"On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him, asking, "Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up children for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother; so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh. Last of all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her."
But Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living." When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.
Many, if not most of you, are familiar with a product invented by two men, silver gray adhesive tape developed for heating and air-conditioning ducts, commonly known as duct tape. It was quickly adopted for use with many household fixes and repairs and was then sold in hardware stores. In 1975, Jack Kahl was able to trademark and rebrand the tape's original name, as "Duck Tape," with duck branding intended to stand out against other sellers, which was later acquired by Henkel, a German Company in 1998.
Then in 2009, Duck Tape was sold to Shurtape Technologies, introducing a premium version called "T-Rex Tape." I'm sure all of you by now, are asking yourselves, "What does duct tape have to do with church? I'm glad you've asked. The church, like duct tape, was created with a purpose in mind, but today, it does everything except what it was designed to do! Fulfilling the visions and dreams of man, rather than it's biblical intended purpose. True worship does not have anything to do with style of worship music, the menu for the after church lunch, church budgets and programs, renovation projects. True worship is not the members of the church, it's about worshipping God that flows from the heart. I believe that church needs to be done the way that Jesus did it, proclaiming God's Word, warning about sin and the coming judgement, calling sinners to repentance. Jesus had a lot to say about both the Kingdom of Heaven and Hell.
Even though most Christians claim to believe in Heaven, quite frankly, they seem to have settled for focusing on the present in the church today rather than the excitement of spending eternity with Christ in Heaven. Has Christ's church lost their heart for the One they live to serve, forgetting the promised hope of Heaven? I’ve often wondered why God's people aren’t more excited about it.
There are many books and movies about people claiming to have gone to Heaven, some of them didn’t even believe in Heaven, they are certainly not based upon reality. Charles Hadden Spurgeon said in speaking about Heaven, "When you speak of heaven, let your face light up... When you speak of hell well then, your everyday face will do."
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, we thank You for Your Word. Lord, we pray that our nation will turn back to You, the Creator, we pray that church leaders will submit to Your Word, and the people of God would strive to obey Your Word. Lord, as we look around the world us, our hearts are grieved by our nation and the world plunging into an abyss of darkness, consumed by their own sin. We pray that You would open their hearts to saving truth of Your Word, bring them to Christ, Who has purchased their life for time and eternity, before the time of grace runs out. May they hear Your voice calling them to Your eternal kingdom. Lord, we pray that today would be that glorious day in which we offer up our thanks and our praise for the hundreds of thousands souls who are redeemed. We ask and pray this in Christ's name, all for Your glory.
Amen
Today's Message: The Power of God
What a joy it is to return the Gospel of Matthew, as you know we have been studying the last week of the life of Jesus Christ on earth before He's goes to the cross. He was celebrated as the Coming Messiah, He has cleansed the temple, threw out the money changers, which were Sadducees, He has been met with opposition, and difficult questions by the religious leaders who have been seeking to trap Him in His Word. He is the Lamb of God, therefore, He must be inspected and found to be without blemish. In spite of their attempts, He has been found to be without fault. Because they hate Jesus, they are very, very disturbed. They knew that if they allowed Him to go on like this, everyone would believe in Him.
In our last message, the Pharisees sent their disciples and the Herodians, to trap Him with the question about paying taxes to Caesar, which failed. Now, the Sadducees, who were the extremely wealthy aristocrats, who prospered under the Roman presence, which added to their unpopularity, have come to test Jesus with what they believe is their difficult question.
The Sadducees believed that only the first five books of Moses to be the authoritative Word of God. They did not believe in the existence of angels or in the resurrection. It's difficult to find an Old Testament verse that speak about the resurrection. The concept is there in the obvious references. It's there in the Book of Psalms, Isaiah and Jeremiah, but the Sadducees disregard them as being authoritative. Josephus tells us the Sadducees were not only narrow-minded, they were more cruel than the Pharisees, in the application of the law. In fact, they prided themselves on being those who preserved and guarded the pure faith.
If you will recall, in Acts 23, Paul gets the Pharisees and Sadducees into an argument about the resurrection. They constantly mocked the Pharisees over believing that people who died would come back in the same form they died in.
Many false religions today, still seek to deny the resurrection of Jesus, they try to poke holes in the virgin birth, that Jesus is God incarnate. False religion is a damning deception, whether it's Roman Catholicism, Muslims, Hinduism, Buddhism or some other cult operating by the power of Satan, people are held captive by relentless gatekeepers of influence used to keep them loyal. As was the case with the religious leaders of Israel, anyone who confessed Jesus was the Messiah, was to be put out of the synagogue and considered to be an outcast.
Open
your Bibles to the twenty-second chapter of the gospel of Matthew. Matthew 22:23-33. I invite you to follow along with me, as I read these eleven verses to you. Let us be faithful to open our hearts and minds, and listen to what the Spirit of God has to say to each of us today.
"On that day some Sadducees who say there is no resurrection came to Jesus and questioned Him, asking, "Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up children for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother; so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh. Last of all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her."
But Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living." When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching."
Let’s look at verse 23, "On that day some Sadducees who say there is no resurrection came to Jesus and questioned Him."
It’s still Wednesday, and Jesus has been teaching in the temple, now the Sadducees show up, to question Him on the subject of the resurrection. I find it interesting, that every time they are defined, it's in those same terms, "who say there is no resurrection." Perhaps, because they were at odds with all of the mainstream Jewish culture, they wanted to make it clear they did not believe in a resurrection. The Sadducees held the majority of the members of the Sanhedrin, so they had great power and influence. By the way, once the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., there was no more priesthood, so they were completely erased from power. The Pharisees and Sadducees did agree on thing, they must get rid of Jesus Christ.
