Is There A Resurrection For Believers?
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
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.”
The Question from the Sadducees
The Question from the Sadducees
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.”
The Sadducees were a minority sect in Israel who denied the resurrection.
They also denied anything supernatural except for God Himself.
The process they are talking about was a law from Deuteronomy 25:5.
“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.
This is probably a regular talking point in debates for the Sadducees. Before now they had likely not had a real answer to the question. This is all going to change with Jesus.
Jesus’ Answer
Jesus’ Answer
Jesus gives two reasons why the Sadducees are wrong.
They do not know the Scriptures, and they do not know the power of God.
A side note about marriage in heaven.
A side note about marriage in heaven.
For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
Jesus briefly answers their concern about marriage in Heaven, but then refocuses on his main point about the resurrection. The answer to the true question that the Sadducees are asking.
In Heaven there will be no marriage.
Resurrection in the Old Testament
Resurrection in the Old Testament
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’?
Jesus points them to the Scripture where God is speaking to Moses from the burning bush.
Jesus draws significance from the way that God speaks of Himself as “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” The way the phrase is written is as if all three of these men are alive currently. He didn’t say “I was the God of Abraham” He said, “I AM”
This is an affirmation from the mouth of God that these men are not dead, but alive.
The Power of God
The Power of God
He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”
Jesus points out that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. By denying the resurrection, the Sadducees were denying the power of God to bring life to the dead.
Jesus affirms in the strongest of terms that the resurrection is real.
Application
Application
Christians on this earth have no worries about what it’s going to be like in heaven if they remarry. You don’t have to worry about what your deceased spouse will think when he sees you. You won’t have to worry about what your relationship will look like in heaven for eternity.
We have a hope in the resurrection that is as solid as the ground we walk on. God is not a God of the dead, but the living. So what will we look like in heaven? What will our resurrected bodies be like?
We have a God who is powerful enough to breathe life into dirt. To cause the dead to rise. To give us renewed bodies in heaven. Do you not also think that He has the power to sustain you in whatever you are going through in life right now?