A Study of the Book of Luke
Sermon # 57
One More Question!
Luke 20:27-40
As Jesus taught in the temple one group after another came and took Him to task. First, there are those who came to question his authority to cleanse the temple and to continue to teach daily there (vv.1-2). He defeated them with a counter question, “First, you tell me, Was the baptism of John from God or from men.” (v. 4). When they refused to answer this question, neither did he answer them. Next came those with a deadly political question, “Should we pay taxes to Caesar or not” (v. 22). He defeated them by asking for a coin and after receiving a denarius bearing the image of Caesar said, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what belongs to God” (v. 25). Now in verse twenty-seven we are introduced to one last group, the Sadducees, who decided they would have to show the others how to put Jesus in his place.
“Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him (28) saying: ‘Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother should take a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. (29) Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children. (30) And the second took here as wife, and he died childless. (31) Then the third took here, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died. (32) Last of all the woman died also. (33) Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife.”
Luke helps us to understand who the Sadducees were by saying, they are those “who deny that there is a resurrection.” Furthermore Acts 23:8, states that the Sadducees did not believe in angels or spirits either. In fact they were mainly a political group, although they had control of the high priestly line. They seemed to feel that only the first five books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch) were binding on the Jewish people. At the heart of the trick question was the custom of “levirate marriage,” according to this custom if a man’s married brother died without leaving an heir, he must marry the widow (Deut. 25:5-6).
But as we look at the question they brought to Jesus we should note that in their question, of one bride and seven brothers, there was no real search for the truth. The Sadducees not only did not expect an answer, they did want one. They were asking Jesus about something in which they did not believe. In fact, they hope to stump Jesus and thus demonstrate how foolish the whole idea of resurrection from the dead is, that it is indeed unbiblical and impractical.
The problem presented in the form of a question is of course at its core a sham, however, the issue that is raises is not; “Is there an afterlife? Will people really be raised from the dead?” Life after death that is just Christian escapism! Why don’t Christians just face the truth that this life is all there is? Have you ever heard those kinds of objections raised by the skeptics of our age? The Sadducees were just first century skeptics who did not believe in life after death.
They said that life ended at death. Undoubtedly they considered themselves just hard core realists, who had to combat this nonsense about the resurrection. But perhaps at least part of the answer is that the Sadducees were so comfortable in their day to day lives that they were not concerned with the after life. This is true of most Americans today as well, we are so comfortable in our day to day lives that we tend to forget that our ultimate hope is in heaven. When is the last time you even thought about where you are going to spend eternity? The truth is that everyone is one day closer to eternity than we were yesterday. Someone has said that death is a subject that people spend a lifetime trying not to think about. But death is an inevitable experience that unless the Lord comes, we will all one day face. President Eisenhower once said, “I am interested in eternity. I am going to spend the rest of my life there.”
Jesus begins his answer to the question in verse thirty-four, “Jesus answered and said to them, The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. (35) But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; (36) nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection”
Look back with me and underline two
phrases. Jesus divides the discussion into two time
periods; “this age” (v. 34) and “that age” (v. 35) and delineated how very different they were from one another. The kingdom of God or the after-life; described as “that age” will be totally different from the way things are in “this age.”
Since the Sadducees had asked about the relationships in the next life based on their understanding of relationships in this life, Jesus explained the difference. Jesus shares with his listeners two great truths about life eternal.
First, Jesus tells that in life in the kingdom of heaven, relationships will operate on a different plane than in this life.
He notes three crucial differences.
First, there is no marriage in “that age.” The point was that life in the eternal state is more than just an extension of what we have here. The Jews of Jesus days thought that the kingdom of heaven was only an extension of the good things in this life. He did not say that we would not know our present wife or husband in the age to come, but rather that the relationship would be different.
Secondly, there is no death in “that age.” Jesus identifies the quality of life when He says “neither can they die anymore,” it is eternal life. Notice that Jesus does not say, “they will not die” He says, “they cannot die.”
