HERE IS GOD’S FINAL ANSWER
Luke 20:27-38 - November 16, 2003
LUKE 20:27-38
27Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. 28"Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 29Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. 30The second 31and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. 32Finally, the woman died too. 33Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?"
34Jesus replied, "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. 37But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ’the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’C 38He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
One of Jesus’ favorite teaching methods was with questions and answers. When we look at our children, we find that one of their great ways to learn is by their questions and our answers. Today, we find the Sadducees coming to Jesus with a question looking for an answer. So what is the question that is our question today? The question I would like you to think about is - - how would I summarize my life with one word? Just think about that for five or ten seconds--one word that would summarize your life, not necessarily the life that you have already lead but your life in the present or your life that is yet to come. There are all kinds of different words. We might find it hard to summarize our life with one word. Hopefully, if you thought about it, one of those words might be "asking" or "questioning" or “seeking" as a summary of your life. In our life as we live in this world we are always questioning. We are asking and seeking what is yet going to happen in our life. We are asking the Lord to show us His will time and again.
The Lord sat down with His disciples who asked Him to teach them to pray, and He gave them the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus also advised: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened"(MATTHEW 7:7,8) This morning we come with that same intent to learn what God’s Word has to say to each one of us, to hear what God’s final answer is to our questions. So this morning, we ask with ears eager to listen, we seek with a heart that has to find the answer, and we knock at the door of Jesus as He opens up His Word to us. We hear and we seek what is God’s final answer.
HERE IS GOD’S FINAL ANSWER = our theme today. God’s final answer is:
I. Not concerned with marriage in heaven
II. But is concerned with eternity with Jesus
I>. We want to remind ourselves of the setting of this text. Our text takes place on Holy Week. In fact this is the Tuesday before the Friday that Jesus is put to death. Because of that, the enemies of Jesus were always questioning His authority and His teachings. They know that Jesus is coming close to the end of His ministry and the fulfillment of prophecy. So they come time and again to try and trap Him with questions, with things that would try to lead Him astray. Today our text begins that same way. The Sadducees come with a foolish question. Generally speaking there aren’t any foolish questions, but we see this ends up being quite a foolish question. We are told as the text begins: 27Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. The Sadducees are described for us that they did not believe in the resurrection. How sad that is! They were a small group in God’s church and yet they were a powerful group. They did not believe in the resurrection. They felt, "Here it is. This life is what we now live, so we should live it to the fullest." There was another important thing they believed. The Sadducees believed in the books that Moses wrote--the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. They believed in them and they believed there was no resurrection.
Now we hear the question: 28"Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Of course, they are going to quote Moses because that is whom they relied on. They were right. Moses says, in order to carry on a family name, it was the duty of the brothers that were left behind to marry the widow of their brother so that name would not die. It also was to preserve the children of Israel. So their question continues, and we must remember that this is a hypothetical one: 29Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. There was a danger that family name would not continue. There also was a danger that that line in the children of Israel could stop there. 30The second 31and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. 32Finally, the woman died too. So now that was the end of that name. In a sense that part of that tribe of Israel was diminished. This is a hypothetical question. 33Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?" They were there to try to make the resurrection look foolish by saying, "Look what happened on earth. The seven brothers had married the same woman;(all died childless) now at the resurrection, what is going to happen?" They tried to make the resurrection foolish, and they tried to make Jesus look foolish. They thought, of course, that they had Him, trying to distract Him with this question. Jesus quick response to them: 34Jesus replied, "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. Jesus reminds them they are talking about this age or this time. He is not gong to be distracted or deceived.
This brings us back to look at what is God’s final answer. God’s final answer depends on the question that is asked. There are often people in this life who ask the wrong questions and expect God’s answer to suit them. It all begins with deception, being led astray. In fact this happened to our very first parents, didn’t it? God had made the heavens and the earth and everything in it and saw it was good. He put man into this perfect world and it should have been good forever. But Satan, a fallen angel, comes to deceive Adam and Eve. They were told not to eat of fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan says, "The Lord didn’t mean that, did He?" Then he finally deceives Eve and Adam too. Mankind falls. The lesson that we learn there is that we see Adam and Eve living in a perfect world. They could do whatever they wanted and only to not do one thing--not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Thousands of years have passed, and here we are today. Do you think Satan still tries to deceive us? Does he have more at his disposal when he did at the time of Adam and Eve? Yes! The Lord warns us to not be deceived, not to be led astray in this world. Paul was concerned about that in Corinth. He writes and reminds us today: "But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ"(2 CORINTHIANS 11:3). So it is we gather Sunday after Sunday to be encouraged by God’s Word. We open our Bibles day after day to be encouraged by God’s Word, lest Satan would come along and rip that from our hearts and we would end up forgetting about God’s final answer. We would end up being concerned about marriage and giving in marriage only being concerned about the things of this world.
