Gtcotr/ss031421
Science-fiction movies fascinate me. I enjoy seeing what the minds of men can predict concerning the future. No matter what the creators and writers envision they always seem to limit the future by tying it to some aspect of their present reality.
Every new and wonderful gadget in a sci-fi story has some noticeable element of current technology. We tend to view the future from the platform of the present.
Take for example those space age communication devices depicted in the several early science fiction films. Just being able to relay messages back and forth from deep space back to earth stretched the writer’s imagination. If you ever watch one, notice the handsets used on spaceships strangely resemble a 1950’s style telephone which still had to be connected to the desk module by a phone cord. One movie depicting space exploration in space travel in the future pictured the captain recording his space log onto a mini hand-held cassette recorder. That was fine until he ran out of tape.
Forward-thinking dreamers of the day found it hard to imagine life without knobs and levers and buttons and hard-wired switches. Everything had to fit a frame of reference and make sense based on and connected to something familiar. If it isn’t familiar, it’s just not believable. It can be hard for the mind to imagine something you’ve never seen or experienced.
People make this same mistake when considering the things of God. We often view eternity through the lens of our own familiar earthly experiences. Such was the case of some Sadducees in Jerusalem during the last few days before Jesus gave His life on the Cross of Calvary. This morning we will continue our study of the Gospel of Mark by reading:
Mark 12
18 Then some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him; and they asked Him, saying:
The Sadducees were a group of national leaders in Israel who simply dismissed spiritual things. The Sadducees had been around for almost 300 years and were well entrenched in society, religion, politics, and the law.
A Sadducee believed in God and agreed that the first five books of the Bible were written by Moses and were profitable for doctrine. However, they disqualified other religious writings as just the works of man. They did not believe in angels or demons, the resurrection or life after death, eternal judgment or that God involved Himself in the matters of men. They believed the world continued to operate according to the dictates, designs, and decisions of man. And they wanted in on the action at the top.
Sadducees believed things happen because people make them happen and God was for the most part uninvolved. They believed that when a person died their body turned to dust and the soul disintegrated into nothingness. They just simply ceased to exist. The Sadducees were the political enemies of the Pharisees on religious grounds, but they were both in league together against Jesus. Jesus would not join either party and therefore, because of His huge following, He was a threat to both of them.
Josephus description of Sadducean ideas focuses on their contempt for supernatural explanations. (They followed the scientific method.) They believed life was based on law and human free will wherein God had nothing to do with judgement, rewards, or penalties after death (War 2. 164-168).
That was convenient … because … If anyone actually believed or admitted that God cared about what was happening to men on earth; or that He loved the world and gave His only begotten Son to save men from their sin; or that God had a will and that He expected men to follow the instructions of His written Word; or that every person will stand before the judgement seat of Christ and give an account of himself before God; or that without accepting Jesus as both Savior and Lord, a person will spend eternity in hell … well … that would change everything wouldn’t it? But …
The Sadducees taught it foolish to suppose God cared or that He was involved in the affairs of earth or mankind. And seeing they embraced no consideration of eternal life, heaven, hell, or the judgement, they believed they had no God, no king, and no one to answer to but themselves, their sciences, and society. This did make it convenient for them to serve themselves since there was no one bigger they would ever have to answer to.
Does this group of people sound familiar to anyone? Listen … Denying God will not make Him disappear. These silly Sadducees thought they were smarter than Jesus and would just make Him shut up and go away. I wonder how this commission chose the idiot who would chair this committee and be the speaker that day? What a stupid presentation … I bet he still feels embarrassed about it. You know, not everybody who ask you to lead is doing you a favor … anyway: Here is the record of what he said to Jesus in public that day.
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 passage contains two main subjects, (the Word and the Power of God), neither of which is intended to make married couples insecure, angry, or upset with God or their spouses. I’m referencing the indication Jesus gives us that heavenly relationships, for those in the resurrection, will not be limited to the way we understand covenant relationships here on earth. Just because you were married to someone on earth does not mean you will be married to them in heaven – not in the same way you understand it or experienced it on earth. In other words, We can’t judge or limit eternal realities to earthly experiences. And we cannot disprove, challenge, or change the truth with silly hypothetical questions.
