Luke 20: 27-39: A ‘live’ issue.(please click here for todays passage)

‘Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it; ignorance may deride it; malice may distort it; but there it is.’ Sir Winston Churchill.

David Pawson says that this is how he remembers the difference between the Pharisees and Sadducees: the Pharisees did believe in a future resurrection from the dead. You might say they had far sightedness. They could see a life beyond the grave, so, Far-I-see’. But the Sadducees did not believe in such a life after death, and that’s why they were ‘Sad, you see’! (27).

Well, in their fanciful story, the Sadducees were poking fun at Jesus, and the whole notion of resurrection life (27-32).

In reply Jesus emphasised two points:

a.) In the age to come there will be a brand new order of existence (34-36). We will be ‘like the angels’ (36). Those who are happily married may find it hard to understand how marriage could possibly be bettered. But imagine you are in a room lit by candlelight.  It’s cosy. You love the atmosphere. You watch with delight as flickering fingers of shadow play on the wall. But the day dawns and fills the room with sunshine, and the greater light simply overwhelms the lesser light of the candle. Perhaps this provides something of an illustration.

b.) God’s Word teaches the doctrine of resurrection (37, 38). The Sadducees believed mainly in the first five books of the Old Testament, which were written by Moses. In Exodus 3:6, Moses quotes God as saying, ‘I am…the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.’ Now these three men had all died when Moses wrote this, yet God says He is still their God – ”I am” their God. The logical conclusion therefore is that they were all still alive,for God is the God of the living and not the God of the dead. No wonder they chose to cut their losses at this point (39,40). Jesus made a watertight argument from that bit of the Bible they did accept.He said to them, ‘Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?’ (Mark 12:24). They didn’t really know their Bibles or believe in God’s power to do the extraordinary.

‘In asking Jesus trick questions, they hoped He would say something they could accuse; but His answers only exposed their folly and increased their guilt. They were fighting a losing battle and would not surrender.’ Warren W. Wires be: ‘With the Word’, p.684.

Prayer: Lord increase my knowledge of your Word and my confidence in your power. Please free me from ignorance and unbelief.