Have you ever wondered why we bury people in the ground? Well, there are lots of answers out there such as:
• To show respect for the dead
• To prevent odor and decay
• To give families closure
• To help the deceased enter the afterlife
• To give back to the cycle of life.
God’s Word also has something to say about burial, but to understand it, we must first begin with the origin or life, as described in Genesis 2:7
“then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature”
So, the first man, Adam, was formed from the dust of the ground.
And then, after the Fall, as God is pronouncing the curses, He says to Adam in Genesis 3:19
“By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
So, God forms man out of the dust of the ground, and then returns man to the ground when he dies.
Therefore, I suggest that every time we place someone who has died into the ground, we acknowledge our origin and give glory to God. Why? Because we are acknowledging what God ordained so long ago.
Nobody likes to think of death. It frightens some, and disturbs others. But I’m okay with it for two reasons. First, because one day when I turn to dust, I will become what all those before me have become, one with the ground from which God called forth life.
And the second reason is because the grave is not the end. Because, for those who die in Christ before His return, God has a plan:
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51-52 ESV).
You see, God has His own “cycle of life”. First, He forms Adam out of the dust of the ground. Then, He returns all of us to the ground. And then, one day when Christ returns, He will give all of us who have died in Him glorified, eternal bodies.
So, I say, “Bring on the dust, Lord!”. Because I know it won’t be long after, that the trumpet will sound and we will be with Him!