One More Question
Notes
Transcript
Then some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to question Him.
“Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man is to marry his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for him.
Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a wife, but died childless.
Then the second and the third married the widow, and in the same way all seven died, leaving no children.
And last of all, the woman died.
So then, in the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For all seven were married to her.”
Jesus answered, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.
But those who are considered worthy to share in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage.
In fact, they can no longer die, because they are like the angels. And since they are sons of the resurrection, they are sons of God.
Even Moses demonstrates that the dead are raised, in the passage about the burning bush. For he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’
He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.”
Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, You have spoken well!”
And they did not dare to question Him any further.
As Jesus taught in the temple one group after another came and took Him to task.
First, there are those who came to question his authority to cleanse the temple and to continue to teach daily there (vv.1-2).
He defeated them with a counter question, Luke 20:4
John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men?”
When they refused to answer this question, neither did he answer them.
Next came those with a deadly political question, Luke 20:22
Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
He defeated them by asking for a coin and after receiving a denarius bearing the image of Caesar said, Luke 20:25
So Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Now in verse twenty-seven we are introduced to one last group, the Sadducees, who decided they would have to show the others how to put Jesus in his place.
Look at it with me one more time. Luke 20:27-33
Then some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to question Him.
“Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man is to marry his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for him.
Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a wife, but died childless.
Then the second
and the third married the widow, and in the same way all seven died, leaving no children.
And last of all, the woman died.
So then, in the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For all seven were married to her.”
Luke helps us to understand who the Sadducees were by saying, they are those “who deny that there is a resurrection.”
Furthermore Acts 23:8, states:
For the Sadducees say that there is neither a resurrection, nor angels, nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.
In fact they were mainly a political group, but they had control of the high priestly line.
They seemed to feel that only the first five books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch) were binding on the Jewish people.
At the heart of the trick question was the custom of “levirate marriage,” according to this custom if a man’s married brother died without leaving an heir, he must marry the widow (Deut. 25:5-6).
But as we look at the question they brought to Jesus we should note that in their question, of one bride and seven brothers, there was no real search for the truth.
The Sadducees not did not expect an answer, nor did they want one.
They were asking Jesus about something in which they did not believe.
In fact, they hope to stump Jesus and thus demonstrate how foolish the whole idea of resurrection from the dead is.
They were trying to show that it is indeed unbiblical and impractical.
The problem presented in the form of a question is of course at its core a sham, however, the issue that is raises is not!
So what is this question?
“Is there an afterlife? Will people really be raised from the dead?”
Life after death is just Christian escapism!
Why don’t Christians just face the truth that this life is all there is?
Have you ever heard those kinds of objections raised by the skeptics?
The Sadducees were just first century skeptics who did not believe in life after death.
They said that life ended at death.
Undoubtedly they considered themselves just hard core realists, who had to combat this nonsense about the resurrection.
But perhaps at least part of the answer is that the Sadducees were so comfortable in their day to day lives that they were not concerned with the afterlife.
This is true of most Americans today as well, we are so comfortable in our day to day lives that we tend to forget that our ultimate hope is in heaven.
When is the last time you even thought about where you are going to spend eternity?
The truth is that everyone is one day closer to eternity than we were yesterday.
Someone has said that death is a subject that people spend a lifetime trying not to think about.
But death is an inevitable experience that unless the Lord comes, we will all one day face.
President Eisenhower once said, “I am interested in eternity. I am going to spend the rest of my life there.”
Jesus begins his answer to the question in verse thirty-four, Luke 20:34-36
Jesus answered, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.
But those who are considered worthy to share in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage.
In fact, they can no longer die, because they are like the angels. And since they are sons of the resurrection, they are sons of God.
Look back with me and underline two phrases.
Jesus divides the discussion into two time periods; “this age” (v. 34) and “the age to come” (v. 35).
He then goes on to delineate how very different they are from one another.
The kingdom of God or the after-life; described as “that age” will be totally different from the way things are in “this age.”
Since the Sadducees had asked about the relationships in the next life based on their understanding of relationships in this life, Jesus explained the difference.
Jesus shares with his listeners two great truths about life eternal.
First, Jesus tells that in life in the kingdom of heaven, relationships will operate on a different plane than in this life.
He notes three crucial differences.
First, there is no marriage in “that age.”
The point was that life in the eternal state is more than just an extension of what we have here.
The Jews of Jesus days thought that the kingdom of heaven was only an extension of the good things in this life.
He did not say that we would not know our spouse in the age to come, but rather that the relationship would be different.
Secondly, there is no death in “that age.”
Jesus identifies the quality of life when He says “they can no longer die” (v 36), it is eternal life.
Notice that Jesus does not say, “they will not die” He says, “they can no longer die.”
Third, they shall be like angels.
There is a lot of confusion even in the church about the relationship of men and angels.
