And Sadducees came to him, who say that
there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher,
Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves
no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no
offspring. And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the
third likewise. And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also
died. In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For
the seven had her as wife." Jesus said to them, "Is
this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor
the power of God? For when they rise from the
dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in
heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have
you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke
to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the
living. You are quite wrong."
You
may not know much about the Sadducees and the internal strife that existed
between the Judaism sects. But you need to know that the Sadducees did not
believe in the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:8). When Paul had been brought
before the Sanhedrin he appealed to the resurrection of the dead dividing the
council. His fellow Pharisees accepted the doctrine of resurrection while the
Sadducees didn’t. This led to a sharp division between them to his advantage!
The
Sadducees were more pragmatic than the Pharisees since they would even collude
with the Romans in order to retain their exalted positions in the temple.
However, they became extinct with the destruction of the temple in 70AD so that
much of the knowledge we have of them today is based on what the Pharisees have
written, which as you’d expect would be biased.
But
we know that they believed that all doctrine must be established from the
Pentateuch – the first five books in your Bible. For this reason the Lord
responded to their question from the Pentateuch. Theologically speaking, the
Pharisees would be closer to the Lord than the Sadducees. However, ultimately
both were birds of a sinful feather and heart. Therefore, they flocked together
to plot, entangle, trap and murder Jesus Christ, the only hope of sinners. They
were people who tenaciously loved their sins and would not have Christ cleanse
them of this eternal malady. They needed Jesus Christ whom they wanted dead…
yes, they were gathered together against the Lord’s anointed in Jerusalem to do
what God had purposed to do in order to save sinners. What was to be a
religious atrocity turned out to be the greatest hope of the nations.
Shall
we consider what they said?
1)
Presupposition is clarified
by Mark – And
Sadducees came to him, who say that there
is no resurrection (v.18). This
is the presupposition and the theological conviction they had as their
foundation as they came to talk with Christ this day. According to them, there
is no resurrection and in fact, they thought it is ridiculous, based on the
illustration they gave. You must learn to understand the presupposition upon
which questions are asked. Many scientists would be standing on atheist
position when they expound Darwinism as science. While ecology is scientific,
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is at best a theory!
2)
Their questions were not only
hypothetical but also ridiculous! What is the possibility of a man having seven
sons, who all die early, before marrying one woman, what is the possibility of
this woman outliving seven husbands, having had no children with them? The
probability is pretty low. Remember the story of Judah and his sons married to
Tamar in Genesis 38? When Judah realized that two of his sons had died having
had relation with Tamar he declined giving his third son to go in to Tamar! In this
passage the Bible shows the folly of this question.
Clearly
they still asked their silly question in order to discredit the Word and the
power of God. There are many skeptics who dismiss the authority of Scriptures
and yet have no basis upon which these this can be said. In fact their position
of judging God’s Word assumes a higher authority. They should be shown that the
rejection of the authority of Scriptures rests on assumption of their own authority
which cannot be justified because at best it is an hypothetical foundation like
these Sadducees.
3)
Their question assumes a
thorough knowledge of Scriptures. Yet there is a clear indication that they had
no full grasp of the Scriptures upon which they clung so closely. The Lord told
them outrightly that they were steeped in ignorance of the Scriptures and the
power of God. Many times you meet sceptics who arrogantly speak as if they know
the Scriptures, but when you ask them if they have read through the Scriptures,
you find they have neither read it extensively nor intensively enough to refute
any of the truths contained in it. The basic apologetic response to the fool
who says that there is no God is that they have not possibly searched and gathered
enough evidence and studied thoroughly to come to that conclusion.
The
question of the Sadducees that is based upon an hypothetical assumption is what
is called reductio ad absurdum
(reduction to the absurd). In this question they are trying to show Jesus that
the belief in resurrection cannot be tenable because its implications seem
absurd and ridiculous. I think this is the sort of a question a Sadducee son
will ask a Pharisee daughter to show that their belief in the resurrection is
laughable. I guess the Pharisee daughter could not respond so that she would be
persuaded to be married by the ‘wise’ Sadducee son!