Jesus did not intend to set a doctrine or exhaust the subject of heavenly relationships here. This is but one quick inexhaustive comment on the question they presented. Jesus had bigger fish to fry that day.
He allowed that the Sadducees had a problem in their doctrine because they limited truth to the things they could carnally understand or physically experience which was an evident mistake. Science and experience are helpful in their limited applications, but Truth far exceeds the realms of human capacity. Humans cannot harness or predict what eternity entails.
It was common in the days Jesus walked the earth for the Sadducees to present a seemingly impossible argument against angels, spirits, and life after death. They simply did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. This this strategy of raising hypothetical nonsense and offering it as though it was a real question often worked to their favor and gave them an upper hand against the Pharisees since no one could satisfy such a question.
I’ve heard questions of the kind from people attempting to intimidate Believers in God. One of them is: “If God can do anything; Can He make a rock so heavy He cannot move it?” Such ridiculously foolish reasoning is not worthy of an answer and indeed no answer would suffice the folly intended by those who asks such things. They weren’t looking for an answer, they only wanted to make Jesus look stupid. Bad move!
Proverbs 26:4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Lest you also be like him.
Proverbs 26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own eyes.
So, rather than dismiss these foolish men and allow them to bask in their empty pride, Jesus answered them according to their folly. Jesus first called into question their lack of understanding the scriptures. He directly pointed out their ignorance by using a passage written by their cherished prophet Moses himself.
The greatest mistake was that the Sadducees imagined Jesus didn’t have an answer. They were wrong … Jesus not only has the answer – He is the answer!
Mark 12:24 Jesus answered and said to them, “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?”
Jesus went right to the foundation of their faith: The writings of Moses.
Mark 12
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.”
Jesus simply said: “You don’t even know what you believe!” You say you believe Moses? Well Moses already proved there is life after death.
Let me tell you, the devil has no new tricks. People making arguments against the truth today sound just as silly and foolish as they did in the days of Jesus. They are just repeating stupid stuff that the devil is speaking in their ears. They don’t even realize how silly the rest of us think it is.
It may all sound good and benevolent, but it is foolish and dangerous to imagine there will not be a day of reckoning. People may not believe in judgment day but that does not mean it’s not coming! You’re mistaken!
People expect the heaven they don’t know to be based on the earth they do know. But Heaven is not patterned after the earth. Some who are empowered and entitled on earth may falsely expect to be in charge or have some privilege in heaven. The devil tempted Jesus with that same empty promise. However, presidents, kings, and billionaires will have no greater standing in heaven than the homeless, the poor, or the outcast. In fact, there is reason to believe from the scriptures that those who are wealthy or who are in leadership here on earth will receive a greater judgment and a lesser reward in heaven than those who have nothing here.
Luke 12:48 To whom much is given, much is required.
What are my take-a-ways from the message today?
1.
The same devil has been using the same tricks for thousands of
years.
a. The same devil that
sold the idea of eugenics to control the population of undesirables to Pharoah
when Moses was born, sold the idea to Herod when Jesus was born, and selling
that same idea through planned parenthood to our national leaders today.
b. The same devil that
vexed and confused the souls of even the righteous men and women in Sodom and
Gomorrah is vexing and confusing good, loving, kind, and caring individuals in
this generation concerning gender identity and the sexual exploitation and
re-education of our children.
c. The same devil that
deceived the Sadducees in the days of Jesus is deceiving world political
leaders today into imagining that science equals truth.
2.
Believe it or not, judgement day is coming.
a. It will be filled with
love and laughter, sorrow, and tears.
b. Every person will be
rewarded or penalized as they justly deserve.
3.
Heaven is a place all its own.
a. Heaven will be filled
with life and relationships better than anything we have ever known.
b. Only Jesus can save
your soul.
