The God Of The Living And Not The Dead

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.