"And some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) came to Him, and began questioning Him, saying, 'Teacher, Moses wrote for us a law that if a man's brother dies, and leaves behind a wife, and leaves no child, his brother should take the wife, and raise up offspring to his brother. There were seven brothers; and the first one took a wife, and died, leaving no offspring. And the second one took her, and died, leaving behind no offspring; and the third likewise; and so all seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman died too. In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one's wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife.' Jesus said to them, 'Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures, or 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. But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning 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 the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.'" (Mark 12:18-27)
If you were as small as an ant, it would certainly change your view of the world. Suddenly, a field of grass would turn into an incredibly thick forest. A streetside curb would become a towering wall of rock. For you, it would certainly be reality, but reality as viewed from your perspective. The reality you see, however, may not necessarily be the true reality.
Our perception of reality changes based upon our unique perspective. It is our point of view. What we see from our point of view may be true, but it may not be all that is true. There is a difference between that which is true and that which is the truth.
For instance, it is true that I am a sinner. But the truth is that I am a sinner saved by grace. It is true that my righteousness is as filthy rags before God. But the truth is that I am clothed in Christ's righteousness. Christ is my righteousness, and I stand complete in Him. It is true that I suffer defeat from time to time. Sometimes in my life, I lack victory. But, while that is true, the truth is that I am an overcomer in Christ, and ultimate victory belongs to the people of God. It is true that at times I do not feel saved. But the truth is my salvation is not dependent on my feelings. While it is true that I do not feel saved, the truth is that I am saved.
At times it is difficult to see the forest because we are concentrating on individual trees. Without noticing, we get sidetracked and focus in on concerns that don't really count. At times we major on minor issues. We do this in marriage when we focus in on the small things which irritate us instead of on the positive relationship which means so much to us. It's so easy in raising our children to major on the mistakes they make instead of on their character being developed. In our jobs, there are always those tasks which are unpleasant. We can let them occupy our time and tongue or we can emphasize those things which make our work meaningful. Even in the church, we can major on the minors. In the church the challenge always is to keep the main thing the main thing. It is not unusual for people to be busily consumed in trivial pursuit instead of pursuing the Holy One and pursuing those for whom He died.
The Bible is itself a living illustration of man's tendency to major on the minors. Over and over on its pages, we see God calling His people back to Himself. God is forever re-focusing the priorities of His people on the things that really count. In our text today, Jesus confronts the unbelieving Sadducees who were notorious for their lack of perspective. They were too focused on their own social status to focus in on the things which were really important. They had limited vision, were nearsighted, saw only the human dimension. The Sadducees rejected the supernatural because they couldn't understand it. They didn't believe in the resurrection because it defied human logic. They were mistaken indeed. So Jesus confronts the Sadducees concerning their error regarding the resurrection. And in this text, He points them to what really counts.
Do you find yourself getting sidetracked on minor issues? Do you major on the minors? It is so easy to get sidetracked on peripheral issues instead of concentrating on understanding the Scriptures and experiencing the power of God. If we do, we will be limited in our vision. We will end up mistaken in our conclusions. And our spiritual life will be constantly frustrated because we will continue to see through human eyes and perceive through human understanding. The challenge for us is to shape our thinking in light of God's truth and God's power. As we do, a whole new world will open up to us.
Jesus' encounter with the Sadducees has quite a message for God's people today. Let's examine the different movements of this encounter as they unfold the message God has for us today.
Notice first, the unyielding Sadducees as they come to Jesus to question Him concerning the resurrection. I'm sure the Sadducees had noticed that the Pharisees and Herodians had failed in their attempt to trap Jesus. Now it was their turn. In their mind, I'm certain, they thought that they would succeed.
The Sadducees were extremely status conscious. They were worldly and wealthy, ill mannered and rude. Josephus wrote, "The Sadducees...are, even among themselves, rather boorish in their behavior, and in their intercourse with their peers are as rude as aliens." They were a proud and arrogant lot who somehow thought they were better than other people. Acts 23:8 tells us that they did not believe in the resurrection nor did they believe in the existence of angels and spirits. They only accepted the Torah, or the first five books of Moses. They claimed that the resurrection was not taught in the Torah. Therefore, it was a false doctrine.
The Sadducees were no doubt delighted whenever the Pharisees and Herodians had been so easily handled by the Lord Jesus. They, however, had a question which no one had been able to answer. It concerned the resurrection. The Sadducees prided themselves on being rational and logical in thought. They did not believe in the resurrection. It was unreasonable to them. And they had developed a very sophisticated defense mechanism. It is thought by some that the question they put to Jesus concerning the resurrection was one which had been put successfully to the Pharisees and others who believed in the resurrection. No one had been able to answer their question. They probably felt confident that Jesus would not be able to answer it as well. Although He had easily handled the Pharisees and Herodians, He would certainly be no match for them - or at least this is what they thought. And so in their unyielding and stubborn way, they came to Jesus. They did not attempt to flatter Him at all. Rather, they came in all their brashness and put their question directly to Him.
