Questions about the Resurrection
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning! Welcome to CHCC. For those who are visiting or are joining us for the first time in a while, we have been making our way through the book of Luke. We now find ourselves in the midst of chapter 20. Jesus has just made His triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem, He has driven out the money changers from the temple, He’s begun His teaching and His preaching in the temple, and all of this has stirred up the leaders of His day.
The first confrontation by the chief priests and Scribes comes when they ask Jesus by what authority He teaches and preaches. By asking them a question in response—namely, “Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?”—He stops the Scribes in their tracks. This question they cannot answer for if they say it was from God, they are admitting in turn that Jesus is the Messiah. If they say John’s ministry was from man, then they may very well be stoned by the large crowd.
Jesus then tells a parable that calls out the Pharisees and religious leaders for their wickedness, which they don’t like. So they, again, try and ensnare Jesus with a question. This time, they choose the hot button topic of taxes. But what is more, we now see the Pharisees (religious leaders) working alongside the Herodians (political leaders) to try and take Jesus down. They send in spies speaking flattery (insincere praises) to Jesus in hopes to bring His guard down. But after doing so they ask Him, “Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not?”
They hoped to have Jesus in a trap similar to when He asked them about John’s ministry. If He says, “No, we should not pay taxes to Caesar,” they would send word to Pilate and have Him immediately arrested. If He says, “Yes, we should pay taxes,” then the crowd would likely turn on Him.
But the question gives us one of the greatest responses in the history of mankind. He asks the leaders to show him a denarius. They pull one out of their pocket and hand it over to Jesus. He turns it over in His hands and then asks them, “Whose likeness and inscription does it have?”
They respond, “Caesar.” And so Jesus says, “Rend to Ceasar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”
Ancient cultural understanding was that anyone whose face was on a coin was that person’s property already. So no argument could be made. But what is God’s is far greater than anything Caesar could lay claim to. As Joseph Fitzmyer explained it:
The coin belonged to Caesar because it bore his image and we are God’s because we bear His image!
So the exhortation by Jesus, then, is that we are subject to the state (insofar as they do not hinder us from the commands of Scripture we are to obey). But we are to also give all of ourselves over to God. Render our lives entirely to His will and His plan.
So once again, Jesus gets out of their laid trap! So this time, another group of leaders make an attempt to put Jesus into some hot water. This time, we come across the group known as the Sadducees. Surprisingly, this is the first and only time they are mentioned by name in Luke’s gospel. But we will get into their history and their societal standing in a moment.
But first, let us dive into the riches of God’s Word together. If you have your Bibles with you this morning, please turn with me to Luke 20, beginning in verse 27.
PRAY
There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”
And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” For they no longer dared to ask him any question.
A DIFFERENT THEOLOGY
The first thing we need to unpack here are the Sadducees themselves. This is a very interesting group of religious leaders with a very interesting stance in Scripture. The Sadducees were a class built upon their bloodline. They were from the lineage of Zadok—a high priest who served king David during Absolom’s revolt. Zadok was from the line of Aaron, the brother of Moses. These high priests also served the nation during the Babylonian captivity.
This generational line of religious leaders made up the core of the priesthood of the Jerusalem temple. And while we hear more about the Pharisees in the Gospels, the reality is that the Sadducees held more power. The ancient historian, Josephus, called them “men of the highest esteem” and “well-to-do.” As such, however, the Sadducees were fully invested into this world. It was the Sadducees that oversaw the selling of animals and the changing of money in the temple.
In Josephus’ records he also states that the High Priest, Ananias (who we will come across in our eventual study of Acts 4), was put in his position as High Priest because “he was able to supply them (the Sadducees) with money.” In other words, His power and position were not earned, but bought.
The Sadducees were known to be not just the religious and social elites of their society but also the financially elite. They were incredibly wealthy in comparison to your average citizen. And their stance on theology and eschatology (the theology of death, judgment, the afterlife, etc.) more specifically, no doubt had an impact on their priorities.
You see, the Sadducees did not believe in life after death. They didn’t believe in judgment or anything of the sort. They believed that once someone died physically that was it. Again, to quote Josephus, he tells us that the Sadducees believed “the soul perishes along with the body.” All of this stems from their staunch denial of the resurrection.
Paul would use this belief against them when He was brought before the Sanhedrin. This was essentially the supreme court of ancient Israel, being made up of both Pharisees and Sadducees. So Paul, knowing their great division on the stance of eternal life, would bring it up during his trial.
Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.
What is more, the Sadducees denied any intervention by God and rejected divine providence. Instead, they argued that everything—every responsibility, every opportunity, every good and every bad—was left entirely up to mankind.
