Daily devotion – What’s true about life after the resurrection.
(Matt. 22:23–33; Luke 20:27–40 )
Mark 12:18 Then some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him; and they asked Him, saying: 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies, and leaves his wife behind, and leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife; and dying, he left no offspring. 21 And the second took her, and he died; nor did he leave any offspring. And the third likewise. 22 So the seven had her and left no offspring. Last of all the woman died also. 23 Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife.”
24 Jesus answered and said to them, “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ ? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.”
This is the only place in Mark’s Gospel where the Sadducees get a mention. This group of religious leaders accepted only the Law of Moses as their religious authority; so if a doctrine could not be defended from the first five books of the OT, they would not accept it.
The Sadducees did not believe in the existence of the soul, life after death, resurrection, final judgment, angels, or demons. Most of the Sadducees were priests and were wealthy and they looked down on everybody else.
They brought this hypothetical question to Jesus based on the law of marriage as given in Deuteronomy 25:7-10.
The Sadducees were implying sarcastically that the woman who had been married seven times in her life would have to spend eternity, if there is a future resurrection, with seven husbands!
The Sadducees thought they were being clever, but Jesus soon revealed their ignorance of two things: the power of God and the truth of Scripture.
Resurrection is NOT the restoration of life as we know it – it is however the entrance into a NEW life that is different. Jesus did not say we would become angels or be like angels in everything, for God’s children are higher than the angels.
Jesus taught we that there would be no marriage or procreation after the resurrection.
The Sadducees were also ignorant of the Scriptures. They claimed to accept the authority of Moses, but they failed to notice that Moses taught the continuation of life after death. Jesus once again went back to Scripture in this case to the passage about the burning bush.
God did not tell Moses that He “was” (past tense) the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He said, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob!”
The patriarchs were “alive” when God spoke those words to Moses; therefore, Moses does teach that there is life after death.
Heaven and our new resurrected life will reveal to us that everything we thought was awesome in this life will be so much better in the new life. In ways we will not be able to fully comprehend until we experience them firsthand!
Our new life will need eternity for us to realize the wonders of all that it will bring!