Introduction:
One of the great revelations of Holy Scripture is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the words of the apostle Paul God “according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Christ’s resurrection not only proves that He is God but also that life does not end with death, and that because He lives, we will also live again. Every believer will one day, not only see the Lord Jesus Christ face to face, but will also spend eternity in His presence. There are some people, even religious people, who do not believe in the resurrection. They simply cannot believe that God can raise the dead. However, if God could take dust and breathe life into it to create a man, why would anyone think it impossible for this same God to raise the dead? The Sadducees, the priestly leaders of the Jews, did not believe in the resurrection. They claimed that their only acceptable Scripture, the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, said nothing about the resurrection. They were wrong. The Torah confirms the resurrection when it declares that the Lord is the God of the living and not the dead.
Step One: The resurrection ushers us into a new realm of being
a) It is a spiritual realm
The resurrection ushers us into a new realm of being – a spiritual realm. The Sadducees did not believe in the existence of a spiritual realm and therefore did not believe in life after death. Apart from God, they did not believe in anything supernatural. They did not believe in angels, demons, heaven, hell or Satan. The Pharisees, however, believed in the spiritual realm and in the resurrection of the dead. Yet both claimed to believe the Word of God. They read the same Bible but arrived at different conclusions much as is common today. In today’s Gospel reading the Sadducees approached Jesus with a question about the resurrection of the dead asking, which, if any, of a woman’s seven earthly husbands would be her husband after the resurrection. They were not looking for answers but were trying to prove that the idea of the resurrection, did not make any sense. What did not make any sense was trying to compare the resurrected life with the earthly life.
b) It is a different mode of existence
They failed to understand that the resurrected life belongs to a completely different realm and involves a different mode of existence. In this new life, many things that were necessary in the earthly realm were no longer necessary. Concerning marriage Jesus explained that it was necessary in this mortal, earthly life to preserve human life. The resurrected life, however, will be different since there would be no need to have children because there will be no death. Marriage was to allow men and women to understand through their physical, emotional, and spiritual oneness, God’s love and oneness with them. In the resurrected life spiritual intimacy with God, something far more superior to marital intimacy, will replace it.
Illustration:
The resurrection is a fundamental part of the Christian faith because on it hangs the three core issues of Christianity - accountability before God, judgement and eternal life. Without the resurrection, death would be the end of life and there would be no judgement, accountability, or eternal life. God is all powerful and created the heavens and the earth out of nothing. If God can bring Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter and the widow’s son, back to life, why can He not also give us eternal life in another realm. Job, who lived around the same time as the Patriarch Abraham, accepted the resurrection by faith and declared, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God.” (Job 19:25-26)
Application:
The resurrected life is not a continuation of life as we now know it. It will be a far superior intimate relationship with Jesus Christ characterised by worship. Let us prepare ourselves by making worship a priority in our lives as we follow the example of the worship team.
Step Two: The Word of God confirms the resurrection
a) The dead are raised to life
The Word of God confirms the resurrection. However, the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection because they claimed there was no information about it, or proof of it, in Moses’ five books of the law. Jesus points them to the proof in the words God spoke to Moses at the burning bush saying, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”. This could only be possible if Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were still alive.
b) God is a God of the living
Therefore, the Torah clearly supports the concept of the resurrection. Believers who have gone ahead of us, are alive because God is a God of the Living and not the dead. The Sadducees should have recognised from the words of the Torah that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were still alive, because God spoke those words several hundred years after they had died.
Illustration:
A king cannot be a king and a president cannot be a president unless they have people to rule over. Likewise, God could not be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob unless they were alive. If someone comes to you and says he or she was your father’s or your mother’s friend, it is, either your parent is dead or there has been a change in their relationship. However, if one comes to you and says he or she is your father’s or your mother’s friend, it conveys the impression that your parent is alive and that there is an ongoing relationship between them. God, in this threefold repetition is not only declaring that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are still alive but also His ongoing relationship with them. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob knew that the covenant promises of God transcended earthly life and were eternal. Death did not separate the patriarchs from God and death cannot separate the believer, who has a better covenant, from God. The average believer today cannot experience God’s power and provision because he or she is ignorant of God’s Word. The key to God’s power and provision is faith but “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom. 10:17) We can only experience God’s power and provision as we commit ourselves to live by His Word. Many people throughout the ages have sought to edit God’s words but no human being with limited wisdom and knowledge can do this. To presume to make changes to God’s Word is to assume a position of authority over God. The religious leaders of the Jews did this by elevating their own perceived ideas of the Word to the same level as that of God. This is why the Sadducees, who were very religious, could rob worshippers as they changed money and sold animals for sacrifice in the Temple. This practice continues to this day. Changing the message of God is to change the God of the message and as A. W. Tozer reminds us “the essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.”
Application:
The resurrected life is far beyond our ability to understand or imagine. The only appropriate response is to glorify the Lord by living a holy life.
Step Three: There are diverging destinies after the resurrection
a) The acceptance of Christ
There are diverging destinies after the resurrection. Those who have accepted the grace of God and have been washed by the blood of Christ are sealed with the Holy Spirit and belong to Him now and in the age to come. They can be identified by their love, trust and obedience to God and by their godly attitudes and actions.
b) The denial of Christ
Those who have rejected the grace of God and denied Christ, are separated from Him forever after their death.
Illustration:
I have read of a cemetery with this inscription at the entrance “as you are so I was”. At the exit was another inscription “as I am so you will be so be prepared to follow me”. On a blackboard next to the exit written in chalk were the words “To follow you I am not prepared until I know which way you went”.
Application:
God is the God of the living. Your eternal destiny depends on whether Jesus Christ is your Saviour and Lord. Today we can make sure that at death we will follow the way of the righteous.
Conclusion:
The resurrection should be a great comfort to all believers and we should comfort and reassure each other with this great hope. When we lose loved ones or world events take a tragic turn, as they are doing today, we as believers should comfort ourselves that because Christ lives, we also will live with Him forever. Eternal life assures us that our tragedies will turn to triumphs, our poverty to riches, our pain to glory and our defeat to victory. When we reject the revealed truth of God as spoken through his prophets and in these last days through his Son Jesus Christ, we will spend eternity separated from Him. Those who place their faith in Christ are righteous in the sight of God and will spend eternity in fellowship with God, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.
Personal Response:
Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die”. Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord? Do you believe that God is the God of the living and not the dead? Today you can make sure of where you will spend eternity and begin to enjoy eternal life now to the praise and glory of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!