Yet, as we look at our life, we realize we sit in a pew on Sunday, not much more than an hour a week. For the rest of the time we are in this world. As we live in this world, this world can distract us and lead us astray, not just Satan but also the things of this life. We grew up in a world that has far different values than what Christ would find acceptable. Sometimes those values creep in our lives, and we ask God many questions expecting Him to meet the world’s values and our own values. We might forget about the final answer, which isn’t about marriage, which isn’t about the things of this age but the next age. Sometimes, we try to fool ourselves, don’t we? In Galatians Paul writes: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life"(GALATIANS 6:7,8). We know we will reap eternal life, but we also know that in this life we very often sow to please our sinful nature. We spend a lot of time doing things to make sure our life is just right, making sure that we are comfortable in this age, making sure that when it comes to marriage and giving in marriage and all those other things in this life everything is just so according to the world’s values or expectations. The Lord says, "Don’t fool yourself." God wants us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. It is not easy, is it? It is very difficult. We turn on TV and find there is nothing on, is there? How ashamed we are of our nation that puts on all of that filth that is on TV. As we flip through the channels trying to find something that is God-pleasing to watch, we run across those things that are not God pleasing. Our eyes see it, our mind is distracted and we slip down that slippery slope of sin. We are led astray so quickly because of Satan, because of the world, because of our own sinful flesh. We are encouraged in James who writes: "Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you (a beautiful picture that God plants His Word in us), which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says"(JAMES 1:21,22). We need this encouragement because it is all too easy to sit here and listen to God’s Word. It is easy to sit at home and read God’s Word. BUT it is another thing to go out and let our light shine in this world. It is another thing to go out and say, "I don’t believe in what the world values. That is not politically correct and the world would make fun of us."
God’s final answer is not concerned with what the world thinks. God’s final answer is not concerned about marriage in heaven as these Sadducees questioned. God’s final answer is concerned with our eternity with Jesus.
II. You can imagine (of course Jesus was sinless) if Jesus had a sarcastic bone in His body the smirk that might have come across his face. Finally the Sadducees got down to their question and said, "What about those seven brothers in heaven? What are they going to do?" What about the resurrection, because Jesus knew that they did not believe in the resurrection. He knew that in their hearts they were lying to Him, right in His face. Yet in the crowd the question appeared ordinary. Jesus told that in this age people are married and given in marriage. Then He goes on to explain the next stage. Jesus wants them to separate this age, this life from the next. Verse 35: 35But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage. Sure there are lots of things to do in this life. There is a lot of earthliness to contend with on this side of heaven. In the next age the concerns of earth are not going to be there. The heavenly saints will not concerned with marriage.
Now Jesus tells them why: 36and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. He doesn’t call the saints who go to heaven angels, but they are like angels. Jesus defines why they are like angels: because they cannot die. They are going to live forever. Yes, there is a resurrection; and the saints are going to be there at God’s side. They are not going to die. Then He explains why they are not going to die: They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. The Sadducees came first and brought up the term "resurrection." Jesus keeps saying, "You want to talk about the resurrection. I am going to tell you about the resurrection. The resurrection is where the saints live. The resurrection is where the believers go and become like angels. They are not going to die there. They are God’s children."
Your picture here is Jesus who on Tuesday of Holy Week talking to those who would make fun of God and His teachings. Jesus knows that they are not necessarily going to listen to Him. What else did the Sadducees believe in? They did not believe in the resurrection, but they believed in the first five books in the Bible. They also believed in Moses. Jesus continues by quoting from Moses. 37But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise (at this time the Sadducees should be scratching their heads), for he calls the Lord ’the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses realized that God was the God of their forefathers. God was as Jesus concludes in this section: 38He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive." The Sadducees would like to say, "Well, we eat and drink and we are merry in this life. When it is the end, we will die. We don’t have to face the judgment. We would not have to worry about the Lord and His righteousness." Jesus said to them, "But everybody is alive. They are not alive just in this age, but also for eternity." We heard in our lessons (DANIEL 12:1-3 & JOJHN 5:25-29) how some will deny Jesus and they will face everlasting condemnation.