Notice the unlikely scenario they described for Jesus. They spoke of the law of leverite marriage (verse 19). Moses had given this law in Deuteronomy 25. It was an ancient custom whereby, if a married man's brother died, he would marry his brother's widow, thus preserving the family from dying out and keeping the family wealth intact. It was a convenient social custom. But the picture the Sadducees painted was a very unlikely one indeed.
They posed the hypothetical situation whereby, one by one, seven brothers would marry the same woman. Each, in turn, would die. Upon the death of each husband, the brother next in line would marry the woman. No children would be produced from these marriages. And finally, the woman herself would die. Indeed, I'm sure she was worn out. The question the Sadducees had was: whose wife would she be in the resurrection? No doubt, they had used this unlikely scenario to confuse the Pharisees. The Pharisees were easily led into a furious examination of the most minute points of the law. It is easy to picture them huddling together, trying to answer the Sadducees' question. There was nothing written on this subject. Nobody had made any authoritative pronouncements. This kind of question could serve to throw the Pharisees into a panic for days. It's like trying to determine how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
This was not only an unlikely situation, it was ridiculous conjecture. The Sadducees didn't care about whose wife someone would be in the resurrection. They didn't even believe in the resurrection. They were merely playing a game with words to try to confuse the Savior. They thought they had the upper hand, but they were wrong. They had chosen the wrong opponent. They had about as much chance as Danny DeVito against Michael Jordan in a slam-dunk contest.
Jesus replies to them in verse 24, a verse we shall examine in more detail later. He tells them that they are greatly mistaken about the resurrection. They are mistaken for two reasons. The first is ignorance of God's word. And the second is ignorance of His power.
Jesus goes on to address certain considerations about the resurrection. Notice in verse 25 that Jesus says, "When they rise from the dead..." He does not say if they rise from the dead, but when they rise. Jesus believed in the resurrection, and so should we.
When we rise from the dead, we will be alive in a different dimension. Jesus says, in verse 25, that there is no marriage in heaven, but that we are like the angels. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I do know it means that our heavenly state is a glorified state. Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 15 about the resurrection from the dead. He says, in verse 44, about our physical bodies, "It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." A few verses later, he adds, in verse 52, "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed." Alive in a different dimension. When we rise from the dead and go to be with Jesus, we will have glorified bodies like the angels.
Even though we will be alive in this different dimension, I'm sure we will recognize one another. We will be in perfect fellowship with everyone. There will be perfect peace, perfect unity, perfect love. And we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
Jesus believed in the resurrection of the dead. He believed in it so much, He even raised Lazarus from the dead. He believed in it so much, He said, "I am the resurrection and the life." He believed in it so much He even rose from the dead Himself.
We not only will be alive in a different dimension, we will be alive with a divine destiny after we are raised from the dead. Jesus presses on to confront the Sadducees with their own ignorance of their Torah. In verse 26, He asks them if they were not aware of what Moses had said in Exodus. Moses quoted what God had said to Him as "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. This was in their own Torah, that portion of the Bible they believed was doctrinally correct. Jesus makes the point that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. God cannot be the God of the dead. If the dead cease to exist, how can He be their God? Here is an example of the divine logic of Jesus. It is impeccable. You can only have a relationship with someone who is alive. God, who lives in the spiritual dimension, can only be the God of those who are alive, either in the physical or in the spiritual dimension. The Sadducees had missed this point because they had not studied the Scriptures.
But there is much here for us. This reveals to us that we never truly die. Our physical bodies may pass away, but our spirits live on forever. We have a divine destiny. Those of us who live in Jesus will live forever with Him in glory. When our physical bodies pass away, our spirits will pass on. We will be transferred from this earthly existence to a heavenly one, where we shall be with Jesus for eternity.
This brings us to the relevant concerns of this portion of Scripture. The Sadducees were guilty of majoring on the minors. They had been unable to keep the main thing the main thing. They had become insensitive to the truth of God. But Jesus put their problem sharply in focus. He revealed to them a problem which still exists today.
In verse 24, Jesus said that the reason they were mistaken about the resurrection was twofold. Firstly, they were ignorant of the principles of Scripture, and secondly, they were ignorant of the power of the Spirit. Look at verse 24. "Jesus said to them, 'Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures, or the power of God?"