Here Jesus states in verse thirty-six, Luke 20:36
Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
BSB
… because they are like the angels. …
NLT
… In this respect they will be like angels. …
NIV
In fact, they can no longer die, because they are like the angels. …
Because some translations render this phrase “they shall be like angels” there is some confusion.
At least one study states that 15% of Christians thought that angels were “deceased humans.”
So let me clarify something before we go on, if you are not now an angel, you will never become one.
Angels are created beings, not humans who have died and are now being rewarded.
Angels are not human beings who like Clarence in the old movie classic “It’s A Wonderful Life” are “trying to earn their wings.”
So how are we like angels? The main idea is that we will be like angels in the fact that marriage is not a part of their life. So how will we be like angels?
The redeemed will be “like” the angels in heaven, seeing and serving and praising God. Like the angels in that we are equally deathless, equally glorified and equally eternal.
As far as our bodies go, they too will be resurrected in glorified form.
To use the words of Paul, 1 Cor. 15:42:
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead: What is sown is perishable; it is raised imperishable.
You, not just your soul, will be resurrected.
That means your individuality will be preserved in eternity.
You will recognize your loved ones and they will recognize you.
Those things that made us unique as individuals in this life will be retained.
And when we see our loved ones again their bodies will be in all their glorious potential, but still their bodies.
Their personalities will be at their fullest, their wit, their charm, their tenacity, their love, still the same only enhanced.
Our Lord’s resurrected body was the same as before His death and yet different!
His friends recognized Him and even felt Him; He could eat food and yet He could also walk through closed doors, change His appearance, and vanish away.
Our relationship in Heaven will be different than here on earth and….
The second great truth that Jesus shares about the kingdom of heaven is that not everyone is going there.
Verse thirty-five introduces another key point, when He says, Luke 20:35
But those who are considered worthy to share in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead …
Here it is more implied than stated but the principle is - Not everyone will be resurrected into everlasting life in heaven.
If some are to be counted worthy then it follows that some will not.
This verse emphasizes that Jesus is talking to those who are saved, not all those who die.
Notice that verse says, the “resurrection from the dead” not “resurrection of the dead.”
That may not seem such a significant difference but how great a distinction those two prepositions make.
Everyone will experience the “resurrection of the dead” man was created an eternal being and will spend eternity somewhere.
“Resurrection from the dead” refers only to those who are raised to eternal life.
In proving that the resurrection from the dead was a biblical idea, there were any number of clear Old Testament texts that Jesus could have cited which spoke of the resurrection.
The prophet Isaiah said, (26:19) Isaiah 26:19
Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead.
The prophet Daniel said (12:2), Daniel 12:2
And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
Perhaps some of better remembered lines concerning the resurrection were uttered by Job (19:25-27) where he stated; Job 19:25-27
But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.
Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.
I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me!
But since the Sadducees only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament, Jesus applied the words of Moses.
The same Moses that is credited as the author of the first five books of the Old Testament (Exodus 3:6).
In verse thirty-seven Jesus said, Luke 20:37-38
Even Moses demonstrates that the dead are raised, in the passage about the burning bush. For he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’
He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.”
Jesus reasons that when God stated in the present tense “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6) it makes no sense if they are not presently alive.
It is the living God who is greater than death, who is the One who has assured us that mankind will all be raised from the grave.
Some to their eternal rewards and others to eternal judgment.
The author of Hebrews (11:13-14, 17-19) tells that the Old Testament patriarchs knew the promises of God transcended this earthly existence and were eternal.
All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
Now those who say such things show that they are seeking a country of their own.
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac on the altar. He who had received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son,
even though God had said to him, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”
Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death.
The dead will be raised, make no mistake.
In verses thirty-nine and forty we read the conclusion of the matter. Luke 20:39-40
Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, You have spoken well!”
And they did not dare to question Him any further.
They were astonished at what Jesus had to say about eternal life.
Only one person can speak with authority about life after death, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the only one who has ever died, went into the after life and returned to this life.
No matter what some may say today about their “near death experiences,” Jesus is the only one I would trust.
There are many areas in life in which man can afford to make mistakes.
In the area of finances, we can make mistakes with the hope that we learn from our error and do better next time.
Athletes can afford to make mistakes during a contest, because of the possibility that in the next game they will get it all right.
But in the question of eternity, no one can afford to be wrong.
In this arena there is no second chance.
The mistake the Sadducees were making was that they were gambling with their souls as the stake!
The Lord knew then and according to Mark 12:27 he told them so saying,
He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!
The question is, are you mistaken?
Are you living a life that shows you believe God is going to eternally reward you?
Are you living a life that shows I’m just not worried about eternity right now and it can wait?
I urge you today, if the Holy Spirit has convicted your heart, please don’t wait.
Find him today.
PRAY
