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JESUS' MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM
Mark 12:18-27 (NIV)
Marriage at the Resurrection
18Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19"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. 20Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?"24Jesus replied, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!"
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Do you know the Scriptures or the Power of God? Not knowing both of these gives us much room and opportunity to live in error.
After the Pharisees and supporters of Herod failed to trap Jesus, the Sadducees stepped in with a question they were sure would stump Him. They might have used marriage in the question, but their question had nothing to do with it; it was about the doctrine of the resurrection.
For brief context of the situation here, the Sadducees did not believe in life after death because the Pentateuch (Genesis-Deuteronomy) had no direct teaching about it, and the writings of Moses were the only Scripture they followed. But Jesus is no fool! He knew the Scriptures and the Power of God, and He was ready to point out that Moses' books supported the idea of eternal life. Jesus quoted from Exodus 3:6, above in verse 26, to prove that there is life after death. God spoke of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob years after their deaths as if they still lived. God's covenant with all people exists beyond the separation of life from these bodies.
Now, what life will be like after the resurrection is far beyond our ability to understand or imagine (Isaiah 64:4; 1 Corinthians 2:9), however, instead of wondering what God's coming will be like and who we will be married to or who we will see; we should concentrate on our relationship with Christ right now. Why? Because He is our future. The ONE thing we do know is that we'll be with HIM. We learn to love and trust Christ now, not then!
If you read Jesus' response to the Sadducees a few times, you may begin to see that He didn't really answer the Sadducees' question. What He did do was refuse to answer their riddle and fall into their trap, by answering them with what they needed to know; He made them clearly aware of the ignorance they lived in, He let them know Who God IS, and He spoke the Truth/the Word in its right context.
Do you see how powerful Jesus was (and still is)? He NEVER let go of God. He NEVER did it His way. He ALWAYS stayed on mission. We should never believe just because Jesus was perfect, that we can't strive towards this perfection. No, we won't get it right all of the time; maybe not even a majority of the time - but ARE WE AT LEAST TRYING...AIMING? As the Scripture instructs us to (2 Corinthians 13:11).
I'm amazed every day as I learn more and more that all of this (what Jesus was able to do), is available to us as well. We don't have to be trapped in the same old foolishness we find ourselves in all of the time. What do we need to do? We need to rely appropriately on the Scriptures (not using it out of context or manipulating it to fit what we want); and the power of God - His HOLY SPIRIT.
It's time to pray...
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