sarah had to learn to believe that God would work in her husband. That she couldn't control the events of her family.

That God had to control them. And so the women of 1 Peter 3, because of their meek and quiet spirit, because of their reverent attitude toward God, the text says they win the unbelieving spouse. Listen, if your attitude and your inner adornment can win the heart of an unbeliever, just think of what it does to a believing husband who knows the Lord and how that attitude can impact his life for good.

Sarah, a woman of faith, a great life. Abraham, her lover, a man who had a tremendous testimony in spite of his great loss. Sarah will leave behind for us a legacy for us to read, to re-read, to re-re-read over and over again.

She becomes the model of every woman who wants to live a life of obedience to God in submission to her husband. What legacy are you leaving behind for your children to follow?