Didn’t
God give the Levirate law in Deuteronomy 5:5-10? Both the Pharisee and the
Sadducee would agree that God gave this law. They both would appreciate the
practical wisdom and benefit upon which it was based. However, as to whether it
was agreeable with the belief in resurrection the two doctrinal positions would
part ways. The Pharisee felt that both teachings are based on Scripture but the
Sadducee would dismiss the belief in resurrection.
But
I see that the greatest lesson for us to learn from this passage is the truth
that Jesus communicated about God. Jesus felt that this was a good occasion to
show who God is and so we would be wise to take to our hearts what God has
said, and done.
We
have three lessons that we can learn here:
1) God has
communicated to us in His Word, we have no reason to be in error
The
true God of the Bible is the God of the living and not of the dead. This God is
a communicating God and He has done so in His Word. The Sadducees were wrong to
ridicule God’s word and so in grave error because of their wrong
presuppositions, assumptions and ignorance. God has committed His will to us in
writing and so to read and twist to suit our depraved appetites is to shun the
hope that God has given in it. Thank God that He has communicated to us His
special revelation – though we do not deserve it. In the past He spoke to
people in different ways and now He has finally spoken to us in His Son, the
Word.
In
His Word, the Bible, God has told us all we need to know concerning Him,
ourselves, His creation and the life to come. We are not in darkness about
these things. We have true revelation in the Bible. And we must use every
occasion we have to learn it. Whether in hearing it expounded or in personal
study – you must know the Scriptures. Our emphasis on Bible literacy is not
unfounded. The Sadducees were in wrong and error because, "Is this not the reason
you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? (v.24)
It
is the most amazing how the Lord turned to the least expected passage in order
to answer these skeptics that the resurrection is right there in the law that
they held so dear. He went to Exodus 3, the burning bush incidence. When you
read this text, you may not see any proof of resurrection in it. Some have
questioned why the Lord went to this text when there are ‘clearer texts’ on
this matter. This should tell us that there is the fullness of meaning in many
texts that we are yet to discover their full thrust and force. In our depraved
hastiness, we many times pass the eternal gold that we ought to be collecting
and saving into our memory and into the heart. But it could be that any Jew who
heard the Lord give this depth of the meaning could have quickly seen more than
we do, because many of them devoted themselves to learning the Law and
committing it to their hearts and teaching it to their children and others. You
notice that the Lord’s answer silenced the Sadducees and got such approval and
commendation to the nearby Pharisee (v.28).
The
national reformation in King Josiah’s day was closely attached to the discovery
of the book of the law of God and being read to the nation. The Protestant
reformation of the 16th Century was a fruit of the translation and
circulation of the Bible by William Tyndale, who is regarded as the Dawn of
Reformation. On the other hand the false teachings and doctrinal errors and
moral decadence in various times of history can be so easily linked with
ignorance of God’s revelation.
When
the Bible was kept back from the people during the Medieval ages led to this
period being regarded as the Dark Ages – it was pitch dark like a night without
moon or stars because people did not hear from God. The church reverted to
traditions and papal decrees – they spoke not according to the teaching and to
the testimony and so they lacked dawn (Isaiah 8:20).
Let us not be ignorant of the Bible, lest we
fall in a fatal error. I would like you to do your homework about churches and
you will notice that in churches were congregations are malnourished in the
knowledge of God’s Word, wolves in sheepskins are very fat and sleek, at the
expense of the people. Many times when I sit down with the guests who come here
on Sunday I lament that they are all in agreement that the Word of God is not
taught as adequately where they come from. I pray that there will be more
churches with the same commitment of bringing the Word of God to their hearers.
Many church goers are hungry and thirsty for the Word of God. This is the
reason why the Word of Faith swept across the globe. This explains why false
teachers have multiplied because the light of dawn is absent. Shall be people
who are anchored in the Scriptures?