The Lord’s final answer is that He wants all men to come to the knowledge of the truth and live with Him in heaven. That is His promise to this world. That is the very first promise God had made to Adam and Eve that He would send a Savior to mend the brokenness of the world that they had caused. This was not just for them, but also for the sins of the world. God has made His covenant with us, because we cannot strive to save ourselves, but our Lord would save us by His grace. That is God’s final answer. This covenant is given to us in Jeremiah: "I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart"(JEREMIAH 24:7). The Lord says, "I am going to give you a heart to know me." "I will change your heart of stone into a heart of flesh," from Ezekiel. I am going to be your God. THANKFULLY, we know that when we do give into the temptations of the world, when we do listen to Satan’s tricks, or when our sinful flesh leads us astray, we can come back. Our Lord says, "They will return to me with all their heart," because He is our God.
That is the joy of our Christian faith, that you and I will find that if we ask lots of questions in this life. We always know that final answer: God wants us to be with Him forever in heaven. So no matter what other kinds of questions come between here and at that time when we see Him face to face, we know the final answer to the most important question. We might not always be happy with the questions or answers in between, but we have to remember God’s final answer: "You are my child. I have redeemed you forever." This gives us the responsibility because we are God’s children. God’s children is a very important term. We know what we expect of our own children. We know what our parents expected of us. They expected us to obey them and obey God. They expected us not to shame the family name. We expect the same of our children and grandchildren, generation after generation. So the Lord expects the same of us - - not to shame His family name. Therefore we should not only know our Christian faith, but we are to live it. In 1 Peter, God tells us this: "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect"(1 PETER 3:15). Now we have to think in our lives when was the last time that someone asked us why we have such hope? When was the last time when someone asked us why we are so joyful in this life? When was the last time someone asked us why we are so content in this life? Or are we kind of like everyone else when we look at God and look around us and carry on those mundane conversations. The same old conversations that complain about the weather, that complain about our aches and pains, that complain about the football game when our team doesn’t win? The list goes on and on.
What a joy it is when people ask, "Why are you so happy in this world which seems to be coming all undone all around us? What is your joy and contentment when you ought to be discontent and unhappy?" The Lord says we have joy and contentment because we know the final answer. He has given us a reason for hope in this life. There are many around us who feel this world is hopeless and everything is lost. But it isn’t. God’s final answer is that He loves us with an everlasting love. We sometimes feel that we aren’t prepared, but as we grow in age and wisdom and knowledge and as we study the Scriptures, we are also going to grow in the knowledge to salvation. But the Lord reminds us that if we feel unprepared or ill equipped we are to search the Scriptures: "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me"(JOHN 5:39). We are going to find the answer to all of our questions in the great answer book--the Bible. We are going to find the reason for the hope that we have in the Bible. We are going to find the reason that we can share our hope with others in the Bible. The world would not think so, but we know better by God’s grace. God’s Word, the Bible, is God’s final answer!
God’s final answer--He is concerned with our earthly life, but probably not as much as we are concerned with our earthly life. His concern is not so much about marriage in this age, or giving in marriage, but Jesus’ concern is that we spend eternity with Him. The last days are described. People will be married and giving in marriage. People will be living just like in the days of Noah and Jesus will return. For you and I, we are going to be looking up on that day when He comes back. We are going to be filled with joy realizing now has come the salvation of our souls. Now we have seen the final answer. So ask your questions, seek your answers from the Lord. Realize in the end like God says in Revelation (We have been studying that on Wednesday nights. This verse from last Wednesday is in the section that uses the number l44,000. Some like to look at that as a literal number of people to be saved. But in the verses right after that, what does it say?) In Revelation: "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands"(REVELATION 7:9). God’s final answer is that He wants all men to be saved. His final answer is that there is going to be multitudes in heaven, more than anyone can count. His final answer is the fact that you and I will be standing there wearing white robes and holding palm branches of victory. We will be with all the other heavenly saints no longer concerned with the things of the previous age, marriage and giving in marriage, but rejoicing in the fact that we are going to spend eternity with Jesus. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