The Sadducees really had no interest in Jesus early on in His ministry, that is until He disrupted their business, by over turning the money changers tables, throwing out the buyers and sellers. Not only had He personally violated their territory, but now, with the potential for Jesus to bring about a revolution, He'll put them in a difficult position jeopardizing their favor with the Romans, through whom they had delegated authority, of course, the Romans might get upset and move in, they didn't want that. No wonder, they were pro-Rome.
Verse 24, "Asking, "Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up children for his brother.’"
Notice, they call Him teacher in a condescending way, they rejected Jesus’ teaching and didn’t believe in the resurrection. God gave that law to Moses in ancient times to preserve the families. It was always all about maintaining a Messianic line. We don't know if it was being practiced or not at time of Christ, so we don't know if they asking about somebody they knew, or whether they’re just making this story up. The nearest example you can think of in the Bible will be that of Ruth and Boaz. Boaz is a relative but not the brother of her husband. Frankly, this is a ridiculous illustration given the Sadducees thought of heaven as being the same as earth.
Verse 25, "Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother."
So, their story has seven brothers, notice they say "there were seven brothers with us," that would imply these are personal acquaintances, but then again, we don't know if this is a true story. It sounds to me like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The first brother marries her and dies, having no children. To carry on the family name, he left her to his brother to marry and have an heir. This is where their story really takes a turn.
Verse 26, "So also the second, and the third, down to the seventh." So the second brother died, and he left her to the third brother. Then the third brother died, and left her to the fourth; the fourth died, left her to the fifth; the fifth brother died, left and her to the sixth; then the sixth brother died, left her to the seventh brother. I've got to be honest with, if I was that seventh brother, I would have already left town by now, on the fastest camel I could find. Seriously, I'd be asking myself "What’s going on here? This woman is obviously cursed!" They would never be able to find me.
Verse 27-28, "Last of all, the woman died." That's the scenario, all 7 brothers died, then she died. You've got to imagine all the males in that family were celebrating. Now, for their question, you can almost picture their faces, smiling from ear to ear. "In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her." I imagine they already had their next question ready, "Will she not be committing adultery in heaven?" How ridiculous is this whole thing? It's like when people who don't believe in God, they don' believe the Bible, and they ask you some ridiculous question, like "Do you believe that God is able to do anything?" Then they ask "Can God create something that's too heavy for Him to carry?" And then they just look at you like they've really got you in checkmate. They were hoping for "Well, that's hard to answer. I'm stumped, I'm not sure who she's going to be with."
But no, Jesus comes back with a devastating knockout blow. "You're wrong! You don't know the Scriptures nor the power of God." Verse 29, "But Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God." They had to have at least heard about the resurrection of Lazarus, everybody else had. God can raise people from the dead. Man, they're really putting their ignorance on display. They're asking Jesus about earthly relationships that are bound together under the earthly covenant of marriage. I love that Jesus uses the verb "planáō," which means to lead astray, to deviate from the correct path. He's literally saying you are misleading yourselves away from the truth.
In verse 30, He takes on the issue of God's power. "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven." Notice that He doesn’t say that we will be angels, but will be like the angels. As eternal spiritual beings, who do not have exclusive relationships, there will be no intimacy, nor will we procreate. Angels have a fixed number, there's no need to replace them, because nobody dies. We will be in heavenly relationships doing heavenly things!
In verse 31, Jesus uses the verb am is in the present tense, "But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God." Haven’t you been reading your Scripture? Didn't you stop to think about what God said?
Then Jesus in verse 32, He fires back with the Pentateuch, describing the encounter between God and Moses at the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3. "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."
The resurrection is seen in the way God revealed Himself to Moses. He doesn’t say I was the God of Abraham, I was the God of Isaac, and I was the God of Jacob. He says "I am" which in the Greek present tense is "egō eimi," meaning "He who always was, is, and will be," indicating His eternal existence without limits. The Sadducees thought that by crafting a ridiculous story, they would disprove Jesus' teaching of the resurrection. Instead, Jesus makes it clear that in the next life, things are different. Jesus knew the Word better than anyone, He always knew the right passage for the right situation. The irony is that the One who is standing before them is the One who can actually give them eternal life.
That brings us to verse 33, "When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching."
Jesus blew their minds with His profound teaching. He did what the Pharisees were never able to do, He proved there will be a resurrection, right out of the Pentateuch. The Sadducees clearly did not understand the power of God's resurrection is so powerful brings you beyond the former state of life. None other than the Son of the living God, God in human flesh could answer questions that couldn't be answered. You would think this would finally put an end to all their questions, that their lives would be changed by His teaching, right? Come back next time and we'll find out.
In Closing..
In 1 John 3, Scripture tell us that in that day, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is." We will be co-heirs with Christ. Because Jesus died, was buried and rose again, conquering sin and death, those who believe, follow and obey Him will one day, rise from the dead as well.
It all comes down to these questions, "Who is Jesus" and "Did Christ rise from the dead?" I'm willing to stake my life on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus is not just a prophet, not just a teacher or a just a good man, He is the Son of the Living God. I pray that today, many will repent and believe unto salvation and eternal life.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2023 All Rights Reserved
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2023 All Rights Reserved