18 Then some Sadducees came to Jesus and asked him a question. (Sadducees believed that people would not rise from the dead.) 19 They said, “Teacher, Moses wrote that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, then that man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 20 Once there were seven brothers. The first brother married and died, leaving no children. 21 So the second brother married the widow, but he also died and had no children. The same thing happened with the third brother. 22 All seven brothers married her and died, and none of the brothers had any children. Finally the woman died too. 23 Since all seven brothers had married her, when people rise from the dead, whose wife will she be?” 24 Jesus answered, “Why don’t you understand? Don’t you know what the Scriptures say, and don’t you know about the power of God? 25 When people rise from the dead, they will not marry, nor will they be given to someone to marry. They will be like the angels in heaven. 26 Surely you have read what God said about people rising from the dead. In the book in which Moses wrote about the burning bush, it says that God told Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 27 God is the God of the living, not the dead. You Sadducees are wrong!” ~ Mark 12:18-27
In today's passage, we are told the Lord Jesus received a visit from the Sadducees. The word "Sadducee" literally means "the righteous ones." This group of "quasi religious leaders" did not believe in the resurrection. Like the Pharisees, they wanted to minimize the Lord Jesus, because His popularity was a threat to their comfortable and affluent lives.
In v.18-22 of today's passage we read, "18 Then some Sadducees came to Jesus and asked him a question. (Sadducees believed that people would not rise from the dead.) 19 They said, “Teacher, Moses wrote that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, then that man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 20 Once there were seven brothers. The first brother married and died, leaving no children. 21 So the second brother married the widow, but he also died and had no children. The same thing happened with the third brother. 22 All seven brothers married her and died, and none of the brothers had any children. Finally the woman died too."
At this point the Lord Jesus directed the Sadducees attention to Exodus 3:6 in order to establish His point. This is important because He knew the Sadducees only accepted the first five books of the Bible as the word of God. It seems Exodus 3:6 doesn’t argue for the resurrection of the dead. But, when we consider that God made an everlasting covenant with Abraham, Isaac & Jacob after they had died, it takes on a different meaning. Since God made an everlasting covenant with them, he will raise them from the dead so that they may see the fulfillment of God's promises.
There is a great principle being given here which I have found to be an encouragement down through the years, especially when it seemed that all hope was lost. The principle comes in the form of a quote which is: "God’s most striking victories come out of graves of apparent defeat."
According to v.27, the Sadducees understood neither the Scriptures, which teaches the resurrection of the dead, nor did they know the power of God, who can and will raise the dead to life. This was their problem, they were not accustomed to being defined by the God of the Bible. In 1 Corinthians 15 the Apostle Paul established this very important point: if we do not have the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we do not have hope.
I find it striking that group after group was trying to trip the Lord Jesus up, yet He spoke the truth to them and in so doing He held out hope to each group. His has always been self-giving love which is a product of such hope. The Lord Jesus is the same with us. He knows the quickest way to our hearts is through our wounds. And, it is these wounds which create our skepticism or they can assist our ability to see Him with our hearts. We are to some degree hard-hearted like these religious leaders, at times. And, yet, He keeps offering us hope. And, He rarely blesses us with only us in mind.
Hope must be garnered by us through the thicks and thins of life. We must admit that we, at times, struggle seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. This honest struggle is necessary for us to be develop an authentic walk with the Lord and to be found anchored to His hope. Amid all of the negativity that we will face out in the world today, let's be poised to hold out this hope which is based on the truth of the resurrection from the dead for all those, who like us, are struggling, too. Like him or not, Napoleon brilliantly once said, "Leaders are dealers in hope."
The Sadducees were trying to show how ridiculous was the idea of the resurrection, so they presented a scenario to the Lord Jesus based on Deuteronomy 25 which called for a man to marry his brother’s wife in the event of his brother’s death. With this argument, they referred to a law in the book of Moses called the law of levirate marriage which was given by God in order to protect the widow, her land and the name of the family. And so a brother or a kinsman, a relative, could marry that lady, and then the family name would be preserved, and the inheritance would be passed on from generation to generation for that woman.
In v.23 of today's passage we read, "Since all seven brothers had married her, when people rise from the dead, whose wife will she be?"
Trying to minimize the Lord Jesus, the Sadducees asked Him who would be the husband of the woman in heaven, especially since she had been married so many times. Of course, they weren't on a journey to discover the truth, they were just trying to cause the people to no longer follow Him, especially since they benefitted the most from the sacrificial system at the temple. And, the Lord Jesus was a threat to that commerce based on what He had done in the temple a day earlier.
In v.24-26 of today's passage we read, "24 Jesus answered, 'Why don’t you understand? Don’t you know what the Scriptures say, and don’t you know about the power of God? 25 When people rise from the dead, they will not marry, nor will they be given to someone to marry. They will be like the angels in heaven. 26 Surely you have read what God said about people rising from the dead. In the book in which Moses wrote about the burning bush, it says that God told Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’"
In His answer the Lord Jesus made it clear that in heaven there will be no marriage. As someone who has been married to the same woman for over thirty years, this is a difficult one for me. Notice the Lord Jesus did not say that in heaven we will be angels, but that we will be like the angels. We will be like the angels in that we will not cohabitate and reproduce. In addition, we will not die. So, there will be no need for reproduction in heaven.
There is a great principle being given here which I have found to be an encouragement down through the years, especially when it seemed that all hope was lost. The principle comes in the form of a quote which is: "God’s most striking victories come out of graves of apparent defeat."
According to v.27, the Sadducees understood neither the Scriptures, which teaches the resurrection of the dead, nor did they know the power of God, who can and will raise the dead to life. This was their problem, they were not accustomed to being defined by the God of the Bible. In 1 Corinthians 15 the Apostle Paul established this very important point: if we do not have the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we do not have hope.
I find it striking that group after group was trying to trip the Lord Jesus up, yet He spoke the truth to them and in so doing He held out hope to each group. His has always been self-giving love which is a product of such hope. The Lord Jesus is the same with us. He knows the quickest way to our hearts is through our wounds. And, it is these wounds which create our skepticism or they can assist our ability to see Him with our hearts. We are to some degree hard-hearted like these religious leaders, at times. And, yet, He keeps offering us hope. And, He rarely blesses us with only us in mind.
Hope must be garnered by us through the thicks and thins of life. We must admit that we, at times, struggle seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. This honest struggle is necessary for us to be develop an authentic walk with the Lord and to be found anchored to His hope. Amid all of the negativity that we will face out in the world today, let's be poised to hold out this hope which is based on the truth of the resurrection from the dead for all those, who like us, are struggling, too. Like him or not, Napoleon brilliantly once said, "Leaders are dealers in hope."
From the book of Exodus, the Lord Jesus showed the Sadducees that there will be a resurrection and there will be an afterlife. While quoting from the burning bush passage, the Lord Jesus established that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were dead when God spoke those words to Moses regarding them. He didn't say, "I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," He said, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Using the present tense, He established life after death.
In v.27 of today's passage we read, "God is the God of the living, not the dead. You Sadducees are wrong!"
Since God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, there has to be a resurrection from the dead. God is the God of the living because He is the God who conquered death. It was not enough for the Lord Jesus to die for us, but He also had to rise from the dead, proving His victory over the grave. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus changed everything. It is the resurrection of Jesus that promises us eternal life. I love that quote from C.S. Lewis who once said, "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."
