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UNLESS YOU WORK at a funeral home for a living, it’s probably hard to think about a specific burial plot without experiencing some painful emotions. 

The cold, mental image of A grave leads inevitably, inexorably to the mental image of THE grave—the sacred ground where your loved one’s body lies. 

The association is inescapable. 

The silent sepulcher whispers “finality.”   

But that individual you loved and cherished with all your being was enclosed within a casket and consigned to the earth for just one reason. 

He or she died.

Now for a few minutes try to think about death and burial in a different context.

Consider some Bible questions:

1.  Is salvation by faith ALONE?

There are many sincere, religiously devoted people who genuinely and deeply believe that salvation is received at the moment of belief. 

“The instant you accept Jesus into your heart, you enjoy the gift of salvation…”  

“Just trust Him and He will save you right now…” 

Some of my denominational friends will go so far to substantiate their assertion by referring to Scripture (cf. John 3:16; Acts 16:31; Eph. 2:8-9 et al).

Now let’s just agree that salvation IS by faith (Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 1:21; 1 John 5:4), but that’s not the same as saying we’re saved by faith ALONE (cf. Jas. 2:24). 

Stay with me now… 

2.  WHY do we bury a loved one?

“Well Mike, like you said earlier – obviously because he or she has died…” 

Think about that—good reader, not only in the physical realm, but more importantly in the spiritual.  

Salvation by faith alone says that a person is saved at the instant of belief, but there’s a conspicuous problem with that doctrine that is often overlooked. 

FAITH ALONE IGNORES A DEATH AND A BURIAL.

In order for a resurrection (i.e., salvation) to occur – either physically or spiritually, it MUST first be preceded by a death and a burial.

It’s DEATH, then BURIAL, THEN resurrection.

Religious pluralism today skips the death and burial and goes straight to resurrection.

Stay with me…

3.  What does the story of Lazarus TEACH us?  

Think about Jesus’ friend, Lazarus (cf. John 11:3) and consider the facts as they are recorded in the Word: 

• Jesus was called to Bethany because Lazarus had taken ill (vv. 1-3). 
• Instead of rushing to His friend’s bedside, the Lord purposely waited more two days (v. 7). 
• While in route to Bethany, He specifically told the disciples that Lazarus was, in fact, dead (v. 14). 
• By the time Jesus finally arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been entombed for four days (v. 17). 
• Both Martha and Mary rebuked the Lord for not arriving sooner (vv. 21, 32) and indicted Him for allowing their brother to die (vv. 21, 32). 
• Jesus went out to the graveyard with Lazarus’ sisters and a group of other grieving individuals, and then asked that the stone be rolled away from the mouth of His friend’s tomb (vv. 38-39). 
• Martha objected, noting that four days had elapsed and that by this time her brother’s body had begun to decompose (v. 39). 
• Jesus prayed to His Father and then shouted, “Lazarus, come forth” (vv. 41-43). 
• Lazarus came out bound hand and foot (v. 44).

Now pick carefully through the details of the chapter and then ask one cogent question, “What HAD to happen first before Lazarus could be resurrected?” 

Obviously, he had to die and be buried.

Now notice the connection between death, burial, resurrection and salvation…

4.  What does resurrection REPRESENT? 

Let’s permit Scripture answer this vitally important question. 

Note first: ^“Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so WE ALSO should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3-4).

Look the passage carefully. 

• “Or do you not know…?”  In Alabama vernacular, “Ya’ll already know this; I’ve told you before.” 
• “As many of us as were baptized (i.e., buried—1 Cor. 15:1-4) into Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:27) were baptized into His DEATH…” (v. 2—died; v. 3—death; v. 4—death, dead; v. 5—death; v. 6—crucified, body of sin might be done away with; v. 7—died, v. 8—died, v. 9—dead, dies, death; v. 10—death, died, died; v. 11—dead; v. 13—dead, et al).

Question:  According to Romans 6, what HAS to happen before a resurrection (either spiritual, or physical—like Lazarus’) can occur?

Answer:  One HAS to die AND be buried.    

• Note that Paul said, “As many of US…”; that included the apostle himself (Acts 22:16). 
• Paul said, “THEREFORE we were buried with Him (Jesus) THROUGH BAPTISM into death…”
• WATCH – Jesus died; a believer likewise dies to himself and his own selfish will (cf. Gal. 2:20; Lk. 9:23). 
• After Jesus died, He was buried; after a believer dies to himself, he is then buried in a tomb of water; that is, he is buried in a likeness to the Lord’s burial. 
• NOTE: If there’s no death and burial, then there is no likeness!

But watch it again:

“Buried with Him in baptism, in which YOU ALSO were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Col. 2:12).