In the Sadducees of old and in many people today, there is a woeful ignorance of the principles of Scripture. The Sadducees did not understand the Scriptures. Therefore, they were mistaken about the resurrection. Jesus quoted them one of their own well-accepted Scriptures as proof of the resurrection. Why didn't the Sadducees understand that Scripture? They didn't understand the Scripture because they didn't take time to thoroughly study the Scriptures. You see, the Sadducees were the liberals of the day. As liberals, they were selective in what they believed. Here, they had taken a part of the accepted canon of Old-Testament Scripture and singled it out as that part they would accept as inspired. Unless you hold a high view of Scripture and study it diligently, you will be guilty, as were the Sadducees, of an ignorance of the principles of Scripture.
You see, the Scriptures are the word of God. God has given us this word in order to provide direction for our lives. In Psalms it says that God's word is "A light unto my path." We also read in the Scriptures that the "Entrance of Thy word giveth light." The Scriptures bring forth faith in our lives. Romans 10:17 says, "So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." 2 Timothy 3:16-17 reveal the inspiration and profitability of Scripture: "All Scripture is inspired by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." Apart from a thorough knowledge of Scripture, we fall into error. God has used the Scripture to give guidance in the most extraordinary way.
It is unfortunate that our history books in public schools are so purged of references to the leading of God. The fact is God has been active in history and the word of God has provided the inspiration and wisdom for so much which we consider pivotal. Christopher Columbus wrote these words to describe the motivation for his expedition:
"It was the Lord who put into my mind (I could feel His hand upon me) the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit because He comforted me with rays of marvelous inspiration from the Holy Scriptures....
I am a most unworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and mercy and they have covered me completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvelous presence. For the execution of the journey to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics, or maps. It is simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah had prophesied....
No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Savior if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service. The working out of all things has been assigned to each person by our Lord, but it all happens according to His sovereign will, even though He gives advice. He lacks nothing that it is in the power of men to give Him. Oh, what a gracious Lord, who desires that people should perform for Him those things for which he holds himself responsible! Day and night, moment by moment, everyone should express their most devoted gratitude to Him."
Christopher Columbus found inspiration in the Holy Scriptures, more precisely, in the book of Isaiah, to venture forth to a new land. And we too can find inspiration in this book to live our lives and to walk in the will of God. There is a danger of not knowing the Scriptures.
But there is also a danger of being ignorant of the power of the Spirit. These Sadducees were familiar neither with the Scriptures nor the power of God. The Pharisees, however, could not be accused of not knowing the Scriptures. But they, like the Sadducees, were also ignorant of the power of God. You see, there is a danger in just knowing the Scripture. The Bible teaches that the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. We are never called simply to know the letter of the Scriptures. Letter and Spirit must be wed together in order for the Scriptures to have the powerful effect God intends them to have.
So many today content themselves in only knowing about Jesus. What God desires is not simply an intellectual understanding based in the fact of Scripture. God desires a personal encounter with the living Lord. Paul, in Philippians 3:10, said, "That I may know Him..." We experience the power of God by coming into that dynamic, personal relationship with God's Son by His Spirit.
The key to God's power is faith. It is hearing and obeying the word of God. We experience the power of God as we commit to live by the Word. As we step out in faith, putting the word of God into our experience, the anointing of God descends upon us and we come to understand that He is able to fulfill what He has promised. He gives us the power to stand. He gives us the power to be strong. He gives us the power to be victorious. Daniel said that those who knew their God would be strong and do exploits. You experience the power by hearing and obeying.
Matthew 7:24-27 gives us a vivid illustration of this: "Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them may be compared to a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act upon them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew and burst against that house and it fell; and great was its fall." We have two houses, each perhaps identical. One, however, is built upon a rock, and one upon the sand. The one upon the rock, the firm foundation, has the power to stand. The one on the sand has no power at all. What's the difference? The only difference is one heard the word and acted upon it; one heard the word and did not. Hearing and obeying are both essential elements of experiencing the power of God. Oh, that we might know not only the Scriptures, but the power of God.
The Sadducees got sidetracked on peripheral issues. Instead of concentrating on the things that really count - understanding the Scriptures and the power of God. So we also can get sidetracked as well. Our thinking can be limited to human logic, rather than focused on divine power. But we must shape our thinking in light of God's truth and power. Otherwise, we will major on the minors.
Do you major on the minors? Or are you able to keep the main thing the main thing? Do you know the power of God? Do you know the Scriptures? Do you have a dynamic and living relationship with Him, in which you let Him order your steps? Do you let Him order your home? Do you let Him rule your habits? Do you let Him set your priorities? As we bring together the Scriptures and the power of God, we will find His hand upon our lives, leading us, not in that which is merely true, but in the truth.
Copyright © 1997 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.
This data file may not be copied in part (except for small quotations used with citation of source), edited, revised, copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances, displays or other products offered for sale, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for permission should be made in writing and e-mailed to J. David Hoke, at David@JDavidHoke.com.