So we may wonder, how does a spiritual leader of God’s people come to such an odd conclusion in comparison to the rest of the nation? It was the result of their interpretation of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). They claimed they could find no example of any resurrection and therefore denied its reality. And for generations they remained closed-minded.
This is what happens with bad theology. What is more, this is what happens when we grow prideful in our stances and do not open our hearts to receive God’s Word. I can tell you that over the course of my life, my stances on certain aspects have adjusted. It is important that we are willing to hear other’s points of views and lay them before the Word of God.
We may give the Pharisees a hard time as we go through the gospels, but at least they had Messianic hopes and rested in the resurrection. Unfortunately, they just missed it when it was right in front of them.
The Sadducees were spiritual and social aristocrats with a very liberal stance on the resurrection. And it would seem that they were not known for their kindness and treating others well. Again, Josephus records, they were “indeed more heartless than any other of the Jews.”
Perhaps the Sadducees had caught wind of Jesus’ triumph over the Pharisees and Herodians in the temple. Perhaps they had grown tired of hearing about Jesus and the excitement of the crowds. Maybe they were jealous of Jesus’ attention and respect.
Whatever their reasons, this elite class of religious leaders now enter into the ring in their own attempt to discredit Jesus. When will these people learn?
And so they decide to take their stance on the resurrection to Jesus and put Him in His place. It would, on the surface, seem to be a one sided affair. The priestly elite versus the country-bumpkin carpenter.
And what makes the resurrection such an interesting point of contention is that Jesus—on multiple occasions—has taught that He will die and three days later be resurrected. Also, according to the chronological order of the gospels, Jesus had recently just raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11).
We also may recall a while back in Luke’s gospel that Jesus raised from the dead the son of a widow in the town of Nain (Luke 7), as well as Jairus’ daughter (Luke 8). So it is quite likely that the Sadducees have caught wind of Jesus’ miracles and His teachings. No doubt they deny the resurrections happening.
So the Sadducees approach Jesus and ask Him/challenge Him about the resurrection.
There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
They employ the Law from the Torah, from Deuteronomy 25.
“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.
This levirate marriage was also seen with Ruth and Boaz. The purpose was to keep a family dying out and to keep the family wealth intact. So utilizing this law, the Sadducees employ a riddle of sorts.
Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”
The heart of the Sadducees argument here is this: Alright, smart guy, if the resurrection is real, how could this woman be rightly married to “one man” if she had previously been married to seven different men and none of them have children (thus giving them the distinct advantage)? Would she not be committing some kind of adultery?
You can almost picture their smug faces after asking this question. No doubt, this was a common argument agains the Pharisees when they debated the resurrection. But, just like EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Jesus is prepared for their question and immediately knocks it out of the park.
The issue for the Sadducees argument lies in their defective theology. Their understanding was that the resurrected life was a mirror image of the present life. But Jesus puts that to rest when He responds with “this age” and “that age,” signaling that the two, will in fact, be different. Let’s take a look at His response.
And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
NO MARRIAGE IN THE AGE TO COME
For the Jews of Jesus’ time, many understood the resurrection to simply be an extension of life on earth now. A continuation with all the good things where they would be multiplied.
Marriage is an earthy bond. One reason that there is no marriage in heaven—there is no need for it. Marriage has two main purposes based in Scripture. The first is that it is to be a representation of the relationship between Christ and His Church.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
In heaven, the representation becomes reality. However, marriage is also more than just an example for the world. There are practical purposes, too. We understand in the order of creation that God created and instituted marriage before sin entered into the picture. So it is, therefore, part of God’s good design for mankind on earth.
After creating man, God says,
“It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
The solution for man being alone was the creation of the woman, and in this instance, the institution of marriage. Also, it is within the marriage covenant that God called for mankind to “be fruitful and multiply.”
We also understand that it is through the creation of both man and woman that we bear His image.
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
However, in heaven, there is no need to procreate. And we will be made new and perfected in Heaven as well. It is because of these reasons that I believe there will not be marriage in heaven for there will no longer be a need for it. Now it may sound a little discouraging for many of us because we love our spouse deeply. But I think R. Kent Hughes has the correct perspective here. He says,
The fact that there is no marriage after the resurrection may be good news to some who have unhappy marriages, but if you are in love with your spouse and happy as I am, it seems sad. But the good news is, we will love each other more! We will be our sinless perfected selves at our ultimate best.
NO MORE DEATH
Jesus’ answer gives us more than just a response to the marriage conundrum that the Sadducees question posed. He also tells us there will be no death in the age to come.