Romans and Colossians agree:  An individual is buried WITH Jesus when he is immersed/buried in water (cf. Acts 8:38; Gal. 3:27; 1 Pet. 3:20-21), but just as Jesus died, was buried and then raised, an individual dies to his own selfish will, is buried in the watery-grave of baptism, and then is RAISED WITH JESUS.

RAISED.

What does raised signify?

Watch:

“He who believes AND IS BAPTIZED (i.e., buried) shall be saved” (i.e., raised) (Mark 16:15). 

“Repent (i.e., die to yourself) and be baptized (be buried) everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins” (i.e., raised) (Acts 2:38). 

“And now, why are you waiting?  Arise, and be baptized (be buried), and wash away your sins (i.e., raised), calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16).

Watch: 

“Shall be saved…”

“Remission of sins…”

“Wash away sins…”

But go back again to the apostle’s words in Romans 6:  “That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” ⁵ For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. ⁷ For he who has died has been freed from sin. ⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him…” (vv. 5-8). 

“Shall be saved,” “remission of sins,” “wash away sins,” and “newness of life” ALL REFER TO THE SAME THING—the likeness of Christ’s resurrection.

After a person dies and is buried in the waters of baptism, he this is raised WITH Jesus through FAITH… (Col. 2).

Is he saved by faith (i.e., mental assent) ALONE, or is he saved by an obedient faith that meets the conditions that grace requires (Eph. 2:8-9)? 

The answer is the latter.

5.  “But what about WORKS?”

I can hear some honest objections.

“Mike, baptism is a work, and a person can’t be saved by works…”

The statement overlooks the fact that there are different KINDS of works mentioned in Scripture. 

There are:

• Works of the law of Moses (Rom. 3:27; 9:32; Gal. 2:16),
• Works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19ff),
• Works of human merit (Tit. 3:5), and
• Works of righteousness (Acts 10:35; Jas. 2:14ff).  ^“Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.  But in every nation whoever fears Him AND WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS is accepted by Him.”

Let’s all agree that NO PERSON can save/resurrect himself by his own meritorious efforts. 

Lazarus certainly couldn’t/didn’t resurrect himself.    

But now go back to Col. 2:  “You also were raised (i.e., saved—mb) with Him (When?  When you came up out of the water) through faith (What kind of faith—dead or living?  Jas. 2:14ff), IN THE WORKING OF GOD. 

Who does the working? 

Me?

You?! 

A thousand times, “No!” 

Only God can raise the dead! 

Human activity cannot raise a dead man.

But dig even deeper.

“Not by works of righteousness (i.e., meritorious efforts) which WE HAVE DONE, but according to His mercy HE saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Tit. 3:5). 

Baptism is no more of a meritorious work than belief (cf. John 6:35). 

But the inspired record in Titus explicitly says that a person is not saved by his own meritorious works, but by God’s mercy through a washing. 

What’s the washing? 

Baptism (i.e., burial in water) (cf. Acts 22:16).

Now, let’s put all of this together…

6.  WHEN is a person raised with Jesus?

When he comes up out of the water of baptism.

The same Peter who said, “Repent and be baptized” in Acts 2 is the same Peter who said, “Baptism does now SAVE US” (1 Pet. 3:21). 

But you can’t be saved, have your sins remitted, have your sins washed away, and be raised if you’ve never died and been buried. 

Resurrection must first be proceeded by death and burial—just like Lazarus. 

7.  “But isn’t baptism JUST a symbol?”

My denominational friends teach that baptism is simply a symbol.

Let’s all agree that baptism IS a symbol (i.e., an outward sign), but it’s a symbol is based upon reality.

It’s obviously more than just a symbol.

Ironically, many skip an essential part of the symbol.

They tell us that immersion isn’t necessary.

“Mike, it’s just a sign alone….” 

They say, “You’re saved/resurrected when you believe,” and then appeal to a few verses taken out of context.

8.  Can we look at one Old Testament EXAMPLE together?

Read 2 Kings 5:1-19.

Was Naaman “saved” (i.e., cleansed) by faith?

Yes.

Was he saved by faith ALONE?

No.

His leprosy obviously wasn’t washed away the instant he believed, but when he was raised up out of the water following that seventh dip.

Was immersion simply a symbol?

Of course not.

Likewise, we’re not “washed”/saved/resurrected the instant we believe.

We have to believe to such an extent that our faith actually ACTS!

We have to die and be buried FIRST – in water.

Ananias asked Saul, “And now why are you waiting?  Arise and be baptized, and WASH AWAY your sins…” (Acts 22:16).

God did the working.

Naaman was saved by God’s grace through obedient faith (cf. Eph. 2:8-9).

No amount of human endeavor and meritorious working could have made Naaman clean from his leprosy.

But when Naaman died to his own selfish will (vv. 11-14) and by obedient faith went down into the water of the Jordan (v. 14) and then came up that seventh time, he had washed away his leprosy—which is a SYMBOL of sin (cf. Lev. 13).