Third, they shall be like angels. There is a lot of confusion even in the church about the relation-ship of men and angels. Here Jesus states in verse thirty six, “nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” Unfortunately because some translations render this phrase “they shall be like angels” there is some confusion. At least one study states that 15% of Christians thought that angels were “deceased humans.” So let me clarify something before we go on, if you are not now an angel you will never become one. Angels are created beings not humans who have died and are now being rewarded. Angels are not human beings who like Clarence in the old movie classic “It’s A Wonderful Life” are “trying to earn their wings.” So how are we like angels? The main idea is that we will be like angels in the fact that marriage is not a part of their life. So how will we be like angels?
The redeemed will be “like” the angels in heaven, seeing and serving and praising God. Like the angels in that we are equally deathless, equally glorified and equally eternal.
As far as our bodies go, they too will be resurrected in glorified form. Our bodies to use the words of Paul, “will be raised imperishable” (1 Cor. 15:42). You, not just your soul, will be resurrected. That means that your individuality will be preserved in eternity. You will recognize your loved ones and they will recognize you. Those things that made us unique as individuals in this life will be retained. And when we see our loved ones again their bodies will be in all their glorious potential, but still their bodies. Their personalities will be at their fullest, their wit, their charm, their tenacity, their love still the same only enhanced. “Our Lord’s resurrected body was the same as before His death and yet different! His friends recognized Him and even felt Him; He could eat food and yet He could also walk through (closed) doors, change His appearance, and vanish away.” [Warren Weirsbe. Be Courageous. Luke 14-24. (Wheaton, Illinois: Victor Books, 1989) p. 89]
Our relationship in Heaven will be different than here on earth and….
The second great truth that Jesus shares about the kingdom of heaven is that not everyone is going there.
Verse thirty-five introduces another key point, when He says, “But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead…. ” Here it is more implied than stated but the principle is - Not everyone will be resurrected into everlasting life in heaven. If some are to be counted worthy then it follows that some will not. This verse emphasizes that Jesus is talking to those who are saved, not all those who die. Notice that verse says, the “resurrection from the dead” not “resurrection of the dead.” That may not seem such a significant difference but how great a distinction those two prepositions make. Everyone will experience the “resurrection of the dead” man was created an eternal being and will spend eternity some where. “Resurrection from among the dead” refers only to those who are raised to eternal life.
In proving that the resurrection from the dead was a biblical idea, there were any number of clear Old Testament texts that Jesus could have cited which spoke of the resurrection. The prophet Isaiah said, (26:19) “Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs,”
The prophet Daniel said (12:2), “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
Perhaps some of better remembered lines concerning the resurrection were uttered by Job (19:25-27) where he stated; “For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; (26) And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, (27) Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”
But since the Sadducees only accepted as binding the first five books of the Old Testament Jesus appealed the words of Moses the author of the first five books of the Old Testament (Exodus 3:6). In verse thirty-seven Jesus said, “But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord the ‘God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,’ (38) For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.”
Jesus reasons that when God stated in the present tense “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6) it makes no sense if they are not presently alive.
It is the living God who is greater than death who is the One who has assured us that mankind, will all be raised from the grave, some to their rewards and others to judgment.
The author of Hebrews (11:13-14, 17-19) tells that the Old Testament patriarchs knew the promises of God transcended this earthly existence and were eternal. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (14) For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland... (17) By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, (18) of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called,"(19) concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.”
In verses thirty-nine and forty we read the conclusion of the matter. “Then some of the scribes answered and said, ‘Teacher, You have spoken well.’ (40) But after that they dared not question Him anymore.”
They were astonished at what Jesus had to say about eternal life. Only one person can speak with authority about life after death, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only one who has ever died, went into the after life and returned to this life. No matter what some may say today about their “near death experiences,” Jesus is the only one I would trust.
There are many areas in life in which man can afford to make mistakes. In the area of finances, we can make mistakes with the hope that we learn from our error and do better next time. Athletes can afford to make mistakes during a contest, because of the possibility that in the next game they will get it all right. But in the question of eternity no one can afford to be wrong. In this arena there is no second chance. The mistake the Sadducees were making was that they were gambling with their souls as the stake! And the Lord knew then and according to Mark 12:27 he told them so saying, “… you have made a serious error.” (NLT) How about you?
