The Bible does not explicitly mandate what should happen to the bodies of believers when they die. It elevates neither burial nor cremation as superior. Some Christians have rejected cremation due to respect for the body as a temple of the Holy Spirit, the expectation of a bodily resurrection at Jesus’ return, and a desire to distinguish themselves from pagan practices of burning the dead. 
But the Bible has examples of both burial and cremation, and it provides assurance and encouragement for believers with whichever option they choose. In large part, we have the freedom to make arrangements for our death based on personal preference and conviction. As we think through what is best for us and our families, there are six biblical lessons that we should consider.
1. Given enough time, everyone returns to dust
Genesis 3:19: “for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Cremation returns people to dust quickly. Burial takes anywhere from a few decades to about a century to achieve the same results. Regardless of the post-death arrangements that Christians make for themselves, the Bible is clear that our destination is to return to the dust from which we were made.
2. The decisions made in life are more important than what happens to our physical bodies after death
1 Corinthians 13:3: “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
The Bible teaches that our salvation comes based on decisions that we make in this life. We don’t get a second chance after death to change our minds. Rather, as soon as we die, our decisions from this lifetime get locked in for all of eternity. We must prioritize our relationship with God while we are still alive. And we must prioritize His laws of love while we still have breath in our lungs. As Paul puts it, we could give away everything we have or choose to have our bodies burned. But none of that matters if we have chosen to live without love.
3. Jesus, who transforms us in glorification, has power over all things
Philippians 3:21: “who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”
Our bodies are lowly and lesser. But Jesus’ body is glorious and great. The resurrection promise that He gives us is that He will transform our bodies to be like His. And He alone has the power to fulfill this promise since He has power over all things. The whole world is subject to Jesus, even the dust and the ashes.
4. Nothing can separate believers from God
Romans 8:38-39: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
There is nothing in all of creation that has the power to separate God’s people from God. Jesus died to grant salvation, and that salvation cannot be taken away. Nothing in life may pluck us from the hand of the Father. And nothing in death can strip us of our title as children of God. The past and the future have no power to separate us from Him. Indeed, being cremated or not being cremated has no bearing on our salvation.
5. The elect will be gathered together at the end of the age from wherever they happen to be
Mark 13:27: “And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”
At the end of the age, God will send His angels to gather His chosen people. Regardless of where we are at that time, we will be gathered together. We will not be left behind. Indeed, the angels will gather God’s elect from all four directions, from the furthest ends of the earth, and from even the ends of heaven. There is nowhere we can be that will render us forgotten. He is a faithful and all-knowing God. And He will not leave us behind.
6. The physical body is a mere shadow of the glorified body that is to come
1 Corinthians 15:35-56: “what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel …. God gives it a body as he has chosen. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body …. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven …. the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” 
Finally, Paul compares death to the planting of a seed. Charles Spurgeon once commented that no farmer ever weeps over planting a seed. Our physical bodies die, but that is not the end of the story. God gives us life anew according to the level of glory that He chooses. When we die, we have a natural body. But when we are raised, we receive our new spiritual body.
The body that we have on this earth is imperfect and flawed. It bears the image of the first Adam made from dust. But we will receive a new body that reflects the image of the second Adam when Jesus returns. This new body will be imperishable and immortal.
As Christians, we don’t have to worry about preserving this body for our eternal life in heaven. Our good God promises that He will give us new and better bodies that are perfectly suited for a sinless eternity in His presence. So, whether or not we choose to be cremated, we can rest in the fact that He will raise us, restore us, and welcome us with new bodies into His glory!