As a pastor, I go to cemeteries often. This coming Tuesday will be another visit to “God’s Resting Place.” That’s what I read some of the old-time preachers would call a cemetery. My last aunt on my dad’s side of the family has passed, my Aunt Dot. I have wonderful memories of her and her family. My prayers have been with her children, my cousins, and grand-children since I got the word. She was a Christian lady and loved the Lord during my whole life.

Observing things seems to have always been a part of my nature. Going to funerals and graveyards are no exception. As a preacher, many questions have come my way concerning death especially from those who are struggling. I hope today, you will let me ramble a little with observations I have each time I visit a graveyard, and perhaps the questions you have will be answered.

  1. Cemeteries are a place to weep and that is good. Weeping is a part of the grieving process. We hurt when those closest to us pass, and crying is normal. Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus in John 11:35.
  2. Cemeteries are “resurrection ground.” All through the Bible, verses drive this truth home. “And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:” Job 19:26 tells the testimony of Job. This was a man that lived during the time of Abraham. Job is most likely the oldest of the Old Testament books. We see that early on the Lord had given this truth to those Old Testament saints. In the New Testament, resurrection is a major theme. Christ was the “first-fruits” and one day there will be a “that great gettin’ up in the morning day” as the old spiritual says. Knowing this drives home the truth that this is only a temporary separation and that one day there will be a glorious reunion.
  3. Cemeteries remind me of my own mortality. Psalm 90:12, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” There is never a walk in a cemetery or standing by an open grave this thought doesn’t hammer my mind. As a young man, dying was only for old people. I have learned better with all the funerals of young people I have conducted in the past fifty years. Prepare for that day before it arrives. That means be sure you are biblically saved, not a hope so saved.
  4. Cemeteries are mostly quiet places. Silence is often found on that sacred ground and it gives us a chance to stop and think. We can silently honor the memory of our loved one while we honor the Lord, knowing that the Lord never makes a mistake, which even includes our loved one passing on. Placing flowers on a grave is a beautiful way to show respect. It is a shame when graves are not kept up. Years ago, I heard a story about Jonathan Edwards. He was a president of Princeton University and was buried on the campus. The gravesite had been neglected and was in great disrepair. A man, that is by some, considered America’s greatest theologian is not respected even though he advanced the school sheerly by his presence. Visiting a grave is a good thing in most instances because of the mediation that can be in the silence.

While visiting a cemetery can be a blessing and have the benefit of soothing our souls, it can also be a place of danger. If we aren’t careful, questioning God will begin to grow as a sinful weed in our hearts and minds. “I need him or her back.” “God, why would you do this to me?” These thoughts and others like these are unhealthy. These type questions are understandable in the immediate aftermath of a death but should not be long term. There are Psalmist that cry out to God with thoughts such as these. There is no doubt we leaned heavily on our deceased loved ones, but as much as we needed our loved one, we need the Lord even more. God doesn’t make mistakes. That is the second time in this blog I have written this. We have had people in our church family in the past that literally got angry with God, even to the point of leaving the church family. If visiting a cemetery causes these thoughts to permeate constantly in your mind, your relationship with the Lord is damaged. Running from God or being out of fellowship is a bad place. Hopefully no one reading this would be involved in this next thought. People in the world will sometimes seek to contact the dead. They will pay mediums and soothsayers many dollars seeking to talk with their loved one. This is demonic and deceptive. Deuteronomy 18:10-12 says, “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. 11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.” The Lord gives no quarter for this and neither should we. Those who claim to hear the dead’s voices are hearing demonic voices who seek to lie and destroy like their leader, Satan. The last thought today is something in which many people struggle. Guilt! It eats at the soul. It causes angst, sleepless nights, and peace is hard to find. Visiting a cemetery constantly confessing how sorry we are for something we did or didn’t do is harmful to you. One of the greatest weapons in Satan’s arsenal is to fire darts into your mind with questions such as, “If you had done this, asked this question of the doctor, been a little more observant, (your loved one) would not have died.” That is a game the Devil and his minions seek to play against the people of God. If you didn’t do all you should have, then confess it to the Lord. I John1:9 promises us that the Lord will forgive us of our sins if we ask. Then after the confession to the Lord, not to your loved one at their grave, follow the Apostle Paul’s advice in Philippians 3:13 to “forget those things that are behind”, in the past. Don’t let your past hinder your future walk with Christ. We have all had failures and disappointments, but we confess and move on until we get our glorified bodies. Speaking of those glorified bodies, they start at the cemetery when Jesus comes again. See I Corinthians 15. Start in verse 35 and read the rest of the chapter. If you did everything you should have, then don’t give an inch to the Wicked One, resisting him as the epistle of James tells us.

You will visit cemeteries and if Jesus doesn’t come soon, you will have one last visit, your own. I think about my own trip to “God’s Little Acre” more than I’d like, but it is a sobering reality. Every cemetery you walk in or drive back should be a reminder to BE READY.