Actually, the Scriptures do not say anything about required modes of burial for believers.  Standard practice among Old Testament and in the New Testament was burial.  Saul and Jonathan were cremated by the Israelites after their deaths, but this was not normal practice in Israel.  Their bodies were mutilated by the Philistines, thus the decision was made to cremate, then bury the ashes (1 Samuel 31: 8-13).  Achan, and his family, were cremated upon their execution for sinning against Israel, which again appears to be an exception to normal burial practices among the Israelites.

This article originally appeared here at Grace to You.

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For further study, consider John MacArthur’s book The Glory of Heaven