Marriage and procreation are a vital and necessary aspect to maintaining life on earth since we, ourselves, are mortal. But since there is no death in heaven, marriage will be superseded. As one pastor put it: “No funeral knell will ever be heard in Heaven. There will be no gray hairs on the heads of immortals.”
EXALTED STATUS?
Jesus’ comments also allude to an exalted position than that of our fallen nature here on earth. Three things Jesus mentions about the immortality of the resurrected in verse 36.
They are equal to angels.
They are sons of God
They are sons of the resurrection.
First, equal to angels does not mean we become angels. Some have this idea that when “so and so” died, they got their wings and are now their guardian angel. No. Angels are different beings entirely. The phrase “equal to angels” could simply be referring to our immortal status in the age to come. Some suggest a greater power, too. I don’t want to assume too much here. But we can look at 1 Corinthians which may give us a little more of glimpse into this.
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.
Second, what a beautiful blessing! Children of God! Scripture has a lot to say on this matter. We become children through faith.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Lastly, “sons of the resurrection” again alludes to our eternal state. “for they cannot die anymore…being sons of the resurrection.” What a glorious eternity it will be!
But Jesus didn’t end His statement there. He took the issue right to the heart of the Torah (the only Scripture the Sadducees would fully commit to). What I love about this is that Jesus took their argument which they based out of the Torah, and opened it up and revealed to them the flaw in their generational thinking.
As we come to discussions with others in life who may not believe in the Scriptures and in the reality of Jesus. Pointing out Bible verses may not do anything for them; why would it if they already discredit it. So, the best thing we can do when we make a defense of our faith or our social stances (that are based out of Scripture), is to meet them where they are. If it is science they use for their defense, meet them with science. If philosophy, employ the philosophy of Jesus.
For Jesus could have pulled from Job or from the Prophets in regards to resurrection, but the Sadducees wouldn’t have listened. So, what does He do? He pulls from the Torah! How? Let’s take a look.
But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.”
His point Jesus makes here comes out of Exodus where God speaks to Moses at the burning bush. Let’s read what God said.
And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
The present tense of the statement is the key here. It would make no sense for God to say this unless they were presently (spiritually) alive! Think about when a family relative passed away, and someone at the funeral comes up to you and they hug you or shake your hand and they say something along the lines of, “I was a good friend of your father growing up. We grew up next door and were always riding bikes through the neighborhood. Your father was such a kind friend to me…”
But it’s spoken in the past tense. But if someone comes up to you and says, “I am a good friend of your father.” It tells you two things. First, your father is alive, and second, there is an ongoing relationship there.
So when God says, I AM the God of Abraham… rather than I WAS the God of Abraham he is declaring that Abraham’s existence as well as the ongoing relationship to him.
I love how the argument is both profound and so incredibly simple! And it’s the simplicity of the argument that I think leaves them scared to ask Him any further questions. “If he nipped that argument in the bud so quickly—an argument our theology has stood upon for centuries—what can we possibly ask Him that would stump Him?”
Jesus’ words were, no doubt, rather compelling to the people of His day.
But before we close, I want to look at the last beautiful section of Jesus’ statement.
Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.”
If God is the God of the living, and since God said, long after the death of the patriarchs, that he is their God, then they must be alive, and resurrection is coming!
What this really comes down to is an understanding and a belief in the mighty power of God. If the Sadducees had just understood the miracle working power of the God of the Old Testament, they would not have doubted His power to raise the dead.
In fact, there are enough examples in the Torah that the Sadducees should have recognized. But they refused and they closed their hearts to God.
Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
This isn’t suggesting death, but rapture.
Then we think about the moment when Abraham took his son Isaac up the mountain where he expected to lay his son upon the altar as a sacrifice. But his command to his servant suggested that he believed a resurrection was coming soon after.
Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”
This is exactly what the author of Hebrews implies.
He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
And the resurrection power we read about in the Old Testament is flowing throughout the New.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
John Stott said,
Christianity is in its very essence a resurrection religion. The concept of the resurrection lies at its heart. If you remove it, Christianity is destroyed.
John Stott (English Preacher)
So let us be ready with joyful expectation. Let us not be like the Sadducees. Why didn’t they believe? Mark’s parallel account tells us.
Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?
Why were they wrong in their understanding? They didn’t know the Scriptures and they didn’t know the power of God.
We have no excuse. God has given us His Word. God has revealed Himself to us through the Bible, through His creation, through His grace, through His mercy, through His forgiveness, through His beauty, through His patience, through His kindness, through His tenderness, through His Son, through His sacrifice, through His righteousness, through His power, through His glory, through His love.
Do you know the Scriptures? Do you know God’s power? If so, he says, “I am your God,” for he is not the God of the dead but of the living. And your soul bears his signature.
PRAY