CONCLUSION:

• THERE MUST FIRST BE A DEATH AND BURIAL BEFORE THERE CAN BE A RESURRECTION.
• SALVATION BY FAITH ALONE IGNORES A DEATH AND BURIAL.
• THE APOSTLE PAUL SAID THAT A DEATH MUST FIRST OCCUR BEFORE THERE CAN BE A RESURRECTION.
• LAZARUS HAD TO DIE AND BE BURIED BEFORE JESUS COULD RAISE HIM.
• JESUS DIED; BELIEVERS MUST ALSO DIE TO THEMSELVES (cf. Luke 14:27, 33; Rom. 12:1).
• JESUS WAS BURIED IN THE TOMB; BELIEVERS MUST ALSO BE BURIED IN A TOMB OF WATER (cf. Acts 8:38).
• JESUS WAS RAISED; BELIEVERS ARE RAISED FROM THE GRAVE OF WATER TO WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE (i.e., salvation).
• GOD DOES THE SAVING/RAISING WHEN A PERSON BY OBEDIENT FAITH SUBMITS TO BAPTISM.
• BAPTISM IS, IN FACT, A SYMBOL, BUT IT IS MORE THAN A SYMBOL.
• NAAMAN HAD TO DIE TO HIS OWN SELFISH WILL AND BE IMMERSED IN THE JORDAN (7X) BEFORE HE COULD WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE.

“God loves you and I love you and that’s the way it’s gonna be!” – Mike

SOME MONTHS IT feels like the protocols change weekly. Go to the hospital. Don’t go to the hospital. Don’t wear masks. Wear masks. Quarantine. Don’t quarantine. Shut down businesses. Open up businesses. Listen to the CDC and WHO, they are health professionals. Don’t listen to the CDC and WHO, they are politicizing this whole thing. Sometimes it feels like this virus has turned us into a dog chasing its tail—going one direction for a while, and then swiftly going the other.

The Bible dealt with disease wisely.

What most individuals do not realize is that the majority of solid information we are getting actually originated from the Bible. Prescriptions like hand washing and quarantining can be traced back to the Old Testament—written long before we even knew that bacteria and viruses existed.

A Bit of History

We look at things like hand-washing today as basic. But it certainly has not always been that way. Consider for a moment the tragic case of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweiss. This Austrian obstetrician was deeply troubled. His passion was delivering healthy babies. But many of the women who came to see him were dying. In fact, one out of six women in delivery beds ended up in the morgue. Every morning Semmelweiss was faced with the daunting task of performing autopsies on all the pregnant women who had died the day before.

“Labor Fever” was killing women in Europe by the thousands. Their bodies would be cut open only to reveal bodies full of pus. Imagine doctors having their hands inside infected corpses and then walking upstairs to perform pelvic exams on healthy pregnant women without truly washing their hands.

Semmelweiss had one of those “light bulb” moments one after in May 1847. On that occasion, he stopped the students from performing exams and instructed them to immediately wash their hands. In fact, he asked them to wash in heavily chlorinated water. His theory was correct. Three months later the death rate had fallen from 18% of his patients to just 1%. He then instituted that the students should wash between patients—something that seems very basic today. The death rate continued to fall.

However, instead of celebrating his success, the students and other physicians began to complain. They didn’t want to wash that often. They complained that the frequency in washing was chapping their hands. Eventually, Semmelweiss’ boss had him demoted and even fired. They threw out the wash pans—and the death rates shot back up. One would think that upon seeing death rates spike back up the physicians would realize their error. However, their pride and arrogance was too strong and so women continued to die.

The Bible Had Already Prescribed It

While Semmelweiss’s advice seems trivial today, realize it would be a couple more decades before men like Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister, and Robert Koch put into place what would become known formerly as the Germ Theory for Disease. People did not realize that bacteria and viruses could cause disease and death.

And yet, thousands of years earlier we find God’s Word giving medical advice that we would not understand for hundreds of years to come. Look at Numbers 19:17-19, “‘And for an unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and ^[e]running water shall be put on them in a vessel. A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave. The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean.” While we might be tempted to write this off as just an Old Testament ritual, look more closely at what God prescribed:

Hand Washing—While Semmelweiss was correct in asking his students to wash their hands, they would often use a common bowl of standing water (see None of These Diseases, S.I. McMillen, 2005, pg. 25). The coronavirus has left no doubt about how to wash hands. In fact, many individuals have songs they sing to time how long their hands have been under running water. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) gives five steps to hand washing. The first step is putting your hands under running water to rinse off any germs that might be present. Notice the Bible talks about running water and being sprinkled/showered from a hyssop.