Read
it diligently, privately and publically. Read it aloud, sing it, pray it and
live it. Read it to your children and grandchildren. Yes, don’t give them fairy
tales – as sweet and interesting as they may be, they have no God’s eternal and
life-giving breath. The holiest men and women are Bible-reading people. The
nations that have the Word of God put forth have prospered, the families that
have the Word of God close to their hearts have known God’s blessings. It is
upon this Puritan heritage that the United States of America where founded.
People
do not know the power of God because they are ignorant of His Word. Therefore,
those of you who have been lagging behind in the reading of Scriptures because of
the ‘busy schedules of this life’ - remember that these activities will soon be
ended but the Word of God will endure forever. If your busy schedules take you
away from the life-giving breath of God, then you may as well begin counting
your eternal losses!
2) God is
powerful, he will give eternal resurrection to all
The
God of the Bible that we preach is not only a self-revealing God, He is also a
working God. His power is evident in what He has created and how powerfully He
has saved us by His Son. His creating and redeeming work speak of His power so
that no one is left with any excuse as Paul says in Romans 1. But a time is
coming when we all will marvel at His resurrecting power that Jesus elsewhere
says in Luke that some will just faint at the sight! He says that on that last
day, there will be … people fainting with
fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the
heavens will be shaken. And they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory (Luke 21:26-27).
Why? Because He is God of the living and will raise anyone and everyone to
life. He will then give them either to the eternal blessedness or the eternal
condemnation.
God
said to Moses, “"I am the God of your father, the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Ex. 3:6). This
is to say that every Word He spoke to the Patriarchs was not an idle word, it
was a powerful word to demonstrate His power and either has been realized or
will be realized at the right time. Moreover, if this Word will be realized,
then it means that, the would-be beneficiaries of the promise will be raised
from the dead at the right time. Either way, the power of God is demonstrated.
It is not bound by time, or by mortality. This is why the Lord said, heaven and
earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away (Luke 21:33).
At the
center of Christianity is the question of resurrection. All other religions
fail at this point. The only world religion that offers anything close to the
Christian resurrection is Hinduism, which promises incarnation, which is a very
warped up idea of life after death, steeped in paganic mysticism. At the heart
of the gospel is that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in
accordance to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas … et all (1Cor.
15:3-8). In this passage, Paul goes on describe that the resurrection of Christ
has direct implication for those who are in Him. And in this argument Paul
employs the same reductio
ad absurdum argument. They also will be raised. And if
Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain. We are even found to
be misrepresenting God…. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has
been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you
are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished. So many ifs there, but the point is that this absolutely absurd
because if in Christ we have hope for
this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied! Paul, stop this
Sadducee theories and present the truth, you have argued by folly and shown
that it is ridiculous that the Sadducees could entertain such nonsense.
But
in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have
fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the
resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all
be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his
coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the
kingdom to God the Father after destroying
every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The
last enemy to be destroyed is death. 1 Corinthians 15:20-26.
But
someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they
come?" You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it
dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel,
perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its
own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans,
another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are
heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one
kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the
sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star
differs from star in glory. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is
sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in
weakness; it is raised in power. It
is sown a natural body; it is raised a
spiritual body.
If
there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written,
"The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a
life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural,
and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the
second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of
the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the
image of the man of heaven. I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed, 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. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal
body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and
the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is
written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 1 Corinthians 15:35-54.
There is no doubt that in life to come we will have real bodies that
have been glorified. However, we must realize that while there will be some
continuity of the present life and the one to come, there will also be
discontinuity. These two things must be remembered. You will see people in
glory and know them, there will be deep friendship and love in heaven, however
there will not be marriage as we have it now. The marriage is a picture and
it’s realization will be when Christ shall come for His bride. Since we will
have the reality then, we shall not need the token picture given now.
