Three Burials and a Legacy

GETTING STARTED

“Your story is the greatest legacy that you will leave to your friends. It’s the longest-lasting legacy you will leave to your heirs.”  ― Steve Saint

In 1956, during Operation Auca, Nate Saint and four other missionaries were speared to death while attempting to share God’s love with the Huaorani people, an Ecuadorian tribe. Two years later, Nate’s sister, Rachel, and Elisabeth Elliot, the wife of one of the murdered missionaries, returned to Ecuador to continue evangelizing the tribe, and many Huaorani converted to Christianity. Nate’s son, Steve Saint, and Mincaye, the murderer of Nate Saint who later converted, would often travel to the United States to preach the gospel together. Steve chronicled his and his father’s missions in his works, End of the Spear and The Great Omission.

  • What is the greatest legacy you will leave for your loved ones?

READ THE WORD: JOSHUA 24:29-33 (ESV)

29 After these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. 30 And they buried him in his own inheritance at Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.

31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel.

32 As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.

33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of Phinehas his son, which had been given him in the hill country of Ephraim.

English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

DIGGING DEEPER

  1. What was the inheritance referred to in verse 30?
  2. How did the burials of Joshua, Joseph, and Eleazar in this inheritance fulfill the faithfulness of God? (See Joshua 24:1-28 for additional reference.)
  3. How long did Israel serve God? Why were they so faithful?
  4. How have you benefited from someone else’s faithfulness? In what ways does your faithfulness and service to God affect the lives of those around you?

RESPOND TO GOD

Because he had lived as a faithful servant, Joshua was honored through the service of Israel to God for generations after his death. Joshua, Joseph, and Eleazar were all buried in parts of Canaan, the land inherited by their forefathers and promised by God to Abraham. Each of Joshua’s forefathers received their inheritance posthumously and rested eternally in the fulfilled promises of God, who gives the ultimate reward to his faithful servants. Joshua, translated “he saves,” is a forerunner of Jesus, who saves us so that we, too, may one day claim our inheritance in heaven. Like Joshua, our lives of worship and service to God should be a lasting legacy that passes from generation to generation.

  • Praise God for the inheritance that awaits you in the new promised land.
  • Seek God’s help so that your faithfulness and service will be a perpetual legacy for your family and friends.