Notice also the Bible gives a recipe for an antibacterial soap. Lye is extracted from the ashes. Hyssop we know today has antiseptic and antifungal properties. It contains the antiseptic thymol. Notice also the Bible prescribes washing clothes and bathing. So years before Semmelweiss made his discovery, and long before the world knew what the Coronavirus was, God’s Word had already given instructions on washing your hands.

Quarantining—The Smith Papyrus was written back around the time of Moses by Egyptian physicians. In it, there was a prescription for protection against epidemics. According to S.I. McMillen, “It was to be chanted while a person had two vulture feathers held over him.” It says it part:

… O Seizer-of-the-Great-One, son of Sekhmet, mightiest of the mighty, son of the Disease-Demon…flooder of the streams; when thou voyagest in the Celestial Ocean, when thou sailest in the morning barque, thou hast saved me from every sickness. (See None of These Diseases, 2005, p. 14).

Needless to say, this Egyptian recipe did not always work. In Leviticus 13 we find God’s prescription against those who are sick. “But if the bright spot is white on the skin of his body, and does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and its hair has not turned white, then the priest shall isolate the one who has the sore seven days. And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day; and indeed if the sore appears to be as it was, and the sore has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall isolate him another seven days.” (Leviticus 13:4-5). We know today that leprosy is a long-term infection caused by Mycobaterium leprae. It is mentioned frequently in God’s Word. Leviticus 13, gives the laws concerning leprosy. In the New Testament, we read of an occasion where Jesus healed an individual suffering from this dreaded disease (Matthew 8:1-3).

Notice there were no vulture feathers or chants. Those who were found to be sick were isolated. Notice the end of that chapter records,“Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’  He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp” (Leviticus 13:45-46, emp. added).

In the late 1700s Norway was struggling with a leprosy epidemic of unprecedented magnitude. Entire families and communities found themselves suffering from a slow and mutilating death. However, by the early 1800s the epidemic was under control. What had happened to stem the spread of this contagious disease? The people had finally listened to religious leaders who were pointing out the Biblical prescription of quarantine. In Leviticus 13 Moses gave the prescription of how to identify leprosy and commanded that those infected be isolated. It would not be until 1873, when Dr. Armauer Hansen identified red bacteria as the causative agent for leprosy. It was discovered that millions of these bacteria could live in the nose of someone suffering from leprosy and could be passed to a healthy relative through a single sneeze. But long before this discovery, God’s Word had already given advice regarding bacteria and the necessity of a medical quarantine (see also Numbers 5:1-4).

In the Old Testament, it was leprosy. In the 1300s, it was the Black Death, an epidemic of the bubonic plague. Today, it is coronavirus. Different organisms—but very similar prescription. Isolate and quarantine. The word quarantine, was derived from the Italian words quaranta giorni which mean 40 days. In the 14^th century people who were coming into coastal cities in Italy were quarantined 40 days (often on ships) to make sure they did not have Yellow Fever.

At the same time Semmelweis was trying to clean up labor and delivery floors in Vienna, Edwin Chadwick was trying to prevent cholera and “Black Plague” from sweeping across England. Chadwick recognized many sewers were not draining and were actually cesspools of filth. He realized to prevent cholera from invading these cesspools needed to be drained and fixed. He also discovered that the working sewers were discharging sewage into the Thames River upstream from where their drinking water was collected. Parliament recognized that poor neighborhoods were normally struck first with these diseases. It was in these poor neighborhoods that often dozens of individuals were sharing the same living quarters without any means to get rid of human waste. Parliament believed maybe if they fed the poor the problem would go away—but Chadwick urged “sewers, not sandwiches!”

Consider what God’s Word says regarding human waste:

Also you shall have a place outside the camp, where you may go out; and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse. For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you (Deuteronomy 23:12-14).

Moses instructed the Israelites always to bury human waste products. Today, of course, with centuries of experience behind us, this is a common sanitary hygienic practice, although in most places we bury it in our sewer or septic systems. But the common course of action in Moses’ day, and for centuries to follow, was to dump waste products in any convenient place. History has recorded the folly of this kind of action.

One interesting side note, notice in the Bible God called on those who were sick to be quarantined. Today, we find officials and politicians encouraging everyone to quarantine. One might ask why healthy individuals would be quarantined and are we now going to do this for every sickness that spreads through the human population like the seasonal flu or H1N1?

One would think that Semmelweiss and Chadwick would have been hailed as medical saviors—and yet they were laughed at and ignored. Semmelweiss ended up dying in a mental institution after having a breakdown brought about from individuals ridiculing his hand-washing theory. It would only be years later that the wisdom of these two men was fully understood. Likewise, for nearly two thousand years the Bible has been trying to save men—providing a means for redemption, and yet sadly people often laugh and ignore the wisdom therein. Again, time will prove the folly of ignoring the Truths therein. Brad Harrub

“God loves you and I love you and that’s the way it’s gonna be!” – Mike