It is very important that you believe that one day your body will rise
from death and it will be clothed in immortality, and it will put on
incorruptible and power. Sin and death will be permanently vanquished. Those in
Christ will know real life, immortality and eternal and sovereign joy. This is
not just a teaching found in 1 Corinthian 15, it is all over Scripture and Jesus
does not Struggle to point it out from the passage of the burning bush in
Exodus 3. In this Jesus show the Sadducees what the law teaches about the
resurrection from death. This demonstrates that the Lord took time to explain
the truth even to those who humanly speaking did not deserve a minute. Should we
do anything else in dealing with people than what our Master did?
What a blessed people we are that we look forward, not just to the
resurrection of the body, but also to the eternal salvation, in Christ, with Christ
in God’s presence forever. Thank God that salvation is ours in Christ.
3) God has
made a covenant, to save His people eternally
Jesus drew their attention to the way God said that He is the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob not only to prove the power of God in resurrection,
but also the absolute faithfulness and dependability of God in the keeping of
His covenant in His Word. But how does this prove that He is the God of the
living and not of the dead? Simply because God’s covenant promise to save His
people would not be of any significance if it were overcome and shattered by
death. It would be a tawdry salvation which lasted only for this life
. But
this also is a declaration of how faithful God is in keeping His covenant. This
is absolutely important if He is to be shown to be the true and living God.
A slight proof of God’s unfaithfulness, is sufficient to show that he is
not the true God and therefore He is not worthy of worship. But He is the true
God, dependable and absolutely trustworthy. This is Jesus’ evangelical agenda
to this Sadducees – to bring the gospel to them. The Lord is always reaching
out to all sinners, sceptical, as well as well as the ignorant sinners. He has
no delight in the death of a sinner, neither should we, if we are His faithful
disciples. When we are aloof to the death of any sinner, as terrible as he
might be (although all sinners are terrible to the highest degree) we show
ourselves to be not of Christ. A true Christian want to go to heaven
accompanied, not alone.
When God says that He is the God of Abraham and co. He means that God
being the greatest and the best benefactor based on His promises to be their
God, He will fulfil His covenant. Now that Abraham , Isaac and Jacob had not
received the promise which they expected, and therefore God after their death
is desiring still to be called their God, He is here acknowledging that he had
a blessing and a reward for them still and consequently that He will raise them
up to receive it! This argument could also be shown from Exodus 6:3-4 – I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to
Jacob, by the name of Almighty, but by my name Yahweh I was not made known to
them. Nevertheless I have established my covenant with them, to give them the
land of Canaan (which they did not receive). It is not said that HE will
give them children or sons but land but we all know that they did not enjoy any
of it as even Abraham had to buy a piece of land for burial place – which was
subsequently used by others, even Jacob. But this promise is to be realized in
its entirety, not in the receiving of literal land of Canaan, for Canaan was
only a picture of the land of Promise which is Paradise of God, where real rest
and blessedness will abide. So the author of Hebrews says,
And
all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was
promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us
they should not be made perfect. Hebrews 11:39-40. God’s promise to save
His people cannot be shattered by anything, even death – For the question is
asked, who shall separate us from the
love of God?
Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall…. No, in all these things we
are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 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. Romans 8:35-39.
In light of this, we know that
our salvation is both secure and eternal. Nothing will withdraw the promise or
the blessings of the promise of God to those who are in Him. May this draw us
to faith in Christ and make everyone of you learn to draw closer to the Lord
than ever before.
On the other hand it is a reason for delight in God as our Father of
heaven. It is a reason to live a stress free life, since your eternity has been
sorted. May nothing make you think that
God will withdraw His covenant promises from you. You are in God and God
in you, Christ will deliver you to the destiny that He has promised, because He
who promised is faithful and able. None of His promises will miscarry – for the
devil does not have the ability to abort God’s covenant promise. He who
promised is God, the covenant-keeping God.
Christians live what is called missio
Christi always drawing sinners to the attention of Christ to behold Him as
the One and only Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
